Ex Brummie

Flat pack kitchen units are made to go into humid environments. Just choose good quality and they can be adapted to fit to sloping sides if that is what you have. Any good independent chippy or boat yard should be able to quote for the work if you want it that way. Help with the bathroom/toilet is perhsaps where you will benefit from a boatfitters experience. Saloon and bedrooms can often be furnished with freestanding units, but wardrobes can be a bit awkward to build.

Home central heating systems run on 28 sec , Kerosene, which is a much cleaner fuel than 35 sec, Diesel. Also, the sulphur content was reduced some 10 years ago to makeit even cleaner. Much work is now proceeding to produce blue flame combustion, which will almost halve CO2 emissions from the usual 11% ish, and reduce the very few particulates that currently occur. Boat engines tend to be among the dirtier diesels because of their age, and you only have to look at some of the exhausts on some older boats to see the filth they produce. A congregation of some of the continuous moorers is not a nice place to moor nearby, so one can understand the reaction of local residents to this pollution. They cannot move away.

When you open the damper, do you get any spillage from it? Test with a smoke match or taper. Closing the damper seems to restrict the airflow through the pot. Are all the holes clear? The first picture is a flame profile that would be more acceptable on high flame setting. Have you measured the fuel flow from the OCV?

Waiting for the tide to descend Torksey, a Hudson was hovering, so I invited him alongside. After 10 mins with his Gardner shaking my boat morethan my own engine ever did, I suggested he might want to turn it off. 'I can't,' he said, @the wife has got the breadmaker on'. I expressed surprise that his inverter wouldnot cope with it to which he replied' Oh, it will, but if the freezer kicks in then it all switches off'. I once pulled in along with several other club members behind a boat in the middle of a convenient stretch of the Shroppie without the shelf. The lady off the boat came to tell me that they would need to start their engine, and it smoked badly. I expressed my sympathy at how uncomfortable it must be for them. The engine stayed silent.

The most used and abused boats on the cut! I was enthralled by some of the 'adaptions' made to these utilitarian craft that I started to photograph them. However, whilst on my mooring one evening I heard an interesting sound approaching, which was a 30ft Springer with the closed in front cockpit, and mounted on the foredeck was a Coventry Victor Twin, connected with hydraulic drive. Without the camera, I could not add to my collection, and without the 'Jewel in the Crown', I never had the enthusiasm to add to my album.

I've been slipped, craned and dry docked. The potential for flexing is just as great on a slip as in a sling, as the bogie probably is not much difference in length to a cradle, but you never know where the best point of balance is. When craned, a good operative will test for best balance whilst the boat is still part in water. I've been in a 'dry' dry dock, and a muddy dry dock. For convenience I now use a yard that cranes, but if he can lift out Joeys and Woolwiches without hassle, I'm quite happy to let him get mine out.

You need to remove it and free from the inside. Look at it logically. If external lubricant can penetrate it, water will p**s out of it in use.

Reading through the interim report, Involve have stated their remit is only for boaters. They absolve themselves from any influences from problems which are socio economic such as cheap accommodation in expensive areas, or any 'Yooman Rites' issues regarding employment or children's education. As a charity specialising in 'Public Engagement', they no doubt have their eyes focused on further engagement consultation in those areas. Thus the earning potential is tripled. I find it hard to treat these exercises with anything but contempt.

Every time I go to the boat and light up the Morco, I turn up and down the water regulator 2 or 3 times, this stops the scale building up.

I bought the toilet blue at £4.99 and when putting it in the locker, found a 4lt Elsan blue I'd bought from Midland Swindlers 18 months ago when I bought 2 for £20. When I called in on freaky Friday to buy a new loo ( the old one was full!!!) they were selling 4lt Elsan for £10, and still are.

Too low a flow through the heater. You need to free , or replace, the seized water governor

The data plate on the OCI should include flow rates. They are normally etched into the plate and expressed in CC/Min., usually between 4 and 13 cc per min. When you have the top off, remove the metering column which is held by a spring in the outlet. You will see there is a vertical slit in the tube. Make sure this is clear by using a split matchstick. Your flame picture shows a low fuel input if that is full setting. I would then replace the OCV at its original level. Too high a level will cause overfiring.

Yes. Commonly done with T.V.'s

If you have a gap in the door, then the flue draught will pull through that instead of through the fire. You won't lose heat up the chimney, as you put it, but your fire will not be as hot, and you also run the risk of CO entering the cabin.

Sounds like too little diesel. When you cleaned the regulator, did you check for a blockage at the outlet? If the metering column was stuck, then there could be a blockage of solidified fuel in the hole. Also, without knowing which regulator you have fitted, the metering column may have had a rubber o ring that has disintegrated blocking the fuel. If you disconnect the feed pipe, you can measure the flow and check it against the specification plate of the unit.

Comastic needs to be applied to bare steel, or a previous coating of comastic. I'm sure the boatyard that applied mine did not dress up, and using the touch up can, I've not noticed anything amiss.

Just down from Bratch on the S&W is Botterham, which has clear instructions. Bratch is 3 individual locks without a pound you can pass in between them. The general instructions for a staircase are, for going up or down, empty bottom and full top. If going down, then there is often a weir to take any overflow if the bottom lock is full. As I said earlier, whilst some staircases may fill from a empty top, sufficient to pass the cill, if you start with a full lock, you will never be in a situation where your boat may be halfway in, and you then have to fill a double length, which could present a safety issue.

Even if there is sufficient water in an 'empty' top lock to pass the cill, by the time you have then filled up to get out of the top lock by the same amount of water as if you had filled it to start with, so why not do it to start with and save the hassle of having to try and fill a bottom lock from the top to release a boat from the cill?

The rubber drive shaft is 'housed in two metal shrouds on the gearbox and the prop shaft. The maximum misalignment is governed by the clearance of these shrouds, and 45 degrees is well out of bounds.

For the odd occasion it is needed, a simple jump lead will suffice. If it needs to be done regularly, then you are better off sorting out the starting problem. I carry one in my battery box for just such an occasion.

You could look for something like the leatherman, Anon, and have a 50ft boat and a small push butty to accommodate the office/music etc.

With the amount of offside linear moorings on this stretch, you won't be going too fast anyway!!!

I would try warming it first. If a part tin, there may have been sufficient air in there to partially cure it.

Bituminous Black is NOT what you use on your hull, that is just bitumen. I have used one n the past that was made by Evo Stik, and is epoxy based with a bituminous content. These are classified as odourless and tasteless, and until a punitive testing and certification scheme was introduced a few years ago, the products were certified for use in water tanks. The standard has not changed, just the EU regulations.

Remove the rust to bare metal and treat with Rustoleum or similar. Allow to dry thoroughly, then use a bituminous black paint, not bitumen. I think Black Jack is a name that I recall from a couple of years ago when I did mine. At this time of year, it is best to double or treble the dryingtimes for intermediate coats.