Woodsy

Not sure about type of glass, but in the commercial world all sight glass must have a self closing valve on the bottom. I have seen many different types from commercial off the shelf to home - sorry ship made weights (lead sinkers, plumb bobs etc) holding the opening lever closed.

Just read on the Londonist that C&RT have launched an appeal to find new volunteer lock keepers to look after London's canals, full training provided - applications close January 29. link to article below (I hope) http://londonist.com/2016/01/fancy-being-a-lock-keeper-here-s-your-chance

If the bitumastic and 2 pack coating systems along with their primers are not compatible with each other you may well get coating breakdown or de-lamination along the coating interface causing moisture to penetrate to the hull. You would need to get advice from the coating system manufacturers to ensure compatibility between the different coating systems.

As per previous threads, see link below for information contained within the Ship Captains Medical Guide for disinfecting FW tanks. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=78282&p=1623198

I have a Samsung Note 8 (8" tablet) that has full telephone capabilities, 2 years ago I put a "3" Sim and topped up with "all the data you can eat" and it worked fine for about 2 days -making & receiving phone calls, internet searches, data usage etc, then it all stopped working (phone calls & data) with a sms message to the effect that the sim was for phones only and not tablets and the sim should be taken out of the tablet and returned to a phone. - its now in de missus phone & works fine, I tried it in the Note 8 again last year but no luck. I now have a EE sim with 100Gb of data for my tablet -see link below (hopefully) for thread on this sim deal http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=79982&hl=

Further to John V's post above (62), it is my understanding (from older generation shipwrights) that welding plates onto riveted hulls can be fraught with danger and should be only undertaken by a very skilled boilermaker. I would suspect that as the vessel is an old fishing boat an area at significant risk of corrosion would be under the fish hold (ice & salt being used to keep the catch fresh), which then drains & collects into the fish hold bilges, this is most likely the compartment bilges that have been concreted up and therefore very difficult to confirm the bottom plates condition, without removing the boat from the water, historically the forefoot / bottom of anchor chain lockers can be another problem area, as well as the area of hull that is just above and below the waterline. Basically to ensure you know full well what you are getting into, as mentioned above, it would be best to get the vessel out of the water for a full hull survey, and also confirm if any specialist welding procedures & equipment (old school techniques) will be required to effect any repairs to riveted hull sections.

Well.... um.... ok to be honest I gave up waiting for them to get up and walk away on their own, so had to do some fast (but late) learning. All very much different no that I am older, wiser and....er..ok not on my own any more.?

Yeah but a hassle to make / change the bed linen.... single bunks (with inner spring matress) on ships where one side is open are hard enough

So it is......initially I didn't go inside as I didn't want to trample mush❄? inside while I had a poke around☺

On my Samsung 12.2 Note tablet after tapping a boat to view in a new tab and then after opening and closing the layout tab "simulated snow" starts falling across the boat picture...... either that, or looking at boats on the RB website brings white spots to my eyes?

Olive oil & vinegar is a neat trick that's worth considering, see link below. http://lifehacker.com/fix-scratches-in-wood-furniture-with-olive-oil-and-vine-1729325531

See link below on disinfection of water tanks from a previous thread. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=reply_post&f=30&t=78282&qpid=1623198

How bout one of these until you sort your alternator out http://www.klaxonsignals.com/industrial/products/product/hand-operated-sirens-heavy-duty-hand-operated-siren/ Might be a bit difficult to distinguish between your 'short' and 'long' blasts though:)

Do you mean Goddards at Greenwich, the green building on the corner of Turnpin lane (leads to Greenwich market) and King William Walk? if so they were certainly still there in June.

I see itv is reporting the fire as suspected arson. http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/topic/bletchley/

From the 'Colregs': Part D - Sound and Light Signals 33 Equipment states "Vessels of 12 metres (39.4 ft) or more in length should carry a whistle and a bell and vessels 100 metres.........." ANNEX III Technical details of sound signal appliances 1. Whistle ( a ) Frequencies and range of audibility The fundamental frequency of the signal shall lie within the range 70-700 Hz ( c ) A whistle fitted in a vessel shall provide, in the direction of maximum intensity of the whistle and at a distance of 1 metre from it, a sound pressure level in at least one 1/3-octave band.......... this is followed by a table which shows the following: Length of vessel in metres 20 but less than 75 "1/3rd-octave band level at 1 metre......" 130 "Audibility range in nautical miles" 1 Less than 20 "1/3rd-octave band level at 1 metre......" 120 "Audibility range in nautical miles" 0.5 The annex then further states after this table "The range of audibility in the table above is for information and is approximately the range at which a whistle may be heard on its forward axis with 90 percent probability in conditions of of still air on board a vessel having average background noise level at the listening posts (taken to be 68dB......." The next paragraph states "In practice the range at which a whistle may be heard is extremely variable and depends critically on weather conditions; the values given can be regarded as typical but under conditions of strong wind or high ambient noise level at the listening post the range may be much reduced" As noted in other threads Part A General ( b ) "Nothing in these rules shall interfere with the operation of special rules made by an appropriate authority for roadsteads, harbours, rivers, lakes, or inland waterways connected with the high seas ........ such special rules shall conform as closely as possible to these rules". So unless C&RT or other appropriate authorties providing bylaws, regulations etc for inland waterways etc have any "special rules" for sound appliances the above would apply. .

We are only on series 3 episode 4 way down here so have some time before series 5 episode 3 reaches our 'southern' shores to find out what the fuss is about However it looks like series 3 episode 6 features a narrowboat, so that's something to look forward to (not that there is much else to see here with the haze / smog that's about)

Lat long Calc Pro a app for android (and Apple I think) devices by Cruthu services will do this if you have a smart phone or tablet

It may be worthwhile asking the seller/broker if they will discount/defray all or part of the craneage costs if you do go ahead and purchase the boat after the inspection (thats if they are agreeable for the boat to be lifted out for an inspection in the first place)- I understand this arrangement is not that uncommon in the 'yachty' world.