Boater Sam

Good battery and connections? Seems you have checked. Is it possible to turn the engine by hand a bit?

If he starts to grow a big bushy tail and to climb trees, you have a problem. Chocolate is also poison to dogs, but not cats. Antifreeze kills cats, so don't let him eat cats in winter.

If your starter battery is failing or just not fully charged, the engine will crank more slowly and the starter will draw MORE current than if it were full charged because it cannot get up to speed to generate any back EMF. Starting with a flatish battery will destroy the starter and the battery eventually. Having a fuse in the starter circuit is a bad idea, you have voltage drop across every connection and the thin fuse itself, remove it and make a good direct connection. Jump your leisure battery bank onto your starter battery, + to +, the negatives will already be joined. What state are your preheater plugs in?

, Zanussi KWC1300W washer. Reliable. Smaller, quiet. Runs on a thermostat so it fills with 40 degree water, happy on a 1800 watt inverter provided I leave a light on to keep the inverter on line and not in power save mode else it pauses in the spin cycle.

Horizontal cals are poor at stratifying the water layers, the hot gets stirred up by the cold, unlike vertical ones. Most I have seen the element is central in the side i.e. horizontal not vertical. It could be 90 degrees out but the cold in should be at the bottom, hot at the top with a prv for safety.

The tolerance on thickness of rolled steel is quite wide, so the spot measured thickness left is the important measure no matter what it started out as. The assumption that it has lost X mm over the years is erroneous, it may not have been the same thickness all over either.

Hang a sign on the tiller saying " Fuel"?

Anyone left on the Bridgewater still building? Are we talking shell or fitting out here?

Will you be showing a yellow flag then? Horn signals learnt yet? Yes. read some mags and the CRT sites, you will learn a lot. We all had too but then there were less boats around for most of us, and very few if any fatties.

If you hole the base plate it ain't smelly water that will pour in but thick mud that will ooze in on the average canal. The old elm bottomed boats used to be deliberately run into the clay banks near Braunston to reduce the leaks through the planks.

A shopping trolley versus a 10mm base plate is no contest, just a ball of chromed scrap.

I hand scraped and wire brushed my hull back to clean bright steel and used the epoxy I mentioned 20 years ago. Couldn't afford the grit blasting at the time. But it was very hard work. Its now 29 years old. It has been out and touched up only 3 times since first being done, had 2 sets of anodes replaced and apart from scrapes it is in fine condition. Never even looked at the base plate. The makers of the epoxy were Leigh Paint of Bolton, taken over by Sherwin Williams. They quote a 20 year life for the coatings I used. It had one coat of epoxy zinc phosphate onto the bare steel and 2 coats of the black epoxy originally. Since then it has been cleaned and touched up where scraped off and one thin coat overall each time it has been out. Its a mistake to put too many coats of epoxy on, its only the last one that protects anyway. I put new anodes on when needed, leaving the old ones on as well if there is anything left of them. Zinc of course, its never been in salt water.

There is a belief that there is less oxygen to rust the base plate on the mud layer at the bottom of a canal, maybe so, maybe not. Steel rusts less in winter due to the lower water temperature, fact. How are you going to clean and paint the base plate? If its a dry dock the plate is partially hidden over the stocks anyway and maybe only 2' off the ground. If its a drag out you will not get under it at all. Paranoia about boats rusting through and sinking is normal but unfounded, very few do sink. Many are now 50+ years old and were built with thinner steel than 'yours' , some are only 3mm thick from new! If you get iced in this winter and have to move you will destroy the blacking/epoxy anyway so leave it till spring. If you are still worried about pitting, rock the boat over by loading up one side with drinkers, get a 12v bulb on a stick, put it in the water before you turn it on, and have a look at the top 6" of the sides, that's the bit which will be the worst.

Piper. Tricky for a wide in the narrow canal NWest

Not being snotty, but, you know Ivan for a guy who has done so much research about buying a boat, you seem to know very little about the practicalities of ownership and living aboard. Have you read many boating magazines? And the adverts for insurance? The CRT websites about BSS and licencing? Sam.

Recently done this for a British expat. You may well have to pass a Habitual Residence Test before you can get anywhere. you won't be able to rent at first, the local authorities will not house you. A guest house or a friend's as an accommodation address first, but you must establish an address, The Dept of Work & Pensions is your best starting point. Then HMRC. Register with a library, doctor and a dentist. Driving licence and bus pass too if you are entitled. Get a Bank account, Nationwide are very helpful if you are just back. You have to establish that you are here for a long period, not transient. See Gov.UK sites

2 pack epoxy, have a word with Sherwin Williams in Bolton. salesledger@sherwin.com I've used it when it has not been warm without any problem . Epigrip L524 plus additive Its what they used on the Firth of Forth bridge last time, it doesn't have to be red! They do black.

You can insure without a survey even if only 3rd party, try Craftinsure on line. The safety certificate remains in force, just notify change of ownership at your leisure. CRT are not going to be pursuing you very quickly, the monthly checks are only done on moored boats. If its moving, no check as far as I know. Just notify them of a change, as soon as you feel necessary.

Buffalo board will outlast any other plywood. OSB painted is durable and cheaper.