[Emergency Site Maintenance]

14 hours ago, RichM said:

The migration to the server is now complete and took just under an hour. The new server doubles our memory capacity and gives us additional storage to accommodate things like attachments etc. It will also ensure we have enough resources to meet demands for the foreseeable future. 

 

The new server does unfortunately come at a greater cost to the site, which is funded entirely by our members. We're grateful for all donations received. Feel free to make a donation by clicking here if you wish.

 

Should you encounter any glitches, please first clear your browser caches. While it doesn't fix all problems, it will fix many. Instructions on how to do this can be found linked below:

https://helpcenter.trendmicro.com/en-us/article/tmka-20816

It is possible the site may take a little longer to come back online for some users due to a pesky problem known as "DNS Propagation". We have taken steps to mitigate this but can't avoid it altogether. - there are some tricks to help speed this up but the good news is that it will sort itself out in a short while. If you're reading this, chances are you don't have this problem.

 

Any other issues or questions, please let us know. 

As always thank you for your work on behalf of the site and its members 

[Where is all the coolant going?]

13 hours ago, MtB said:

 

I reckon Monkey is drinking it. 

 

That would explain EVERYTHING...

Have you seen the price of booze nowadays, it's not that bad if I'm honest, add a dash of lime...

3 minutes ago, Ange said:

Hope all is ok with you two. Sending hugs.

Everything's fine Ange, thanks

[Where is all the coolant going?]

13 hours ago, Eeyore said:

@BlueStringPudding Hi, any update on the coolant issue please? or still the same?

By the way did you check under the floor at the back of the boat?

Apologies for the delay in information, life stuff has currently got in the way of further investigation, BSP will update when life gets back to normal

[Land Slip - Easenhall Cutting, Brinklow, Oxford Canal]

I'm sure there will be someone along soon who has a better grasp of the engineering issues but trees can help reduce erosion and can help hold some embankments together but it does depend on the actual underlying substrate, if that's unstable trees won't offer much long term help, most tree roots are within the top 50cm or so of the soil.

On unstable sites trees eventually become a massive lever and if the soils ability to hold becomes compromised the tree will fail, commonly this failure is brought about by excessive rain or high wind/storm conditions 

 

 

[Where is all the coolant going?]

21 minutes ago, Bod said:

To expand on this. 
what colour is the oil on the dipstick?

Black or fresh oil coloured all ok. 
Grey or grey and thick, BAD do not run engine. 
 

Bod

Oil is fine, it's the first thing I checked 

[Where is all the coolant going?]

1 hour ago, Eeyore said:

@BlueStringPudding are you able to move the deck boards for a few photos from above?

 

A photo showing where the pipe marked in yellow goes? Best guess is that point "C" connects in some way to what looks like the skin tank, marked in red at the bottom of the photo.

 

A photo showing where "B" and "A" go to/come from.

 

Does @tree monkey remember what type of cap (marked in green) is fitted, pressure or plain?

 

This is the cap.

 

[Things that amaze me]

1 hour ago, Peugeot 106 said:

When I was in a lad and Vickers at Barrow was in its hey day they reckoned that if Vickers took back everything belonging to Vickers there wouldn’t be a boat left floating in Walney Channel. And some had pretty exotic metal prop shafts.

One of the local Bars had a notice saying. “Please don’t ask for a sub. Try Vickers”

 

Goodness knows what other foreigners were made there

Dad worked at Vaxhalls for more than 20yrs, he claimed that when a member of staff ordered a car (staff discount) it would always be the most basic model but it would be fitted with all the bells and whistles whilst on the line, including having various bits and pieces hidden behind the door cards and so on

[Where is all the coolant going?]

Additional pictures @Tony Brooks

 

[Where is all the coolant going?]

1 minute ago, Eeyore said:

So this is a view from inside the boat looking aft?

That long tube thing with the pressure cap is on the bulkhead between engine and the cabin that is fed from the header tank, eber feed is next to it from the same header

[Where is all the coolant going?]

2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

You checked the obvious, I suppose.Its not disappearing into the engine due to a head gasket failure?

Yup, oil's fine, the engines ticking over now, I will check it later, but I do suspect the eber pipework has shat it's self somewhere because there's no obvious leak in the engine bay

[Where is all the coolant going?]

38 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

 

Hmmm it looks like I need to read your OP again, more carefully than I did at 5am in the middle of the night! 

 

Boiler to fix in Aylesbury this afternoon and I need to get going. Will have another good look again tonight after bellringing

 

 

 

 

I've got back today and had a look, tbh I'm as much in the dark as BSP.

 

There is a shared header tank, it feeds into the engine header (?) and the eber via 2 separate feeds but it is a shared tank.

 

It turns out the eber wasn't isolated, so I have now done that.

 

No obvious signs of and leak in the engine bay and no lingering smell beyond what a normal engine bay smells like

 

 

[Robot Vacuum on a narrowboat?]

One of these?

 

[CRT looking for volunteers]

On 20/01/2024 at 13:26, David Mack said:

I just remember chatting to some employees (who were doing a job that had to be done by staff as it involved use of equipment and working at height) at an English Heritage property some years ago. They said volunteers were fine for standing in rooms in the house, answering visitors questions and stopping them touching things they shouldn't, but were pretty useless when it came to gardening - they would turn up at 10.00 in the morning and immediately spend an hour in the tea hut. Then maybe an hour's work weeding before a 2 hour lunch break...  You would get much better productivity from employees or contractors!

Particularly with houses and gardens one of the benefits of volunteering is it encourages a sort of ownership and support amongst the local community, this is obviously difficult to measure and is somewhat amorphous but it is a benefit.

 

 

 

[Dry dock for sale]

40 minutes ago, frangar said:

He liked a tunnel....theres a tunnel from the house to the dock....he was thinking of a tunnel to the pub over the road....and had others planned....

I do love that, with all respect to the gent it's completely barking.

 

42 minutes ago, BilgePump said:

Because who doesn't love digging a hole? Fred Dibnah and pals constructed a pit head and part mine shaft in the years before his death.

I don't, I don't claim to be claustrophobic but I don't like tunnels and being enclosed, I would pick a more open eccentricity, tree houses maybe 

[Dry dock for sale]

12 minutes ago, frangar said:

Came very close to buying a house a couple of doors down from him....hes a really interesting chap...had a tour of the dock and tunnels he was digging at the time...would have been around 2008-10...he was thinking of buying the express lift test tower in northampton at the time!

Tunnels?

[CCTV ?]

I don't know how useful these would be on a mooring without mains power but I chose them for bricks and mortar install due to lack of subscription requirement, so far they have worked well with a decent image 

 

https://uk.eufy.com/pages/security-deals?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_content=alwayson&utm_campaign=uk_security_edge_conversion_search_cam_purchase_ost_M3_bb&utm_term=18718138016_144258762153_649386428583&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwYH9poPggwMVEJNQBh2_3Ar3EAAYASAAEgKRzfD_BwE

[Recipes for sawdust into logs]

30 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Same applies to all tools. 

 

If they come back they'll almost certainly never seem quite the same again. But more probably and if they were good tools, they will definitely be planning to bring them back tomorrow.

 

Just don't lend them to anyone, ever, ok?!

 

 

(Apart from me obviously.)

 

 

P.S. Lending tools is much the same as lending books, but more expensive. 

 

 

Your welcome to visit North Wales if you have the need for a makita battery saw

13 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

As a result of being sharpened badly, I expect.

Possibly or a knacked bar, haven't checked yet, it did what I needed and it was cold wet and very muddy, my priority was to finish up and get in the dry

if it was my proper saws it might have been a different matter (mind you I wouldn't have lent them out)

[Recipes for sawdust into logs]

42 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

I'm using a brand new Bosch electric saw, with no oil adjustment that I can find, even after reading the handbook at last 4 times.

I have a makita battery saw and I'm quite impressed but not used it enough to make a judgement on oil use really and right now it's cutting like it's drunk, a lesson learned never lend your saws out to friends 😅 

[Recipes for sawdust into logs]

31 minutes ago, Stilllearning said:

The chainsaw I use seems to use so little oil that I'm not worried about contamination. In the past I can remember actually seeing oil spatter around where I was using a saw, but not with this one.

I don't know if it is an actual problem tbh, it's just some people will not accept them for that reason.

I find the oil use has stayed fairly stable over the years, roughly 1/2 tank oil to a full tank of 2 mix

[Recipes for sawdust into logs]

1 minute ago, MartynG said:

 

My experience with them was a lot of effort and mess for a few hours of smouldering rubbish 

[Recipes for sawdust into logs]

2 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Chainsaw chips have oil in them. How much would depend on the setting on the machine. 

@tree monkey would probably be able to comment on this. 

It's certainly something I've seen people be concerned about, there absolutely would be oil residue in the debris, whether it can cause a problem I have no idea

[Recipes for sawdust into logs]

9 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Another approach is just to put all the chainsaw chips into a bucket and decant into the fire with a coal shovel. It burns alright. 

 

 

It can be slightly dodgy, particularly if the debris is fine, it can go bang when you open the door to a fire loaded with sawdust

[Recipes for sawdust into logs]

Wallpaper paste?

[Tree down Lock 53 - Berko]

2 hours ago, PaulJ said:

Drama over. All open again

That's a tiddler 

[Tree down Lock 53 - Berko]

3 minutes ago, Mike Tee said:

But there must be a massive amount of regular maintenance that would justify the sort of investment that you describe.

I'm sure there is, if they did it.

 

Even so I would suggest that for specialist work like this it is more efficient to employ contractors, particularly as they would only be employed on tree works during the winter (emergency work aside), due to their environmental claims and bird nesting issues, thus leaving equipment under utilised