LEO

True, but the guy had to travel to the job, providing and paying for transport, purchase the tools and (all forgotten too often in these 'cowboy 'days) if he is a decent professional have 3rd party insurance. Also, people are entitled to earn a reasonable living from their honest toil. You get what you pay for and £8000 to get a 60/70ft boat painted, bearing in mind the overheads, seems reasonable to me. The finished job, if looked after carefully and it's not a 'fading' colour, should have a service life of 15 years. If someone has a long waiting list of clients wanting work it suggests that their work is good and prices are about right. Albi

The big problem is that purchasers develop a close relationship with the builder of a house/boat or extension and then liberties are all to often taken. People also do not cost into their purchases the expense of taking good professional advice - in the case of houses, architects/surveyors to check and certify work and in the case of boat building a well qualified marine surveyor to similarly certify work. Small housebuilders,like large developers will rarely ask for 'stage' payments as funding normally comes from Banks (discussions normally used to involve large lunches), stage payments are normally for 'self build' projects. Everything is cyclic, we are seeing a repeat of events of the late 80's / early 90's, especially with regards to the 'mushroom' boatbuilders, remember when parting up with the boodle for a pile of rusting steel (whether or not it is arranged in orderly pieces) make sure ownership is transferred to you, suitably certified and documented. I agree with the comments about buying second hand - there are some tremendously good buys around. ALBI

Sorry Alan, he's away at the moment!. You had an easy day yesterday, my pal and his wife did from Cosgrove to Marsworth in a day recently. Welcome home!. ALBI

Hi, Hard work, No Children, buying cheap houses and doing them up and selling them on, second hand furniture and only borrowing money on a mortgage to buy a house, no HP. Wasted a bit on sports cars and too much 'stagger syrup' but can't be good all the time - redundancy payments helped. - That enabled purchase the first narrowboat in 1989, more hard work funded the second in 2005. ALBI

Carlt Seems fair enough to me, an interesting story that generated a lot of comment and which was settled in a reasonably satistactory manner, with everybody getting a better idea of the reasons for the boats condition. Good Luck in the future. Albi.

Tony, I have read the thread and commented upon it (and expalined the rreason why I did not see it initially), but it's a news worthy story which all would have been interesting to all, (vandals setting fire to a a boat is dreadful news), let's read the story behind the picture on NBW's website'. Mr Fox actually asked a question, why not answer it?. CWF carried a post about poor work by a Surveyor recently, NBW carried a story about poor work by a Surveyor last week - investigation by me showed that the two incidents were not related but had common link. Perhaps a follow up on these stories would produce something useful and beneficial for boaters - it just goes to show that there is room for 2 or more opinions on the waterways - use them all and a bigotted opinion about any of them does no good at all. I am sorry that Carlt's email was posted after my comment about 'reasonable' letters, I quickly learnt in dealings with others (for what ever reason) that personal insults rarely got results. ALBI

Hi, Has anybody tried writing a reasonable letter to NBW explaining all the facts about the boats and the salvaged goods on the bank?, all I see on this post are 'rumblings', every picture tells a story, lets hear that story or as much as you want to tell. There is a 'letters to the Editor' column, send a letter and copy it here. BW made a great play in it's annual report about the number of visitors to the waterways (of which licensed boaters and anglers are the only one's to pay for their visit), copy it to them as well. There are 2 sides to every story, lets hear them both, (or as much of your side as you wish to tell). ALBI.

Hi Carlt, Thanks for the information, a sorry tale, I missed these posts because I was out of the country in May and June. So does one salvage or 'bite the bullett'? difficult choice. Best of luck, but I would stress if you post something on an 'open' forum all questions are reasonable. NBW - not all bad - CWF not all good, both contain useful information. Albi.

Hi. Is it a BW linear mooring or a private mooring?. Albi

Hi, I'm interested and it's a reasonable question. Albi

Hi, Just as a matter of interest, how long have the boats been moored up and the salvaged goods on the bank? Albi

Hi, Fit a 'Whale gulper' pump. No more problems. Albi

Bramley, Sadly the situation you describe is all to typical of Bristish canals and society in gereral, but it's basically caused by too many people who are living on a small island, dependant on a woefully inadequate infrastructure. I hope you complain to Black Prince, naming and shaming, after all you have suffered damage and inconvenience, where do you draw the line - if you read 'Sanity's blog, it details how a boat went by a such a speed it broke the bolts securing his fairlead cleat - the boat did not stop. No doubt repairs will be costly. The owners, like you have been inconvenienced - if others think this situation is satisfactory, we might just as well all stop paying our dues and become anarchists. Regretfully, the actions of a few drive up the costs for us all, well not all - only those who pay already. I agree on your comments about the Forum, again indicative of the times we live in and a problem with open forums. Albi

Hi 84ppl. Albi

HI, It's been a long day, with an eeeeeeeeeeeeeexcellent lunch, I shall watch the replies of others with interest. ALBI.

Hi, Actually, I think it's the first stages of 'planing'. My 30 footer (with a BMC 1.5) used to do this in the winter when the front water tank was empty, try throttling back. More economy, goes just as fast, but you lose the front end lifting effect. With a full 80 gallon tank mine stopped this. I suspect it's the reason they changed the desing of the bows of modern cargo ships. ALBI.

Sorry, Phone them first as it was a few years ago that it bought it. ALBI

Hi, Not sure where you are on the system, i got some from Uxbridge BC - it's not cheap. Albi

Hi, The cam lock principle is the best. I was concerned about 'enlarging the hole a bit' and now the chrome appearance, any new lock had to match in with the original, Thus one had to incorprate a 'cam' lock type within the fitting. Not too worried about swarf - it sinks the bottom, well below the bottom level of 'usable' diesel in the tank and the contents are filtered well before use. Any swarf will be removed with the annual bottom of the tank 'crud' removal, either by draining (one tank) or suction the other tank. It's also worth considering a locking device for the water tank as it's only a matter of time before some 'happy hero' introduces something into this tank as a prank or some other reason. Albi

Hi, Have been thinking and playing around with the prototype and it is possible at virtually no extra cost to add another security feature. I am fortunate in having dedicated tanks for heating and engine fuel. I agree if people want to hammer their way into tanks it will be difficult to stop them. But a 5 stage locking device using 3 different tools and 'Yale' key would deter opportunists. Albi

Hi, Have been looking at this one with interest, and I have a flush deck fitting. After some thought and checking the fittings, I made a 3 stage security fitting for £15 + labour. It could easly be upgraded to a 4 stage unit. One of the stages incorporates a Yale lock, which is weather protected. It's probably better than the expensive one listed and involves no alterations to the original fitting. Time will tell how secure it is!!. ALBI

Hi, Am I right in thinking Fulbourne is at Aylesbury, in the basin?, if so, there is an excellent Engineering firm near you in the High Street. Roblins is an old established firm, which has re-opened using all the old belt driven machines (H&S would have a fit!). Nice old bloke in charge, walking distance of the basin, between the canal and Exchange street. Even to visit is a pleasure. Albi

Hi, THe only way for a 1.5 to leak is via a defective rear crankshaft seal, which will result in oil dripping out the connecting plate between the gearbox and engine. I am not familiar with your type of gearbox. When I encountered a problem of going slower with more revs on my 1.5 was when I had a dreadful TMP gearbox. It was obvious that slipping clutch plates was the problem. Infact it reached the stage where I could go faster with low revs (taking ages between Weedon and Gayton in 1989 and praying that the headwind did not get worse sticks in my mind) I bit the bullet and installed a 'Hurth 150 box'. There will be others more suitably qualified, who may feel differently, in these times of oil shortages I shall be interested to here where the excess oil is coming from!!. (meant in jest) ATB ALBI

Hi, Intersting - what engine, what gearbox, oil cooler or not?. Albi.