Mike Adams

The normal depreciation curve for narrow boats had been disrupted by the live aboard factor. Look at most other boats and they are following a different curve and have lost most of their value after about 40 years or so. Like cars there are always exceptions to the rule. The price of narrow boats is much more likely to be influenced by availability of cheap or free moorings and other ownership costs. I think a lot of non live aboard boaters will be thinking whether the on going costs of owning a boat represent good value for money. I try not to think about it.

In my experience it is just down to making measurements every metre or so. I have never found one who attemped to have a decent look inside to see where water collects etc and investigate further. I have seen a dutch steel boat that looked great from the outside but when they lifted it the hull it cracked because it was so rotten inside.

I have had one of these for several years. It is accuate and gives reliable readings even from inside the hull when the boat is in the water. However much depends on the skill of the user and the surface needs to be clean. I have never found a surveyor who was worth the money they miss more than they see and are only any use in securing insurance.

It could be a crack in the heat exchanger, as the water heats up the unit expands, water gets into the burner and extinguishes the flame. That might account for the unburnt diesel smell. You seem to have spent a lot of money on it for such a new unit and the reason for failure is probably down to the installation. I don't know what model you have but probably a 'Thermotop'. I suggest you contact someone like Butler Technic and send the unit to them. I only have experience of fitting them on my boats but being a cheapskate I just buy old car ones from crashed cars, and modify them to suit.

Bitumen just dries by evaporation of the solvent it doesn't cure like paint so 2 pack bitumen makes no sense unless you were to add a much more volatile solvent that evaporated more quickly so it dries quicker.

Ok. In itself changing the expansion tank will not directly effect what you are saying. When you say it shuts off after start up do you mean the boiler gets hot before switching itself off. How long does it take before it turns off. They normally make two attempts to start before they shut down due to a fault. How hot is the boiler when it switches off, it should be still cold if water is circulating properly. When you switch on can you hear it 1. purge with the fan 2. hear the dosing pump ticking slowley 3. hear the dosing pump ticking faster as it turns the igniter on 4. motor fan speeds up and off you go If that is the case after what period does it shut down? It only takes a few minutes if there is no water in it or circulating for it to operate the safety cut out. I guess it is a fairly new unit - they normally have a way of providing the fault codes either by a flashing light or something.

Hi There should not be water coming out of the air side of the water expansion vessel it means the bladder has failed only option is to replace. Try to get a decent one as some are poor quality. You should have a bleed valve at the highest point in the system but maybe you can use the radiators. How do you get antifreeze into the system?

Sounds like the unit is overheating and shutting down. The use of thermostatic valves can cause problems if you have them. The circulation pump may be not up to it. Does it start up once it has cooled down? Does the pump run on for a while when the burner switches off? Check the flow and return temperatures. If the return temperature is too high it won't like it. The design needs to ensure that air cannot collect in the heat exchanger or pump and that air can be released from a high point near the boiler.

I remember my small Woolwich butty measured 7' 1.5" inches at the bow without any spread but it could have been pulled in during rebottoming and it might not be that deep at the counter but since all that is left of the original butty is part of the sides and the bow and it looks like a complete steel top to me it can have very little historic interest I suppose. The only advantage I can see is that it is an old boat therefore exempt from all this RCD stuff

Going up river on the first day found 3 lockeepers on most locks had to wait a few minutes at a small lock because of the 15 rule. Complete nonsense the whole thing as the larger locks let down twice the number of boats in the same time. Expect chaos at the weekend. Both the pump out and Elsan are out of action at Boveney due to repeated severe vandalism and not likely to be fixed soon. Lock steps are also lethal as covered in a lot of slime.

You should never use tyres as fenders. They come off and either get trapped in lockgates and sluices or end up around a propeller. Using them is a real no no on continental waterways.

Your noise problem might be more to do with the boat. I had a small wheelhouse with the engine under and it was quite noisey in the wheelhouse even with carpet etc. Outside on deck the engine was almost inaudable. have you tried running with the wheelhouse off the boat?

I used West system epoxy with an ebedded glass fibre roving over cascover deck sheathing on a plywood deck some 15 years ago and it's still watertight and painted with 2 pack epoxy paint, the boat cruised all over Europe for ten years and is still as good as when we did it. I would avoid anything with a solvent in it. What were yoy thinking of using?

Quite an old set up. unless I am wrong a mermaid conversion of the old ford tractor engine. Speed and power ratings very different from the transit engine. I don't think another Ford engine would be a good idea they are old as well now and you still have the high costs of marinisation. Speak to Mermaid and Beta and ask for thier suggestions.

If it was 1960s/70s it may well have been 'cascover' sheathing. This was a system using glue and a nylon sheath. It lasts well and epoxy will stick to it. If it is just leaking at the joints you could cover the joints with glass fibre tape and epoxy after sanding and where it is leaking around the fittings remove them and fit with new sealant after drying the area and soaking with epoxy.

I assume that is because CaRT need to get around the planning issues for longer than one month mooring licences. Are you allowed to live on your boat on a winter mooring? If CaRT gave permission to live aboard from more than one month they would be in trouble with the planning authorities.

A lot of modern diesel engines are designed to never run at just above tickover. Over the years I have had Ford, John Deere and Toyota engines that had the same problem as you describe and it is much more problematic if you have a large reduction gearbox say 3:1 when the gearbox starts chattering. The problem on a canal is you need very little horsepower so you are running at this point most of the time. You probably need the engine to be running at 900rpm plus to eliminate the problem which means you are going too fast. It is possible to improve things by fitting a heavier flywheel but it never gets rid of it all together. If you want enough HP to do rivers and other cruising you are probably stuck with it. If you don't need the HP then a smaller engine running faster might do it but you would have to change the propeller. Engines with balance shafts are better ie JD 4 cylinder and Bukh. I don't think it is anything to do with mounts just a characteristic of engines.

They are very noisy in my experience and who knows what the spares situation is now. Last engine I would think is suitable for a trip boat unless you want to shake em up, smoke em out and deafen them but may be that is part of the experience.

It says 'This advanced product bridges the gap between having to sand, or blast back, a steel canal boat to bare metal before applying a two-pack epoxy primer, for a 10 year paint system and having to apply a bitumen-based product every year or so. Ballastic Epoxy is a two-pack primer but it can be applied over existing bitumen paint and has all the protection of an epoxy primer which will allow the use of better quality two-pack topcoats.' on the website.

I used a lot of Jotun/SML paints and they are of good quality but I don't like the idea of painting anything over bitumen. The adhesion between the new paint is only as good as that to the bitumen. Whilst it may stay in place if the boat doesn't contact anything you are going to get a right mess when it does. Long term some of these epoxy coatings become brittle so if not well attached will flake off especially if attached to something like bitumen. Bitumen contains all sorts of crap so you don't know what reactions are going to take place since it doesn't cure like paint just evaporates the solvent or some of it. The only way to get rid of bitumen is by shotblasting!

Hire an airless spraygun - you will get even coverage and it will go into the pits. I believe it costs about £100 a day. Not much compared to the shotblasting and paint.

I think you are going to find it difficult, and I am in the same position with a limited 'free' mooring of 45ft. If you could find a genuine historic tug say of the BCN type you might be lucky but then again they are old boats with age related problems. I think very few boats like this have been built since the eighties and some have been lengthened so you are fishing in a very small pool and probably waiting for the owners to die off. When I find I can't cope with a 60 footer and still want to go boating I am resigned to something like a 41ft sea otter which are easy to maintain and much lighter to handle.

I would try checking the connection of the multipin plug on the wiring harness. They are known to corrode and give all sorts of strange problems which could mean the alternator is not charging properly which would account for your loss of power when out cruising. I think the smart charger should switch off when connected to a single battery and it reaches the fully charged voltage. I am not sure how well they work so with a battery bank and/or solar charger.

Unless of course you are a Warden on NT moorings and there are a few 'historic' residential moorings. I guess that does not apply to marinas where, like the Thames there are quite a few

I suppose it is but based on a realistic approach. The Wey is a small waterway and unless say going out for the weekend you are unlikely to want to cruise it that often. The maximum period for mooring when cruising is 48hours.