DandV

Thermoplastics, including polyethylene all tend to creep under load, including their own weight. The rate of creep is accelerated with temperature. Even light coloured surfaces get quite hot under direct sunlight. I think you will be faced with a gradually deepening trough developing between it's supports. For this reason I have never seen it ever being used as floor panels and do not think it would be successful. Getting anything, including paint, to stick to it's waxy surface is problematic.

My understanding is that after a sequence of missed start events the timer module needs an expensive factory reset. Don

So presumably a bus station should be called a road station? Don

Whio has an eleven year old Eber. The previous owners had it decoked once and a timer replaced, probably as a result of a low voltage issue. In the five years we have had it, it has never missed a beat, touchwood running about 40 hrs per year, We last ran it two days ago I was advised : They are basically fix when breaks, ie no routine servicing. Coking can be minimised by minimising low fire running, and by returning the unit to a period of high fire running before shutdown. For space heating we generally have the bedroom and it's radiator closed off heating only the saloon and towel rail. If the Eber has dropped down to low fire mode before shutdown we will open up the bedroom radiator to provoke it up to high fire for about 5 minutes to hopefully burn off some coke before shutdown. We were advised that they are intolerant of low voltage, especially at start up. One hire company we know instructs hirers to run the engine before pushing the start button. I do not know about UK fuel supplies but in NZ, at one stage diesel fuel was all sold as a uniform product but that during the winter the colder regions were supplied with diesel that had a lower wax point temperature. That is the Summer diesel would wax at above the lowest of winter temperatures. This caused problems if somebody had bought a load of fuel in the summer to heat their greenhouse, then when in the depths of a winter frost wax would clog the burners. Don

I sure wheelbarrow wheels,which we didn't have, whould have been better. But without them we found that dropping our pipe fenders, that we did have, below the cylindrical plastic fenders effective in moderating the Shroppie thunk. Don

When we bought Whio we had a full set of pipe fenders. Val liked them and I disliked them. They started to attrit, is that a word? My dislike intensified after getting one around the prop, not one of mine, on the Hurleston locks. So the survivors were placed in storage. They do however have a use. On the Shroppie, and other places with a submerged ledge lowering them down can effectively fender directly between the base plate and the ledge. Don

Ah so that is "swan upping" . Hence the need for a drink after. We once hired a punt on the River Cherwell and joined the continuous flotilla down around the islands. On a punt just in front of us the swan had taken exception to a lad in a striped shirt who had to fend it off with the paddle. They disengaged and continued their cruise until on their return when the swan sailed past the other punts straight to the lad with the striped shirt and resumed the attack. Don

Staying anywhere, and moving around anywhere especially on holiday has expenses. Narrowboating on your own boat is actually extraordinarily inexpensive for what you get. Always a waterside view. A fully equipped apartment for a week in Paddington included. £600 for transport fuel, electricity and heating for six months in summer. Don

No there was a whoops there. About £10 per year per foot. The blacking bit is only part of it. The other external surfaces degrade as well and the effectiveness of any protective coating is determined by the weakest underlying layer back to bare steel. No point in putting expensive a paint over rubbish. And then there is the interior where because of the reduced interior volumes flooring, kitchen and bathrooms take even more of a hammering then houses. Don

The above costs do not include paint / blacking degradation. Either paid for as actual expenditure (if spent) or accelerated depreciation if not. Allow for at least £10 per foot per year. Coating maintenance is like visiting the dentist. About 50% to stop premature expensive failure and about 50% to maintain appearances. The reputable hire boat companies look after their coatings well purely as an economy imperative. Don

Very much in line with our experience on Whio for a comparable regime. 500 engine hours per year. 5.5 months cruising. Don and Val

Whio has been through three times. According to the published measurements we were within measurement error of being on the limit. We loaded all our buckets into the gas locker for'ad and water filled them to get another inch. Another boat was outside measure but Cart loaned them a 120 Wheely bin to place in their well deck which when water filled did the trick. Enjoy it. The HNC is a unique experience of getting your boat up high and then down deep. Scenery spectacular. We travelled E to W and then did a return bus trip to Slaithwaite to see the moor above and restock at Lidl. Don

On the ones that crept someone showed us that reversing the windlass, or handle in, in the right place locks them. Seemed to work. Don

In my days in hands on engineering both in New Zealand and England the combination spanner to connect and then turn on or off gas cylinders, oxygen, acetylene, compressed air, etc were universally called gas keys. Perhaps the same device should have been called a spanner when connecting a bottle but a key when operating the shrouded square drive opening valve? Does it matter which alternative name is used? Don

The best place for a tug deck for lounging on is at the stern. Just the place to locate the engine underneath rather then trying to find something useful to locate under the foredeck. Here under the lounging deck the engine is accessable and does not compromise the people space in the main cabin. It should be called a cruiser stern. Sorry that brilliant idea is decades old but still really great. Don