Theo

Ah! That was the purpose of the screw. I will now have to find it again! Thanks, Bottle Nick

I went out and bought the Waxoyl from Halfords. I bought a 5 litre can for £18 and a 2.5 litre pressure can full of Waxoyl and complete with spray gun. It came in a free toolbox. That is all very fine and large but I am having difficulties with the spray gun. The gun and pump is OK to assemble but there is a translucent white extension hose a little thicker than a ballpoint pen refill which I cannot get to fit. It has a black screw fitting on one end which screws nicely on to the gun to replace the normal nozzle. The other end is just a plain cut end with no nozzle at all and I can't see how this is going to function. If I try to use it as it is I would imagine that the Waxoyl will just dribble out of the end or, if it comes out fast enough, emerge as a fairly thick jet which is not at all what is required. Has anyone else got one of these? Am I missing a part? Nick

No1 son's father in law knows everyone and among the everyone he knows is an electronics buff who likes to repair things. He had a look at my poor inverter and found virtually every component on the board had blown. I will now buy another and site it in a place where I am not likely to pour water over it. There are lots to choose from on the internet. Am I safe getting a low priced one? What do I get if I pay a higher price for the same quoted power? Nick

Coo! Grew up on! I am more than a little jealous. Did you appreciate how lucky you were or am I romanticising. There must have been a number of disadvantages. Nick

It's sounding better and better! I am all fired up to get on with it now. 1st job find where the water in the cabin biliges is coming from 2nd sort it out 3rd allow to dry 4th set to with the Waxoyl NIck

If you ahve a farmer friend you might think of getting it craned aout and transported to a v cheap (free?) hard standing. I don't know the cost of craneage or of transport, though. Nick

Thanks for all the replies. It looks as is I am going to have to do it, then! Nick

Now I prefere t see them laden. the smaller freebaord looks so much more graceful. Nick

And, following on from my one comment in this thread, thank you for asking. I have learned a bit more about solar panels from all the helpful replies. Nick

dring the weeks that I was waiting to get theodora up to Raynsway in Thurmaston I paid nothing even though I had booked my mooring. It made me quite twitchy really because I feel that until I have paid money I don't feel that I know if the mooring will be mine. Dave's a trustworthy chap, though, and all was well when I arrived. Nick

Theodora's Mikuni has been a source of innocent entertainment and speculation since we got her. At first it would not start at all. Then we got the alternator going and gave the poor little boiler a reasonable voltage and it worked. Then it needed about 2 switch ons before it would fire, then 4 and now it won't go at all. When I first switch it on, the little green light on the on/off switch flashes slowly and various whines come from the boiler along with clicks from the fuel pump. Cold air and a smell of unburned diesel come from the exhaust. Then there is a loud whine from the boiler and it settles down cold with the green light on the on/off switch flashing at a rather higher frequency and no sounds at all. It remains in this state until I switch it off for a minute or so and then switch it on again. It then has another try. Does it require a) a complete service, a new glow plug. (The emoticon replaced my b bracket!) c) both. As a reasonably handy owner can I do the service myself? I know that the glow plug is easy to get at because I took it out myself a couple of weeks ago and gave it a bit of a scrape to remove some of the carbon. I look forward to your comments Nick

We choes a narrowboat because it did not occur to us that anything else would be acceptable. We like the shape and the fact that it is rugged. We like the fact that she reminds us of what things were liek when the canals were first cut. The narrowness we are willing to put up with because we want to cruise extensively. Nick

On reading the other contributions I thank that a pan full of water on the cooker and the waxoyl container in that would be a good safe heating arrangement. By the way, is waxoyl like the chain lubricant that I used on my old Honda 90? Nick

Don't apologise. I am most interested to hear how you get on. Nick

I particulary like this idea because you can drive the trains fore and aft too to correct trim. The actual location of the trains and the setting of points could lead to problems but I am sure that a transparent floor or a proper electronic map would solve this one. Relating to another of my threads, you could probable modify the train both to scrape the bottom and to spray the waxoyl as it goes around. I must get about cutting spaces in the frames so that I can set it all up. I imagine that the boat is over engineered anyway so a bit of lost strength won't matter. Nick

That's useful to know! What sort of sprayer do you advise? Nick

Theodora is enjoying her new home at Thurmaston. One of the early items on my to do list has been the scraping of the bottom on the inside. This will require lifting the floorboards and setting to with scraper, wire brush and waxoyl. I will not be able to get to all parts, though, because I am unwilling to remove the bulkheads. The question is: Is all that necessary and will it prolong the dear boat's life? TIA Nick

The problem is that I don't want help. N

It just goes to show that Supermalc can sometimes be wrong. My pictures were obviously best. The fact that they didn't win shows that the voters have no taste. Nick

On the gallery, in a comment in reply to one of mine, Moley wrote that it was normal for each submitter of a photo to give him/herself a vote of five. Looking at the scores I don't think that this is happening and photographers re doing themselves down. Perhaps there needs to be an instruction in the Help texts which might help to standardise voting practices. IMHO, of course! Nick

I have exactly the same for when I finish teaching Physics. 26 weeks, 6 days, 4 hrs, 58 mins, 48s (or 188 days). In my case I keep the SS on my PDA for frequent consultation! Nick

In our case the yoofs did a little damage. The lifebuoy was cast into the cut as was the centre line. I retrieved the lifebuoy. It had only drifted a little way down, but I did not notice the centre line until it tangled around the prop. I had to use the bread knife to cut it free. :-( Nick One thing that I found strange is that you do not work any of the locks for yourself. They are big and fast and the BW boys do it all for you. This is good or bad according to your taste. You do have to phone to warn them when you will be arriving at the locks, though, which takes some of the spontaneity out of things. Nick

Isn't the variation of opinion in humans fascinating? Although I can see some useful aspects of pram covers I fear that I loathe and detest them! Fortunately SWMBO is of the same mind. This variation is particulalry pleasing in the case of the canals. They would be very crowded if everyone liked them! Hoping not to have given offence. I support everyone's right to like what he or she likes! Nick

Welcome! You will find everything from lunacy to amazing erudition. I have benefitted from lots and lots of ideas. I fact I am totally addicted to the forum! Nick

A recent article in WW said that the L&L could cope with 60' quite happily. Nick