Theo

Lots of sound advice, thanks. I think that the drill pump is probably the best idea. Are they self priming? Nick

thanks for the suggestion bust at the moment I only have 600W of 230V at my disposal. Nick

Yesterday I discovered a rather alarming 2" water in the cabin bilges. I rather suspect it is the result of a leak in the domestic water system, possible the expansion pipe from the calorifier dumps water there. Obviously this needs sorting very soon but I don't have a portable pump that will do the job satisfactorily. What sort should I be getting? Nick

What would you count as a proper heater, Gibbo? Nick

Yes, but this is another petition form another voter so it is still worthwhile. Nick

We had intended using New Year's eve and day to get Theodora home to Thurmaston. However with lots of rain, lots of wind and not lots of experience (with thirty years) of conditions on the Soar we decided that discretion is the better... I woul not like to find myself aground in the middle of a field still less nose down a weir! Poor old Theodora will have to languish at Kilby Bridge for a bit longer. We will pay a visit tomorrow, though, and see if I can persuade the Mikuni to go. Happy New Year everyone! Nick

The Rules of the Road at Sea which presumably don't entirely apply in this case used to say (30 years ago when I was a deck officer in the Merchant Navy) that it is the duty of the overtaking vessel to keep out of the way of the overtaken vessel "until finally past and clear". It seems to me that Supermalc did not manage to do this because he compromised his own duty with a misguided (?) sense of courtesy for the vessel which was overtaking him. This third vessel had the duty of keeping out of the way of both Supermalc and the NB again until finally past and clear. The point that I am making is that the rules were broken and caused the incident. However there must be an overriding duty of care which the NB did not follow. Perhaps he was looking elsewhere at the time! I am not at all sure if this post adds anything to the discussion. Please feel free to ignore it! Nick

Wonderful. Who nicked it? Nick Internet rules OK!!

I wonder if a few interior details would help. A photo or tow of unusual bits that might be visibel through the windows. Nick PS This theft is also being discussed on uk.rec.waterways.

This is very useful to know! I will check Theodora as soon as possible. Nick

I can offer nothing but words of encouragement. It must be very difficult to steal a narrowboat and get away with it. Cragdale's owners worked hard and got her back so don't be too despondent. Nick

That seems good to me. You will note that my cautions were all directed at locking. Boating by moonlight sounds wonderful and the moon is waxing gibbous (74% full now so it should be at least 80% by New Year) Enjoy Nick

Sorry to write on the H&S side, (I am usually on the other) but I do think that locking in the dark is something that no one should do. People can and are more likely to fall in and they are very difficult to find. Paddles do get left up, and they drain the pound. (I boat passed us at Camden last summer rushing up to Harefield for a paint job. The pound below us was empty in the morning, the top gate of the next lock down was open and so was the bottom paddle. I can't see how they managed that! Perhaps I misremember and the paddle was only half up. Nick

I don't think that I could manage not to visit Theodora for a whole month. I go withdrawal symptoms (if you pardon the expression!) after ten days! Nick I got ... (If you'll... (Must look at posts before clicking reply!)

We hire Holly from Middlewhich one year and as usual were rather short of time on the return journey. Only a few locks from base we found a que of about 15 down and a similar number up. I don't like just suitting around so I had a whlae of a time locking people up and down for an hour or so. I had lots of thanks and was asked if I wnated to queue jump a few boats for my pains. I had had a really good time and been helped on the way! Nick

It is delightful to hear such delight. My No 2 son and SWMBO's mama saw Theodora for the first time today. They are both as delighted as we are with her. It is all very gratifying, isn't it? Nick

Oh, yes. SWMBO read all of the above and reminded me that I bought and engine manual from EBay (£10). It says 15s -30s. So now I know. Many thanks all. Nick

How very gratifying! I confess to idiocy and goet a whole lot of good advice in return! Thanks everyone! Nick Ah! It might depend on the engine, then. Mine is a BMC 1.5. Any advice specific to that one! N

I know that I will have to discover this by experientation , but how long would you expect to leave the glow plugs befroe a completely cold start? N

I do feel sheepish At the moment there is a problem with Theodora's glow plug circuitry. This means that she is a pig to start but she has not let me down yet. This also means that I don't expect her to start easily. Today I nearly flattened the start battery by trying and trying to make her go. I even hot wired the glow plugs. All was all right when No. 2 son found that the stop button was still pulled out! The good thing that came out of it was that I now know that she will start beautifully one I sort out the glow pug problem. On all the other boats that I have used there are three positions on the ignition switch. 1) Charging circuitry on, 2) Glow plugs on 3) Starter motor on. Theodora only has functions 1 and 3. I need to do a bit of circuit tracing. There is a separate switch that I have not yet identified which could be a glow plug switch but it does not seem to have any effect. Happy New Year Everyone Nick

"Sir" Nick

No. Quantum electrodynamics. Don't ask... Nick

When we bought Teodora from Whilton Marina they refused to even recommend a surveyor but they said that they could give me a list of all the ones in the area. They said that it would be unethical to recommend one for precisely the reason that Bottle stated. Nick We got our last oven through Freecycle (look it up on the internet). Totally free and works beautifully. Nick

I think that there might be a miscalculation. 8" fwd, as long as there were no draught change aft would mean a mean draught change of 4". In fact I would suspect that there would be a slight increase in the after draught. If this is the case then the mean change of draught would be rather less than 4", say 3" which is 0.25 ft. At 10t/foot that would give 2.5t. Does that sound more reasonable? Nick