BilgePump

Resurrecting an old thread here but does anyone on the forum have experience of running and maintaining a Z drive? Guessing that the youngest ones are now getting on for 40plus years old. Will be looking for a 25ft-ish GRP cruiser, many of which came in outboard or Z drive flavours.

Ally the name is like Ali or Allie, just like Ali can be used as an abbreviation for the metal. Ally the word is pronounced differently.

Not really, The more common contractions I suspect would be Al, Alex, Allie, Ali etc. Ally is a word with defined meaning. You forgot all those people called Pan(dora) or Gay(e)

Yep, an alphabet soup isn't really necessary. I think that anyone writing LGB+, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA+ etc is just using a respectful abbreviation for a whole spectrum of sexual and gender identity.

LGBTQQIAAP = Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Ally, Pansexual As a straight man who has many friends in those groups, I find that use of the Ally label is an inclusive one. Gay rights are human rights and we should all be keen to see that our rights to life and liberty are protected.

My little boat doesn't have a pulpit rail that goes round following the shape of the bow, it just has a single rail in the middle of the foredeck like a handrail thing. Find it useful for holding onto when doing stuff up front. However, its real advantage is due to the fact that the bow is so low that it can just go under the lift bridges/swing bridges round here. The rail stops this happening and thus prevents the boat from slipping under the bridge and making contact with the front windows where the cabin top rises up. It's not the sturdiest of things and would bend badly or rip out I imagine if fallen against. On the sailing boat they are a proper pulpit and pushpit, attached with decent bolts and backing, good and sturdy for holding onto or leaning against when the water's a bit lumpy.

Just got my year renewal price for a CaRT mooring that I originally got on a three year contract back in 2020. The monthly cost has gone up by approx 18%. Other mooring has increased by 10% since last year and licences up by approx 12%.

Ah, that explains why I saw your first one back up for sale recently. Glad to know that it's being sold to be replaced by the new one. The Furies have really elegant lines. Have fun with it, but like was noted above I bet you find something you can't resist fettling within the first few weeks!

It was 2007 iirc that most two stroke engines for leisure use stopped being imported into the EU for sale. The rules didn't prevent the sale or use of new ones already imported or secondhand ones. All my little outboards are two strokes with the newest being a 2007 model. Some lakes etc do have a ban on petrol outboards in general (that's how I ended up with an electric outboard when I bought a boat that had been on one such body of water). However, that's a local environmental decision and rule rather than an actual law.

Well, I don't see what all the fuss is about. Let's face is I bet we've all let our boat motor itself across at least one aqueduct, if not the Ponty, and walked the towpath. And which of us haven't left a young kid and precariously balanced carry cot on board as the adults got off? And which of us don't have to launch our boats by grinding steel ramps over the coping stones and putting a load of pressure on the edge?

One thing that will help the OP in finding someone to assist with putting in a new tank is if they can measure the old one and the space that it occupies (can a new one be popped in or do structural bits have to be removed/replaced. Photos and measurements can quickly explain things to someone without their need to visit you and view it in person. If the OP has heard the engine running off this bodge setup then it sounds as though they have at least more than a dead lump to start with. But yes, it needs sorting out asap for present safety and next BSS test.

There were various triple axle Land Rovers and Range Rovers made, for things like airport fire trucks

I'm guessing that it's a BMC 1.5 with Enfield Z drive as Dawncraft 30s seemed to have that or an outboard as options.

I once had (now scrapped) a 20' GRP sailing boat. The bilge keels were filled with scrap steel and poured concrete ballast as part of the build process. Quite a number of that model saw water get in from leaky windows etc, rust the steel which expanded, cracked the concrete, let in more water, froze, expanded, rusted more etc until it was enough to actually split any weak point in the GRP of the keels, letting in water from underneath, which is definitely a bad thing!

Cheap leisure batteries work out at around £1 per Ah. Weight wise about 4Ah per kg. Even just a single 80Ah battery and the motor and battery will weigh a lot more than the lightweight tiny petrol outboards. My Mariner 3.3hp two stroke weighs about half the weight of a battery plus electric outboard. A single battery just wouldn't have the range of even the internal tank, and you can carry a small fuel can to top it up. However, cost wise, say 3x80Ah (£240) batteries and 1x small electric outboard (£160 plus) is still much cheaper than a 2 or 3hp new petrol outboard of any quality. Good thing about bog-standard leisure batteries is that they can be used for all sorts of other things at home or on the water.

I got the joke. Wasn't implying that you weren't jesting eta: don't think LadyG was implying otherwise either 🙂

Definitely this. Yes, well known on the Peak Forest canal, pics are from the towpath moorings on the Whaley Bridge side of New Mills marina. Don't know if it's the same owner these days but pre-Covid when I last saw it on the move was at Bugsworth. Owner seemed a top chap.

This seems to be the point. Every person I know who has one swears by it and uses it all the time. I don't have one but intend to at some point. I've just thrown out an immaculate breadmaker, virtually unused, with everything. I couldn't give it away. Lots of people who aren't into baking bread bought one and then realised it was still a fair faff compared to buying a loaf from the shop. Hence why loads will have spent their entire lives in the darkness of the back of a cupboard. An air-fryer is about the same size but many people will never move it from a counter-top because they get used that much.

My GRP boat's got waterski towing eyes on the back!

Only time I bought a new outboard was twenty years ago and at the time Mercury Mariner were the same as were Johnson Evinrude iirc. I got a Yam back then which didn't have a rebadged equivalent. Have a little Mariner 3.3hp which would have been last of those 2 strokes from 2007, identical in every part except colour and badge to the Mercury.

I think you're right about it just being a brand. The 5hp Yamaha from c.1980 that I use has an identical Mariner branded twin.

Yes, they were. Before that some Mariner outoards were actually Yamaha under the hood, 70s early 80s time.

Just as another follow up to your post, it prompted me to pull the Mariner 48lb Whisper Thrust motor out. On closer look it's got the Mercury Marine sticker on it, Brunswick 1996 Made in USA. So, it seems they did dip a toe in the market as far back as that. Mine is still running okay but coming off the sailing boat has always been stuck in the dead ahead position on heading so still haven't tried it on the little canal cruiser. Now, I've managed to free it off and get it nicely moving so cheers to the OP for starting this thread. It set me off doing a job I've been meaning to do for a couple of years!

Jeez. Hadn't realised that engine's been removed. So that's a tug required to get it anywhere for hull work.