cuthound
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Posts posted by cuthound
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On 23/04/2025 at 23:12, Stroudwater1 said:
We’ve put several coats of linseed oil on ours, pretty simple to do. Perhaps it’s useless but it seems to retain its colour well? I believe you need to dispose of the rag carefully.
I did the same a few years ago but this year it has sprouted some kind of fungi.
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On 23/04/2025 at 09:20, Alan de Enfield said:
There are devices readily available the you bolt onto your prop shaft that do all that for you - the risk is that they are very sharp, and when something gets past the cutters and you put your arm into the cold water you don't feel it when you have sliced your hand off and are bleeding to death,
I've had two major prop fouls in 52 years boating
One was a bale of wire in Birmingham on an ex-working "camping" boat which ended up with me having to go into the canal with bolt cutters to get it off as there was no weed hatch.
The second was on my current boat, which has a prop protector fitted. It was somebody's discarded cratch cover which immediately stalled the engine and to date has been the only prop foul that the prop protector hasn't been able to cope with.
On 23/04/2025 at 12:13, dogless said:Can't feel a thing.
Utterly hopeless in my view.
Rog
I agree. I pour kettles of boiling water into the weed hatch to bring the temperature up if I have to go down there in winter.
On 23/04/2025 at 19:04, magnetman said:I think one could do worse than use one of those gardening tools which has a crescent shaped blade on the end. .
You mean one of these? 🤣
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The 40 foot beam will restrict it to the largest UK waterways but on the plus side the 7 foot 10 inch length means it will always be able to share locks with other boats... 🤣
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12 hours ago, Llamedos said:
I’ve got a smart tracker on my boat now (AirTag knock-off) also one in my car. Works with my iPhone - very cheap but effective.
As a spin-off I also found it handy when my boat was blacked the other week in my absence. I could see that the boat had moved from one side of the Marina to the dry dock at the other and therefore also how long they’d spent doing the job and when it was back on my mooring. It’s accurate to within a few metres
Hope I’ll never need it in the case of theft.
I bought a cheap Chinese tracker for my car.
It accurately placed my car within about a mile radius of where it actually was!
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On 21/04/2025 at 10:16, Gybe Ho said:
I don't know what "subject to .... bsc means".
Many buyers accept the balance of the remaining time to expiry. Stipulating a fresh bsc examination is an option if the buyer is prepared to front the cost.
Some surveyors are also BSS inspectors and will combine a BSS inspection with a survey, irrespective of the expiry date of the old BSS certificate.
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17 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
I have requested it also photos and dates
Yes, without photos the "towpath telegraph" has no chance, as boats are easily repainted but it is not so easy to remove distinguishing features such as unusual windows, vents etc.
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17 hours ago, 5239 said:
Just reading the thread about Barbridge reminded me to report:
Tap and Spile in Gas Street Basin has reopened under new management,
been take over by 5(?) boaters all of them living across the way there,
it’s good, the beer is being well kept,
currently: Taylor’s Landlord, Titanic’s Plum Porter and Theakston’s (?) Hairy Biker
kitchens won’t be up and running til June (?),
but they got cobs (yes cobs) and sausage rolls, and the sausage rolls are top! They really are a good eat with a pint.
Give it a try if you pass through, it’s a lovely
location from which to watch the boats.
Somewhere I’d only
popped in to in the past because it’s a busy tourist pub at evenings and weekends,
but I think with the new management it could be a good locals’ pub and good for boaters.
The Tap and Spile is the only canalside pub that I can still remember visiting on my first canal holiday 52 years ago. Been back many times since over the years. It was a real "spit and sawdust" pub then, and closed soon after. It wasn't called the Tap and Spile then though. I've forgotten what it was called. Then it closed and reopened as a trendy pub before closing again.
Hopefully it will have a new lease of life now.
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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:
Apart from a fuse blowing or a breaker tripping, you would not know that you had an over current fault event. I agree that regular checking is needed to be safe, but it may be better to say "after every fuse blow or breaker trip" rather than over current event. If a grossly inadequate diode(s) blew very fast it COULD open circuit the earth circuit, so unless there was sufficiently conductive path through the water, the RCD, fuse, or MCB might not trip.
Which is why I stated what I consider the minimum electrical specifications for a 16 amp GI are much earlier in this thread (1600 amp short circuit capacity for 20 milli-seconds).
1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:But again 99% of boaters wouldn't do that
Sadly true.
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5 hours ago, jonathanA said:
THE important point about GIs is that following any OVERCURRENT event then it's imperative they are checked to ensure the diodes are OK. To my point its very easy and quick to check on GIs with status indicators.
Indeed, I haven't yet had an over current event on my boat, but I still check the GI with a multi-meter (on the diode test setting) quarterly.
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20 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:
I have lived in London for the best part of 50 years and never been anywhere near a terrorist incident which is more than I can say for when I lived on the Pedmore/Hagley border when I was awoken by the sound of a bomb set off by Welsh nationalists on the Elan Valley pipeline where it crossed the nearby railwayI lived in the London suburbs from 1962-2014 and worked in London predominantly.
I was yards from the Old Bailey bombing in 1973, one of the first on the scene for the 1973 St Pancras bombing and in Guildford the night of the pub bombing there in 1974.
I was beginning to think it was me the IRA were after.
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36 minutes ago, Steve9007 said:
Anybody used this, is it any good, worth it or not. We will be in a marina and using the 16amp bollard for 240v
What is is stated peak current and for how long?
A good 16 amp GI will conduct 1600 amps for at least 20 milli-seconds.
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16 minutes ago, Lady M said:
Yes, but the fan oven doesn't use electricity continuously.
Neither does the air fryer. Both switch their elements on and off as dictated by the thermostat to maintain a steady temperature.
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17 hours ago, MtB said:
Thanks!
Except, a full sized oven uses much the same power as the air fryer.....!
My full size electric fan oven draws a maximum of 3 kW whereas my air fryer draws 1.6kW and cooks the same food in 20% less time.
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1 hour ago, Steve9007 said:
Ahh right ok that’s even better. I have total
access to the top of my tank so very easy to get in there and sort. Just need to get a decent gas mask now 😝😝
My waste tank has never had any blue or other chemical added to it, either by me or the boats original owner.
I was surprised when I drilled the hole in it to accept the MCS gauge sender, at the lack of offensive smell, just an earthy odour.
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1 hour ago, Tony Brooks said:
As was explained to him in the second post, mind you, I did write 10s of ear rather than years.
And he still.didn't listen... 🤣😅
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I fitted an MCS gauge to my waste tank (https://www.mcsboatproducts.co.uk/our-products/wastewater).
One unexpected benefit of it was that it showed that the "tank full" light came on when the tank was less than 50% full, so it soon paid for itself by effectively halving the frequency of my pump outs.
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2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:
It used to be Halon (BCF) - now that knocked a fire down !
Shame it got banned.
Halon fire extinguishers can only be used in aircraft, for military use, and in the Channel Tunnel.
Water mist extinguishers are very effective in all types of fire (you can use them on live electrical equipment up to 35kV) except those already very well established.
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I received the same email.
My insurance is due next month, so I will await the renewal notice with interest.
As always, I will look around and choose what I believe to be the best value one, not necessarily the cheapest.
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1 hour ago, Stephen D said:
I am trying to find a Bmc engineer to look at my engine problems.
I am at Wheaton Aston at the moment working my way up towards Nantwich.
Thanks
When our shareboat was based at Norbury Wharf they managed to resolve several issues which had flummoxed other boatyards we had been based at.
Although it was several years ago I believe the yard is still owned and managed by the same people.
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24 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:
Were they still fitting BMC engines in boats in 1999?
Yes.
My last shareboat was launched in 2002 with a Turkish built BMC 1.8 from Calcutt Boats.
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14 hours ago, 5239 said:
Hawkesbury Jn certainly caught this painters imagination:
anyone match that with some of Braunston?
Authors such Blaygrove and Susan Woolfitt have helped raise/promote the profile of Braunston,
the Historic Rally is a crowd puller,
it’s a pretty and idilic location
got a quirky tunnel which people like (to make a fuss over)
and a butcher that sells good bacon 👍
Ok…I’m warming to it more
Braunston has a special place in my heart because it is where I started my first canal holiday from in July 1973.
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6 hours ago, MtB said:
Yes I was thinking that too. "Head under" I think is necessary to properly qualify.
I have had my head under once, although it was (sort of) voluntary, when my youngest son, then aged about 6, dropped his wallet with all his holiday money in it at the narrows at Hawkesbury Junction and I unsuccessfully searched for it
We ate in The Greyhound that evening and my youngest son told his tale of woe to anyone who would listen.
Many gave him a pound or two, so I'm sure he was richer when we left than he had been before he dropped his wallet in!
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55 minutes ago, 5239 said:
my sister bought me some bottles of 0.2% IPA,“WTF!!” I laffed,
it’s still in her garage,
Best place for it!
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My Beta 43 refused to stop when the stop button was pressed.
A squirt of contact cleaner on the stop button contacts cured it.
PSS Stern Gland Installation
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted
My experience is similar. The original Vetus gland lasted 12 years and the replacement Radiche gland is now 5 years old and not showing any signs of wear.