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alan_fincher

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Posts posted by alan_fincher

  1. 8 hours ago, BEngo said:

    Plenty of people selling Golden Film SAE 30 online.  Classic Oils usually have it, or an alternative like Beetlejuice.

    I believe Morris's do mail order.  They are not usually the cheapest.

     

    Indeed.  Buying direct from Morris generally seems to be one of the most expensive ways to buy their oils!

  2. 13 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

    Flag staff, IWA, AWCC and Club flags

     

    Good call!

     

    You can see small loops both at the top and at the bottom of each upright, so looks very much like it is to hang three pennants from.

     

    Just one thing though - Why on earth would you?

  3. 4 hours ago, bizzard said:

    Essex Motor Factors of Bishops Stortford stock the range of Morris oils. I use them in boats and in my car. Very good service.  = Essex Motor Factors 01279 653211.

     

    AFAIK Morris don't do a 15W/40 in their Golden Film range - a shame as it meets the API CC requirement.

    I've not re-checked, but over the years I have used Morris 10W/40, 20W/40, and straight monograde SAE 30.

    I thing those are your only possibilities for Golden Film API-CC.

  4. On 18/03/2024 at 23:00, matty40s said:

    Woolworths paint was very consistent and good quality.

     

    Exactly this! ^^^^^^^^

    It was a good paint, and very easy to use.

    However the Woolworths that I used to buy from seldom had more than about 3 fairly small cans in any chosen colour.

    Painting an entire cabin would usually involve you visiting multiple stores!

  5. Last time I inquired of a merchant local to my home, (North West Herts), the rate I was quoted was very much less than any quoted above, and from memory would only have yielded around £6 per 110 Ah battery.  So I didn't bother at the  time.  This means I now have about half a dozen 110 Ah batteries stacked outside, as well as a couple of much smaller car batteries.

     

    Perhaps I should try again?  Although our boats are berthed in the Weedon area, I really don't fancy carting all these batteries up there, as we usually travel with 2 large dogs in the boot, and I don't fancy staking batteries on the rear seat..

  6. 14 hours ago, uncle nick said:

    However, from asking on here for help identifying the age or builder, it was suggested the CaRT number (519542) could be 1992.

     

    4 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

    The CaRT number is not a very reliable proof of age, only the time the boat was registered with BW/CaRT. It might have come from a non-CaRT waterway at some time.

     

    CRT registration no 519542 is certainly not from 1992.  I don't have access to the data at the moment, but is well post 2000.

    As Tony suggests though a modern CRT number is not a meaningful way of determining boat age -one of my  boats has a 6 digit 501vxxx number, but was built in 1936.

  7. 14 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

    Made a right mess of that it doesn’t look traditional in any way .

     

    3 minutes ago, MtB said:

     

     

    Bit of a jolt to the eyes, isn't it! 

     

     

    image.png.d30706c97d7f1eca7cc91ba2e050ebcc.png

     

    Does Chris Pink still have an interest in it, or has it at some stage before now changed hands?

  8. 59 minutes ago, Rufford said:

    Triagulum is for sale on Facebook marketplace. Now with steel top and spray foamed and lined out.

     

    Bargain at 53k... 🤣

     

    I'm looking for a converted butty but not prepared to pay a premium for the inconvenience of no engine when I could buy a motor for the same money!

     

    https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/1387222361915474?media_id=0&ref=share_attachment

  9. This one keeps coming around.

     

    https://www.apolloduck.co.uk/boat/narrow-boats-traditional-for-sale/655585

     

    £94,995 seems a bit much if it is quoted as over-plated.

     

    It claims original hull sides were iron rather than steel.  I can't recall if that is correct or not, but must admit I always thing the construction of these boats was welded steel.  Perhaps I'm wrong?

     

    EDIT:  It seems I was wrong!  On checking I now believe the actual construction was welded wrought iron, (other than the bottoms which were wood, as the boats were of composite construction.

  10. On 04/03/2024 at 09:30, jonesthenuke said:

    Just a thought, but are there any derelict locks that would give an idea of construction and design? I am thinking of the scenario where part of the walls have collapsed, thus allowing an insight into brickwork thickness etc.

     

    I recall that when there was a massive failure  of one of the sidewalls on a lock towards the end of the Aylesbury arm that CRT had access to plans that they assumed would show how it was built.

     

    I may have this slightly wrong, but my memory is that they actually found that the brickwork was about double the thickness of what the plans actually showed.

     

     

     

     

  11. My first reaction is that if you want to drill through the base-plate at various positions then the boat will need to be raised from the ground by more than the length of a suitable drill armed with a suitable drill bit.

     

    Many narrow boat docking arrangements would not raise the boat up sufficiently.

     

    Once you have the holes how would you propose to measure how much solid steel you have before it changes to scale or rust?

     

    You have really got to trust whoever is welding up those holes, and hope they don't get t sightly wrong at any point!

  12. A British Waterways Maximum Craft Dimensions document that I have a filed copy of lists the following maxima for the GU.

     

    Brentford to Braunston        76 feet

    Braunston to Camp Hill        78 feet

     

    The fact that Progress has been able to make it to the outskirts of Birmingham certainly proves that an oft quoted maximum length of 72 feet for the GU is decidedly pessimistic

    • Greenie 1
  13. 15 minutes ago, BEngo said:

    Network rail, or Railtrack before them, had already demonstrated that they could not upgrade the west coast main line without causing so much disruption that you might as well close it and do the work.    There were also soaring costs, well beyond inflation so the project was abandoned part completed.  Virgin had to be paid a lot of money because they had invested based on a performance promise which could no longer be met.

     

    HS2 is supposed to be an answer to this, but merely demonstrates that the DfT civil service knows stuff all about running a railway and ministers are readily seduced by a big shiny project.  The original business case for HS2 included aTreasury subsidy of about £1billion a year, in then money.  It assumed that people would travel to Euston from places like  Gerrards Cross, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe and others to get a train to Brum, instead of getting on a Chiltern train or the M40.  Even with such wildy optimistic assumptions and others of similar ilk, it did not stand up but no one had the brains, or balls, to kill it off. 

     

    The original Great Central London Extension  was a victim of similar issues.  Once Watkin and the  the Channel link had gone there were no profitable intermediate stations and trains to Manchester and Sheffield simply did not have the loadings to pay their way.

     

    A new modern but not High Speed  railway to Brum might make sense, because it could have stations on the way so that it is quicker and easier to go from a West London or leafy Bucks home to Brum, but it is too late now.

     

    N

     

    A good analysis of the situation, I think.

    • Greenie 2
  14. Assuming the damaged door, (is there only one?), will lift off the hinges, it might be worth asking Martin Kedian, who posts on here from time to time, if he could fabricate a replacement.  Martin is  the expert of all things hatch related, and I'm sure would give an honest answer.

     

    Alternatively if might even be possible to straighten what you have.

  15. 15 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

    Some interesting old film of Severners from 6.30 minutes into this film:

     

     

     

    Interesting footage.

     

    However without squinting too hard and for too long, it looks to me that most of the SandCC motor boats pictured are not the Charles Hill welded boats, and are instead the wooden types identified by a number, rather than a name.

    The most obvious identification in distant shots is that the wooden boats had their motor in a conventional engine hole ahead of the living accommodation to the rear of it - so the exhaust comes from where most of us are used to.

    The Charles Hill boats had the engine room to the rear, with the living accommodation ahead of it.  That makes the engine exhaust at the back (nice for the steerer!)  There may have been some examples of this in the film, but if I I didn't see it on a quick run through.

  16. 3 hours ago, John Brightley said:

    As far as I can remember, Speedwell is still basically the same as it was when it was a hire boat - it was a bit unusual in the 1980's !

     

    Just 35 feet of boat but wit a Lister HB2 in it - a strong potential for waves breaking over the towpath!

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