pig

Too late now, I know, but how about:- "Que Sera Sera" it's a name you don't see so much on the cut sorry I'll get me coat

Hi John I have a 45 ft Hallmark narrowboat, purchased new in 1999. I was one of the last people to get my boat, just before Hallmark went into liquidation. I was party to all the correspondence as a creditor (warranty only luckily). It seems that what caused Hallmark's downfall was changing premises 3 times in short order, and giving up their original business plan of churning out all boats to the same spec. and finish- they started to give customers too much choice to enable production to continue as quickly as needed. As to the boats themselves, I can only go on my own experiences. Their are lots of Hallmark boats in this area (Calder & Hebble) because one of the main retailers was based at Dewsbury. Fitted out shells were transported there, and engines, final fitouts, and commissionning done prior to handover. I have been very happy with my boat and have felt no need to change. The shells were built by a variety of builders-mine I believe came from a fabricator in Peterborough. The hull is sound, no leaks!, all lines are straight, the roof section welds are all visible though. The basics are fine, the engine and it's installation are good. The boats were clearly fitted out down to a price (mine came with conservatory cane chairs and settee!), but I realised that, and all the superficial stuff can, and has been, easily changed. The shell is in 6-4-2 mm steel, I don't know about "cheap steel" used in construction, mine has been fine- every 2 years when the boat's out for blacking, there's only very slight pitting midships, away from the anodes; certainly nothing to worry about. I think the steel thickness is less important than people make out- certainly in normal canal use. I would go and look at the boat- check for evidence of good regular maintenance, get a surveyor's report and go for it! Cheers Neil

If you have the expertise, and can find the time to reply to a perceived insult, why can't you give the details that people are crying out for?

From 6th November at Lidl: http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c....eeze_Tester.ar8 99p antifreeze tester!

Thanks for all your comments. I am glad it wasn't just us that thought the whole affair was a bit of a shambles. To answer some questions: I don't think the present owner is the "lovely couple" referred to by Carlt- they may well be lovely , but the boat has changed hands, and was in the process of being moved, back in January, to a new berth. The rumour was that one of the reasons for the delay in refloating was the seller and the buyer were in dispute over whose insurance was liable for the costs involved. Damage to the boat- if you look at the video closely, after 15 mins and 50 seconds, you can see the skeg break, and the rudder bend under the boat. BW involvement- BW were conspicuous by their absence- you would think they would at least have had somebody present. Pipistrelle WAS on the towpath, I wandered over the bridge to the offside to take the video. Do I know the name of the firm involved? Yes , but I'll save their blushes. I think they knew they'd made a pig's ear of the job- there was no smiling and congratulatory backslapping- just sombre faces all round- especially after they'd poked their heads into the inside of the boat (to see the water sloshing about presumably). Another rumour- the firm involved's fee was £18,000. This was from a reported conversation with one of the firm's bosses.

ok I'll try and edit my first post. Thanks

ok try http://www.btinternet.com/~toothy/ and then click on rescue.wmv let me know if that works

Tipped off by the announcement on Waterscape of the stopppage on the C&H to get the narrowboat "Pipistrelle" off the towpath and back in the water after the January floods, I wandered down on Tuesday to take a few pictures. The firm employed for the job arrived about 1030, unloaded a compressor and large airbag, 2 blokes in wetsuits went in and positioned the airbag. They pumped it up a bit, then waited for their boat to come upriver from Wakefield, where they'd launched it. There was a problem with the boat, so it didnt arrive till about 1300. The operation ended about 1630. The video shows what happened. I'm no expert on boat salvage, so I won't comment until others have seen it. The video is about 33 MB (sorry, dial-up people), lasts about 10 mins, and is worth watching IMHO. Link to video: http://www.btinternet.com/~toothy/ then click on "rescue.wmv"

@ Chris JW- yes- you use your BW pumpout card type thingy @ Mister A- dunno- we were last there on the water 1st week in August- word didn't seem to have got round by then (only opened 23rd July)- 40% occupied on Thursday/Friday. Drove past and popped in 2 weeks later, on a Monday mid August- estimate about 60% occupied. As Sara says it will surely be less busy after the school hols are over.

Clarence Dock moorings are indeed lovely: all have water points, electric hookup, lights, blue LED decklighting. They are all floaty pontoon type moorings, 48 hrs. visitor moorings, all usable as visitor moorings apart from where the (already out of business) trip boat moors at the far end of the basin. There is a Tesco express mini supermarket, Costa coffee, and excellent Italian restaurant as part of the development. We were there end of July and again start of August, and already more shops and restaurants were opening. The dock is surrounded by posh apartments on 2 sides, and the armouries on the third side. It is a short walk over the Millennium bridge to Leeds centre, and a shorter walk along the river bank to all the coffee bars, bars, restaurants that service the new apartments. There was surprisingly little night-time noise: many people walking to and from work, but it seems no late night revellers use the dock as a thoroughfare. Highly recommended.

We were returning to base in Wakefield (Broad Cut) on Friday, from the newly opened moorings at the Armouries in Leeds (very highly recommended), after 2 weeks out on the Leeds & Liverpool. There had been heavy rain on Thursday and a thunderstorm early Friday morning. We were out on the river by 0830, and we were locked through Knostrop Falls lock by a BW bloke. We noticed that we were making good progress (!) down towards Castleford. Levels were high, but no more so than we've seen before. Two more BW blokes at Lemonroyd saw us through the lock. When we turned at Castleford junction, there was a noticeable drop in speed as we went against the flow down from Wakefield, but no problem. On arrival at Woodnook lock, getting off the river, we were met by 3 boats waiting to go down, that had been held up by the failure of the lock hydraulic gear. They'd been waiting since 0930 (it was now 1200), and had been told to expect a BW repair bloke "shortly". I phoned BW again and told them I was on the river side of the lock and levels were high. The lady on the other end was getting shirty saying I shouldn't be on the river as all boards were on red and the river was in flood- until I told her that BW had locked us through 2 locks, then she said ah it was ok. Anyway a bloke arrived after half an hour and kicked the control box and off we went again. The boats waiting to go onto the river were not allowed down by the BW bloke. There was another boat waiting at Stanley Flood lock- he had been told that the Flood gates were closed in Wakefield. The indicator board on that lock (one of the few still present) was in amber so off we went. I had phoned a friend who went down to the Wakefied flood gate at Chantry bridge and he reported it open. We got through Wakefield, met 2 boats coming down from Broad Cut, they said the Thornes flood lock was closed, but they had opened it and come through. We did the same, and got back to our moorings at about 1800. The problems seem to be: Lack of indicator boards at many locks. Different levels indicated on the same stretch- we've had some well into the green and half a mile further on, in the amber, nearly red. BW personnel on the phone do not have up to date information- they rely on the blokes on the ground to relay info back to the central call centre. If there was a way of directly contacting the BW staff who set the flood gates, things would be a lot better. Neil

Righty-ho, I'll leave it where it is. Everything has worked just fine and dandy up till me farting around. There's a moral there somewhere if I could just figure it out. Once again thanks for your patience- here- have this virtual pint of Old GoolySnatcher. Cheers!

Massive thanks for that- I've taken the broken alternator to a local repair bloke- it'll save him time to know the part numbers. One final question if I may- the split charge relay at the moment takes it's feed from the alternator terminal that also goes to the charge indicator bulb. I can see that this is to only allow the relay to work when the engine is running, yes? Wouldn't it be simpler to have the relay fed from the ignition switch (terminal 2 in my wiring diagram) so it clicks in with the ignition key turned to the running position? If that is an OK way of doing it can I take this 12v feed from the crosspiece terminal of the T shaped pair of terminals on the alternator? Is this what you meant by "the crosspiece of the T is an ignition supply"? Thanks again and I promise I'll shut up after that

*UPDATE* I've fitted the new alternator properly this time and everything works !!! Towpath walkers were amused to see a bloke in an oily boilersuit dancing and singing around a narrowboat engine Thinking about the business with the engine charging light bulb- the starter motor relay needed to be earthed via the alternator red/white lead to function- presumably whatever's wrong with the alternator stops this happening, and the relay was getting an earth path via the split charge relay wired in with the red/white lead, if that makes sense Anyway while I was at the engine dealers yesterday I priced up a new diode set, and a voltage regulator set- wait for it- 120 ukp and 180 ukp respectively I assume these are dealer "special" prices, and that an auto or marine electrician could fix the alternator more cheaply? Assuming the diodes have popped- how much would it roughly cost to fix? any ideas? Anyway - panic over, and thanks to everyone for suggestions. I now know a little bit more about alternators but they are still scary things with too many connections as far as I'm concerned !

The feed to the new water temperature gauge bulb was coming from "2" on the starter switch. But I've disconnected it to get back to how things were before the problem. Yes I've checked that fuse and it's ok. I'm going to try this again today- I think the new alternator wasn't earthed correctly when I tried it briefly (not properly fitted back onto engine)

Wiring diagram: http://www.btinternet.com/~toothy/Altntr/wiring.jpg sorry its a big file- wanted to keep the detail.

Well rain almost stopped play today, but I got the 80 quid alternator and fitted it- but guess what- still the same problem! I'm going to go over the wiring diagram and do some tests tomorrow if the rain holds off. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again to all for your your time and help. Neil p.s. the supply for the split charge relay is tapped off the (red/white) lead to the alternator. Is this normal?

ok I've checked the voltage at that terminal and it's zero. That's with all the other connections made and the ignition on. There is normally no connection to this terminal- the lucas connector to that area just pushes on the upright of the T. by the way I've sourced a used alternator for 80 quid, from the local Sole diesel agent. I'm tempted to snap it up, but I'd still like to repair this one , as when you're as kak handed as me a spare alternator seems like a good idea.

apologies, I havent mentioned the engine type- it's a Sole Mini 26- a Mitsubishi 3 cylinder engine also used by Vetus I believe.

Pictures of alternator here: http://www.btinternet.com/~toothy/Altntr/ Yep, had another look at the wiring diagram, and yes, the starter switch goes to a relay, the other side of which goes to the alternator. Why?

ok I've checked the voltage as you suggested, and i'mm getting 0.2v between earth and the terminal. I've now got the alternator off and I'm scratching away at the blue paint to see if i can find any details right i've scratched away and i can see a number- 30AG8-00800 A71AO17 12V 40A any use?

Ok I've sat and thought and dried off a bit ,and I realise now what I've done to cause the problem, whatever it is. The lead I was waving about from the new gauge, was actually not floating at 12v,it was connected to earth, by virtue of the bulbholder in the gauge being earthed via the metal sender. So I've earthed the connection to the alternator B terminal. I dont know if this helps or not. If I take the alternator off- is it easily tested by an auto-electrician? Thanks for all your swift replies

OK this is getting weird! As suggested, the charging light is connected to the alternator, and the battery +ve. So with the alternator connections disconnected, how is disconnecting the wire form the charging light making any difference? I've left the +ve side connected to the light, taken off the wire that goes too the alternator- it starts... put that wire back on, it wont turn over. I then noticed that spliced into the wire to the alternator terminal is a wire that goes to the split charge relay. Disconnect the wire to the split charge relay (with the charging light wire off) and it wont start! anyway it's raining now so I'm pi**ed off AND wet! Me and boat are in Wakefield on the Calder & Hebble

Hi John the engine is an extremely simple diesel- the wiring diagram has no electronics (bar 2 diodes inline with the warning buzzer and the oil pressure light and water temp light). Likewise the boat has no complex electricals- split charge domestic/engine and that's it. No circuit breakers etc. For me the behaviour when the engine is running, and I reconnect the engine charge warning light- the engine labours badly, and the fan belt slips a little- shows the alternator is not behaving normally,but I don't know enough about themto diagnose a fault. I will take the alternator off- it's easy enough to get at- and I can measure the resistance between the terminals. Anyone know what resistance I should see across the various terminals? LOL I was trying to find an earthing return for the temp gauge bulb. There was no firework display , but I realised that the wires to the charge light bulb were probably not the best thing to get12v onto. Sure enough the engine wouldn't start when I tried.

The starter motor doesn't clunk, click or anything, with the engine charge light connected. Disconnect the engine light bulb and it works perfectly....