NB Alnwick

I guess one could hoist a couple of these!

My Smartgauge (also purchased from Gibbo in 2007 or thereabouts) expired last year and I replaced it. It had been displaying similar error messages. I have had no problems with the replacement. I think that after suffering from 15 years in the engine room it is possible that one of the soldered connections or some other internal component failed.

I am generally in agreement with the above, however this 'thumbs-up' signal is relatively new to me - largely because I am very rarely on the boat when locking up or down. Jane tells me, that when she is on the tiller, some people wait for a signal before operating the paddles and I guess that is OK. That said my own practise is to just get on with what needs to be done as soon as the boat is safely in the right place. When boating single handed I never stay on the boat in locks preferring to get off and operate the locks myself but assistance from other boaters or volunteers is always most gratefully appreciated. My original gripe was about the pointing hand signal that, at first, I thought might be an indication that the approaching boat intended to turn left or tie-up on the left. On our last trip I experienced it several times with the steerer of the approaching boat behaving like some sort of umpire. My mother always taught me that it was rude to point and I do think that this pointing gesture is unnecessary and extremely rude.

C&RT could learn a few things from the more successful heritage railway organisations - such as setting up a supporting membership group or a separate charity dedicating purely to fundraising. I certainly think there is room for even more volunteer involvement - if railway volunteers can restore locomotives, rolling stock, stations and bridges then C&RT volunteers could do the same with locks, bridges, towpaths and visitor moorings

I sometimes wonder how some boat owners learn their boating skills. I remember that we did a lot of research before we started boating including taking the RYA's 'Inland Waterways Helmsman Course' and spending a time learning from experienced boaters. These forums were also full of advice about best practice, especially to us in those early days. Another observation is that people I have recently encountered on hire boats do seem to have a much better idea of what they are doing than in past times and are more pleasant to meet than the "angry boaters" that I described in my opening post.

When boating on canals I usually steer as close as I can to the centre where the water is likely to be the deepest. There are several reasons for this, including minimising damage to the canal infrastructure, avoiding getting stuck aground and maximising propulsion efficiency. When I meet a boat approaching from the opposite direction, I usually move to the right just enough so that our boats pass nicely close to each other without touching or either boat being forced aground. This always works very well and, so far, I have not been involved in any collisions. However, on several occasions lately, I have encountered situations where the person in charge of an approaching boat sounds their horn and gesticulates wildly or points to the bank (on my side) as if to say "get out of my way". One steerer became very angry and told me that I should have "slowed down" for him - in fact I had slowed but clearly, he felt obliged to give me instructions. This angry reaction is something that I do not recall experiencing in the past - usually as I pass boats coming in the opposite direction, we exchange a pleasant wave or a friendly verbal greeting - sometimes providing information such as if there is another boat following etc. I know that 'Alnwick' is in dire need of a re-paint (which is scheduled for later this year) so I wonder is this pompous attitude is because they see what they perceive as a scruffy boat approaching - or do they expect all boats to keep out of their way?

For various reasons, it has been some considerable time since we last enjoyed any decent cruising with 'Alnwick'. However, we have just returned to our home mooring, after enjoying an extended cruise that included attending the Crick Boat Show and then up through Leicester and back to Cropredy via Loughborough, Shardlow, Fradley and Glascote. The Eastern end of the Trent and Mersey was a challenge mainly because we spent a lot of time stuck and churning up the bottom but also because our propellor was fouled with a bundle of discarded clothing and, for only the second time in eighteen years, I had to resort to getting in the water to clear the prop. Nevertheless, we had an enjoyable cruise. I understand that, the T & M between Shardlow and Swarkestone was subsequently closed for repairs to a leaking lock but I am sure some appropriate dredging would also help.

I better days there was a mechanical indicator to mark the coach and allow the chain to be re-set. The chain could only be re-set externally by the guard and it would be obvious to the guard in which compartment or seating bay that the chain had been pulled. That said, such 'fines' were very rarely charged.

There are pirates and press gangs at Cropredy!

We are planning on going again this year - mainly for the social atmosphere and entertainment. It is surprising to see that moorings are still on offer on the website. In previous years we had to book our moorings at least four months in advance!

I used Owatrol on bare metal, the remains of the rust and sound paint after some severe wire brushing - followed by a coat of primer while the Owatrol was still sticky but almost dry - I then used the Danboline/Teamac bilge paint after waiting another 24 hours for the base coats to be completely dry. My choice of primer was Bonda-Primer which the manufacturer of Owatrol says should not be used with Owatrol but I found that it works (so far) and in the longer term, only time can tell.

It is true that we do not have leaks but we do have spills and sometimes the side hatches get left open and we are too slow to close them when the rain starts. I managed to spill a few litres of coolant when I was draining down to add anti-freeze last November. I am nowhere near as careful or as nimble as I was fifteen years ago

Perhaps that is why Danboline no longer comes in red? But they also do the grey that we used higher up. My only criticism of Danboline is that however much you stir the product to make sure it is thoroughly mixed, it often dries with light and dark streaks - one of my arguments for saying that the Teamac product is nearly similar - it behaves just the same.

I purchased the Owatrol last time I was at the Crick Boat Show - we were unable to go last year - so probably in 2019. I had forgotten that I had it but earlier this year I did some research with the manufacturer and carried out a few experiments. I think it is probably made mainly from Linseed Oil - and I believe that a similar mix was often used to prevent rust damage on stored military equipment. I am guessing that the oil has been through various heat treatments and maybe includes a few additives to make it work better. I also tried mixing it with BondaPrimer which appeared to work well but I don't know if the claimed rust stopping qualities of either product would have been enhanced or diminished. BondaPrimer was brilliant stuff in the 1960s and I used it mixed with epoxy resin as a primer when repairing the bodywork of my old Humber. As for using modern epoxy paints - I am still not sure. My limited experience of using epoxy primer and epoxy top coats on Alnwick's front deck were not so good - quite sizeable bits of the cured epoxy chipped off easily under traffic and the exposed bare metal quickly rusted. My impression was that the products I had used may have been more brittle and less forgiving than traditional oil based paints. That top coat has also faded from it's original red oxide to a pinkish mauve (over a period of five years or so) which is not good given that I paid about three times the cost of coventional marine coatings.

Certainly not one of Dodd's Diddy-Men - I am 6 feet tall and was standing upright in that photograph - our water tank is integral with the bow and holds a lot of water.

In our experience, cats are excellent swimmers and can climb a plank or boat pole very quickly to get back on board. However, when they do choose to go ashore, one often has to wait quite a long time for them to return and they get very confused if the boat moves while they are ashore - even if only to move out of a lock. Our first live-aboard cat spent twenty minutes staring into an empty lock before realising that we were tied up on the lock landing hardly more than a boat length away.

I cleaned mine out in 2012 - was that really more than ten years ago?

Our cats - we have had three on our boat since 2005 - have usually ignored birds. They all prefer mice - I think mice must taste nicer although I have never tried one myself.

This is a job I don't enjoy - cleaning, preparing and painting the engine room bilges! After more than 15 years spent mostly living aboard, our boat is beginning to look very neglected, so it was time to make a fresh start. My previous effort which was completed in 2008, comprised two coats of Bond-Primer applied to the bare metal after wire brushing and de-rusting. Then two top coats of Danboline. Most of the 2008 paint was still sound when I lifted the floorboards but there were some areas where water or coolant had managed to get under the paint. This caused the old paint to bubble and lift revealing (when scraped away) wet areas of rusty metal. It didn't seem sensible to remove all the sound paint so I just de-greased and wire-brushed as much as I could. I then applied a generous coating of Owatrol Oil. According to the manufacturer this product penetrates rust and forces out any moisture or oxygen - thus stopping the corrosion process and protecting the metal against further rusting. The manufacturer also claims that it helps subsequent coats to stick. After leaving the Owatrol for a couple of days, it still felt slightly sticky but sufficiently dry to add a coat of primer. I used BondaPrimer again because I still have several cans of the stuff on the boat - but I think that if I had to buy primer in future I may try Owatrol corrosion inhibiting primer. For the topcoats, I have used 'Teamac Bilge and Locker Paint' which I bought from Midland Chandlers. Danboline is no longer available in red but the Teamac product looks to be exactly the same colour and, as near as I can tell, is an idential product. I had previously used this product on the engine room floor boards and am pleased with the result. The image below shows my work so far - I hope it will last another fifteen years. It may be worth adding a note about Owatrol Oil: At first glance, it would appear that there are two products with different labelling: Owatrol Marine Oil and Owatrol Oil. The latter being available at a lower price from most paint suppliers whereas the former is found on the shelves of chandlers - usually at a higher price. The manfacturer has confirmed that there is no difference between the two products other than the packaging and labelling!

At over over £1m, one might just ask why? I would suggest that if restoration or conservation was really necessary, there are a good number number of heritage railway workshops that could have done that job for a fraction of the cost and been glad of the work,

Just an update - I purchased a new Smartgauge direct from Merlin and fitted it this morning. It is working as it should and is reporting the correct voltages on both battery banks. It is interesting that before the old one failed completely by just displaying "LO" insead of the correct voltage on the engine batteries it had briefly displayed an error code E04 which I now know to be "above the voltage range" - an unlikely situation that had I known what it meant might well have been a clue that the unit had failed.

Good advice - sometimes the obvious answer is easily missed. So I did as suggested and the readings were different but the Smartgauge has now become even more eratic in its readings and the engine bank is now constantly reading "Lo" on the Smartgauge despite my multimeter confirming that there is 27.9 VDC at the terminals. Gibbo always warned not to tamper with the internals of the SG and I respect his warning so it looks like I need a new one! Does anyone have a spare SmartGauge that they no longer need?

I think I need to re-check all the connections before blaming the Smartgauge.