booke23

A quick search of the forum seems to reveal quite a range....10,000 - 40,000 hrs.

That’s like comparing a formula 1 engine with a lawnmower engine! You can’t really compare a modern common rail, turbo charged (variable vane), inter-cooled, EGR recirculation van engine with a much simpler normally aspirated, mechanically injected modern industrial engine. We don’t use modern van engines in boats for good reason!

Is it though?……..realistically how many hours would that take on a modern diesel engine - 30,000 hrs? Hardly worth worrying about. Besides you’d probably need to go though about 10 suitcase generators for that amount of running, which is probably more expensive than replacing a diesel engine every 30,000hrs!

Which raises another point....spending the money on solar and not having a genny at all would be the ultimate deterrent. Just use the boat engine for charging in winter.

As mentioned with battery angle grinders, any form of physical security is easily overcome in seconds. Of course not every thief carries an angle grinder so some form of physical security is a good idea. You need it to look like you do not own a generator, so storing it completely out of sight is a good idea even though this is easier said than done on some boats.

No need for that either. His point was legitimate considering how little sense the thread made initially.

The OP is obviously only interested in doing some sort of Birmingham trip so the following is largely irrelevant but I'll say it anyway. Someone mentioned the Llangollen would be busy in August.....I actually found it was quieter than average the last 2 times I did it in August, but September is a different story, much busier. It would take 8hrs cruising a day to go from Wrenbury to Trevor and back, which for me is a very average days boating. For others that might be a horrendously long day cruising.....horses for courses! ETA: And to answer the OP's question about what the weather might be like.......On average daytime temps (Fahrenheit) in the 70s, although in a hot spell they could get to 100 (rare). Equally it could rain all week and temps not get out of the 60s. Our climate is very variable.

This is a very good point. For the benefit of the OP the Llangollen canal should never suffer from drought as it's used to transport drinking water from the hills of Wales to a reservoir at the end of the Llangollen canal (Hurleston).

Personally neither. The section of the K and A from Semington to Bath is nice until you get to Bradford on Avon whereupon the section to Bath is ruined by slum boats and their owners who never move. That section is also plagued by day boats from Bath with associated poorly behaved crews. Alvechurch to Birmingham stretch quickly becomes quite urban, which is not my favourite. I'd recommend you get a train a bit further north and hire a boat at Wrenbury on the Llangollen canal and head for Trevor....Llangollen if you've got time. It'll be a first Narrowboat trip you'll never forget.

As Tony says, that damaged roof in the galley looks to be coming from what looks like a mushroom vent, with no corresponding hole in the roof lining. If that is the case then the leak should be easy to fix but that whole roof lining section is probably going to need replaced.....I imagine it's been leaking for some time. This arrangement is another clue that work done on the boat is sub standard. Also looks like the engine bilge has had about 6 inches of water in it up until it got sucked out for the photos. But in this price bracket these issues are par for the course, and I imagine more serious issues await below the water line. I love how the advert mentions it was freshly blacked in 2021.....only 4 years ago!

😅 I like the hands on pun.

Exactly. And I'm sure Isambard Kingdom Brunel never knocked in a rivet or did any brick laying.

Quite agree. You should at the very least be dressed like a gentleman if you're going to do that!

Something like this for the switch replacement https://www.force4.co.uk/item/Force-4/Rocker-Switch-Panel-with-Breakers/4F41 I don't think that type of Isuzu panel is available anymore. This looks like this closest available today, but it's a bit pricey!

That is one of the mysteries of the universe. 😅