ThePiglet

No, that's more than accounted for by the VAT increase. Just VAT would be an inc VAT price about 2.1% greater than last year.

There is no rocker (as I understand them). The pushrod acts directly on the base of the valve stem (but there is this shim between the two for adjustment). I have removed the valve and shim and without teh shim, the valve drops all the way down. This and having checked with a straight edge leads me to believe it is not bent.

Thanks for the replies. I have a copy of the owners manual, but it's very basic. You have to disassemble A LOT to get at this cover, so it's probably not something they consider user-serviceable. I think you're right, it is shimmed, what I described as 'cups'. Point taken about grinding the stem, I'll see if a local motor factors or lawnmower spares shop carries any, if not then there seem to be plenty around online (once you know what you're looking for!). The valve is not bent, has not struck the head, there is a uniform buildup of carbon around the rim of the seat and a great deal in the head itself. It's a very old generator so I think maybe the gap has simply worn down through use. Cheers.

I found an abandoned 12/24v Honda ED400 generator by the bins a few weeks ago and decided to pinch it to tinker with. It didn't fire and there was barely any compression so I've stripped it down and found the exhaust valve isn't completely closing i.e. it's not being dropped far enough. The problem is, on opening the valve spring cover there is no obvious way of adjusting the clearance. The valve stem sits in a small seperate 'cup' which may possibly be used as a way of adjusting (thicker/thinner base of 'cup' between stem & push rod), has anyone come accross someting like this before? I'm tempted to just file a bit off the end of the stem or base of the cup & grind the valve in again.

To get a good height in my Springer I opted for a stepped floor. This forces me to have a central aisle and the shower at the front, but it's a short boat with no front doors, so it works well. Other Springers I have seen just panel down straight with an angled piece to the level of the floor. This give you an un-level floor but you can place shelves above to hide it. e.g. | | \___ Pictures

How about something like Maid of Fiber who was down this was a couple of months ago It's vinyl sticker with small perforations in the vinyl where the windows are. (Image copied & resized from their site due to the original being 1.5MB!)

I've used them, they work well, but you really want to wait till it warms up outside first. If you spray onto cold steel it won't stick anywhere as well and may pop off when it cures, giving you potential for a future condensation issue. It's comletely different to the can stuff as it sprays onto a surface and sticks rather than 'craps out the end of a stick'. Other than that: * ensure you have FULL body protection, one of those one piece disposable decorators suits and a cheap pair of goggles will do * try your best to use the lot in one go and at one time, same day at worst (though it will keep a couple of weeks, the stuff will 'clot' in the pipes and block the nozels) * follow the instructions about warming the tanks * if the instructions say to spray onto a wetted surfcae, get a 99p-type garden hand sprayer thingy and make sure you remember to wet the surface * hide/remove/cover anything you don't want to get tiny bits of foam on. You will learn to hate the term 'mecanical removal' EDIT: I used a kit myself, pictures on my blog. Link below.

I'm very merry on my 27ft Springer (16ft cabin) split into: 5ft galley 1ft stove & TV 7ft bed & chairs 3ft shower room

Yay! Winter weather

BT Retail rent you the line. BT Retail in turn rent it from BT Openreach. or Talk Talk rent you the line. Talk Talk in turn rent it from BT Openreach. Talk Talk just take a smaller/no cut from the line rental with a view to making it up on the call/broadband costs.

Portable generators are better because you can put them on the towpath a far away from your boat, point the noisy end away from youself and leave them running till 23:45. That's what the guy down from me did for a week last month anyway. Muter mutter mutter

I have one of those at the moment Luctor (twin tuner Hauppauge), excellent results even on a low power notebook. Could do with a better aerial though. PFU: I did wonder at 2mm if you were talking about a projector, that's cheating I'll dig out the specs, but it manages to make a Sky HD feed look bad!

Only 100"? Tomorrow I'll get a picture of the one in the canteen at work Here it is, 106" of LCD.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll give them all a good look and get back to you with a report, though it's looking like a 240v set as I have a 'thing' for thin surrounds. Out of interest, what kind of standby current does one of those small inverters draw on average?

Quite simple this one, after a write-off (not my fault!) I got waaaaaay more money from my car insurers than I thought the vehicle was worth, so I'm now in the market for a 15-19" LCD TVs with a 12v input (by design or accident), costing under £200. I've been looking at some of the nice LG ones but they seem to only have 240v inputs Suggestions?

Dometic do a ceramic bowl VacuFlush with remote cassette

I've got to say, you've spurred me into looking at my old Petter AC2W I took out of my boat. I took the heads off last night and found lots of carbon chunks, plus oil dripping down the guides onto the valves.

I should think a large eye splice would do the job

That pig is awesome!

The only benefit you'll get from a sump is that you can have an automatic float switch. With the Gulper you have to turn it on yourself. I have a Gulper and agree about it's speed and reliability.

The internal lamp won't be wired through the compressor in any way. No flashes means all OK. If it's not all OK, check the connections on the compressor (LED should usually go to the + and D) and make sure they're all good and clean.

Davey hotpot It's teeeeeeny!

I've got an Enfield on my tub. I had to take it off last year and renew the wooden spacer which I replaced with a custom made steel one. You can see the result on my blog in this post. The old one was severly pitted so I found a replacement on eBay, swapped a few parts around and gave it a fresh coat of paint. John