Lampyrichard

My experience would suggest the answer to your question is yes... Myark is a 50' 1980 Colecraft cruiser stern, with about 12' of back deck (quite a bit bigger than many 50' cruiser sterns these days). She's got a full height bulkhead between the engine & cabin bilges & all the cabling holes are right at the top of it, so well above normal water line. I managed to get her stern hung up on a protruding bolt on a lock gate in a fast filling C&H lock, which resulted in the counter going under water & the engine bay getting pretty much filled with water - it was over the rocker cover of the BMC 2.5. With the stern being held down & the lock filling, she rapidly gained an alarming bow up trim & I was convinced she was about to sink. However, as soon as the water level in the lock dropped enough to free her from the offending bolt, the stern shot back up & she was left happily floating, albeit with exhaust & bilge pump outlets under water.

(Slightly OT Pedant Edit) : The reason I ended up with an original Orange phone on 1800Mhz was that the then other options of 850Mhz Vodaphone & Cellnet signals wouldn't penetrate the building I was working in... (1950s built BBC studio with a Faraday Cage). Even more OT - Orange then offered 3 models of phone- Nokia, Motorola & Ericcson. The sales pitch from shop staff was Nokia - easy to use, great OS, it has games on it, but lousy signal. Motorola - rubbish OS, pain to use, great signal. Ericcson - we don't have any! I got a Motorola & spent the next 2 years sitting next to Nokia owners(also on Orange) when they could play games & I could make phone calls...

I've seen them - there's a watersports centre just along from the moorings at Harrison Park. First time I went through to Edinburgh the whole of that section was teeming with kids in canoes. All very well drilled by the instructors though - they all peeled off to the sides as I hove into view (in tickover!). There aren't any restrictions in the Skippers' Guide for Harrison Park, just the rowing section by Slateford Aqueduct for a couple of hours a day (except Summer). Passing the rowers on the Slateford section out of those hours is 'interesting' - one of the single sculls I've passed had oars that pretty much spanned the cut! eta We get loads of canoes of the Forth & Clyde, especially now they have their own network of easy access pontoons & I've not heard of any issues with that. Here at Auchinstarry it's mayhem on the water every Tuesday night with the local canoe club, but it never stops any of the powered boats going out. Richard

Be aware that the one you've linked to doesn't specify a cross match to yours, though I've noticed the US sites seem to show the -63015 & -63016 as interchangeable. You might have to graft the nose of the fried one onto a -63015 I suspect.

Their own manual specifically prohibits use in US inshore waters, so yes it could only be used where a standard sea toilet could be as far as I can see. The same site also says it can be plumbed into a holding tank, but as Lysander has said, this doesn't seem to offer any advantage over the standard UK (untreated) system. edit - they do supply a salt feed system for use in brackish / fresh water, but I still can't see where one would be allowed to discharge this overboard?

So according to this Canaline handbook, the base engine is indeed a Kioti & the starter motor is a Kioti E5500-63016 Maybe Kioti London can help you source that part no? There seem to be a few after market ones available on eBay.com from the States, around $150, but not sure what the shipping would be!

Likewise, blank white screen for bimble.co.uk but bimblesolar.co.uk loads fine here. Nominet show bimble.co.uk as registered to one Nick Baster who is a non trading individual (registration expires 16 Jan 17) bimblesolar.co,uk interestingly shows up as registered to a company called Duke Entertainment, registered in Dominica. Have you managed to get the right site loading now MtB?

As others have said, dry it out & see how you get on. If you're lucky, it's condensation, if not you need a new element. Be aware though that if it's micro leaking (as referred to by NMEA above) you might find it'll go away as long as the tank is full of hot water, then come back again if the tank gets cold for any length of time - when everything is nice & hot, the micro cracks around the element seem to seal up &/or any small leaks evaporate. When everything cools down again, the micro cracks open up & water pools into the casing as in your picture & the RCD goes PING again... I've seen a few of those here over the past couple of years (but not specifically the new titanium Surcal ones though)

I'm sure more knowledgeable folk will be along soon & apologies if you've already checked / tried this, but that looks like you have flat domestics & charged engine battery if your meter readings are the right way round. Have you double checked that the domestic / engine connections went back on the right batteries when you fitted them? If everything is correctly connected back up, then do you have any means of connecting all the batteries together temporarily to get the engine started eg (jump lead or spare battery interconnect)? edit - must type faster!

Lots of folk do it, many have eg one set of batteries for an invertor & another for the rest of the 12V system. You don't have to have completely isolated systems, there are lots of ways of charging multiple banks from one or more sources (solar / engine / landline...) However, there id a school of thought that suggests you'd be better off having one large battery bank for everything... Have a read of this page for an in depth look at what you're proposing & why it might not be such a good idea. I'm sure others will be along shortly to explain where Gibbo got it wrong:-)

If you're planning to be aboard in the Winter with this boat, then do yourself a big favour & don't bother finishing fitting the pot bellied stove, get something decent like the excellent Boatman from Eddy at Northern Fabrications. My OH's first boat was a 30' Springer (lovely boat) that had a pot bellied stove fitted. It was wildly uncontrollable & she found it impossible to keep in during the day while she was out. First Winter was pretty miserable... Replaced that with a boatman & the difference in comfort was beyond belief... Stick the pot belly on eBay / Gumtree to recoup some of the costs (it's amazing how popular pot bellies are for greenhouses!).

OT, but If you ever take Gamebird through to Linlithgow in the Summer now, you might have to be prepared to shuffle boats about! When I was there last month, I & one of the hire boat crews (who were English boaters & used to the idea) spent a good while effectively being mooring wardens, persuading folk to move up, share rings & eventually allow others to breast up. We went from 3 moored boats & a crew forlornly trying to moor at the end of the day, to 6 boats moored by the time I got fed up & went to the pub. The skipper from the hire boat even (very politely) requested permission for us to move one of the other hire boats while they were having their tea. ISTR his gambit was something like 'I don't wish to disturb your tea, but would you mind if we move you up behind the next boat where you should have moored in the first place' :-)

The EN636-2S would suggest structural grade (the S bit) but only good for 'protected humid' use... http://apawood-europe.org/official-guidelines/european-standards/individual-standards/en-636/ so no, it doesn't look like marine ply to me either ! For marine ply you're looking for minimum EN636-3 or BS1088 as pointed out by Catweasel

You only just missed Skillogalee - she's been up for sale for over a year, but I understand has now sold. At your price range I suspect you'll be better off doing what you thought of in the first place & bringing something up from Down South - the ones I know of for sale here at Auchinstarry, the sellers are looking for quite a bit more than that, but do have a chat with Ron just in case! Have a search on here for boat transport recommendations if you haven'y already. I'd also strongly recommend using Stephen Kelvin of Forth & Clyde Marine Services at Grangemouth for the crane in as he's way cheaper than trying to do a contract lift using one of the Scottish Canals crane pads.

Have you spoken to Ron at Falkirk Hire Boats? I believe they have a couple of private boats on brokerage at the moment phone (zero one) 32467212 What's your target size / budget? There are a couple of narrowboats for sale here at Auchinstarry, but I don't know where (if anywhere!) they're advertised online. Hopefully others will be along with better recommendations to see a wider range of boats! I do hope you haven't put your name down for one of the vacant pontoons underneath the 'party flats' at Leamington Wharf.

CAA regulations... And when you look at what happened last year with the Hunter, you can see why.

That's what my doodles have just convinced me too!

This is where the counter-intuitive nature of staircase locks comes in... Have a look at Jim Shead's excellent site for an explanation much better than I can give, but from this page: In simple terms, there's a nett use of 1 lock full of water from the top pound to run the flight in the same direction, put 2 locks full to 'turn' the flight. Hopefully someone will be along with a clearer explanation soon! TRIVIA EDIT: To update the info on Jim's page, the newest staircase locks in the UK that I know of are on the Union canal at Falkirk above the Falkirk Wheel, which date from 2001, after Jim's 1998 article was published:-)

As Stripey pointed out - this was discussed earlier in the thread - an accomplished 'lock bumper' can make it look like they do have the right key, especially when not closely observed. The eye witness reports from Yank On The Cut would suggest observation from a distance from folk with no reason to suspect foul play... As also pointed out earlier, once having gained access to a boat, getting the engine started is a trivial issue for anyone who knows anything about them (leaving aside the pre 1920's & vanishingly-rare-on-boats post 2000s designs) even if the 'ignition' key isn't present.

In the 2005 BSS it's quoted in 3.5.1 Quote Yes, but the crux of the argument is that MCBs & fuses aren't designed to protect upstream cables, so even the 2005 wording wouldn't cause this particular fail.