Kingdom Isambard Brunel

Sadly I have to report that the canal is still leaking out of the aqueduct onto the A530 road at Middlewich despite the £3.2M spend I have been asking CRT what they are doing about it as there is a waterfall onto vehicles passing under the aqueduct, the brickwork is saturated and leaking. The first answer was that they were monitoring the leak and that it would cease after the canal bed had been wet for a while countering the drying out during the works. This has not been the case. Asked what was going to happen when the weather turned colder and the water turned to icicles hanging from the bridge and the road was a sheet of ice, the reply was that the local authority were to increase the amount of grit spread on the road. Luckily the weather in the area is still mild but with night frost. A request for an update earlier this week has not even been acknowledged never mind answered. This is in breach of CRT's code of conduct. Does there have to be a serious accident on the road before action is taken? Will the leak again be ignored until the canal breaches again?

Sadly I have to report that the canal is still leaking out of the aqueduct onto the A530 road at Middlewich despite the £3.2M spend I have been asking CRT what they are doing about it as there is a waterfall onto vehicles passing under the aqueduct, the brickwork is saturated and leaking. The first answer was that they were monitoring the leak and that it would cease after the canal bed had been wet for a while countering the drying out during the works. This has not been the case. Asked what was going to happen when the weather turned colder and the water turned to icicles hanging from the bridge and the road was a sheet of ice, the reply was that the local authority were to increase the amount of grit spread on the road. Luckily the weather in the area is still mild but with night frost. A request for an update earlier this week has not even been acknowledged never mind answered. This is in breach of CRT's code of conduct. Does there have to be a serious accident on the road before action is taken? Will the leak again be ignored until the canal breaches again?

There is nothing on the prop helping it to stall is there?

Don't know where you would get one. But would ask why? have you a broken one? They will weld.

Hire boats with cruiser sterns do it all the time, its not as bad as it looks. It used to be the fore end that was bad but the gates have had wash plates on for years now.

Bass guitar machine heads, that would give the engine a tune up!

Fortunately your BMC injection pump will be more tolerant of suspended water in the fuel than most modern pumps. Still a bad idea to have contaminated fuel though.

Exactly. I tell crew and learners I meet that the windlass should never leave their hand when winding up or down and when off the spindle. Safer to engage the pawl once you have stopped winding and ensure it is sound, otherwise keep the hand away from it.

The butterfly valve in the flue is most likely a draught diverter, if so it should turn freely and be weighted to just close with the fire out. When the fire is drawing hard, the reduced pressure in the flue allows the valve to open and admit air reducing the draw on the coals and saving fuel so it self balances. With it stuck open you will have troubles with fumes from the fire on low and stuck closed it will draw too hard and waste fuel.

PRM 160 box is damn near indestructible providing the oil is changed and there is no water in it. The base engine is good. I'd rather change a belt than a timing chain like on a BMC 1.8D, its a simple job, even garage mechanics mannage it! We ran lots of vans with belts without any problems even when they were used long past the due replacement mileage. We used to inspect the belt, If the writing printed on the back was still visible and there was no tooth cracking, and tension was OK we left them alone. Its easy to check regularly if you cut a small part of the side of the cover off. I would think that in a boat, running this engine way below normal power and revs, the belt will last years and many hours. If the boat suits you, I would not be put off by the engine being a Ford rubber band.

I'd leave it alone to evaporate. Won't bother epoxy.

Chuck the reg and hose, saw off the connection on the copper pipe, fit a hose tail union to the copper pipe (get correct size compression fitting ) and fit new reg on bottle with orange low pressure hose between, double jubilee hose clips or better, clench rings. Job done.

If you have managed your Elecsols so well that they have done 12 years, you will have no problems with the Vartas. Most Elecsols died in short order no matter how well they were treated. The best I ever achieved was 6 years and that was when on a land line for extended periods.

Gates left open was normal on most canals. Letting paddles drop, a cardinal sin, my crew has to walk to the next lock if they accidentally do that.

Ramming open lock gates, stealing vegetables from fields, looting the cargo..................

Rockwool is what it says. Dark brown course wool mat, will not burn. Some doubts as to whether it shakes down with time. Is free of nasty formaldehyde vapours unlike spray foam.

The pawl appears to have been pivoted on a bolt screwed into the body casting. All the ones I have seen have a broken casting where the bolt should be. Possibly due to being attacked by countless windlasses to knock the pawls off. It would have been a very rigid arrangement with no "give" to absorb the shock load of the pawl engaging a spinning cog wheel.

Oh, if its that bad and we do have a go, shall I leave the hatch off to save time?

No condoning, encouraging or decrying. The Chinese do it all the time..................................................

Its definitely a SouthWest Durham Steelcraft hull, in the style used by Canaltime hire boats, later timeshares. Horrible front, bad to escape from and no access when pulling in and mooring. Small Beta engines none hydraulic gearbox, small props, lots of revs when underway. With worn out stern gear its been flogged to death. mine is 30 years old and done lots of hours and its all original and good. No disguising it, everyone will know. I appreciate you did not ask about an opinion on the boat but in my view it is very overpriced for a not pretty rather nasty ex hire boat with things missing that you want to spend more money on. I suspect when these were sold off that they sold for a lot less than the asking price now.

Do I sense some bitterness or resentment in relation to our esteemed law makers on the other side of la Manche? Surely not, we volunteered after all, and our civil service love to enforce the rules as it makes jobs for themselves. I started to collect documents for my boat with a view to writing a proper manual but in 20 years I've never started and I don't think I'll bother now.

I think it is common when 2 bottles are connected to one regulator, it was a hire boat thing so the hirers didn't have to play with bottles. And some had auto changeover valves.

Never done it, may like to, but what's involved? Anywhere I can see rules and procedures please? Sam.