agg221

That is probably the simplest way of looking at the situation, and I tend to agree with you on this point. There are many other ways that could be used - use of services, use of infrastructure, ability to pay etc associated with different patterns of use around residential vs. leisure, number of occupants etc but these would all require a lot more data about individual boats than CRT has the ability or inclination to collect, or would simply form different agglomerated averages with a different set of winners and losers. In the end, the approach CRT has taken bypasses all of these issues. You moor on CRT waters, you pay a surcharge to CRT for doing so. We could debate how that surcharge should be calculated (length, width, is it really CRT waters if it belongs to a marina etc) but the principle appears to be pretty clear. Alec

The survey does not show that 60% are against it because people were not asked that question. 60% of people asked did not express a preference for it, but that is a different question. To illustrate the point, in a general election there has not been a majority vote for a single party for an inordinate amount of time, but someone has to form a government so the party which gets the most seats, usually corresponding to the most votes, does so. It is not a perfect system, and may not be the best system, but it is a valid system. In the same way, CRT needed an approach to increasing revenue and this is the one more people selected than any other. Alec

We have a similar arrangement on ours, albeit with a tug deck and we have side bench seats at the bow which extend under the deck to form berths so the walkway to the front doors is fully functional. We have steps up and a sliding hatch which all works fine. Alec

It shouldn't need to be that level - they are designed for use on lumpy water boats. There should be enough fuel entering to cover the whole base on setting 1. If there isn't, it could be that the lower setting is too low but unless it has always done this it is more likely that it is slightly clogged in the very fine slit in the needle jet. This is fine enough that it can block with particles that get through the filter. The best option we have found is to use a pure gravity bowl filter, basically a water filter, before the inlet. The flow rate is so low that all the particles settle out in the bowl and can be removed. Alec

I think a lot depends on how much time you will be spending on it. In my experience, any multi-functional space involves a compromise, at best just on convenience but usually also in funtion. How many futons have you sat/slept on that have actually been comfortable for either, for example? Sometimes, needs must. The bow end of ours is needed as seats in the daytime with a table between them for eating at and beds at night. It's not the most convenient and the seats are definitely not the most comfortable, but ours is a short boat used for leisure purposes and we need four berths so that's how it works. Living aboard for one or two, we would take out the front seats and have two comfortable seats instead. Alec

Next update. I have swapped a correct pinion on to a 12V starter motor. I have no idea whether the motor works and no sensible way of testing it other than fitting it and trying it out, but no particular reason to believe it won't. The motor is different in that it has an oil cup for lubrication, so to get that to work I would have to place it the correct way up but the alternative would be to swap it for the fittings in the 24V one. Changing the pinion was not quite as straightforward as it could have been. Firstly, the second nut needed a slim 3/4" AF spanner and I didn't have one, but a bit of work on an already butchered 19mm spanner that came in a box of scrap soon solved that one. Next issue was that the second nut was stuck firmly on, eventually solved by temporarily re-fitting the castellated nut with a suitable size rod through the split pin hole and turning one against the other - came off easily once free. Removing the pinion itself was simple. Refitting was a bit fiddly. Although I had the motor upright and rotated the pinion as I extracted it, the plates still rotated relative to one another. Just screwing in therefore didn't work as the plates slipped round with the pinion. The technique which worked for re-insertion was to sort of gently lift the pinion and rotate and put it down again in little steps, sort of gently tapping it onto the plate below. That stopped the plates slipping round and eventually I worked it through all three. Now reassembled and ready to take to the boat on Wednesday. Alec

If it is the pump you may wish to speak to Cambridge Injector Services. No connection other than as a satisfied customer, mainly for cars, but the father of the current owner still comes in to overhaul vintage pumps and they are capable of manufacturing components if they are unobtainable. When I took the CAV BPE pump in from my Kelvin J2 they came back to me to ask if I was aware of the need for petrol starting before doing any work on it - having recognised the serial number designation and being sufficiently familiar with this engine to know that this was necessary and could save me the cost if I wasn't aware of it. In fact it was the pump, but it was around £100 for the service, about a year ago. Alec

I have a similar challenge - a very small space which needs to function as the toilet, basin and shower. There are other priorities, such as getting stove installations finished to BSS, so for now it just has the Thetford cassette toilet in there, and the kitchen sink serves for everything else, but longer term it needs sorting out. I am going down the folding sink route. There are modern sinks such as the Cleo which would work well but doesn't fit the style of the boat so I will end up copying an Adams & Westlake one. The floor will have to double as the base for the toilet and the actual floor. Current plan is to inset a shower tray so the top edge is slightly above normal floor level and put a stand in - possibly duckboard or possibly a solid surface but with a gap around the edges and hollow underneath so the water runs off it and into the tray. A true wet room would possibly be less prone to leaking so I may yet do that, in polypropylene sheet. This can be welded in-situ using a hot air gun with a nozzle to form a bespoke sealed unit. Alec

To avoid buying twice, if you are planning on doing a reasonable amount of work on the boat yourself I would look at matching the genny output to any power tools you are likely to need. Yes, there are many cordless tools, but from personal experience even a decent cordless make (DeWalt in my case) does not have the power output of corded and when e.g. drilling many holes in steel it can make a big difference to how long a job takes. Circular saws and power planes are the other power-hungry tools where it makes a big difference. Alec

Next time you run it, after you stop I suggest using the priming levers to compare the feel to before and, particularly, to listen for the creak. If you are getting it after but not before then the fuel is not staying on the high pressure side. Also, compare the two cylinders to see if both are the same and 'creak' properly. Alec

Last time Ben and I went to the Pools was around 1998 I think, during the Challenge. We picked up a length of heavy duty cable which had to be cut off the prop one strand at a time. That was in the days when there was a support team and various people turned up and took it in turns to work the wires off. It took several hours, during which I amused myself (when not taking my turn down the weed hatch) but cutting various branches off the fallen tree in front of us with a hacksaw. We were the first boat for quite a few years up that particular bit of the pools, but did not make it to the finish. Alec I made up a profile gauge according to the official dimensions and we fit fairly easily, but I don't know how that relates to the tunnel gauges at either end. Btw, it was Rivets which 'pushed' Oates through Gorsty Hill on the way back on the 2022 Challenge! Alec

Firstly, have you found the Refleks group on Facebook? That is likely to turn up some good suggestions. Secondly, it's worth detailing what you need done, and at what stage. For example, is the stove replacing a solid fuel stove where a suitable hearth is already in place, or is it a bare installation where the hearth will need doing too? That has a major bearing on the time it will take. Another related point is what you are doing about the fuel supply. If there is a long line to be installed on a complex run through the boat then getting that in and correctly screwed down will take a long time whereas at the opposite extreme a simple day tank near the stove will take almost no time to fix. You may find it possible to get someone to fit the stove itself to an existing hearth and fit a temporary day tank with the permanent fuel line to follow later as it will cut it down to a much shorter job. Alec

It should be Oates but that depends a bit on whether @Ben Jameson’s memory of the previous trip through Gosty Hill has faded sufficiently. What I would really like to do is that and Dudley but the latter depends on whether they will put on a volunteer that weekend. Alec

Completely agree - what you don't want is a project - something that you can jump on and use, and do bits and pieces to to make it your own is ideal, but not something which is another source of stress. A cheap steel boat is almost certainly going to be a source of stress as it is cheap for a reason. A boat such as the one linked to by Crewcut may be perfect for what you are currently wanting. The only thing to watch for in GRP boats is whether there is heating. Given your likely pattern of use you probably don't need to worry about high levels of insulation and multi-fuel stove fitting (although it would be nice if it was there, and you could probably fit one as a reasonable scale of project) but if you are planning on getting out on it occasionally at any time of year, you do need to make sure that the heating will allow this. I wouldn't regard this as a barrier - just something to be aware of in the price as you either need it to be present, or budget to add it. Alec

Can I suggest that WikiTree might be useful for the main contributors to this thread? If you are not familiar with it, rather than the Ancestry principle where everyone builds their own tree, instead on WikiTree there is a single entry for each individual and everyone adds information to that page. The Ancestry model makes much more sense commercially as the historical information they have can be sold to multiple people, but the WikiTree model is free and significant steps have been taken to ensure permanent data storage. It has its frustrations - usually random Americans who have no concept of good quality records existing before their country was even created, but no information is deleted. It allows uploading of copies of photographs, certificates etc. and all data requires a source which gives it a level of accuracy not found in many Ancestry trees, which are often based on nothing more than conjecture. Given that there is a group of related people here, with unrelated people having additional canal-related information, it might be a useful way to capture it. Alec

Not sure quite where you are geographically or whether this is financially viable but I had a thought. Although our boat is mainly used for family trips, there are times when I use it on my own. It isn't strictly a bolthole, but there have been occasions when it has certainly been an advantage to get away and have time to stop and think, even if only by going for one night with a quick trip out and back. The mental health benefits of this should not be under-estimated, particularly in your circumstances. If you are in a suitable location, would it be viable to have a relatively small boat, say 30', and keep it fairly locally? It wouldn't be for living on, but rather for short trips away when care can be arranged. If relatively local then that could just be a night, so that it was easy to get back if needed but it is still a break. A shorter boat is cheaper to own, maintain, licence and moor but 30' would also be big enough for a week or two away on your own if you got the opportunity. The huge advantage of ownership is that you can do those short ad hoc trips when the opportunity arises. We go out all year round - not necessarily to go anywhere in particular but to potter about getting a few things done on the boat, probably with a run up to the local town, moor overnight and go out for a meal. It's only 20mins boating each way, or 40mins the other way to the winding hole, but that doesn't feel like it matters - it's the being there, cruising along and not thinking about anything else in particular. It does come at a financial price, but if that is viable then the advantage of being able to get away from it all for a bit, even if that is only brief, might make it worthwhile. Alec

I have these fitted, in 7". It was a special, which took a bit of development but work well. I will say that I had quite a bit of fettling to do to get them to my satisfaction, both in uniformity and finish. I also drilled drain holes at the lowest point which means there is now now water ingress at all - the hopper drains below the porthole. These were replacements for the marine opening type porthole which had previously been fitted and was not effective - if you opened them the puddle drained in to the boat! Proper spun brass porthole liners no longer available - I ended up having to make my own. Alec

I have lost the money, because I have paid for a licence, mooring, insurance, BSS and maintenance costs which nobody will reimburse me. You could go and sit on a hire boat at its hire base just as I could go and sit on my boat at its mooring. Neither of us can re-book, the hirer because the company will not reimburse them and me because I cannot take alternative time off. I do recognise that owning means I intend to go out more than once a year, so proportionally I do get derive more value than a hirer who loses their whole trip, but given that we probably get no more than a couple of full weeks a year, and its mainly weekends which are often more about maintenance than cruising, it's still a big hit. Alec

For some, yes. For others such as us, we are equally subject to the vagaries of stoppages. I am tied to school holidays with both school age children and my wife being a teacher. I have to give a month's notice for a week of annual leave and once booked it cannot be cancelled or the date changed. Whilst I am not affected by the cost changing, I am certainly affected by the value. This year we went to the end of the Llangollen feeder, something I tried and failed to do in 1997. It was well worth the experience. Friends with whom we travelled had spent a fortnight over the summer going down to Stratford and back. There have been a few challenges but nothing which held us up to any notable extent. The greatest risk of not getting there was when the gate failed on Lock 7 of the Audlem flight just before the historic boat gathering - in the end it was fixed and we made it on Saturday morning somewhat earlier than planned, having gone down most of the flight on the Friday evening. There are maintenance issues, and more significantly there are issues with the management of maintenance which means best value is not being obtained, but the system is generally navigable unless you head to the northern reaches with known water supply issues. Alec

Midland Chandlers has bulkhead units available (at a price): https://www.midlandchandlers.co.uk/products/ag-oval-bulkhead-brass-light-complete-with-cage-vl-112 Alec

I like that idea! At the moment the competition (and I use the term advisedly) is pretty much all about planning your own route and hoping you don't hit any problems. In sports terms, it's like playing darts, or archery. Really you are only competing against the best you can do. Add this component in though and it gets a bit more tactical. We would have done rather well last year under that rule as I believe we were the only boat to reach both Anglesey Basin and Pelsall. We aren't really competitive - we have the wrong boat and two of our crew are always on the younger side (12 to 15). This does not impact on the entertainment though; for us, reaching the finish with the boat still running is generally regarded as a success! Alec

Oates really doesn't like Gorsty Hill, which is ironic because its former working route was Bumble Hole to Hawne Basin. It is just the wrong length without straight sides so now that it is motorised it crabs through narrow tunnels and is inexorably drawn to wedging itself within the bore. It then pretty much stops. We first found this out in the 2022 BCN Challenge. On the way down it took us about 1hr20mins to get through the tunnel (much to the annoyance of the other competitors trying to get back!) but on the way back we pretty much pushed/pulled it through hand over hand against the brick wall and using the boathook against the metal rail at water level. That cut the time down to around 40mins I think. It should be Oates again for the 2024 BCN challenge so I note with joy that the finish is at Hawne Basin... Alec

We will be there one one boat or the other, probably not both - that would be sheer masochism, although it could have some advantages (what is the definition of a butty...) Alec

OK, looking at your three pictures I am reasonably confident that the fuel flow rate is too high. Bear in mind that my experience is with Refleks stoves and I had a major headache getting ours to run properly (it does now) to the point where I was tempted to take it out and throw it in a skip, and fit a solid fuel stove. Having got there with it, I am glad we persevered as it suits our needs far better than a solid fuel stove would in that location. Bearing that in mind: At the lowest setting, the flames look to be about 75% blue. There are six marks on my Toby and, on a boat, that is what you expect to see if you go above 3 as the flue is not long enough to create the draw needed for a clean blue burn. At the high setting you can see from the shape of the flames that air is being drawn in through all the visible air holes, so they are not blocked. Therefore, unless you have additional air holes somewhere (the Refleks is a pig for this - they can get so clogged you can't even see them and you need a needle to clean them out), or there is a lot of fluff and dust trapped the other side of the air holes restricting the general flow, it looks more likely that it is too much fuel rather than too little air. When you turn the regulator, it adjusts the height of a needle valve with a slot in it. Turning the regulator up exposes more of the slot so more fuel can flow. The response is linear - markings on the top relate to angle of turn which relate to flow rate. There are different models of bubble stove, which have regulators with different min/max flow rates. Yours states 4-13 on the side; some bubble stoves require 4-10 and there may be others too. For context, if yours needs a 4-10 regulator and you have a 4-13 then each line is delivering 1.5 times more fuel than it should. On a boat with a short flue which starts to burn yellow above 3 on a 4-10 regulator, that corresponds to 2 on the 4-13 regulator which is therefore as high as you could go. I don't think you have exactly this position as your is not burning cleanly at the lower end of the range. That suggests yours could potentially need a 2-8 regulator - worth checking this in the right manual for your model. Whilst it is possible that you have completely the wrong range regulator (and easy to check, so worth doing first) it is not the most likely situation. What is more likely is that either the needle valve has been changed for the wrong one, or it has worn and is now letting too much fuel through. These fuels have very low surface tension and it takes very little change to make a big difference. A few bits of grit having got past at some point and cut a groove would be all it takes. I would be inclined to change the regulator. Not the right time of year to have stoves out of action, but the quickest, simplest test would be to take the regulator off your other stove (assuming it is otherwise the same and the manual says it has the right minimum flow rate) and put it on the stove which is not working. That will confirm it is a regulator problem. Alec