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I cocked it all up at the top lock at Stoke Bruerne this morning - completely misjudged my approach to the lock landing, then ended up heading sideways when reversing to correct. I eventually gave up and moored on the opposite side of the cut, congratulating myself on a good save. ...unfortunately right in front of the water point, which the boat coming up was wanting to use. A very public place to get it all wrong, is stoke Bruerne... I'm not sure whether this thread has been an invaluable resource for avoiding future mishaps, or whether reading it last night was the reason behind the problems to begin with

I was almost blown off of my gunwale earlier, one of those comical wobbly moments that could have ended very differently! With the towpath on the other side at today's mooring though, I'm fully expecting to step off left by habit and step straight into the cut later...

In lieu of a photo of my own, the setup is pretty much identical to the one pictured in this thread: http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=20364&p=335717 The only difference is that in my boat there's no calorifier, but a feed to a radiator in the cabin. I presumed that access to check the level and fill up was through the filler cap on the top (the one with the thin orange 'overflow hose coming out of the side). There is no other way that I can see to check the level or fill up away from the engine - but it's quite possible I'm missing something obvious. Engines aren't my forte, electrickery is!

I appreciate that this is probably an incredibly dumb question and that I'm probably missing something really obvious, but the manual hasn't helped and having a poke around hasn't yielded any results either! My problem is that, with the the cap unscrewed, I can't see any way of actually checking the coolant level, as there's a 'thing' blocking the hole under the cap. Any ideas? E2A: in addition to being an idiot, I also apparently can't spell, the title should obviously read coolant!

Yes, thankfully. I did have a look at the stoppages when working out how to fit moving it in with the joys of busy self-employment, and I'd have been rather more keen to get going if I'd been thinking of going the other way! A test drive is one thing, but you wouldn't expect a tutorial in the basic skills surely? It just seems odd to me that anyone would spend a significant sum of money on something that they don't know the first thing about. That's just my point of view though, and clearly different people have different expectations. Breaking down is a disappointing result either way!

I bought a (stock) boat from Whilton just under a month ago, and I've had absolutely no problems. A thoroughly helpful bunch of people. It's still moored there while they do some really minor BSS work on it, and then I'll be away early November. They were ore than happy to give me temporary moorings for the month, and the only reason the work hasn't been done so far is that I let them know that I was in no hurry to take it. Would you expect a used car dealer to show you how to start the engine and reverse out of the forecourt? Who in their right mind spends that amount of money on something without having even a basic clue about how to use it!?

Yes - it leaves rather a lot of loose black powder which I guess will need removing well before painting. I've already had success (on something else treated with Fertan) with a sponge and plenty of clean water, so will see how I get on in the locker with the same. Now if only the bathroom problems were this simple...

Thanks for all of the advice. Fertan after judicious use of a belt sander and wire brushes worked a treat in the bow locker (although getting to the space behind the water tank is possibly the most awkward and uncomfortable thing I've ever had to do), and I'll be painting directly over it with Damboline when I get a chance. The difference between how it looks now and how it looked on Friday is staggering!

Oh no, I was hoping to rule options out, not end up with more! Think I'm going to try Damboline over Fertan and see how it goes.

Hi all, This is my first post on here and my first real boating issue, so please be gentle! I have some mild corrosion to get rid of in the engine bay and in the bow locker, and after a lot of Googling and reading previous threads on here, the options (especially for the hard-to-reach bits) after getting rid of as much rust as possible by hand seem to be: Fertan (or Vactan), prime and then paint with Damboline Owatrol, then paint with Damboline Owatrol, and don't paint Which of these would people be inclined to go for? Is there any merit to using Fertan followed by Owatrol and then painting, or is that completely uneccessary overkill? Best Regards, Mark