Midnight

Not in my experience. As regards preparation I follow manufacturers recommendations. Jet wash with water without chemical, abraid the old paint and paint in temperatures above 14 degrees. What else do you think I should be doing? Last year I sandblasted to baseplate and put 3 coats of 45143 on within minutes of the sandblaster finishing. I'll let you know the outcome next year. BTW 45143 bought from the trade supplier isabout the same price if not cheaper than most single pack high-end products. I paid less than £7 per litre

Not in my experience. As regards preparation I follow manufacturers recommendations. Jet wash with water without chemical, abraid the old paint and paint in temperatures above 14 degrees. What else do you think I should be doing? Last year I sandblasted to baseplate and put 3 coats of 45143 on within minutes of the sandblaster finishing. I'll let you know the outcome next year.

I used that last year after the supplier said it's what the shipyards are using now. I added 3 coats instead of the normal 2. To be honest Midnight was 2-packed from new. After 3 years I re-coated. After a further 4 years I found a lot of rusting and galvantic pitting around the waterline so have re-coated every 2 years since then. The problem with the 15130 was the toxic fumes. I used a gas mask but in an open-sided dry-dock. Although I used a similar mask for the 45143 there were no obvious strong fumes. That may mean it isn't as resilient as the 15130. Time will tell. The supplier Carter Paints of Sunderland may be able to provide some feedback from the shipyards but at the end of the day it's all blacking no matter what you use and any 2-pack is probably more resilient that a single pack.

http://www.hempel.co.uk/en-gb/products/hempadur-15130 I used this previously but struggled to get any last year H&S so I used Hempel Hempadur 45143 this time. Don't know if it's any good until next year

Yes there' a bit more inside the box than a relay and a resistor. I wouldn't be too concerned if that's all there was. The thing works so worth the money to me. Just wondering what else it might be used for. The technical support chap was worth the cost alone and he did say the cheaper version may not work for what I wanted Just to be clear the cheaper version I referred to was post #2

That's ok I'm not keen on negative comments for the sake of it.

Finally got around to fitting the soft starter and after an initial setback (fuse) it now all works. My 240volt waste pump now starts off the batteries without the engine running. I'm now wondering if this opens the door to fitting other domestic utilities like washing machine, 240v macerator, etc. Would be interested to know what the electric bods think.

Oh arrr Tim lard

Land Ho!!!!!!

That's nearly as shallow as at Minworth!

At last! It's dropping here in York. It's our 4th day of being marooned on this pontoon. Friends came yesterday brought gas and essentials. Flung a rope across to the walls and dragged the stuff across.

Well certainly CaRT's attempt has failed miserably. Maybe time to highlight the injuries and the stupidity of resurfacing to enable cyclists to speed along towpath time trials. A few posters and duck lanes are never going to be the answer. Please don't bring problems and negativity, bring solutions. What do YOU suggest or are you content with the way things are?

Whilst I'm pretty sure Athy can defend himself, it looks to me that he actually praised some of the points you made. To be honest I found your post, without punctuation, very difficult to read myself - so he has a point there.

As far as I know only Sustrans fund cycling on towpaths. Why would I suggest raising more money what good would that do? I'm suggesting a concerted effort to generate publicity to get support from the public, politicians, boating groups and other organisations. "Education" is clearly not going to work . What would you suggest?

Yes, I've experience of a boater oiling and greasing a similar item - allegedly! I say "allegedly" because some dimwit will now respond pointing out the dangers of polluting the whole system with 3-in-1 oil

I seem to remember The Tuesday Night Club going up the Wharfe. Can't remember the details but if you trawl their website tours you may find some useful info http://www.tuesdaynightclub.co.uk/

Don't bother reporting it to CaRT they'll just log it somewhere. Report it to the police and local BBC news. Ask the newsdesk if they want to come and photograph you. CaRT are hell bent on making things like this worse for boaters and other towpath pedestrians. Mr Parry is a complete halfwit if he thinks 'Education' is the answer. Only by gaining wider support from other agencies and general public will there be a stop to this madness.

you'll definitely get to Tadcaster today

Yes I just saw that on weather radar. Depressing isn't it. I think I may be here in York for awhile. I hope I don't get hit with a polite email from CaRT telling they noticed I overstayed. Suppose I could go down to Naburn but there's nowt there and it gets cut off in big floods. (ISTR Wandering Snail getting stuck there for about 3 weeks in a massive flood). I once went down to Selby in about 3 metres of flood - so big I barely got under Cawood Bridge and they had to open the railway bridge for us. Surprisingly it was relatively easy the exit into Selby Lock. Probably because the flow was quite consistent across the river.

Whilst sweating it out in York last night I was also on flood monitoring duties for the boat club. Most of the heavy water came down the Colne valley so I expect the Calder & Hebble to be OK by Thursday - providing the predicted rain isn't too heavy that is.

Wot me worry! That's tomorrow when the predicted level is up to the third stone on my right

I used the term 'friend'in its loosest sense.

I don't know him only saw him for the first time the other day. Anyway now got the whole pontoon to play with. The water at the left behind the pontoon is about 20" and still going up probably another half metre at least. Note the orange wellies loaned by the builders on the construction site just out of the picture left. And the chest waders loaned by the wine bar just up the street behind. The Dunkirk spirit lives on

You won't believe this So as the Ouse rises above 1.5 metres. Friend who nearly lost his boat comes over to the Queen's Staith and ties up in front. So far so good. At 4am this morning level up to 2 metres and rising I hear him running the engine and he tells me he's going to go over the the City Cruises floating pontoons. I suggest waiting a couple of hours til daylight but he is eager to go. I suggest a life jacket but says he doesn't intend to fall in (?). So I contact York Rescue who were patrolling in their inflatable and ask if they will go over and give us a hand to tie up. Friend now wading in 1ft of water covering the Staith unties stern rope, goes to bow where it's tied tightly to the concrete drain hole. A bit of an under water struggle which results in his wellies filling up. So now with the stern way out in the stream, bow loose he unties the centre rope and the boat starts to go backwards into the night. He can't get on the stern so with aquatic wellies climbs on the narrow gunnel and clinging on for dear life creeps gingerly back to the stern as the boat and he glide backwards past our starboard bow. When I get over to the pontoon he's taken 57 ft for his boat and leaves me about 30ft for my 57ft boat. This morning he goes off to Naburn asks if I want to follow and breast up outside him on the pontoon. Me thinks I'll sweat it out here in the centre for few days.

wots this sex you mentioned?