nb Innisfree

What you do in the privacy of your boat should stay private. I've got this dreadful vision of you in a grass skirt.

When I prepared Innisfree's shell for fitting out I was advised to extend the blacking of the top or inner side of the bottom plate to above the water line on the side plate. I ignored that as I didn't want issues with sprayfoam adhesion so I blacked to what would be the finished floor level on the assumption that canal water doesn't freeze at that depth and therefore wouldn't need sprayfoam there to prevent condensation. By the time I had finished the sprayfoam down to that level and completed the fit out cold weather had arrived and I noticed condensation on the section of uninsulated side plate but not on the bottom plate, I assumed that it would stop when I put the boat in the water which of course it didn't. Observing this over time I noticed that any condensation forming on the bottom plate would quickly evaporate but on the vertical section it would form and then trickle down to the baseplate only to be replaced with more, a continuous supply of distilled water! The lesson learned here is to insulate right down to the bottom plate.

Yes, at first glance it looked like a cup bearing of some sort but zooming in you can see the damage.

It can take a lot of false starts before it locates, be patient and keep persevering.

I used to do a long absorption with a Kipor 2kv inverter genny, at tickover it would use 1.8 to 1.9 litres over 8 hrs, very quiet at that speed.

There's no flies on me.

Should be a straightforward engineering job to run a buried cable along towpaths with charge points spaced out, if it was run in a concrete pipe mooring pins wouldn't pose a problem.

Filling the engine with 5lt of lovely new clean (and expensive oil) then when it's all gone in you then notice you've forgot to replace the drain plug. 😟

I reckon the brain is always full of stuff, as new stuff is added other less vital stuff drops off.

Maybe CaRT don't enforce because there is no legal right to fine overstayers, if they did it might let the cat out of the bag? Better to give the impression that they have power?

Nothing like hours at the tiller in cold wet weather then mooring up and stepping down into a warm cosy boat, but it wouldn't feel as cosy without the suffering beforehand, that's why I think boating is popular, the upsides are magnified by the downsides, creating a sharp contrast.

Tesla has acquired Maxwell Technologies and is intending to use Maxwell dry cell technology, much cheaper to produce and Elon Musk is talking of "million mile batteries" in production next year, effectively a battery for life. Watch this space.

Warstock bearing only centralises the rudder stock, all the weight is taken on the bottom cup.

On Innisfree I drilled and tapped a hole in the housing to take a grease nipple to keep the O ring lubricated, worked after a fashion, I did intend to modify by turning a couple of extra grooves in the housing to accommodate two O rings with nipple exiting in the old groove so that grease was retained between the two. Still got a spare nylon bearing somewhere in my shed. ETA: I did turn a bottom bearing out of a piece of plastic bar stock and hammered it into the bottom cup, bedded in thick bitumastic, tiller then swivelled dead smooth, blob of K99 grease every 2 or 3 years when dry docked, though it didn't really need it.

Warstock (Midland Chandlers)