Boatgypsy

Good idea, I'd happily pay £365 a year for a mooring!

Reds and Greys are different species, and as such do not normally interbreed, if they did/could, the result would be a hybrid squirrel which would not be fertile. It's normal for the Eastern Grey Squirrel to show some russett in it's fur, but nothing like the Red Squirrel.

Has anyone else wondered why they came up with this name when the public consultation made it clear that other names were clearly favoured by the majority of consultees. In fact this name was never even mentioned in the consultation document. It seems that the decision was made long before the consultation took place.

I'm not entirely clear what you are saying. Has the boat had a different engine fitted for the last three years? Has it had a BMC 1.8 previously? Have you had the original engine reconned? It sounds like you might be trying to drop in a different engine, or the same engine with slightly different mounts. Either way, the answer would seem to be the the mounts have to be made up so that the engine is in line with the shaft. This is not unusual, unless you are exchanging one engine for an identical copy, it is not likely to line up. If you are saying that the prop shaft is angled slightly downward, when you were expecting it be level - don't worry, this is normal and not adjustable. It is to help direct the thrust down into the water to counteract "squatting". Ian

I've just done an engine swap and converted from an air cooled to a water cooled - relatively easier to accomplish. The water pick up is via a short rubber hose on the outside of the hull, meaning the boat did not have to come out of the water, as the hole through the hull was above water level. A strainer box was about £10 and the wet exhaust hose was about £30. The most expensive item was a new engine pulley driven water pump at £200. Ian

Also signed and linked on facebook.

These people are quite good too for electrical supplies. clicky

Oh sorry, yes, there was a larger flywheel in that Bowman kit - about twice the thickness of the original. Having said that it needed solid mounts, that can make alignment easier and I haven't really had any problems with vibration, just a bit noisy.

Hiya. I have had a Land Rover naturally aspirated 2.5 lump in my boat for the last eleven years. It's very reliable, if a little basic and agricultural. There are two sorts of these engines, the earlier 3 bearing and the later 5 bearing - the code to look for is 19J. There is also a small difference in the front timing cover between a Land Rover one and a Sherpa one. In terms of reliability, my engine did about 250,000 miles in a Sherpa van and a Land Rover before I put it in the boat. The biggest drawback in my view is that they are not very economical and they do need solid engine mounts as they are not very smooth. I found it very easy to obtain a second hand Bowman marinising kit, comprising bell housing, engine mounts and heat exchanger. I was told that some BW workboats were fitted with these engines at one point, hence Bowman going to the trouble of making a kit. It runs a PRM 260 with no problems at all. BG

I wonder if you realise just how few people actually work on the scheme at BW. As far as I am aware there are about four technical people and one clerical staff. I am sure Rob will be able to correct me if I am wrong. Assuming that you are correct with your 5 points, how many staff do you think that the scheme needs to ensure that 35,000 plus boats comply?

Presumably, if you buy a dongle for cash, don't give out any of your details when buying it and top it up by cash only, you effectively have an anonymous IP address however often it changes. The only identifying information that could ever be tracked is the rough location where you are using it.

I'd love to pop by, but the chat room limit seems to be stuck on 5 rather than 50!!!

Dents can be pulled out by welding a kind of T bar to the dent, with screws at either end of the T. When these are screwed in, the dent is pulled out. Final finishing can be done with welding into any remaining dent and grinding smooth. It all depends how big the dent is though!

Quite right! Give me linear moorings any day, rather than those unsightly marina developments.

I wasn't suggesting that Marineflex expands as it sets, I was saying that PU adhesive does. I'm not sure why you think that the adhesive between steel and PU foam board needs to be so flexible, after all the PU foam will just do what it does when sprayed directly onto steel - it will stretch and shrink at the same rate as the steel. PU foam of any sort is just not structurally solid enough to be compromised when forced to move at the rate of expansion or contraction of steel. The expansion or contraction of the foam is irrelevant when bonded to steel. Yes, marineflex will do the job, but it does take longer to set and costs about 5 times the price and using about 5 tubes per 8 foot of boat means a hell of a price overall.

Pu adhesive sticks well, but you need to hold whatever you are sticking firmly in place whilst it sets because it expands as it cures, though not as much as the expanding PU foam. When using it for wood work you have to clamp tight because it expands and forces itself into the grain of the wood. Pink grip is, granted, far less flexible than marineflex, which is after all a rubber type sealant, but it is not inflexible. It is in fact more flexible than the steel to which it attaches. Before using Pink grip to stick celotex to steel I have used it to fix battening to my steel narrowboat - that was ten years ago. I tried to remove some of it recently. I had to resort to a bolster chisel and lumphammer, and even then the wood sheared off leaving a thin layer still glued to the steel. Pink grip is crap if used outside as it doesn't like being permanently wet, but inside, it's great. But this is just my own experience, you must do as you see fit.

Doing some surfing for a price on these Odessey batteries, I came up with a best price of £230 - still eye wateringly high! http://www.griffinbatterycentres.com/j/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=20

I think Marineflex is a bit too expensive for this job, and takes too long to go off. I have used it, but pretty quickly moved on to using Pinkgrip, which sticks like buggery, grips more or less instantly, and if you buy in bulk is only just over a quid a tube. If you are careful about cutting your panels to fit, glueing all around the edge and sealing the joins with something like aluminium foil tape, you will have as good a vapour barrier as with sprayfoam.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that lead sulphate can be dissolved with a solution of EDTA (Disodium ehylenediaminetetraacetic acid), which is then flushed out of the battery. Of course this would result in a net loss of lead, but could extract more life from a failing battery.

Salt would be the cheapest and easiest option, as has been said - and no, corrosion wouldn't be a problem anymore than it is with urine. But that said, I can't see how a whole tank of piss can have frozen!

Interesting choice of name - just be careful you don't start to suffer from Triskaidekaphobia!

Clicky

I have decided not to adopt the time change. I'm staying on BST all winter this year. I think I will feel much better for it. Unfortunately my laptop and phone have different ideas and keep reverting to GMT, I've not yet worked out how to stop them! I think the biggest issue is that TV and radio programs will be on past my bedtime, so I'll occasionally have to stay up late.

I'd guess it was most likely water/fuel emulsion that you've got. It's really hard to keep water out of diesel tanks unless you keep them full. Half empty tanks get water condensing inside and dropping to the bottom of the tank, then when you try to get the stove to start the first thing that comes through the line is the emulsion, or even just water. There's no way we've had cold enough weather for it to be wax. I'd disconnect the fuel line and drain fuel through until you are happy that it is running clear, then reconnect it.