hnb2907

I guess her Maj has been providing food and secure(!) lodgings for him then!?

Hi all, Thought I should let you know to check your boat if you're moored in the Cheshire/North Staffs part of the network. Anyone know where our friend Mr Finch is at the moment? We had our boat broken into sometime during the last 2 weeks on the south end of the Maccy canal - and looks like at least another 1 on our off-side linear moorings. I'm guessing it's him due to the fact it took my parents at least an hour to realise that it had actually been broken into, because it was left so tidy! Just a few bottles of lager and a part bottle of Baileys gone. The food cupboard had been delved into and the cornflakes packet left out on the sink. Theres no other damage or missing items. There was a small amount of money in coins on a shelf, and a rechargeable tool left on the boat, all of which were untouched. Looks like whoever got in had first unzipped the cratch cover, couldn't force the front door padlock off, and then carefully zipped the cover closed and even refitted the pop-studs - don't think your average burglar would be that careful. The breakin was actually through the side doors that were, admittedly, rather poorly secured. At the end of the day it's a bit annoying, but at least no serious damage was done, and it's prompted me to make a better job of securing the side doors! We've informed the Police who surprisingly have been very interested, and our landlord. Maybe the coppers are already on the case of similar breakins around the Cheshire/North Staffs area??? Cheers, Chris.

[snip] No, but seriously it did come as a bit of a shock when it happened... It turned out that no damage was done, and the engine had realigned perfectly just by fastening the bottom nuts (that sounds painful too!) C

Exactly the same happened to me on my old boat, luckily the day before I went through the Harecastle - where it could have been worse. I'd noticed that it was running a bit lumpy and noisier than normal for a few hours, and when I enaged reverse all hell broke loose and decided it was time to investigate. Rang RCR at daft-o'clock in the evening and was advised as a short term measure, that if the top bolts were not loose and hadnot been moved, just to wind the bottom nuts back up. What appears to have happened was that the bottom nuts had never been tightened enough and had worked their way loose, subsequently the engine dropped at an angle. Having tightened up, everything lined "ok" - there was no noticable misalignment or friction of the shaft in the stern tube. Kept an eye on it for the next couple of days until it was properly checked out by someone better at mechanics than me. It was a learning experience and is now on my regular maintainance checklist... Cheers, Chris.

...except the stop lock at Hall Green, which has 2 top gates and single bottom one

Hi folks, Over the past year I've been collecting a number of sheets of sound insulation as funds permit, to go around my engine bay. The sheets are non-adhesive, tried the self adhesive stuff before on my old boat, but it only lasted a couple of years before they fell off. Anyone got any comments on the best glue to use - I'll be sticking the sheets to the inside of the hull (which is gloss painted) and to plywood. I'm thinking of Evostick contact adhesive 584 or 528, but I'm not entirely sure what the difference is. Any recommendations, and can either be used on the insulation sheets, and does the glue "pass" the safety requirements in "the book"??? So many questions, sorry! Hopefully todays weather is the start of some decent boating for this year!? Cheers, ChrisC.

Last sunday we were moored up at the bottom of the Bosley locks, watching the world go by, and the local day boat trying to turn around. That was funny enough in itself, but what happened later was the best bit. They moored up, and peace and still waters returned. There was another privately owned boat moored by us, with the most patient and well behaved dog I've ever met. While we were sat out eating lunch, the little Jack Russel sat at our feet quite happily. Normally we're not exactly a family dog-lovers, although I would have a Westie if I had time to look after one. Anyway, the story continues. The Jack Russell gets back on her boat, and shortly after the dayboat departs. As its going past us, their black Labrador decides it's time for an unscheduled swim. Much shouting and mad attempts to pull back to the side ensued. The funniest part of the whole incedent was watching the Jack Russell, who bounded off her boat, legged-it along to towpath, and started staring and barking at the black Lab as if to say "you really are a stupid sod!" The best 5 minutes entertainment I've had this year! (Especially when the lab shook the water off his coat, all over a prestinely dressed teenage girl, not looking to happy at the outcome!) ttbfn, ChrisC

...forgot to say our current boat is 46' - head, loose, forgetting. That would give you a bit more flexibility and living/storage space too!

Firstly, as others have said, welcome to the waterways... I'm envious - one day I might just do the same, that's one of the reasons why I've got my NB, as I forsee a time when it will double as a mobile house for work reasons, and have the fun of moving it there between jobs. On a more lighthearted note, I definitely am envious - I do my fair share of travelling for work, usually at least once every 4 or 5 weeks, both in the UK and Europe. I usually get told at 3.30pm to get my flights/hotels booked for first light next morning from Manchester airport! Wish I got a weeks' notice!!! We (parents and myself, so 3 of us) used to have a 37' cruiser NB, which I think would have been fine for me in your circumstances. The only problem would have been needing another 3 or so foot to fit in the PC. So 40 sounds like about the minumum, but it depends on the layout. Having also a few years on a 57' shared ownership boat, this would have been too big for our needs. Inverters? I've got 2 - both pure sinewave, a 300w one for powering the telly (on the very rare occasions it gets used) and phone chargers and the slow cooker while were on the move. Also got a 1500w one for the very few occasions that I need to use something bigger, drill/vacuum. Don't forget to do your calcs for alternator size/battery capacity/daily usage, it adds up quicker than you think, especially if you're like us without 240vac at our moorings. Other tips - I'm still only a beginner, but where to start!? That's the great thing, there's plenty of folks who are happy to help, and we've also picked up our own ideas and ways of doing stuff. ttbfn, ChrisC.

Hi Dan, Good thought to check! But, they use a ~12V peltier heat pump and fan, both of which are definitely DC. Even if you put DC in and it was expecting AC, it would be recitifed inside the dehumidifier anyway to drive the peltier/fan.... Cheers, Chris.

I've got one, by all means chop the plug off and wire it so that you can use it on your boats 12V system. There's no exciting electronics in there that will get damaged, even if you could get 15V or so at it. Make sure you wire the plug the correct way around, otherwise the cold bit that condenses the water will get hot instead of cold Even though they do work, don't expect miracles - on the rare occasions I use ours, even after 5 hours it's only removed a table spoon full, when the relative humitidy is in the 90% region. Cheers, Chris.

Hi, I had one of these on our previous boat, and the picture quality generally ranged from cronic to crap. About the only place we could ever get a good signal on all 4 channels was on Bosley aquaduct. Another tip - if you've got the booster/amplifier box with a knob that goes round and round for ages. Try turning it back a few turns from the highest setting. If you're somewhere where the signal is ropey, sometimes it amplifies too much of the crud and makes the picture worse or messes up the frame triggering. I used to turn it to about 1/2 way, then turn it up until the picture cleared and stopped before the picture then went worse as the noise got amplified too much. Everyone above has mentioned the other things to check - decent connections/cabling and impedance matching, no shorts or stray bits of the copper braiding loose in the plugs/sockets (if you've made your own)... Got to say, I wouldn't fit one when we did our new boat. I've got a sat dish, and it probably gets used 1 or 2 times a year. Conversing with the ducks is generally far more entertaining and enlightening than watching big brother or the doom/gloom of the 10pm news ;o) Each to their own though! Cheers, Chris.

...had exactly the same problem with our leaking from the diagraphm. it's been replaced with another (quieter) manufacturer, but can't remember what make off the top of my head. It had only been installed about 3 or 4months, so maybe it was what I'd call an "early life failure" in my trade... For some reason while we were moored up by Fezzy-park in Etruria on a saturday afternoon boating trip, I felt the urge to have a look at it. I'd only been in there a few hours before as the pump is in a storage hole under the front deck, and it was ok then. Strange how these things happen, no sign of water in the boat, just me having a feeling to go and check it. I did manage to get a replacement just before my local friendly boat builder went home and before we set off for the Caldon - where it would have been slightly less convenient! Cheers, Chris.

Hi there, I've got a 3cyl beta 28 in our new 46' Piper boat, and that's more than capable on the Canals... It went like stink with very few revs on the deeper/wide Bridgewater, and it's also quite happy on the shallower Maccy. Compared to our previous boat needing lots of revs to achieve about 3mph, it seems far happier. Slightly off topic - The only gripe I have is that when the manufacturers (i.e. Beta) spray-paint the engine, why do they have to do it with all the wiring/piping in place? Obviously it's cheaper/easier to do the whole lot, but coming from a crowd of folk who restore classic cars to an exceptionally high standard, it looks bad now the painted flexible bits are cracking... Hope that helps a little? Cheers, ChrisC.

Hi all, I don't mind what folks do with their doggy mess as long as it's not left there for me to tread it into my boat. Personally I'd prefer that it's not not on the towpath - or the other really annoying thing that seems to be happening - decorating trees and hedges with bags of it handing up. On our last 2+1/2 week cruise around the four counties, there were numerous trees adorned with bags of the stuff, and sometimes more than 1 'collection'. It was like some sort of new Christmas in the beginning of May!!! At least if it's in the canal (without the bag), surely that's ok - cows, sheep, ducks and other wildlife do it in there already, don't they? Musn't forget the fish... ;o) Cheers, ChrisC.

Hi, Get one of those fly electrocution thingys that looks like a plastic tennis racket. They're great fun (with a capital G ;o) don't use chemicals and we got ours from our local pound-shop for you've guessed it - 1quid (10 at the shows!) I generally go round the windows and lights holding it there until they fly in of their own free wish. You don't need to do any fancy tennis bat actions like they're doing at Wimbledon at the moment, which is good for me 'cus I'm no expert in anything to do with sports... Cheers, Chris.

Hey, That was some of the best money I ever spent on "Esther". Had a 2 week holiday from work and went up to TW Marine to pick the largest silencer I could fit in the engine bay. They're a great bunch of folks and very helpful - usually have a quick chat with them at the shows too. Back to the silencer. The engine is a Shire 800, 3 cylinder job, which was originally installed on its bog standard exhaust. By putting the hospital silencer in, reduced the noise by 12-15dB on the deck, which may not sound a lot, but it certainly is. I then found that the noise of the engine air filter intake and gearbox could be heard, as the original booming noise from the silencer was covering it up! It meant that you could then have a conversation and hear each other, and the exhaust noise wasn't booming around in tunnels etc. I seem to remember that you need to find a hospital silencer that's big enough but not too big - the TW marine folks will help you out with that if you call in/'phone. Take a look at www.hnb2907.co.uk/esther I've uploaded some pictures, unfortunately I can't find any of Esther post-install but there are some...! Looking at the 2nd photo, the new silencer is sat on the counter, parallel to the engine/side of the hull, with the inlet (front) fitting pointing towards the camera, and on the right hand side, roughly under where the original silencer was. The piping is a little convoluted, it's got a water trap between the silencer and the skin fitting, but it certainly hasn't caused any problems. There's also some pictures of Horus, before and after the silencer upgrade. It's not quite as successful because I think the outlet pipe isn't long enough. I'd like to move it so that there's about 2 to 3 foot of piping either side of the silencer, which will change the harmonics of the total length of the exhaust system. You will notice that there 'appears' to be a little more engine smoke - general thoughts is that it makes your engine smoke more - I actually think it's because the velocity of the gases leaving the exhaust is a lot less ( and I won't go into the techy stuff). So, instead of the smoke being sent up the towpath at '90mph' on each cylinder exhaust, it seems to steady amble out at a constant rate, so you see it. The difference in how the gases escape is part of the reason they're quieter. Anyway, that's my tuppence worth. Go for it, I've had another fitted on our new boat (running a Beta Marine engine). Cheers, Chris. ps: should be meeting Esthers new owner at the weekend on her "new boat", will take some pictures then if I remember...

Hi all, Our old boat "Esther" has an unbranded 800w quasi sine wave inverter which I fitted with well oversized 12V cabling and isolators etc. There was already a 240V main on the boat, which I tapped into using a guaranteed break-before-make switch to select landline (never used) or the inverter. It ran a toaster and a dirtdevil handheld vacuum cleaner fine. The only thing I did notice was the tv picked up noise some noise, but I expected that and the tv doesn't get that much use anyway! While I've finished fitting out "Horus", I've gone for 2 inverters. There's a strong possibility that I'll need to spend more time on board (on it's home mooring, not bridge hopping ;o) as it's half way along the 1.5hr run between bed and work! The reason for fitting 2 is: * small one approx 300w pure sine wave to run sensitive equipment and because it draws less current from the batteries than a large inverter running a small load, over longer periods of time with no engine running * larger inverter for the bigger jobs, drills, saws, toaster etc which is only used for a shorter periods of time, usually with the engine So this is what I've fitted to Horus, both of which are what you'd normally class sa your high-quality/expensive/branded equipment... 300W pure sine wave, for running the telly and 'phone chargers. This has stopped the noise the telly used to pick up. This inverter is a larger version of one of these: http://marinestore.co.uk/page/mrst/PROD/el...erters/PL46050/ but I didn't pay that much for the next size up. Shop around. Initially I fitted a 2KW quasi/midified sine wave inverter, an ebay special for about £150. This ran fine for about 3-4 months, but has since ceased to work. Remember that your expensive inverter can also send out some magic purple smoke too! This has now been replaced with a brand new Mobitronic 1500W pure sine wave which I dropped on for £255, check out most of the online chandlers, they want between £450 and £800 for exactly the same model. 'Tis one of these: http://www.leisurepower.co.uk/acatalog/Mob...e_Inverter.html Methinks it's now last years' model, but I know that Aquafax in Nantwich were recently selling ones from the same series. Again, both have been fitted with decent cable, ignition proof isolator and suitable fuses. From my experience (and also being in the Electronics design/manufacturing industries), that you should definitely shop around - If you're not going for the Sterling, Mastervolt and similar folks offerings, you can and will find exactly the same model inverters branded differently and with different price tags. Cheers, Chris. ps: sorry folks if you're attached to the companies I've put links to, I'm not running a vendetta against anyone, but it does pay to shop around if you've got an internet connection!

Hi folks, Our boat has quite a large front deck which we'd like to put something like drydeck tiles down to cover. Has anyone got any interesting thoughts of what else we could use? I've discussed this with someone at work (who isn't a boater) who suggested using astroturf as it's cheaper and has similar properties.... Has anyone a more sensible idea or what do you use!? Cheers, ChrisC.

Just bought one of these for my water tank a couple of weeks back. If I remember when I get around to fitting it, will post a quick update of how I got on... Cheers, Chris.

Yes, it's sort of my index number, but not for my narrowboat. Hill Norman & Beard opus 2907 - was the Christie Cinema organ installed 1933 in the Commodore, Orpington. Another of my mad hobbies... ;o) Back to the topic - I would have been happy if BW had sent me something temporary to display. I couldn't display proof of payment, as I didn't know how much to pay as I'd never had never received a request to pay it. Chris.

Hey, now this is an interesting one. I know a few years back BW were having problems with their new computerised licensing system, which cause me some grief. At the time I'd just bought my first boat, having been on shared owner boat beforehand. Cut down story goes: Bought boat with a few months left on the licenses, immediately sent in the change of owner form, with my contact details etc. 1 month prior to them expiring, nothing heard back from BW. Time passed, the licenses were 1 week from expiring, called BW to ask for the forms or whatever they send out to re-apply. Nothing appeared. Rang again on many occasions and wrote plenty of letters, they had contact from me requesting how to pay on a nearly weekly basis. Nothing arrived. Got talking to the great BW folks at Harecastle and Hurleston, who told me to hang on as they were having problems with the computer system. So my contact with BW became less frequent at 1 letter per month or so. 9 whole months later, the very first correspondance I get from BW is a court summons for not paying. Needless to say they got yet another letter, which was less polite than the previous epistles. What really annoyed me was how they managed to find my address to threaten court action, but had spent 9 months not being able to find it to send my application form to. So, although I get equally as frustrated with other folks who have licenses that are 3, 4, 5 (or more) years out of date, don't tar everyone with the same brush. At that time I couldn't put up a valid license for almost a year 'cus the folks who you buy them off weren't playing ball. BW now get very prompt payment from myself, and I now get an almost as prompt response back. Cheers, Chris.

My Shire 800 only energises the plugs during cranking, and on a cold day it can take a lonnnng time on the starter to get it running... Had thought about wiring them through a relay and changing the keyswitch so that they can be pre-heated. Chris.

I'm a 29 year old pensioner at heart. Which category do I fit into then!? I can just about afford a boat, can just about operate it, but don't get enough time to use it - work keeps getting in the way ;o) Either I'm in the wrong era, or something has seriously gone wrong along the way, 'cus I'm also restoring a 1933 Christie cinema organ. ttbfn, Chris.

This is an interesting one. The schematic shows the neutral line connected to the hull, but what about the chassis earth on the inverter? I'm not surprised about the neutral connection as domestic mains is usually connected to earth anyway. I've recently fitted a 2kw inverter to my boat. The installation isn't finished yet as it's not earthed yet due to running out of time on my visit. I did get as far as powering it up and used the 500watt heater in the calorifier to test it. At this point, the inverter chassis gave me an almost pleasant 50hz buzz while holding on to the metalwork of the boat. Again, not too surprised by this happening, it is obviously because it's electrically floating and found a high resistance path around the whole setup (probably through the engine coolant water and then myself) . So, my thought is that the schematics diagram above should have both neutral and its chassis earth point both connnected to the hull, which it doesn't show. Is there some narrative that goes with the schematic, as after a quick search I haven't found the directive it comes from. Anyone got any thoughts? By the way, I don't condone doing daft electrical experiments like myself, we all know what happens with electrickery - I'm supposedly a professional electronics engineer and expected to get a small belt, rather than a tingle! And I'll be going back to finish it off before my parents get the chance to go anywhere near it. Cheers, Chris.