dmr

That cant be right, that would make a wall thickness of 6mm???? Assuming a tall exhaust pipe then it should be of relatively thin steel.There is always a chance of hitting a bridge and in this case it should be the chimney rather than the boat that bends! ...............Dave

Yes you could. but keeping the domestic batteries charged and healthy can be quite an issue and many of us find current monitoring and a Smartgage, plus an alternator controller,,are required. So, if you are effectively creating a second domestic bank then its probably not a good idea. If its just the tunnel light then it might be ok/ ................Dave.

We got a perfect fit tyre in the middle of Gosty Hill tunnel. Managed to cut half way through with a hacksaw but it was still too tight on the prop to cut all the way through. Eventually the good people of Hawne Basin lifted the back of the boat with their engine crane to get at it with crowbars. ............Dave.

I've done it both ways and the weedhatch is the more effective method. Maybe there is different stuff in the cut these days, probably less wire in the "old days" and less strong synthetic fabrics, less carpets and certainly less aluminium framed camping chars. You can get a medium sized bolt cropper down the weedhatch, or a hacksaw, You cant do that standing on the bank. Obviously if the boat is so deep that you cant reach then a weedhatch is no good but 95% of modern boats are not deep. ..............Dave

The canal is a huge piece of history and many locks are listed structures. English Heritage also (I believe) have a say in how locks are repaired. You can't just "modernise" it. My own view is that if a plastic looked and felt almost like the original, and was much more cost effective, then it would be worth investigating, but that is the slippery slope!.. Hardwood is a very good material and not easily beaten. ................Dave

Yup, that is a very common place to get tightly wrapped rope. Sign of this can be the engine working much harder without the clatter sounds that go with something in the blades. Whenever I go down the hatch I always have a feel there, Even if it there is no rope there is ALWAYS some fishing line. That skeg is truly beautiful. ............Dave

We got one last year. It sort of knotted round the skeg so we towed it along behind us, but everytime we went into reverse it went into the prop. Went down the weedhatch and nothing to be found cus it had sank. Eventually guessed at what was gong on and got to it from outside the boat with the hook, and managed to lift it enough to get to it via the weedhatch. Solution is to educate boaters not to cruise with the fenders down, and make those gunnel mounted fender hooks a BSS failure!. ..........Dave

Depending upon how its connected then it might make the warm up time longer. Even worse, if you are running the engine in winter just to charge the batteries then its just possible the engine might never get up to temperature.. Investigate these things and watch the temperature gauge. If you don't have a temperature gauge then fit one. If it really is a direct connection with the heating sharing the engines water then there will of course be antifreeze in there!. Draining the engine for maintenance or to renew the anitfreeze will be more complicated and expensive. ............Dave

But not for full length boats ! .............Dave

This is not a good idea. Liverpool does get quite full some days, and if its windy (it often is) it can be very tricky getting onto the pontoons. If I arrived and found somebody else on my reserved spot I would be very unhappy, especially if this required reversing back out into the basin on a windy day with other boats coming in behind me!!!!! ..................Dave

I am still concerned that there is not a strong and clear case here. Welder 1 turned the current down because he realised he was welding to thin steel? Did surveyor say EXACTLY how big the repair patch was to be? Sounds like welder 1 made his patch too small as he did not establish exactly where the metal was thick enough to be welded. or is he just a poor welder? What thickness was the steel patch? 2mm (or is it 3mm) steel?) is actually pretty solid stuff. Can a surveyor be expected to distinguish between 3 and 4.5mm steel from a hammer test??. Maybe the 4.5mm readings really were just very lucky. I am sure if surveyor had hit on a 2mm spot he would have been delighted....this is how he justifies the money you have paid and justifies the job he is doing!!!!.. As said above, you have a stronger case against welder 1 than the surveyor. But did the welder 1 patches leak straight away, or 10 months later??? ..............Dave

If you can't find it online then pm me your email address and I will send it to you. ................Dave

Is this even actually true? If you find a 10 year old boat with overplating then that's alarm bells and its value might be reduced. But, if looking at a 30 year old boat for a few thousand quid then its pretty standard for it to be overplated. Its not like new because its 30 years old! Likewise you would not expect to find just 150 hours on the engine. For most new boaters its better to get a well plated boat than one that will need plating in a years time. Surely once this boat is correctly welded it will be worth More than when it had holes in it! ...............Dave

The inductance (time constant) of the starter motor and associated wiring will limit the initial current rise to some extent, but really not sure how much. Temperature is likely to be a big factor, it takes a lot more current to crank a very cold engine. If anyone is genuinely interested then I could do some measurements but probably not till early next week. Also this would be on my JD3 rather than a BMC. I would much rather measure something like this than trying to calculate it from first principles!. ....................Dave

A more extensive range of beers, and some quite loud music too on some evenings. I can be very quiet, but on other evenings it can get very busy later on. If its too busy then the dog prefers the Flapper! ...................Dave

Anyway, more seriously he's moored in Cambrian Wharf so is right under the Flapper which is Birmingham' Heavy Metal pub. He's gong to be very very unhappy at the weekend!!! A surprisingly good and friendly pub, two real ales, and they let the dog in (she coped surprisingly well). Good quiz (on Wednesdays?) but the music can be very loud! ............Dave

In winter, on days when we don't move, we always run the engine 6pm to 8pm to charge the batteries etc. This gets the back cabin nice and warm ready for bed, and the engine works like a night storage heater and holds some heat till the small hours. Still cold first thing in the morning though. Another slight advantage s that as power consumption is minimal overnight the batteries are spending longer at a higher state of charge. .............Dave

Look on Google, either the map or the satellite picture. Past the pub, under the two road bridges, the river then does a little a dog leg, then before you get properly into the flash you turn to the left, almost 180 degrees, and there is a little inlet, almost heading back towards the pub,. The new moorings are there. .............Dave

Sounds good. What's your phone number? Might get to Middlewich late today but weather not so good so will probably stop somewhere on the arm. Have heard a few people say this, but some locals say there has been a lot of silting in the last few years. We started gong upwards about n the centre and the water was deep, we turned putting the front over to the left and that's when it got shallow. ............Dave

As said above, Red Lion is a good pub, best not to go beyond that. ............Dave

We went just a bit beyond the new moorings to wind and just touched the bottom. We are about 32 inches deep at the back. Plenty of water at turn into the new moorings but did not go in. Just take it slow in case! I second all the good things said about the Red Lion. Open mic night is great Only issue is Beer quality can be a bit variable but when its good its fine! Just left Chester, Will be in Middlewich probably Tuesday then South on the T&M. Where are you?, Could do with a bit of diesel! .............Dave

Take care here. It sounds to me like your survey found some welding required and you had this done badly. Others may correct me,as I may be wrong but I am not sure that it is the job of a pre-purchase survey to specify exactly what welding is required? The survey says welding needed then you discuss the extent and implementation of this with your welder (extensive plating vs patching etc) so I fear your claim may well fall somewhere between the surveyor and the welder which is not good...... And you have already learned that your welder was not a good one! Get the work done by your new good welder, put this behind you, and enjoy living on your boat! Boating is all about learning! ..............Dave

How many "numerous" thin bits and what is the rest of the steel like? A surveyor will test several spots on the hull, and hopefully use experience to choose potential bad spots.. If the boat s mostly solid but has just a very few very thin spots (as can certainly happen) then its quite likely they won't be found, but if the hull is in a bad way throughout it should have been spotted. Rusting from the inside out in particular can give very localised pitting Did the survey say the boat was solid, or just "ok"? Don't get legal people involved unless you are sure that you have got a very strong case, better to spend your money fixing the boat.

Not 100% sure but strongly suspect it is now owned by a member of this forum. Fuel is expensive and hard to get on the Eastern K&A so a new boat above the flight would be great. There is fuel usually available at Honeystreet (must stop calling it Gibsons) at a "mddllng" price though fuel sales are a bit secondary to their hire boat bossiness. Only other canalside sales are Newbury and Aldermaston. Both very expensive and not easy to get to when the Kennet is flowing, especially since Newbury took the winding hole away. ...............Dave

With a slow tap it can take a couple of hours to fill a big tank, preventing many other boaters from stopping and spending money. We stopped at a chandlers just outside Manchester, got a very cheap and good pump out (I doubt he made much money on that) and then agreed that we would put some water in the tank (for free) but would move on quickly if another customer turned up. ............Dave