

springy
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Everything posted by springy
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Dont know anything about the boat, but it looks like its on the main line outside caggys yard. springy
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Coming along Nicely - Hinges are just about perfect ! Re ash pan handle - doesnt really matter exactly how it looks / works but you need a separate handle which hooks snugly into the hoop to allow you to lift the ash pan with one hand, and then is detached when not in use - it means the handle stays cool, whilst the ashpan itself will get hot. Re the door latch - the "variable tension hook" you describe is usually used as it easily allows for variation due to the stove body expanding/contracting due to heat - you only need enough tension to ensure the rope seal maintains contact all around the door. I fear that the catch as you have made it at the moment could prove difficult to operate when the whole thing has warmed up a bit - you will have to line up the holes to drop the peg in - whilst that might be ok when all is cold - provided that you set it up with the sealing rope installed, the alignment could change when everthing warms up. The other way of latching has a knob on the outside, a rod through the door & then a bar which swings down inside the stove body to hold the door shut - on my vilager this has a pan head bolt in the end which allows me to adjust the pressure on the rope seal, alternatively you could weld a bit of steel on the inside & use a grinder to refine it into a "ramp" which gives adjustable pressure. springy edited cos I cant spell propper
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Dont forget to attach another rope to the top of the rudder pivot pin (with an eyebolt if possible) - this helps to first lift the bottom of the pivot out of the cup then lower the whole lot down until you get below the counter so that you can then move horizontally away from the boat, keep hold of the end of this rope as well & when you have lifted the whole lot on the bank, tie both ends of this rope together/to a dolly. When you come to replace the rudder, having a piece of rope ready threaded up the hole will save some effort. springy
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Aldridge. Dont know much more, domestic fuel on BCN, privately owned carrying Canal Transport Services colours. springy
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An air horn is the one place where I have used this - rather than run chunky cables all the way to the front just for the horn compressor I ran a thin one to a relay & picked up the power from the already chunky cables installed for the cabin supplies. I thought about doing the same for the tunnel light but as the cables were already in place for that and were (just about) adequate I left that as it was. springy
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Short Action Solenoids (starter engage & stop solenoids which only activate to stop the engine) may well have only a single coil & therefore draw a high current - intended for "brief" use only, any solenoid designed for longer duty cycles should actually have two coils or some arrangement which presents two coils - one high current "activation" and one lower current "hold in" coil, along with an auxiliary contact which switches to the "hold in" coil once the solenoid has thrown. I would assume that stop solenoids which are active all the time an engine is running (i.e. a "permit run" solenoid really) should be of this design. Of course this doesn't necessarily mean thats what has been done in practice - it will also depend on the force the solenoid needs to apply to achieve its intended action. springy
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Not completely convinced it was the crimp at fault - difficult to tell from a piccie but the heat seems to have been concentrated around the bolt tab - any chance that it had worked loose ? Probably difficult to tell in the aftermath. Clearly the copper strands have been hot but the tube part of the crimp doesn't shows much heat marking, where the tab of the megafuse obviously does ? springy
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Bye Bye Heritage, bye bye best mooring in Birmingham
springy replied to Laurence Hogg's topic in History & Heritage
It looks to me as if they are simply reducing the length of the basin - if you look at the step in the wall in the 2002 photo - roughly in line with the stern of barnet and then look at the construction photos, I would guess they are cutting it to approx 30 ft ? Why ? The "lift bridge" is actually a fixed foot bridge , and the "tunnel" entrance is all that remains of the Worcester & Birmingham public wharf. The company offices were originally alongside the wharf. I can only presume the cafe wants more outside space (which the city council can charge them for), and of course no chance of mooring those ****y working boats outside. springy -
To be fair casper the interview was with a woman who paints mostly decorative ware in a canal style for sale to the general public - she does do some commission stuff (IIRC the coal box on Angel is some of her work) and IMHO makes a nice job of it, but by selling stuff at the gatherings manages to make "a living" - probably like many other canal based businesses not a fortune but just enough to justify not having to get up and go to w*rk 9-5. Having spoken with her on many occasions after a festival it can be hit & miss - good weather/turnout - a profit, bad weather - a costly weekend. The other bodies who will suffer similarly will be the societies who can also drag in money & members at these gatherings. I'd agree about the councils - Lichfield started squealing weeks ago about the cost of the repairs, but they have been renting out powerboating, skiing & sailing rights on the water for the last umpteen years (I believe BW sold it to A council in '57, not sure which one). I think Lawrence's points re Bradley are far more important - I didn't know there was a second pumping station though I've been told there are 3 pumps at Bradley and they only ever use one. Will they run pumpS and make maximum effort regardless of the cost of electricity to keep the level up or will they just wring their hands and say "sorry the pump broke friday night." I'm not holding my breath ! springy
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What brand of Laptop - I seem to remember something about newer Dell laptops being "locked" so that they will only work with a genuine dell psu, though I think there was also something about getting round the problem but it involved butchering the original psu. Otherwise yes fit a cig lighter socket or three to use for all those other things that fit into them. springy
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Canal map showing location of locks
springy replied to Essex Land Lubbers's topic in General Boating
Try this one Waterexplorer clicky you have to zoom in quite a way to start with but it then shows lots of markers - bridges, locks, junctions, winding holes etc, on a satellite picture or map or both, if you hover over one of the markers it will give you the name and or number, and for some locks the fall as well. springy -
Yes thats the one, is it the lighting or is the exhaust square ? springy
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Hi There's also a photo of Victoria in Tony Lewery's "The Art of The Narrowboat Painters", dated 1932, good side view of the cabin but unfortunately doesn't show much of the stern, partly because the photo runs into the spine of the book. (Can't get it on the scanner, will try with camera - if I have any joy I'll post it later). springy
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Hi Brazing, silver soldering or soldering depending on the strength required - brazing being the stronger, however they all require heating the item - brazing being the hottest - this may discolour the brass item - if the item is not too complex a shape then it will not be too difficult to clean up. As an alternative, and where the "mend" can not be seen I have successfully used one of the many two part epoxy liquid metals available (I used JB Weld - Quite a thin liquid good for stripped brass threads provided you are not likely to want to dismantle. You can also get two part epoxy putty - good for building up missing metal - they can be drilled & tapped after hardening) however to a purist it would be "cheating". springy
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Hi I just recieved this via BCNS PARKHEAD CANAL FESTIVAL-----CANCELLED ! It's with great regret that the organisers (DCT & WBCS) will have to Cancel the Parkhead Canal Festival ! Following a meeting on the 12th Febuary with British Waterways concerning the Chasewater Reservoir Dam which requires 3 million pounds to repair the dam to stop flooding in the future. The last water will be drained out by the end of March. Which means the only way of topping up the Wolverhampton level is by pumping water from the mines at Bradley, but pumping will be limited. B.W. are saying they think they can cope with normal BCN traffic, but could not cope with a sudden draw of water on the system if a large boating event should happen on the BCN like the Parkhead Canal Festival as it usually attracts up to 100 boats. As next year it will be the turn of the BCLM Working Boat Gathering on the same weekend, we would have to arrange the next Parkhead Canal Festival in September 2012 Where hopefully there will be enough water on the BCN to float the event on ! Steve Bingham (Chairman of the organising committee) So thats three events off the list for this year springy
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Will it be French farce ? springy
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Midland Boat Jumble Three Counties Showground, Malvern, tomorrow 14/2/10 from 10:00 usually a good selection of allsorts of boaty stuff. springy
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surely that will just end up with your tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth ? I put some framed maps up using "Mirror Plates" such as the ones listed Here only thing is they only seem to sell by the hundred, screwfix list similar but only in "electro-brass" where Lion also do solid brass. If you decided to move something you'd have a couple of small screw holes to touch up rather than say 1" square blobs. I would be more confident of them not dropping off after a few days cruising. springy
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depends whether you have a 3" or a 6" flue ! many moons ago I acquired a gun barrel cleaner for a tank ! nice 3 section ally handle & a good stiff bristle brush - works a treat. springy
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Beware Gallons Per minute rating - some will be US "mini" gallons - to be sure compare the Litres per min rating. springy
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I was having a mooch yesterday when I found this Bolinder Audio Unfortunately my norwegian is "rusty" (non-existant really) but I'm pretty certain it is a twin, and a nice clear recording of the engine in MS Gamle Svanøy. Also on the site are some links to youtube videos of a nicely restored 120 HP twin of 1917 which I presume is the same engine - 5 short clips showing Preheating and starting (air start) and some nice views around the running engine - including clear shots showing all the direct reversing gear (not demonstrated unfortunately) and also the "co-ordinated" injector pumps mentioned earlier in this thread. I also found this - a whole bunch of assorted hotbulb engines at a gathering in sweeden Hotbulbs a plenty enjoy springy
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If you want to make a real project out of it - I motorised the L port valve using a car electric window motor and a couple of limit switches ! In reality the existing plumbing meant that the best place for the L port valve was right behind the fridge & therefore not very accessible - I could have arranged a mechanical extension handle but a friend had the motor lurking around and it seemed a good idea. springy
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I have only seen photos of a Widdop and they looked slightly different to a Bolinder, but only in the same way that a Bolinder looks slightly different to other Hot bulb engines for example Kromhout or Seffle or Gardner or Munktell (yes they made their own semi before the merger with the Bolinder brothers) - close inspection may reveal detail differences - early bolinders had the "injector" in the side of the bulb spraying up, and used a water drip to prevent the bulb from overheating, later they moved the injector to the top of the bulb and used the ability to vary the spray pattern to control the bulb temperature. Gardner semi's (I believe) allow you the rotate the side mounted injector - aiming the spray upwards onto the bulb for light running or down into the cylinder for working hard. Most of the hot bulb engine manufacturers a) adopted "pump stroke" governors fairly early on whilst Bolinders stuck to Hit & Miss and then changed to full diesel engines. I'm not sure how much of your question that answers - I'm convinced its not a licenced copy, I dont think its simply a copy with modifications, but would be quite happy with the idea that it was their own design on the basic "Hot Bulb Engine" principle in the same way that many other engine manufacturers did - usually with their own innovations to try and improve their market share. Though of course this would probably have meant that they would have to look carefully at what their competitors were doing. springy