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steelaway

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Posts posted by steelaway

  2. Selling the Dog House.....

    in General Boating

    Posted

    As nice as that is we would be aiming for something fairly new, with a good lump of the engine/chassis and body integrity warranty remaining. Having been previous owners of caravans two of which suffered from damp ingress I know about how much of an expense it can be to sort out when things go wrong.

     

    Good luck with your sale though.

     

    PS what's the gizmo on the roof - for a Sat TV perhaps?

     

    It is a Camos satellite receiver equivalent to 65cm dish.

    Burstner is of finest German build quality - there is definitely no damp.

    Good luck with your future adventures, don't forget ----- you are not here for a long time but you are here for a good time.

     

    Alex

  5. Keys

    in New to Boating?

    Posted

    We each also carried a full set of all the boat keys, my wife's set lived in her handbag. Although we never needed them I dread to think of the consequences if I'd dropped mine in the cut.

     

    Alex

  8. Wide Locks

    in Boat Handling

    Posted

    this is brilliant advise, thanks everyone! Allan my boat is 60 ft and we're going up towards Chester ....feeling slightly nervous have to admit!!

    Hi

     

    Its always best to share wide locks, even if it means waiting for some one else to come along.

    Watch out for the staircase lock - read the instructions carefully and make sure all the paddles are down - or you can find yourself on the bottom of the last lock ( don't ask me how I know!)

    The all steel lock is novel. Look for deer around there, it is a lovely cruise.

     

    Alex

  11. French canal holiday?

    in General Boating

    Posted

    Hi,

    Looking at having a week next year with total group of 6 on one of the southern French canals, Big blank canvas , would be grateful for info ,Companies, websites, forums etc. must be self drive not a hotel boat,

    Cheers

    Ian

    Hi

    We had a one week holiday starting from Joigny and finishing in ??? They can organise a taxi back for around £20 each. All the locks are manned and it is very rural.

    You do pass through Auxerre and is well worth a stop over.

     

    Alex

  13. Oil filters for a Barrus Shire (70)

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted · Edited by steelaway

    Hi,

     

    Can anyone recommend a cheap website or place near Bristol/Bath where I can get a set of oil filters (and oil) for our Barrus 70?

     

    The only ones I can find are on Ebay and I dont think they are the correct type.

     

    Thanks

     

    What about these - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BARRUS-SHIRE-FILTER-KIT-2200cc-YANMAR-/191039953847?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item2c7ade5bb7

     

    Engine filter are generic, Barrus probably buy these and re-box them.

    Barrus or Yanmar don't make filters or oil.

    If you know the generic number they will be even cheaper at Partco

     

    Alex

  15. Water tank blues (or browns...)

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted

    I have done that in a loft but without the angle grinder, cut it up in small bits to get it through the hatch.

    We use to do that regularly when I was Offshore. 1.25 pints of thin bleach to 40 tons of water and its still drinkable "Just" any more and the tank requires flushing afterwards.

     

    How strong is modern bleach?

    Bleach I've bought recently seems to be a very diluted version of the Domestos we used to buy.

     

    Alex

  17. calder and hebble - Mirfield to Stanley Ferry

    in Stoppages

    Posted

    Cheers.

     

    Ellie tells me not to be mean about her engine as apparently in a tug of war it once pulled a budgie completely off its perch.

     

    And you don't see many birds riding freshwater fish!

     

    Edit cos she had last laugh at my punctuation error . . .

    Talking of punkturation and spilling.

     

     

    From a teacher -- short and to the point

     

     

    In the world of hi-tech gadgetry, I've noticed that more and more

    people who send text messages and emails have long forgotten the art

    of capital letters.

     

    For those of you who fall into this category, please take note of

    the following statement:

     

    "Capitalization is the difference between

    helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and
    helping your uncle jack off a horse."

    `

    Is everybody clear on that?

    Alex

  19. Bit of advice needed, Please.

    in Holidays Afloat

    Posted

    That's a huge journey even over 3 weeks and not much of an holiday. A major problem would be organising passage up the Rochdale, only a few passages a day.

    From Willington I would head down the Coventry to the Fazeley and have a look at Birmingham. Then onto complete the Cheshire Ring. Still a lot of locks but mostly singles and it will give you time to enjoy your holiday.

     

    Alex

  21. canals and flooding

    in General Boating

    Posted

    Great post and some excellent advice, I'm scared of weirs for some reason I used to have nightmares about them

    Hi

    If you can see the top of the weir even with water flowing over it, there is going to be a 3 or 4 ft wall below it to crash into before there is any likely hood of going over it.

     

    Alex

  22. eberspacher servicing ..... for beginners

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted

    just one more thing . The idea of a heated towel rail is an appealing one . quite posh i think ... ive never owned a heated towel rail !! All my rads are down the right hand side of the boat if you are facing the bow . My bathroom is on the left hand side of the boat so the wall on which a towel rail might be fixed is a boat widths distance away from the radiator pipes .

    Supposing its poss to isolate the rads from the calorifier to provide only a tankful of hot water , is there scope for running pipes to the bathroom along the left wall and in doing so create a very useful thing for my bathroom whilst also fulfilling the need for a heat sink . otherwise id have to have one of the existing 4 rads on . If its not poss then so be it and i ll just have to have one of the existing four rads on but if i can do this i d like to do so . All the trunking that hides pipes in the bathroom has been ripped out whilst looking for the cause of my water filled cabin bilge so access is no prob and theyre selling towel rails 1/2 price in screwfix for £30 just now . Any thoughts welcome as to this idea , cheers folks

     

    Towel rails are very over rated as a heater, they are only just good enough for drying towels!

    if you check the BTU output from a standard radiator you'll find you will need a towel rad at least twice the size of a standard radiator!

     

    Alex

  23. eberspacher servicing ..... for beginners

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted

    Hello,

     

    when i bought my boat last spring it had an eberspacher d4w ( i think - a manual i have is for models 4&5 and as yet haven t seen anything on mine to say which ) and seemed ok . I had to replace the calorifier which has meant loss of coolant from the pipes to and from the rads . i need to get this heater working again soon but i want it to be configured in a way that enables it to heat just the calorifier for most of the time and the four rads occasionally . Primarily its for hot water as i don t want to run the engine just for this purpose if avoidable .

    last time i switched it on many months ago it went thru the start up with all that noise , blew white smoke , made a screeching sound and shut down . First i need to put coolant back into the pipes and then i will try to turn on the eberspacher but i m expecting the same result as last time .

    Ive read lots of previous posts on servicing these heaters and seen the youtube video . Am i to understand that therefore a service is essentially a replacing of the glow plug and two gaskets & a cleaning of the combustion chamber - this is de coking ? Would i be right in thinking that in many cases this process would solve most issues and its what should be tried first ?

    Im looking to get the eberspacher running properly before adjustments are made to the pipework to enable me to just heat the calorifier alone . Does anyone else out there use one for just water ? also is removing it from all the pipes going in and out going to cause problems possibly - i' m assuming i have to remove it completely to have a go at servicing . If all else fails then i ll look into shelling out for it to be looked at . Lots of folk have bad things to say about these units but im thinking that if looked after , serviced and cleaned up regularly and used regularly then they ought to be reliable . But regular servicing means learning to do it yourself .... unless your minted .... i m not ! The parts seem cheap enough so service costs must be mostly labour .

     

    Sorry its a long post but i thought id try to explain myself thoroughly from the outset and thanks alot for any advice you can offer .

    cheers

    Hi

     

    Basically they are reliable and simple once you understand them.

    You need to de-coke them every 1 to 2 years.

    You must have a good amount of air going in via the fan (check air filter) the fan is most usual cause of a breakdown as it spins at high speed and is in a hot place.

    You can take them apart (carefully) and re lube the bearings. There must be no blockage in the exhaust.

    There is a very small fuel filter behind the fuel inlet coupling that can become blocked.

    You must be sure that there is no air trapped in the system or the thermal cut out will trip (reset by pushing the red spike back in).

    There is a You Tube video for more information.

     

    Alex

  25. Will this work

    in Living Afloat

    Posted

    Hi

     

    In the exact same "boat", so to speak. We are new to boating & cc'ers and I am on live long medications. Went to see my doctor and have arranged to have my meds in 3 month batches. We have no family to send mail to, so that isn't an option for me. It will simply be a case of one of us catching a train up to Coventry once ever 3 months to get my prescription filled at the medical clinic I attend.

     

    We'll make it work, thankfully I have a doctor who was quiet bemused by our change of lifestyle plans and was willing to assist as best he could.

     

    B~

    I don't know if you have a driving licence but Enterprise car rental will deliver you are car to any where convenient and drop you back when you return.

    Its also provides a good opportunity to stock up on heavy items from the supermarket on the way home.

     

    Alex

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