Jess--

depending on where I push the dipstick I can make it read anything from 1/2 inch below the minimum to 1/2 inch above the maximum, without the handle on the end of the dipstick or the tube being in it's correct position I'm having to play a guessing game.

can anyone recommend an online supplier where I can purchase a new dipstick and tube to fit my Lister LPWS4. the handle is broken off mine and the tube is broken away from it's top mount (it looks like someone has stood on it while in the engine bay).

he said eyes / ears disagree when horizon in view, I say the opposite

I would have thought it was the opposite effect... if you can not see the horizon but only the inside of the boat (that is moving with you) the eyes say nothing is moving while the ears say everything is, so the eyes and ears are battling it out with each other and you get seasickness When you can see the horizon the eyes and ears agree that things really are moving

for anyone that's interested we stuck a camera on the bow of the boat while we went down watford locks finally got the embed working

I didn't run into any problems with BSS and licensing, got the BSS on the weds afternoon and did the license over the phone on the thursday morning.

Just back after my first trip (Crick to Brinklow) Locks were fun but no problems. Crick and braunston tunnel went smoothly, met a hire boater in newbold tunnel that thought he should have 2 feet between his boat and the tunnel wall (I was already down to about 1 inch off the wall), needless to say he learnt how wide his boat was with a bang (and commented that "they should make these tunnels wider" as he passed me Also had the first breakdown, throttle linkage came loose and jammed so I couldn't drop into neutral (luckily it was only just above tickover), just turned off the engine and coasted and moored before tightening it. the only casualty was the lid off my baccy tin (it's in the cut in the pound above the lock at braunston with the nelson pub). need to look into replacing the leisure batteries (3 x 110 ah), they seem to be down to under 1/3rd capacity, a 5 amp intermittent load (fridge) almost kills them overnight.

if the earth line is bonded back to neutral at the inverter then ANY current using the earth line as a return to neutral instead of the neutral line passing through the RCD will make it trip. if you think about it when a current is presented with 2 equal(ish) methods of returning to neutral around 50% will go via each route but only one passes through the rcd which will cause an imbalance at the rcd (since only 50% of the current is returning that way) this should make the rcd trip long before there is a dangerous amount of current returning via the earth line. the most important thing to remember with RCD's is that all they are looking for is an imbalance between the current on the live and neutral connections.

Heading back out on the water for the first time today after 30 years, looking forward to it. moving the boat from Crick wharf through to Brinklow so if you see a blue boat called Sark going all over the place don't judge me too harshly, it's going to be my first time steering without having to stand on a crate to be tall enough.

Are we sure? I was basing on Allans post (#48) which says "According to CaRT and BW annual reports the number of boats with 12 month licences has fallen from a high of just over 35,000 (2010/11) to just over 32,000 (2013/14)."

Could the lower number of boats on the water coming from CRT be down to them only reporting the number of boats with a 12 month license? I wonder how many boats that used to have 12 month licenses are currently having to use 3 or 6 month licenses having been refused a 12 month license and as a result are falling through on the figures. surely a better measure would be how many boats have held a license in the last 12 months (regardless of whether this was a 3 6 or 12 month license or licenses) rather than how many boats hold a 12 month license

From what I can work out if you are not on your home mooring you are treated as if you were a continuous cruiser. It tends to be viewed this way to try and prevent ghost moorings where a boat has a mooring on paper (usually in the north of the country) but is never seen there because it's always somewhere else on the network (usually around the london area)

Don't be afraid to offer what you think the boat is worth to you rather than basing it on the asking price, the worst they can say is no. in my case making the offer took almost 19% off the price of the boat.

76 was definitely the heatwave or "drought summer" as I have always known it referred to as. half or the stranded cruisers along the puddlebank in braunston moved out of their boats and moved into the cattle creeps under the puddlebank because it was cooler and the boats weren't going anywhere

I've known a car not make the A45 bridge and end up slightly waterlogged

apparently I used to be hung in front of a window on the towpath side. and a tiny note was put in the bottom of the window that read "My My, Aint we f*****g Nosy!"

Don't know if I had a moses basket, but it seems we had the same early experience Photo is from braunston puddlebank, roughly Jan / Feb 1976

I did think of putting the sound through the stereo system but whoever designed the boat had the bright idea of putting the stereo right at the rear of the boat (next to the steps down into the cabin) and the seating area right at the front of the boat. I think having to run from one end of the boat to the other to adjust the volume wouldn't go down too well

has anyone got any suggestions for a 12v TV smaller than 23" that has semi decent sound, I know that if it sounds like an 80s transistor radio it will be introduced to the canal by my partner quite rapidly