Kingdom Isambard Brunel

Is the flue pipe straight or has bends? I would try to clear it if it is in good condition rather than have the hassle of changing it. With a lot of patience and a few odd shaped bits of steel bar/strip you should be able to hammer it away. I don't use a brush to sweep our flue anymore, found them to be a waste of time. I have a length of blue plastic water pipe with 3" stainless steel screws driven half way through all round like a crown of thorns, that rips out the clinkers well. Sam.

Sorry, correct, forgot to mention the self lubricating property of high carbon steels such as cast iron. Not to be confused with cast steel which can be a swine to cut.

Aye, an engineering apprenticeship does help if I can still remember! Thanks for the greenie.

New Starrett hole saw, oil, slowly, with constant pressure is the way. Cast iron cuts well but you must keep it cutting from the word go, once you polish the bottom of the hole it stops cutting. I drill a small hole on the cutting circle first, gives it a fresh edge to pick up on.

There are more BMC running today than there will ever be of Barrus.

Prestolite ( Leece Neville) are good alternators with excellent after sales engineers. Standard Beta ones are in my experience unreliable, expensive and not the best. My local electrical engineer will not touch them, hard to get parts he says.

CAV or Delphi kit using a common 522 filter, cheap as chips and just as good?

Dead easy, use the "w" terminal on the alternator and buy a suitable tacho head and a bit of wire.

To go green, eliminate the people.

Biggest that you can get into the terminals. Spend the money on the fattest, do it only once.

I doubt that you have room on those hooks for a rivet gun head. Drill 4.2mm, tap 5mm ( bit of grease to ease the tap ) and use 5mm button headed allen key machine screws with non silicone sealant is the best way. Then when you snap a hook off you can easily replace it. Button heads don't snag on things. Silicone sealants can cause rusting on steel.

A lavatory hand wash basin is not a sink. If you know the difference between a Bison and a Buffalo you are almost there....

One of my ex business partners moved a recently charged car battery. As he put it down, the top blew off into his face. Fortunately he had glasses on and I grabbed him and pushed his head into the loo and flushed it. Apart from a few bruises he was OK. The battery was not.

Battery failure. Or bad connection. Does it do it with the engine running and charging the battery bank?

Austin A50?

I did a couple of economy heating jobs on boats using discarder fire extinguishers with tank connectors fitted in the bottom. On their wall clips too. Conversation pieces.

Red ones need checking as they are normally for heating system expansion, not fresh water. Blue and white are usually for potable water.

50 kg anthracite and 50kg Supatherm in sacs from the local coal merchant, delivered, £39. We mix the two ,like cocktails.

Don't disconnect your car battery, modern ones don't like it !!!! Dump the hot one.

Has it always done this? Is the boat new to you? Have you checked for loose drive coupling bolts etc? Is there lots of backlash in the drive shaft or Python? Have you checked the prop? PRM120 is a mechanical box with cone clutches, if the tickover of the engine is too high it will engage with a snatch.

Light bulbs, the filament type. A few 100w ones in strategic places will prevent freezing.

Relying on a pump on a solid fuel stove is a bad idea IMHO. It is possible to do a gravity system, just takes a bit of design and planning.