Leaderboard

There was a drain tap sticking straight out by several inches at the bottom of my diesel tank. The problems were (1) that it was very vulnerable, being next to where I step down into the engine bay so I was frightened that one day I'd kick it and snap it off and (2) when opened, the diesel spurted straight out so it was hard to catch it without any spillage; however it was extremely convenient for letting out any water from the bottom of the tank (or just checking for it). I asked at a couple of boatyards and they both said that yes it would be easy to swap the straight adaptor for a right-angled one, which would cure both problems; but the job could only be done by first draining all the diesel from the tank as otherwise too much would gush out in the short time between unscrewing the tap and then screwing in the adaptor and then the tap again. However, thinking hard about the problem, I calculated that a mere 5% reduction in the air pressure at the top of the tank should support a 2ft head of diesel, and that this could be achieved by sealing the breather and then draining enough diesel to increase the volume of air above it by 5%. I reckoned that starting from a reasonably full tank, it would need only about 1.5 litres of diesel from the sealed tank to give this result. Today I found the courage to try it. I bound the breather up tightly with cling film and opened the tap (after removing the bung in the end) to fill an old milk carton with diesel. Sure enough, before the 2-litre bottle was full the flow of diesel from the tap ceased. I unscrewed the complete tap assembly, and replaced its straight adaptor with a right-angle one before replacing the tap (using PTFE tape to seal the threads). In total I reckon that maybe just 5cc of diesel escaped from the hole, to land on my absorbent sheet below, and then the job was complete. The diesel in the bottle was clean apart from a tiny bit of crud that had washed out with it, so I carefully decanted it back into the tank then removed the cling film. Job done, in about 10 minutes. SO once again it proves, never listen to the experts who tell you something can't be done!

I think its more personal preference. I always have and always will use cash whenever possible. There are risks involved in any transaction. There are risks involved driving to work. There is a sliding scale of peeps worried about stuff with very very bothered at one end and not so bothered at the other. I have never been given wads of dodgy money but I hear daily on programmes on the telly of sensible people transfering large wads of their money to fraudsters by electronic transfer and never seeing their money again.

Saw the blade tips off and it might! I'm tempted to dig up the old chestnut about the advice the OP received being from an "Engineer", but I'll resist (he wasn't one though - oh bum, I did it anyway!).

The Ashton locks are not hard and most have hydraulic paddle gear for which a Handcuff key (Anti Vandal) key is required, these are readily available at most chandlers in the region. The Rochdale nine are quite heavy to work and a certain amount of agility is required on some of them. I would definetly recommend you stop at Piccadilly village over night and tackle the nine when fresh. An early ish start from Portland Basin at Ashton will see you down the eighteen locks in a fairly short day. Last time we went down we set off from Ashton at nine o clock and myself and other half with a little help from our 7 and 9 year old children were at Piccadilly for lunch (about four hours) and Castlefield for beer at four o clock.It is handy and a lot less work if you meet somebody to share the wide locks with. The northern quarter pubs near Piccadilly offer a wide range of local real beer lots of them in the GBG. Castlefield has a few good bars, The Knott under the Railway arches at the top of Castlefield Basin being my favourite, you can walk back up from Lock 92 and get off the towpath right opposite it. When you are coming down message me, as I live in the area and if I am free I will give you a hand with the locks.

Don't buy a boat in London, in general you will pay well over the odds for anything that floats (even if it takes 5 pumps running continuously to keep it floating)

Apart from boaters and campers no one really knows what a toilet cassette looks like. So just gaily march along with it with purpose as if your an executive off to an important meeting with your briefcase, with your lunch in it ''as they do'', after all there will probably be several lunches in it.

Many full length boats have to put the rudder over and lift fenders to get through shorter locks. If they declared the full length including rudder and fenders they could be deemed too long to pass along canals they have used for years.

I think my income for tax purposes should be taken from the nett figure after I've been shopping, had a meal and spent a night in the pub. Feeling that's what it should be though has little impact on HMRC.

Pet peeve alert. How can you have an '8 times decrease'? 8 times 4 billion is 32 billion, so has it decreased to negative 28 billion? Or perhaps you meant a decrease to an eighth of the original number?

jumping through hoops? What declaring you've 'sold your boat' when they ask where you got all that cash?

I think it is more a case of "I need to say something" (as my old dad used to say "empty vessels make the most noise") rather than any experience in the world of gas cylinder explosions. In "the Pink" you might say.

The wife should do all the locks.

Don't sway towards a cassette, sit on it properly like a grown up!

Realy? I bow to your expert knowledge. I have bought eight boats non with a survey. The bloke who bought my last boat didnt have a survey, the bloke who bought the one before that didnt have a survey. In fact of the seven boats I have sold only one person had a survey and cash most certainly helps if you buy from me. I dont know what source you get your figures from.

Unless you cruise pretty much every day April to September, or are on shoreline, I certainly think they are worth it. As liveaboards/cc'ers for six months of the year and heavy electric users, with our 680 watts we can moor up for days on end and rarely need to think about running the engine or genny. That is a direct saving of at least £3 a day in diesel, to say nothing of wear and tear, noise, vibration and pollution. Ken

This morning I have nailed a laminated copy of the Bridgewater Canal closure notice on one of the Poolstock top lock beams. If it only stops 1 boater having a wasted journey it will be worth it. Steve

To me it revolves round the words Bona fide and Navigation. Bona fide as in genuine, or without the intention to deceive. Navigation has a number of meanings but one commonly accepted one is to move from place to place as in "naviagte to a website or round a website". Can trying to stay in as small an area as possible be genuine navigation. Personally I don't think so and I don't think the law was drafted with staying in one place in mind.

Dogless, yes. we are where we are because as you say, CRT have moved the goalposts, there are families who never had any trouble and now they get threatened with section 8 And: They can't just 'get a mooring' please show me some moorings in these areas that they can just go and 'get' ones which are residential and will welcome kids. Social housing shortage. ban on squatting - yes I know a lot of land based travellers are now on boats too, i know families where the parents are registered as travellers and therefore the kids are too. If you reduce peoples options you will get to the point that they are sleeping in tents. Unaffordable or no/little public transport to work in some places. Have you seen how much some season tickets are? Funding cuts for charities - I know two single parent families who fled violence and are on boats, have you seen how many womens refuges have closed? And the ones that are left have no spaces. Same as homeless shelters, no spaces. Because there is no social housing available you have to rent private sector. There is a shortage of suitable properties in some areas - eg all of the building near me is executive flats and the social housing has all been cancelled from the stadium development. Where will these people go? Landlords can pick and choose who they rent to - executives get priority over messy families with kids and pets. I don't blame anyone for taking to the water, especially if they are poor as the bankside choices are so grim in some places. We're taking about a couple of hundred families at the most, though, here, its not ever going to be a lifestyle most people will ever think about is it? And surely we should not hold children responsible for their parents decisions? we have a duty to educate them don't we?