Mike Adams

I think it could be the pressure switch or often they leak through to the bearing or the shaft that drives the eccentric. fine one day then they seize up. Not worth fixing just buy a new one and treat them as a disposable item, shame but they are built at low cost and sometimes you can fix them but their limited life means they are not worth bothering with because the rest is worn out too.

www.carte-fluviale.com or www.fluvialnet.com - not cheap for a detailed guide but you can get a lot of free information from www.vnf.fr

From taking to the seller it seemed he did most of his work for commercial plant engines. I think a lot of those Mitsubishi engines were/are in plant. Some were marinised by Thornycroft as a replacement for the BMC 1.5. The engine is probably 40 years old so the chances of picking up a good secondhand unit are small. I think I would look for a secondhand Beta.

I have purchased some parts from this chap and visited his premises. I nice guy but I no first hand experience of his work.

There are no residential moorings on the Basingstoke Canal except those owned by Surrey County Council at New Haw and I think they own the 2 at Brookwood. I imagine there is a waiting list for these as they have all facilities and security. I have noticed one or two gaps but you would have to contact Surrey County Council at County Hall, Kingston and not the Basingstoke Canal Authority. On the Wey most of the historic residential moorings have gone but they do have 'wardens' on their own mooring sites who are allowed to live aboard. Some people, I believe, are resident in Pyrford marina. On both the Basingstoke and Wey they are very careful not to allow live aboard boats anywhere. Any Marina berth around here is going to be expensive. 6-7K a year.

Someone did it do my old boat but unless you were Twizzle you couldn't reach it. Try learning to get weed and stuff off with a hook, saw blade,or strong boathook first. Weed hatches and bow-thrusters are the work of the devil on British canals.

Let us know when you find or make one I would be interested to see that on a narrowboat. Start by working out the volume of air a solid fuel stove of 6KW needs to function properly. Solution - find a residential mooring with shorepower first and get electric heating. The cost of the electricity will be minimal compared to the cost of a proper res mooring. In London say 12K for the mooring I bet it won't be more than £500 for the electricity and less than solid fuel.

The small house is on legs - I think it may have been some sort of mill. Most of the land I would say is subject to severe/frequent flooding except a track alongside the navigation that is built up. There is a mooring just upstream on the weir on the navigation. Access is by the track over the weir(EA?). The property is very small, about the size of a caravan and I bet you wouldn't get planning permission for anything else on the site. I suspect but don't know if the property owns right up to the bank on the Navigation. Did look at it but given the current size of the accommodation and the possible liabilities and obligations and all the Nimby people around there haven't looked into it further. Nice location but there are properties above the town lock/bridge on the old river that would be a better prospect.

Stability and tenderness are completely different. My boat is almost semicircular below the waterline but because Cb moves quickly it is stable but very tender.

less ballast, swims better, get closer to a shallow bank, easier to empty bilge, more stable,less impact on the canal, more rigid, need less power but probably because he didn't have any 7ft wide steel.

Measure the pipe OD with a vernier and the Olive ID with the same. Then measure the wade fittings I/D. I bet you have a mismatch. They should all be a snug fitting.

Depends how long you leave it. The metal needs to be covered in a solution of Fertan. If Fertan is too expensive you can use Molasses. Pour it in and leave it as long as you can. It makes the rust soluble in water and you can wash it off. Bit smelly though!

Just chuck a gallon of fertan in there and leave it for few months, pressure wash it out, repeat every year.Eventually when all the rust is gone paint it.

Yes -I noticed on a trip up the canal last autumn. Not that easy to stop there because the banks are shallow but being the Basingstoke you can stop in the bridgehole for a while if you leave someone on board in case of the unlikely event that another boat comes along. I should also mention the very useful Pacer Marine in Aldershot that is a few minutes cycle ride from Ash lock, they have a good stock which you could do click and collect during restrictions.

That is a possibility but it may also be due to the fact that that engine has a one piece aluminum head cover which unless prepared and painted correctly will not take the paint well especially with thermal cycling and the expansion rate of aluminium. Due to its complex shape I bet It was not that well prepared when painted. The problem of head gasket failure on some of these engines is probably due to a poor skin tank cooling system.

Quite a nice plaything on Ebay. 'Severn Belle' riveted tug from the Lydney Canal. Only 2'6" draught.

I have had some success with West epoxy and glass fibre composite materials over a well constucted marine plywood cabin. The problem comes when you try to cover a cabin that has panels and timbers that naturally expand and contract at different rates. On narrow boats doing the roof alone can be successful in forming a rigid top but I wouldn't do it on the sides without using expansion joints. Not a cheap option -I spent nearly £1000 on materials for my current roof. It is the sort of thing you do after you have a problem but I don't expect to ever do it again 4mm of epoxy and two pack paint lasts a very long time. If you are starting from scratch a steel top is better and cheaper every time.

That would be fine. Try to avoid any any high points in the pipework where you might get an airlock, if you cant fit a bleed nipple at the highest point.

I think these heaters control the heat by reducing the flow through the cable operated valve. If the valve is shut, ie when the heater is mechanically set to off there will be no flow though the heater and the calorifier. I would connect in in parallel with the calorifier. Hope this helps. I did my heated towel rail like this and it was fine.

If you plumb it in like that you will lose your heat to the calorifier as well when you switch the heater off. Either fit a 3 way valve or plumb it in parallel. Shouldn't be an electrical issue when running unless the boat is only ticking over for a long time.

I hope you are not going to try to do this sort of job whilst the boat is afloat. I would say it is impossible but somehow people find a way. Find a friendly yard where you can get the boat out, plenty of tarpaulins and a van! You will be amazed at the amount of material you will have to get rid of for a start. When I did mine I had a commer van(It was that long ago). It took me a year 2 days a week just to put the cabin on a 40ft boat working on my own. Unless you are under cover the weather limits what you can do. If the boat it that rotten all you will have is a hull and engine by the time you have pulled it apart. Not wishing to pour cold water on the project but just realise this is huge job unless you have a team of willing and able volunteers.

Unless I am mistaken this is a Cheverton workboat. The one we have at our sailing club is the same. The bearing looks OK to me but it could have a bronze or stainless shaft. Maybe a double taper and reversable. Unless the movement between to shaft and the bearing is more than 1mm I wouldn't be too concerned. If you want to be sure take the shaft out either by removing the half coupling or lifting the engine and sliding out inside. You can check if it is a double taper if it has a nut on the inside end of the half coupling. No nut = parallel shaft. Nut = taper. Quite easy to make up a tool to pull the half coupling off or do what tony says.

I am not aware of any books or publications on fitting wooden tops to steel hulls but there might be? There are some on the construction of traditional wooden back cabins on wooden or steel working boats. It was only for a fairly short period of time when steel pleasure boat hulls were fitted with wooden tops before they realised it was better and cheaper to make a complete steel shell. The first ones were often built by constructing wooden frames and planking up the sides and roof with t and g boards and then covering the outside with masonite(a sort of waterproof hardboard) or thin marine ply. Otherwise use thicker ply (3/4") without the boarding. Sometimes the outside was sheaved with aluminum sheet. The structure has to be rigid and fixed to the steel hull to allow for some movement between the metal and wood due to temperature changes. I would not disturb the superstructure more than is needed and live with it for a while and see how you get on. Roofs can be covered in glass/grp if fairly solid and other leaks with mastic and lead or copper patches at low cost. I am not sure how your superstructure was done. First thing to do might be to work out how the cabin is constructed.