NB Esk

That's the battle when trying to weld cast iron. It's often a fingers crossed moment. When I initially fitted the parts together I had to tack the pieces together to ensure correct mating. These tacks (later ground out) were made cold and I could hear the familiar tinkle as the cast started to pull. As mentioned earlier it had previously been repaired by metal stitching, the only reason for this is no one was willing to try welding it. Some interesting metal stitching videos on YouTube.

It's only my opinion but I do believe small patches/pieces (of a different material) could be welded into cast iron to replace a missing bit. Okay they're going to try to contract at different rates but that's what welding tries to do and it's why they have to cool over a long period. If it's an important part, as yours sounds to be, I would try to do this on a scrap item (it's something I've never tried to do) to see what happens.

Cast iron is a difficult metal to weld and would be even more so if it wasn't pre heated. The casting was placed back in the fire several times to ensure it remained hot. The repairs took about six hours but more than half of that was waiting time, while the casting came back to temperature. On completion the part was left in the fire to try to normalise the casting with the weld metal. It was still warm to the touch the following day, so had given up it's heat gradually. In short, if this process wasn't followed, the repair would be likely to crack. Hope this is of interest.

It won't involve you pressing any buttons will it?

Thanks, forgot to say it's stick 7018 rods (my favourite). Turned the amps down as low as I dare, that's why the bead is a little crowned. Other side not so neat, had to lay down a kind of pad, to cover those old stitches. It was cold by the time I was by the petrol can, lol.....

Posted just for interest, it's the repair of a cast iron Serck type heat exchanger, could apply to other engine types. This was in a very sorry state and probably only just above scrap. It had been frozen and repaired several times, including being metal stitched. Welding over this last repair was problematic, don't know what the "stitches " were made from but they didn't like weld metal. Anyway, some images of the repair process, hope it's of interest.

I'd love that but would have to make do with the one below.....

Here's my method of making a weedhatch seal. You'll need a tube of quality sealant, Sikaflex or similar, some cling film and a Stanley knife blade. Day one. Squeeze four "blobs" of sealant into all four corners. Day two. Pare down the blobs to the required height, say around 4mm. Squeeze the rest to the sealant round the hatch and then wrap the hatch lid in cling film. Put the lid in place and screw down gently. (The four cured blobs will hold the hatch and maintain the gap). If you want the cling film can be removed a day later or just left in place. Finally retighten. Mine has been like this for six years at least and has never passed a drop of water despite being removed on several occasions. The satisfying thud as it drops into place, proves the perfect seal.

Yes, well spotted. Looks really thin for a towline.....

Hanging barge? Lol. Admittedly at first glance it does look to be suspended but it's the illusion caused by the piles reflecting on the surface.

Lovely old image, thanks for posting.

....and you can clearly see his name signwritten on the boat. The way that professional boaters do.....

A bystander once asked if mine was for lifting the boat, as "it didn't look strong enough " lol.

I'm spitting feathers, I'd like to meet him on solid ground. Imagine that, putting that ladies safety at risk just to prove what folk seem to suspect, that he's an arse. It's his partner I feel sorry for, imagine being shackled to that.

What a tosser, I have a 20 ton narrowboat and I can stop it within it's length. That was deliberate.

That's an odd thing....isn't the "new" bit the bow where it kicks in at the end of the yellow toe rail? The hull aft of that looks to have some age and I'd suggest the bow is from an existing craft (maybe a hopper barge?) otherwise why would it step in like that? (in other words it was slightly too wide and has been made to fit).

It can be seen from the side view that we had the straps about as far apart as practical. There is a limit as to how far you can spread the bottoms in relation to the tops. If your lift looked anything like this it probably wasn't too bad. The real horror stories are two chains coming straight from the hook block and ending up about four feet apart at the baseplate.

Lifted this some time ago, an elderly 70 footer. Weight is broadly off the slings in the photo but when hanging free there did appear to be some downward deflection at either end. Was a relief when it landed without any drama. It's not unknown for a crane operator to decline to lift a boat if its other than steel and with questionable internal bracing. If the OPs boat is steel hulled, I doubt he'll have anything to worry about.

Thanks, it's on my list of jobs. I need to get the whole thing out to get rid of any corrosion under it and get some paint in there. Need to source some of the correct screws, managed to remove and replace the other deck lights but this one defeated me. (only temporarily)

Right about fenders consuming a lot of rope, here's "some I made earlier " lol, from memory I believe 50-60' went into each one.