davidg

"But, going a bit off topic, there was a German guy called Pete who lived at Lapworth and worked for the Trust that ran the South Stratford (before BW took it over) and he was always known as The German." Hi there Andy, I always knew him as German Pete, to distinguish him from Pete Bletchley who lived in the cottage by the (new) junction at Lapworth. Pete Paschke lived in the cottage two down from where the motorway bridge now is when I was boating. Going back to 4x4 towpath access: in NT days German Pete chainsawed the ends off the balance beams at Wilmcote so he could drive his Landrover up the flight (allegedly); this proved handy when boats were stuck in 47 at Wilmcote as the Landrover was attached to help get boats out of the lock. Pete always told me he could get me down to Stratford but couldn't guarantee to get me back up again so it was always down the river to get back. Happy days, David

Yes, even their modern lorries are pretty smartly turned out too.

I'll ask Andrew when I see him at the BBS bash at the Folly next Saturday. David

Having seen Andrew today at Napton he emailed me a photo and the loading tickets: You will notice the total of the two lorry loads is 27tons so if the weighbridge was accurate that's pretty much what was on the boat. The photograph at Hillmorton was taken before the rain, which happened after arrival at Stockton. Andrew tells me the gunwhales did leak in places and some rapid retrimming had to be done to stop the leaks. David Cracked it! (I hope)

I'm not sure if there were 27 tons on Cassiopeia when Andrew loaded but there were well over 20, and then it rained... Cassiopeia was tied outside Barrow up Kayes Arm when he arrived at Stockton and I remember waking up one morning, looking at Cassiopeia, thinking: "that looks deep in the water wonder if it is on the bottom". When I stepped on the beams at the back end I was pleased that a) I don't eat many pies and b)the joint between the gunwhale angle and wooden gunwhale was watertight. As you say, far less freeboard than I've ever seen on a boat. David

Or fit the flat bar with one of these http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/linear-plain-bearings/6671487/. Ondrives are a better source as they have ones with a thicker wall; the catalogue downloads as a pdf and is huge so I haven't linked it here, only look if you really want to. David

It's a 90deg lug union like one of these babies http://www.aquafax.co.uk/html/product_details.asp?ID=13966 - unfortunately they only go up to 3/4" -3/4"bsp in elbows and yours is 1" - 1"bsp. They do up to 3" in straight and a rather nice one with a hex nut in bronze....how much????!!!!! David

No. Not unless someone nicked it and brought it back between Friday & Tuessday.

You might...or you might not. Depends on how many beers you want to buy me really. (Incidentally, are all the seats at Old Trafford as short of legroom as the East Stand? No wonder they can pack so many in.)

Somewhere towards the beginning of this thread you say you have a Multi control box - I take it this is the Victron Multi remote control - with no lights showing. Are the rocker switches on the Multis themselves in the off position? If I remember correctly - don't have one to hand to play with or a manual at the moment - they have to be in either "on" or "charger only" for the remote to control anything. The lack of 240V could be simple operator error.

Coming back to this thread and seeing what is being done to the internals, it occurs to me I have some bits for a Parsons D-type which I had completely forgotten. It has been a while since I looked at them but I think there are clutch plates, bevel gear cage plus the gears plus some other bits. I would part with them for a consideration if you were interested. If you are Braunston over the weekend look me out, or send me a message but don't expect a quick reply as I will be somewhere between the boat and the beer tent. David

Errr...no. It ran from a junction just north of Weedon Station, originally to Daventry, opened in 1888. The extension to Marton Junction on the line Rugby-Leamington line was opened a little later in 1895. The line east of Southam closed in 1963 and traffic between Southam cement works and Rugby via Marton effectively ended with the miners strike in 1984. Some of the coal left in the bottom of 16t minerals in the sidings at Southam found its way into the ranges of boats tied up in Kayes Arm

Should imagine the odds are pretty short on Corona being there?

Admiral Chertsey - are you taking Bakewell too? Hampton Linnet Ling Owl Sickle Stanton Victoria Cyprus Already there: Dover Vulcan From the Brinklow Boat Services collective: Barrow Aquila Baltic Lamprey Star Sextans plus the faux historique Oberon on its first outing. David

[ Are you sure the rubbing wasn't a result of the thrower starting to break loose, and developing a wobble? If the whole cluster had moved forward, it can only really be a result of the reduction pinion working loose or the back bearing in the reverse box being knackered. Tim Given the amount of bad language/heat/home made pullers involved in getting the reduction pinion off I would say it was still pretty tightly clamped against the back bearing. The back bearing (given it had suffered during the heat treatment) didn't seem overly knackered either, I was replacing it anyway. This was what puzzled me, how could the whole cluster have moved forward; I did wonder about the gasket thickness between the bearing housing and the box and the front cover to the box, surely the clearance can't be that tight? Hadn't considered the wear pattern on the front cover being the result of the oil thrower breaking loose rather than the cause of it. David

How many bolts hold the top plate on? F type is 8, D type is fewer (was going to say 4 there, but it could be six). Main point is I have a battered copy of the F type manual which would stand making another equally battered copy if you want one, mainly useful for the parts list. There seems to be a rash of this happening, mine did the same thing eighteen months ago and the one on Mountbatten did it at a similar time. Caused by the oil thrower rubbing on the front cover plate. Take the cover plate off and you'll see where it has rubbed. Whatever you do don't do what I did which is think "While I've got the gearbox off I may as well do...". I ended up having the crank reground! I never really understood how everything had moved forward to rub though. David David

That was the reason if I remember correctly, a tip of the hat to the part of Siberia which became Gambia.

Location is outside Boat Inn Cottage, between All Oaks Wood and Newbold. Previous photo: Siberia on the outside is ex BCN day boat, converterted for camping use by WFBCo c1982, originally with steel back cabin and cloths followed shortly afterwards by the wooden top seen in the photo. At a guess the butty on the inside is Bakewell. Location is just below Shop Lock, Stockton.

I've never heard of a back boiler being available for an Epping, but while at WFBCo we did install at least one with a stainless tank bolted to the outside of the firebox end sideplate (this is a flat -ish- plate so you get good contact) with a tap on the front to produce hot water (provided you remember to top the tank up). At the time we thought it would be easy enough to put tappings on the back instead, to run a radiator in the bedhole. You could try something along these lines. David

Lister HA (I think) though it could be a different flavour of H series Lister last time I looked. Last week that is. David

It is do-able by public transport, I went to Paris last year, 07.10 from The Crown, 13.30 at the Gare du Nord. Anyway, buses... Leamington 10.44 Napton 10.25 Leamington 12.44 Napton 13.31 Napton 17.06 Leamington 17.49 Napton 18.46 Leamington 19.19 or if you go to Long Buckby.. Daventry 11.54 Napton 12.10 Daventry 13.54 Napton 14.10 Napton 18.08 Daventry 18.26 Daventry - Long Buckby buses are on the Northamptonshire website somewhere, look them up. David

I particularly liked the recent WW review which referred to an "almost compliant" stove installation and then mentioned the date the baseplate was laid down as some kind of exemption. Somehow (without a copy of BS8511 to hand) I don't think the standard refers to anything other than the stove installation date.

Have found the site ...but would appreciate a photo of 'said doors'...thanks. PM sent to both. David

Cripes! That really would be hobby boatbuilding: I take it you mean tiller rather than ellum - there's around a week's work in an ellum. Even for the tiller it is on the cheap side for the work involved, particularly getting it to fit correctly. David

We have a website brinklowboatservices.com or you are welcome to have a look around if you like. David Or I could take a photo of said doors tomorrow.