dmr

We have quite a lot of pictures in our boat, plus thousands of photos on the PC. If I convert my alternator from Star to Delta are you saying that it will evaporate all of these????? But seriously, Looking through the alternator selection/specification document from Iskra (Letrika) I noticed that although their smaller alternators are Star, all of the larger ones (including the popular 175amp jobbie?) are already Delta. ..............Dave

I have seen a figure of 110 amps for a single 12mm V belt, but I reckon this assumes approaching 180 degrees wrap. Trouble with slow engines is needing a big pulley on the engine and a small pulley on the alternator which results is much less wrap on the alternator pulley. I have just done this and with a 66mm pulley could not reliably handle 80 amps. Had to use a slightly bigger pulley which gives more contact area and a few less amps. .............Dave

We met a hire boater last week (at the Kintbury water tap) who said Newbury had told them it would be TEN pounds to fill up with water. Dunno if this was true but have heard before that they charge extra to hire boats. CaRT really need to find somewhere in a Newbury to install a tap. You are correct, the Aldermaston tap is an important one. ...............Dave

Yes, much of their stupid behaviour is due to a modern way of of thinking which starts with politicians and has spread across the whole nation via political interference with the education system. The two main issues are: 1 There's a problem, lets get publicity out of it, raise awareness, employ consultants, do anything but get our hands dirty fixing it. 2 Somebody has screwed up, we better close ranks to prove how effective and strong our management is. Its human nature that bad things upset us and we want to shout about them. I saw a huge waste of CaRT money yesterday and had to really force myself not to post about it here. Sadly if I post "I paid for my licence and everything went well" its not very interesting or worthy of discussion. If I think about all of my interactions with, and observations of CaRT, the vast majority could be improved. ............Dave

Have to disagree, as a full time liveaboard and canal fanatic the management of CaRT and the way they perform is of enormous interest to me, the good bits and the bad bits!. .............Dave.

OK, if there is a stub shaft in place it might just be possible, if your really lucky option 1 Unbolt stub shaft, fit new Taperlock pulley, refit shaft, but I bet the new pulley will prevent access to the bolts Option 2 Slide/wriggle taperlock pulley over end of stub shaft, but unlikely if you really only have 1/2 inch to spare, then insert taperlock sections and do up with Allen key Option 3 Unbolt stub shaft, fit taperlock pulley without taperlock. Do up bolts getting access by moving pulley as much as you can. insert and tighten taperlock option 4 Move the engine a bit, much better! ..............Dave

I assume the thinner wire on the left goes to the Battery? Bin that and make two new wires with a similar thickness to the thicker one on the right. One from the battery to the new isolator, the other from the new isolator back to the right terminal on the old isolator in the picture. Not optimum but ok, and going to cost a few quid in wire too. ............Dave

I don't understand! The pulley you show still has to go on over the end so with only 1/2 inch it ill be difficult, and you still need a way of making it tight! Can you post a picture of the end of the engine? Any new pulley needs a good clean straight bit of shaft to fix to and a way of fixing it. Don't forget that if you make the crank pulley really big then you reduce the belt wrap on the alternator pulley. ............Dave

The dock we used is a listed building so I guess it paid back the capital investment many many years ago. I guess this is why its hard to set up a new facility (in any industry) when you are competing with people who don't have a debt to repay. Quite a few docks are leased of CaRT. Everytime I go past Semington I see they have more docks so it can be done. ............Dave

To put that in perspective, we paid £1600 (I think) for drydocking, shot blasting and two coats of Epoxy on a 70 foot boat, with the epoxy itself accounting for over £400 of that. .........Dave

Different people like different beers, it would be sad any other way. If you like a strong pale ale then for many years TT landlord was the holy grail, and is still amongst the best. However this style of beer is very popular with many of the micro brewers some of whom give TT a good run for their money. Look out for the strangely named "Wiper and True" from Bristol. If you prefer a more traditional brown beer then TT is not for you, but you will enjoy a visit to Ma Pardoes even more than I do. If, god forbid, you like lager the Bath Ales do a very nice handpump lager. And what's better, all these places are on the interconnected waterways., best up the estimate for money spent on diesel!. ............Dave . .........Dave.

I don't think the cost of beer is off topic when discussing the cost of living on a boat!!!. It wasn't Landlord, it was the new? Boltmaker,which is very very similar to Landlord but even better. ...........Dave

You could do it for 10k if you move to Birmingham or the North, but will need 20k down on the K&A, and even more if you go to Cambridge ...£4.05 for Timothy Taylor. ..........Dave

Your blacking cost is a bit low Servicing will maybe cost a bit less as long as you do it yourself. Coal/wood is a bit low, and quite low if we have a cold winter. General maintenance is an unknown quantity, it depends whether you want to watch your boat go slowly downhill or not, but your figure is a bit low. One significant "problem" can easily cost more than your estimate. Real boaters do NOT go into Hotels! ..........Dave

Crossing a boat or two is obviously more enjoyable than crossing a road, Neil (Nell?) lock on the Oxford always scares me S***less, but I intend to stay on the cut till I am seriously old and at some stage would prefer not to scramble over semi-abandoned boats to get to a water tap. We passed this pair a couple of weeks ago and they should not be where they are. ...........Dave

I have been boating for a fair while, its my lifestyle, I am a full time liveaboard, and I have often struggled to cross over other boats when moored outside of them. These are a working pair so if you are familiar with such things you will know that they pose additional difficulties. .............Dave

Thats called soap I believe!

There are many people on the K&A living on boats that have sunk. A few weeks of hard work and they get them quite habitable. If the owners feel this one is beyond repair then there of plenty of people who could sort it out;, probably a better investment to refurbish this one that an elderly springer. Just because an insurance company writes something off does not mean its a write-off. A friend rides a motorbike that has been written off several times. ...........Dave

Yes but somebody else moored for a few nights and got some trouble! I've never had any trouble going through Fobney but many others have, though I try to go through early. I think the moorings above Tyle mill on the field are just standard 14 day towpath moorings rather than "farmers field" or has this changed recently? Its a very good spot if you are happy to tie to a tree on a river.. ............Dave

Not only is much of your planned area on the Thames but the rest is on the River Kennet which is difficult/impossible to navigate in winter and not always trivial at other times. The area just West of Reading is also prone to anti-social yoof. If you are not an experienced boater then this is not the best area to be CCing in. The up side is I suspect CaRT don't patrol the Kennet nearly as hard as they patrol other parts of the K&A. ............Dave

Don't some (or at least one) locks on the Weaver have a middle set of gates??? in addition to some having big locks and small locks??? And possibly one at Teddington???. And Salters Lode but that's very different. ...............Dave

A question for Richard whilst talking about leaking boxes. How difficult to replace the input and output shaft seals on a prm260? Is this something I can do myself in the boat with the standard comprehensive boaters toolkit? or do I need a solid workbench and pullers etc? I assume I can do the seals without splitting the box? but how hard to get the output coupling flange off??? ..........Dave

When you try to take an old rubber hose its sometimes a bit stuck on, this is the advantage of rubber! Silicon does not stick so there is an increased chance of the hose working loose, but they do look good. This knowledge is based on web surfing (when I was replacing hoses) so might be crap, it is not based on first hand experience. Sounds plausible though. ...........Dave

I agree with all of that, and have not had a survey on my two most recent house purchases. If I ever buy another boat I will probably not get a survey. When we got our boat I had no experience of steel canal boats and the surveyor did check a few hull related things that I would never have thought of, and I did find the thickness measurements very reassuring. However even though I raised some specific concerns about some internals (insulation, wiring, an area of bouncy floor etc) the surveyor just said he could not gain access to these! ..............Dave

I suspect a lot of boats have UNinsulated flues going much closer to the plywood roof lining and battens than this. ............Dave