dmr

Can't remember but I think they are big, will be going thru day after tomorrow, hopefully will find another boat to cross with. ...............Dave

We've done it, but one thing to watch on any staircase is that if there are any leaks on the centre gate then with the top chamber full and the bottom chamber empty the pressure (head) can create a significant jet of water which can be a real problem for full length boats going down. Grindley Brook and the staircase at the start of the Caldon are both bad. Bascote is ok. .................Dave

I used a good performance computer fan as the extractor. It does not use much current so we leave it on most of the time, just turn it off at night. I helps a lot. I am not optimistic about your tank fan idea, I have thought about this too, but if you do it then please report back. Quite difficult to fully seal the fan into the hose, and fans don't really make much vacuum, and the low airflow would not be a match for the sudden rush of flushing contents into the tank?. Tony Brooks suggests two vents at opposite corners of the tank and a fan to keep an air flow accross the tank to extraxt the bad air. Big job unless done at boat build time. Also still have the new smells created as the new stuff hits the old brown water. I would investigate this on a new installation. Perfecting the very quick flush is probably the way to go but there are issues that I really do not intend to discuss here. ................Dave

Accidents happen and sooner or later you will be stopping the boat which moving rather faster than you intended with the centre line. If the boat don't stop then hopefully the rope will snap rather than the eye pulling out or the roof deforming. Whatever you do it needs to be strong. ..............Dave

Getting the heating and 'lectrik right on a liveaboard boat is a complicated subject, there are different opinions and what works for some folk might not work for others. You need to rapidly learn about this to decide what You want before getting expensive professionals to get their tools out. Example, almost all liveaboards use a solid fuel stove as their main source of heat, maybe feeding a radiator or two, but for a few people this is all just too much muck and trouble and so they have to have central heating. A good well maintained stove will never let you down (as you will keep a spare glass somewhere in the boat), every other form of heat will break when you least need it to. A calorifier (boaty hot water tank) can hold a fair bit of hot water, heated by the engine, and will stay warm for a couple of days (with luck and planning) so you don't actually need to run the engine everytime you want hot water. Older boats had "instant" water heaters but these are out of fashion now, and not really up to running a good shower. Try to get rid of everything that needs 240v and work just from 12volts, with a 240v inverter for occasional use (a big mains hairdrier is probably fine when the engine is running). Its summer, can you muddle thru for a couple of months to learn about the boat then get it sorted ready for winter?? ..............Dave

A pump out should not smell at all most of the time and if it does then something is wrong. However with a dump thru its pretty hard not to make a bit of a whiff when flushing, new stuff going in means some bad air coming out. But then some house bathrooms can be pretty bad after some folk have been in them! ..............Dave

There is a bit of effort required for a pump out, getting the suction hose ready, neatly coiling it afterwards, getting the deck fitting caps on and off, and for a "jet rinse" getting a hose ready and all connected up. I reckon about 25 mins for a basic pump out and 35 for a full jet rinse. We pump out 12 times a year, that's just 6 hours total each year. How long does the typical cassette user spend trundling up and down the towpath with a cassette on a little sack truck???? Without going into the detailed calculations I reckon I spend much much longer putting stuff into the pumpout than I do taking it out!!!!! ................Dave

Went in the Great Western two days ago, it has changed a little since we were there last, every table was set out with knives and forks and reserved for eating, so almost nowhere to just have a drink, just three bar stools at the bar. We sat on these but did feel rather in the way. It is a bank holiday weekend so maybe will be better some other time. The Castle in Banbury is now sadly closed but we did discover the White Horse which had 5 real ales, mostly from micro's, and was dog friendly. .............Dave

But self pumpouts involve keeping a hose full of S*** on the boat. The big advantage of the "jet rinse" over the refill and empty rinse is that you can't end up with a full tank when the machine stops. ..............Dave

A greenie for that,

The rinse-out feature on most pump outs is not very effective. I have made a sort of poo wand based on a thin copper tube with a 90 degree bend and a slightly flattened end. Every few pumpouts I stick this down the bog (dump through) and give the bottom of the tank a good squirt to move any sludge over to the suction pipe. Obviously when using pressurised water in a holding tank a little common sense is required as there is potential for a messy accident. It works very well. When we had the big freeze a few years back I had to pump out into a container and visit an elsan disposal point, made me appreciate the pump out. Composting bogs sound interesting but I don't understand how the stuff turns into nice dry compost when you keep putting new stuff in, do you have to go several months without using it for it to dry out? I would find this quite difficult! ..............Dave

Lack of funding since admission charges removed is given as one reason. Dunno how much of a threat it really is but I saw (and signed) a petition on 38 degrees (or equivalent) a couple of weeks ago. I believe the new railway link will sever the old Stephenson railway and prevent the railway trips from the museum running which might be another factor, but have not read any updates on that for a while. .................Dave

We spend every winter down South on the K&A so its not too bad, just a chance to pay Southern prices up North. Did pay £4.00 for a pint of Tim Taylors Landlord there a few years ago so I know what you mean. They usually have one or two cheaper beers on and are happy to serve side dishes only so you can have a few pints and a bowl of chips. Main thing for us is they let the dog in, whilst most Manchester pubs, even the real rough ones with no customers, have an aversion to dogs. ................Dave

Castlefield is the obvious choice, though can get a bit full sometimes. Its safe and there is interesting canal history. The big waterfront pub (Wharf) is good for eating and real ale drinking. The truly wonderful science museum is a short walk away, its under threat of closure so go and look at those lovely engines while you still can. ...............Dave

I have read several times here that bio washing machine liquid in the pump out works just as well or even better than Odourloss etc I am going to try this. Does anyone recommend a particular brand, and how much to use?

I really don't worry about gloves, just do a quick wipe over with paper towels and white spirit. The wire brush should give a good rough finish so you probably wont need to sand with 180 grit, but if you do sand I might even use a 60 grit. But....a deck takes a lot of abuse, after going to the trouble of getting to almost bare metal I think an epoxy primer would be a much better long term investment, and I like Armourguard from Reactive Resins. You could put a coat BondaPrimer on top of the epoxy if you wanted a red trad looking deck! I am going to do my back deck later this year and plan to investigate dragging a comb through the final coat of Armourguard to see if I can create a non slip surface. ...............Dave

Boat with tyres was certainly there two days ago when we went down. I have seen a few boats moor on the pub lock landing, some even whilst heading downstream. Smaller more manoeuvrable boats appear to get in quite easily but I don't think we would have a hope in hell. We usually stay well away from that landing when heading downsteam, but this year the boat in front of us went in quite close to the lock landing so we (well Gillie, I was working the bridge) tried it too, the overhanging tree gets in the way a bit but it does make the turn into the bridge a lot easier. So I agree, not a good place to moor even if you can. ................Dave

We did moor below Newbury for a couple of years and went up and down almost every weekend so that might explain why Newbury holds less fear than Woolhampton. I still think Newbury IS the easier but there is also probably more potential for things to go badly wrong, and indeed I did speak to a boater recently who went sideways into that bridge which was traumatic. The turn is relatively easy if you get it correct but you do have to start that turn almost before you see the bridge which is the tricky bit, if you leave it only a fraction late then its hard to get the back round (I have done that too). Worse ever moment was going down in moderate flow, making that blind turn into the bridge, and finding a canoe "playing" sideways across the bridge 'ole. If it goes wrong at Woolhampton the most likely accident is a broadside into the bridge 'ole and getting safely flushed through by the flow, though worse case is probably over steering and hitting the front into the left hand bridge pier. I think I fear Reading most of all. ...............Dave

Lots of revs is not the universal answer heading downstream. At Woolhampton use just enough revs to get the boat into the right position for the bridge at minimum speed, then use lots of revs as you are going through the bridge to get the back of the boat through against any side push from the current. In Newbury come out of the lock with lots of revs and aim for the centre of the bridge, the rebound of the cross flow is as bad as the cross flow itself so do not aim left, you will get pushed left after the bridge. Drop revs and loose speed as best you can as you go down the narrow bit and walk down beforehand to learn where the one way one bridge is. Start the turn on lowish power then use revs to bring the back round as required. Newbury is a LOT easier than Woolhampton. Reading is also bad and the same applies, go down as slowly as you can then use the power to get the back safely through that horrid skewed arch bridge at the end. However be ready to use a lot of power coming out of county lock due to a nasty eddy and overhanging trees. Remember to stop under the road bridge bridge when approaching county, get lock ready, then turn in with care. Note this advice applies to heavy 70 foot boats, it gets easier with shorter boats. ..............Dave

Marcus Marine is based in Reading and has a very good reputation on the K&A ................Dave

Following extensive training ours no longer eats cow/sheep/goose poo, but she just can't resist a bit of the human stuff. We always keep her on a lead when walking past a fishing competition! ...............Dave

Is this an integral water tank? If so you will need to get into it at some stage. We left ours for several years, when we did look the paint (blacking) was pretty good but had failed in a couple of places, there were rust "worm casts" above these perforations and pits in the baseplate up to almost 2mm deep. I did some Googling and there are some very odd and potent corrosion effects that can occur at the bottom surface of a steel water tank. ..................Dave

They prefer canal water, but if you do fill the dogs bowl from the tank then its best to let it stand for a day or two to gather some dust and a few dead insects to give it a bit of flavour. ................Dave

I find them ok but not super accurate, main error is that they do really badly with a shiny surface so no good for copper pipes. Good for stove and stove flue temperatures. Lovely things to play with. Have observed that the lining on the side of the boat facing the sun gets quite a bit hotter than the other side, that the dogs legs are colder than her body, and that beer in the front locker is 6 degrees in winter but can easily to get to 14 on a sunny day. Hours of fun ..............Dave

To the OP Don't worry too much about qualifications. Many "electricians" and "engineers" on the cut are totally self taught with no qualifications. Some are rubbish, some are brilliant. If you are a DIY type person then don't be put off. Read up about cable sizes, post a detailed plan here and ask the forum to comment on that. Find a friendly boater who understands this stuff to have a quick look at what you are doing and confirm it is up to scratch. If you are fitting out a brand new boat to sell then it needs to be totally correct, if you are trying to gets some lights on an old plastic cruiser liveaboard then it needs to be safe, but not a work of art. The wiring on many old boats is terrible, you can most likely do better. .............Dave