MtB

Aha! So now we know Mr HoHoHo has a wooden narrowboat!!

I found myself wondering which bit of a narrowboat roof needs three coats of linseed-oil!

Why?

And that! But to me (like you) asking repeat questions is fine except that in Mr HoHoHo's case he is so critical and dismissive of this forum, describing it as "wretched" yet still choosing to post his questions here first. I find myself wondering why given how smart and clever he is and how much better he says Youtube is. There must be an ulterior motive beyond wating his actual questions answered.

Yes. We've just had the one about self-combusting linseed oil rags. Didn't you see it?!! I do think he's spamming the board now with questions that google could have answered perfectly well.

I too am faintly surprised Mr HoHoHo didn't look on YouTube first, given how much better a resource than here he says it is.

Alan is prone to exaggeration but there is a kernel of truth in what he says. "NBTA" stands for National Bargee Traveller Association. A loose organisation of militant boaters with a persecution complex, whose primary (unwritten) objective is to colonise the public towpath and never move.

We don't know. He has started obliquely writing about his narrowboat but not explicitly stated he has bought one, so lots of speculation is the result. Which is how he likes it I suspect. I'm still not convinced he is not an AI posting.

Well you're right on the money. I don't actually think it was my fault. Its generally considered a stay needs a right battering to actually break, and it tends to be learners with no finesse who generally break a stay by grossly over-pulling then failing to check. I was/we were ringing up and as my bell approached fully raised and I was expecting to stand, the rope was snatched out of my hand and disappeared up to the ceiling then it jumped the wheel. General opinion seems to be it was probably already 90% or fully broken when I started the raise which rhymes with my own opinion, but as a visiting ringer it sounds dreadfully naff to claim that! So I sucked it up and made/fitted a new one for which they all seemed surprisingly grateful. An interesting process I was pleased to perform anyway.

A saw what I thought was the biggest dragonfly ever the other day, buzzing about in the shade over the K&A at Padworth. Then I realised it was actually a bird. Looked like some sort of coastal wader only way smaller, when it landed on the ridge of a barn nearby. Anyone know what it might have been? Such a delicate and elegant bird.

Isn't Marston Doldrums actually considered to be the top lock in the Napton flight? Irrelevant fact: I broke the stay on bell four in St Lawrence church in Napton-On-The-Hill a couple of weeks ago. Quite a faux pas for a visiting ringer! Fortunately I was able to make and fit a new one, which the steeple keeper and tower captain both seemed pleased about I thought you'd all be dead interested....

Isn't it a "fount"? I think a font is what you dunk the babies in during a christening ritual.

Me too. Do they have canals there then?

Sounds to me more like brushes on the starter motor failing or worn out. How do you know its the solenoid failing intermittently, not the starter motor?

Firstly the real basics: Does it still do it in neutral? Secondly, does it happen in astern too? Thirdly, with engine off and gearbox in neutral, can you reach down and turn the prop shaft with your hand through 360 degrees and feel no sharp resistance to turning?