Stroudwater Boy

I love travelling in the dark but normally only in the country. Not much fun through a town with drunks about. It is a case for common-sense to have to be used in spadefuls, passing boats at tick-over (genuine tick-over not what most people use) and elsewhere just taking it easy. I do not reckon on being a jack-in-a-box any jumping up when a boat goes past, earlier this year was the first and only time I have ever shouted at a person for going too fast. 11:30 one night in a working boat, clearly didn't feel the need to slow down as it was a working boat and pulled out both pins complete with a chuck of bank both ends.

Have to say looks like the plans got screwed up in the post and they forgot to straighten them. Either that or they put in distortion on the webcams to make sure they can't be copied!

Heck of a lot of marinas would have to be rebuilt/reduce capacity, meaning only one thing - higher prices!

Always good to have a correction from an expert, thank you. The words I used were from an HSE inspector and as a result of a conversation on the use of a chainsaw on a towpath so I am a little surprised to hear that he was giving such bad advice but as I know him well you can be sure that I will put him right! He was quoting PUWER regulations section 9 by the way. Can you clarify the act that allows the police to prosecute someone for having an accident with a chainsaw please, I was an officer for 20 years and missed this one somehow.

Although there is no specific legislation regarding chainsaw use if you look on the HSE website they have made it very clear that they consider a NPTC in chainsaw operation to be the very minimum qualification to use a chainsaw anywhere that is not your own private land. Even if you use one on your own land and other people are present you must have one. If you use a saw and there is an accident they will prosecute no matter who is hurt, yes even if the operator is the only person hurt, they are very clear about this.

Sounds like it might well be caused by a different problem. I would suspect the PRV if it is in the hot line the pressure is building and the toilet valve is lifting and therefore acting as a secondary PRV.

Sorry but this is incorrect. All G&S bridges are under control of a bridge keeper and you are required to obey their instructions how ever given, if you start sounding your horn at bridges I can assure you, you will be going second!

Can you imagine my surprise when I discovered that we had around 100 litres go missing and the only time it could have happened was when our boat was left in our secure marina. It must take a while to syphon out that much, it is hard to understand why no one realised unless it was in the early hours but even then we have a number of occupied boats around us and it must be hard to do this with out making a noise. I can be sure of the theft as I brimmed up for winter and we went out for weekend run when I spotted on our return some diesel that seemed lower priced so stopped for some, SWMBO said I was mad which I suppose is true as it would only be for 10 litres max after 8 hours running, 115 litres later!!! Had it not been for this I don't expect I would have realised which I suspect is happening to other people.

It all depends on how well (or badly) a boat is built. I used to skipper large trip boats which means a lot of boat handling and we had both ends of the equation, one boat was a delight to take out and I far happier taking it out than your average narrowboat but it was very well designed and built. We also had one which when I was assigned that one it was never a good day I used to be exhausted after one trip yet alone a whole day! Same of course with narrowboats, known both good and bad. In short not a lot to do with size. It maybe that the narrowboat you are used may not have been designed for handling if it is one that needs two people to jump off when you come alongside to hold in, on the tripboats even in bad weather we went single handed if we didn't have passengers, come alongside, settle, rope around a bollard and move forward on to it, all safe.

I believe that you will find that Tony Brooks as normal got this spot on in his first reply. I have this problem with my engine, I started to discuss this with a Lister Petter engineer and before I had got very far with my explaination of the problem he stated that it was the drawback with Hydraulic lifters. Only seems to be a problem if left for 4 weeks or more. I have found that if I preheat the engine then of course the engine spins faster as the oil is thinner and it takes a lot less cranking.

You will find the guys at Sterling incredibly helpful if you give them a ring.

You may have guessed that it is not something to be undertaken lightly. A few years back a man did decide that he would ignore all the advice and do it on his own. He was found sometime later when a search was launch when he did not turn up at Avonmouth, sitting on one of the channel buoys as his boat had rolled over when he touched a sandbank. His "navigation" kit had consisted of an AA roadmap, no radio nothing. Very lucky just to lose his boat and not his life.

Depends on your boat and to some degree your experience. Lets assume a narrowboat. 1/. Don't do it. 2/. If you feel you must do it a pilot is a must, he will check your boat is capable and if happy accompany you. 3/. The weather and tides must be right, be prepared for a long wait. 4/. Empty your fuel rank and clean it out, change your fuel filters and make sure that you refill with clean fuel. 5/. Do a full engine service. 6/. Make sure that you have a full set of spares for any eventuality. 7/. Talk to the Sharpness lock keeper. 8/. Don't do it.

I used to have a 12v microwave. Just sold it.

At least we didn't get living on a boat is simple, cheap, etc etc. I am sure that it was the main reason we keep on hearing from people surprised at the reality having sold their house and moved onto a boat.

One possibly for Rob. I went to my office earlier this week which I very rarely go to due to being a home worker, and I was struck by all the extinguishers having gone missing, I asked the facilities man and he told me that it was as a result of a fire brigade visit, apparently other than in exceptional circumstances it is now recommended not to have any, as they only delay people getting out of the building. I also had a very similar experience at my hotel the following night, which surprised me as I am sure that I can remember reports following hotel fires in the 60's and 70's that missing or faulty fire equipement was at least partly the cause of deaths. My point is that as we are told that boats are particularly dangerous in case of fire due to the materials used and shape etc, is this going to be the next change to the rules? Has all this money we have been spending first changing all our equipment and then replacing regularly now going to have been found, due to the new thinking to have been completely wrong.

Procast make a nice one, any length. They shrink fit the tube to the hinge fitting.

Very easy, took me about 20 minutes. Fixed the problem but it is strange that the old pump looked OK and couldn't find anything wrong with it. Took it to my supplier and he said looked fine to him as well but it has been fine since for the last four years!. Did have to change the thermostat as well as the heat had blown the capsule and yes before anyone says it I did change it before the pump replacement plus trying without one..

Our first boat was a semi and we loved it, just right, except that you get cold when we normally go out as we avoid the school holidays like the plague. So we went for a trad this time and still happy and I can stand inside the doors with my "winter tiller" on and stay nice and toasty. As always there is no right answer, if you are only looking for summer use my vote would be for a semi but if you want to get out and about year round then trad must be a winner.

Ah something I can help with for once. They are called hospital silencers because when you install a standby generator the normal silencer is well, not very effective. To meet the requirements of not waking all the patients in a hospital you end up with a huge expansion box therefore any larger than normal exhaust in a canal boat is now called a hospital silencer. Did do a job for American Express during the 3 day week crisis that when the gennys first sarted up at night caused so many complaints from housing estates all around the area that they promised the local council they would never be started again, but they had decided that the need was so urgent that they couldn't wait for the silencers to be made! On the original subject I have a Stirling PDAR, love it. If you ring their helpline and get an Irish accent it will be Charles Stirling and he is a mine of information that is delivered very directly.

Barry When in the drop down section once I have selected category then the manufacturers should be those for that category not the whole stock list. Robin

£18000+ for a Pat Buckle boat that is flood damaged!!!!! Can only assume that the bidders have been watching waterworld and decided to live afloat without doing any research.

My method was to work out a complete list then divide it into two stages, 1/. make usable 2/. make comfortable and then asked for prices, by far the lowest was Limekiln. They are a good drive from me but it was well worth it as a lot of the stuff I was going to buy I was told not to waste my money on and I got good advice on better ways of going about things, as I had previously built our house I assumed wrongly about a lot, but they put me right even if it cost them money. They also have a number of parts there that they have had specially made that make life a lot easier, it made me laugh a lot when I was there and would say "how do I" and Dave would reach into a box and say you need one of these, happened a number of times.

Dan Sorry memory not what it was, I think it was at the end of the ninties. Their first share boat was on the market, not sure it the setup was called Challenger then but it had been created as a separate company.

Evesham Marina went into liqudation, two of the directors had the surname Rimmer. I can be sure of this as I had a copy of the books whilst making a bid for the assets. It was a strange setup!