dmr

CanalPlan is a web tool that is very good at the details of a journey, you can customise it with your own speeds and it then makes very good predictions of journey times (except when things go wrong). For paper planning the Nicholson books are very good, but really you need a nice big paper map of the whole system that you can lay out on a table, both Nicholson and Imray? publish these. Don't worry too much about exploring the whole system without repetition, doing your favourite bits again and again in different seasons can be good, and aimless rambling and spontaneous decisions are part of the fun. Its a way of life, not a mission. ................Dave

Husky type dogs have get very popular over the last couple of years, they like to pull things. I have seen owners on bikes pulled along by these dogs (which looks dangerous) and also some owners fix the dogs lead their belt and get pulled along by the dogs. I reckon Husky owners might even pay boaters to provide the pulling exercise that these dogs like. ..............Dave

14.8v is maybe just a little high, but totally normal if you have Trojans or other "proper" batteries. Also the Adverc (alternator controller) does temperature compensation so a higher voltage is expected in cold weather. The 0.1amp is wrong, how are you measuring this?....do you mean the Adverc current/voltage DCM thing? Either the alternator is wrong or your current monitor is wrong. Its unlikely to be a battery fault, but if they are not getting charged they will be unhappy. Do your lights and other 12 volt stuff work ok? .................Dave

You could try Marine16 cleaner. I think this is the same as the regular stuff but with more detergent. So why not use this all the time? who knows? there must be a reason but nobody is willing to say. The filters should catch the rubbish so the injection pump is likely ok, but a strip down is the only way to find out. An injector cleaner wont fix sediment or cure some of the really bad contaminates (that go right through the filter and deposit in the pump) but will remove some bad stuff. If you really think you have dirty injectors then getting them out and tested/properly cleaned might be the only way to go. Its worth taking injectors out every year or two. A really good engine thrash will fix a lot of dirty engine problems (a boaters tune up) ................Dave

Well, as I said, companies that have a whole range of additives for every market are either VERY clever chemists, or marketing men. Unless you convince me otherwise I go for the marketing men. Have a look at the Stanadyne website, at least they indicate how they formulate their additive mix for slightly different purposes. I would go for Marine16 complete, Marine16 are only re packagers of a big company additives but they do admit to that, and are not too heavy on the silly marketing. From what I have read a few additives can even be counter productive so choose with care. I don't think a cetane raiser will help the Webasto because cetane quantifies the fuels ability to compression ignite. ...............Dave

I had a very very quick look, it looked like lots of other additive sites, did I miss something? should I look again? ...................Dave

Fuel additives are a bit of unknown, varying from really good to snake oil. There are only a few companies actually making them, they sell in bulk to the fuel companies who supply the petrol stations. The little "additive" companies buy this stuff in bulk, repackage it and sell in in small quantities to boaters etc, I think they often dilute it first to make the quantities more "manageable". I would avoid companies that sell a whole range of additives to fix all sort of things, and go for those that just sell a basic additive. Marine16 complete and Stanadyne appear to be the most reputable, but Stanadyne sold theirs off and I am not sure the new owners are keeping technically up to date. Morris also do one. A cetane raiser might be good and might even let the additive pay for itself, but is only really any good if your engine likes a high cetane number and the fuel is inadequate, a bit like taking vitamins, if you have enough there is little advantage in taking more. Red sometimes used to be a little low in cetane, many people say red is now just white with a red dye. I suspect the stabilisers, detergents and lubricity components of the additive are a also good thing. The additive is what makes the difference between basic petrol station fuel and expensive/go faster petrol station fuel. ...............Dave

These things are not always easy to diagnose, but you have a consistent story here: overheated engine/problem started/water loss/foamy water. It is very much pointing to an engine failure and most likely the head gasket. "Never take an engine apart till you have diagnosed the problem" is a good bit of wisdom. It would be good to work out where the water is going to before taking any action. ..................Dave

My wife lived on the IoW for many years and was a potter, the Havenstreet station craft fair was one of the highlights of the year.

Its a scary ride, I reckon the track was laid in the days of steam trains chugging along at 15 miles an hour and the old underground trains went much much faster, its amazing they stayed on the rails. The bit of that line that is now a steam railway is wonderful, a proper branch line where they still rattle along at a fast walking pace. .................Dave

That's the answer to a 1000 pub quiz questions, where to London Underground trains run over the sea? ..................Dave

Only been there two or three times, but did note that the local lads like to drink lager, strip naked and swim across the basin at about 1AM to impress their girlfriends. Its a bit anti social because it makes them shout "f*ck**g hell its cold" very loud and this wakes up the boaters. I suspect the CRT balloon will add a bit of extra entertainment for them. .................Dave

Rust converters are a compomise/second best to be used only when you can't get rid of rust by mechanical means, such as deep pitting or poor access. If access is good use a wire cup brush in an angle grinder (unless you have access to a needle gun) to get back to clean steel. If you can get 99% to bare metal (just a few little pits are ok) then use a proper zinc primer. BondaPrimer is my favourite and it dries pretty quick even at low temperatures. Do not be tempted to use a rust converter "just in case" because its just not as good as a proper primer. Degreasing is essential, I use acetone. For a top coat I would use a bilge paint as its just right for bilges, hence the name 😀 I like Danboline, it will take a couple of days to dry. Hammerite is not what it used to be (I believe), and even then was not as good as bilge paint, its made for painting garden gates 😀. If you want it to be perfect then a surface tolerant epoxy primer is the way to go, but its too cold now. ................Dave

I have recently looked at recycled plastic for a project, its biggest problem is its thermal expansion which is terrible. If you leave the boat unattended in winter the floor might get down to 0 degrees. On a really hot day it could easily get to 30. You will need to leave big expansion gaps between the boards and fix them down with screws in oversize holes, and not too tight so everything can slide. Anything you put on top will have to cope with this movement too, its just not worth it. Plywood or even water resistant chipboard are much more stable materials. .............Dave

The problem is very unlikely but really does happen, you have a pipe burst of some kind (within the boats plumbing system) so the water pump runs continuously, normally it only empties the water tank (which is still very bad) but with a permanent hose connection it sinks the boat. I suspect you might get some skepticism here because you have a 70 foot widebeam ( which is too big for most waterways) and are looking to convert it to a "plumbed in house" rather than a boat. Filling the water tank is a normal part of boating. There is increasing bad feeling towards lots of people now wanting to own "houses on the canal" but not to be boaters. ..................Dave