Mad Harold

The real tossers are not on the canals,but sitting on their fat arses in Parliament.

Two beautiful looking engines. I daren't post a picture of mine,too embarassing.!

If you can get a home mooring you will avoid a lot of the problems that continuous cruisers face.You can claim a portion of the mooring fee as housing benefit. The cost in the south is expensive,but up north more affordable. There are residential moorings,leisure moorings, which may or may not be strictly leisure,it depends how the management interpret the rules. Sometimes on loosely iinterpreted rules, the moorers have to bugger of on their boats for a month or so every year to comply with the management's interpretation of the rules The suggestion to volunteer is a good one.Talking to as many boaters as possible,you will get to know what the craik is.

A garage is far too useful a space just to keep a boring car in. Mine is for motorbikes ,bits of engines,boaty stuff and a workbench and tools.

I wouldn't prat about with it! It needs a specialist to look at it. Boaters are usually a helpful lot. Can you ask a nearby boater to give you a tow to a place where you can get it sorted?

At my last blacking, the yard I used used a high pressure steam cleaner to prepare the hull. The bloke doing it said that he had blown holes in "dodgy" hulls on more than one occasion.

I'll be happy if I'm still around at that age.

The best description of age related memory loss was from ( if I remember correctly) was from some jazz singer who said memory is like a bucket.When it's full it overflows. I can remember quite clearly my schooldays and misspent youth,my working days and some lovely people that I have met,but I have some difficulty remembering what I did two days ago!

No. I chose that user name in memory of someone I flew with (in a different incarnation) who was called Harold.He wasn't mad,but because of his fearless flying ( he flew Mosquitos in WW2) he was given that nickname by us fellow pilots. After flying warplanes in combat,understandably, nothing much scared him.

That's correct. I am though on the lowest mooring rate because of my boat size and being on the wharf moorings.If you want land line electric,then the mooring is dearer,and in the marina proper,on pontoons and lockable gate,again more expensive.They also charge for car parking, but Aspley Wharf Marina Huddersfield is for me ideal,I only live ten minutes away,is cheap and is on the junction of the Huddersfield Narrow and Broad canals. One of my favourite days out is up the Narrow a few locks to a nice pub,and back in time for tea. I do get some stick for this as the Narrow is usually only used by boats using the Standedge tunnel. The usual comment is, "what! you go up the Narrow for pleasure?" and when I answer yes,I get,"you're mad"!

When I bought my boat it was moored on an end of garden moorning.It was an inaccesible,muddy,with no services strip, which needed a four wheel drive to take any stuff to the boat.To make it worse,the canal was lower than the land,and in wet weather you slithered down the embankment and if your boat didn't stop your descent,you were in the cut! The landowner charged £100 per month and the CRT water rent was £700 per annum.Hardly a bargain, because where I am now the mooring fee is £84 per month,and there are showers,Elsan facilities,pump out,diesel,coal,chandlery and engineering on site.A much better place.

Enjoyed the last two episodes of Great Canal Journeys. Standedge Tunnel and Rochdale Canal are both localish to me. The French canal was very lmpressive,nice and wide with manned locks! It was quite amusing to see Tim weaving all over the canal because of wheel steering.This can be quite challenging for those of us used to a tiller,usually because of the gearing,a lot of wheel movement equals little rudder movement,so there is a tendency to oversteer untill you are used to it. I do wish Tim would stop going on about his wife's illness,not that I am unsympathetic,but I think it spoils the programme a bit. Although there is one shot of her crossing a lock gate and without it being fully closed! (I wouldn't be happy doing that) so she is quite a capable crew member. Although the programme is only a snapshot of canal boating, I think it does a good job of promoting canals and boating.

I have severely cursed my direct raw water engine cooling system on several occasions, (cleaning intake strainer,water filter,flushing sediment out of the water jacket) but reading your post, perhaps my system is not so bad.! .

It's quite likely that the petrol in the tank has lost it's volatility,so won't vapourise properly. If the carb wasn't drained before storing,the fuel in the carb will have turned into a sticky sludge. The Yam 9.9 is a very reliable lump,and yours probably just needs a service.

I always boat solo (family not interested,friends have their own boats) Love the cruising and locking,but the evenings are tedious.Rarely anything worth watching on the telly,fed up with reading novels,a strange pub on your own is no fun especially if the beer is crap.Tried an "Arthur Marshall" (practice my Trombone) and although a retired pro, my playing is now so awful,I couldn't stand it for very long. Generally start cruising early and moor up late. Usually a weeks cruising is enough,then I go home and think about my next trip.

Walk away and don't look back! From what you have said,there are too many negatives with this boat.Fibreglass top = leaks.Part over plated =more will want doing.Lister engine = big bills to fix. I havn't done a project (yet) but just maintaining my boat is nearly a full time (and) expensive job! It sounds as if even this boat is free,it will be a heartbreaking and financially ruinous project.

Had my stern gland re-packed at a yard. Cost was £50.

Would it be simpler to put a "Tee"joint in the cold feed after the pump and pipe it to the water heater.? With a tap and swivel spout on the water heater.

Could be that the boat is so ugly and a rusty pile of poo,that it's embarrasing to admit to buying it. It might also be an absolute beauty at a bargain price and LG doesn't want to make us all jealous.

Love the look of Colvic boats.Had to write them off my list of boats to view because they are too wide and deep for narrow canals.

Took the boat to the nearest lock today to give the engine a good blast. Checked the oil level (just up to the A on the max mark on the dipstick.Took the engine cover off and the air filter and a cloth pad handy in case of runaway. Filled the lock and bow against the gate and opened the throttle. Loads of blue smoke from about three quarter throttle to full.Because of the noise and smoke I only gave short bursts of full throttle,bringing the throttle back to a blue haze setting.This was still faster than I have used on the canal or river.After about half an hour of this I found that the power setting could be increased without the large smokescreen,and it was then only the last inch or so of throttle movement that gave the smokescreen. I would have thought that the amount of smoke it was chucking out would have burned a load of oil,but checking the oil level,it was the same as when I started(on the A of max) . I am now 99% sure that the smoke at high power settings is caused by soot and oil deposits in the exhaust. It would appear that it is going to take some considerable time to burn off all the muck in the exhaust,so I will just use the engine as normal and when convienient give it a burst. I now feel more confident that my engine is ok. Thanks once again for all the replies.

That's what I am going to do (when it stops raining) Will report back on result,hopefully with an intact engine! All the replies on this thread have been carefully noted,and I am most grateful to all the people who have given my problem some thought and replied. Thank you all.

That sounds like an easier option. When first glancing at your post,I thought you were going to tell me about "The Mexican Valve Grind" I'me sure you know what that is, but for those that don't. Remove valve springs,secure valve,insert valve stem in electric drill and spin in the drill maintaining upward pressure.