Randwick

Kidlington, South Oxford. Scene of many hilarious encounters for observers. Boats going too fast through bridge hole meeting boats going too fast past linear moorings meeting on bend just after bridge. Total chaos as one boat ends up in very prickly hedge (hawthorn) with wildly gesticulating crew on foredeck, the other across the cut after slamming it astern and losing all directional control. (You can see the scars on my boat as a result). I lost count of the number of times this happened recently with boats returning from Beale Park - when will people remember that the South Oxford is shallower than the Thames they have been on and ease off a little, especially when passing moored boats!

Can anyone give a good reason why BW decided to put locks on these lift briges? Or is it like the un-necessary mooring bollards that that have been fitted to the offside of narrow locks?

I used to keep my tinnies cool by wrapping them in a wet bar towel and standing them on the cabin roof - they were always a bit cooler than ambient. Just remember to keep the towels wet, it's the evaporation of the water that does it.

So's mine, (1.5) but has run faultlessly apart from a raw water cooling pump (v. leaky bearing, now replaced) but as it's over 32 years old and has had many, many hours of long distance cruising, I'm very happy.

Refleks, easy & simple. Mine's 32 years old and works every time, never had a problem even though it can go 3 months without use sometimes when I'm not on the boat. And a kettle on the top means there's always water for tea or coffee.

Very similar to my experience a few years ago. North of Stoke, on a trip up to the Caldon, the young lad pulled back his (very expensive) pole instead of lifting it, only to hit the side of a car in the pub car park on the other side of the hedge! I think he was left with only about 8 feet of pole after my bow caught it .....

I've suffered this problem several times in the past - just a click then nothing! Traced it to the contacts in the solenoid in the starter - (BMC 1.5 pre-engaged starter motor). Took the solenoid off and found burnt contacts. I cleaned off the burns and pitting and put additional fibre washers under them. Cured the problem, but I really need to replace the contacts sometime ......

I have Jack Skinner's brass tiller bar and his poker handled pin which was his personal property which he gave to me a few years ago before he passed away.

The first picture above is how I remember it looked when I saw it. It's nice to know that it will look that way again, eventually.

I was fortunate enough to visit her (him?) at Ellesmere Port back in the 90's. Jack Skinner and I were invited to look around by an ex-BP marine engineer (female) who'd spent many months re-furbishing her engine. She and another fellow were also cleaning out one of her boilers. The furnishings up top were beautiful and I just hope they've been restored to how they were originally.

The pilot launches (steel hulled) in Milford Haven have a diluted quantity of FERTAN in their bilges - it is never dry there, but it provides a great degree of protection against corrosion. It might be an idea to contact the makers/distributors. Sorry I don't have a contact number but you could google it.

Back in the late 50's, my father ran the boating station at the Bridge Boathouse on the Thames at Wallingford. I would help out with maintenance from time to time when I was on leave from the RN. We had a couple of these in the hire craft together with some Watermota's. The Stuarts ran trouble-free and at the end of the season were decoked very easily, more than I can say for the Watermotas. The only drawback with the Stuarts was the magneto - if they got wet, they wouldn't start.

Underwater Epoxy Glue!

Yes. You can work out the current consumption of any electrical item by dividing the wattage by the voltage, e.g. 25 watts on 12 volts will take a current of just over 2 amps. (Bit slow answering your query - phone call interupted my typing!)