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manxmike

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manxmike last won the day on September 25 2017

manxmike had the most liked content!

About manxmike

  • Birthday 11/05/1952

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Isle of Man
  • Interests
    Theatre, Motorcycles, Canals, Motorhome
  • Occupation
    Retired (hooray)
  • Boat Name
    No boat, motorhome instead!

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  1. Absolutely, have done since I was 10 years old (my parents lived here since the 1940s) We live in Ballabeg now. Not here for the TT, (first time since 1962) but we'll be back for MGP so if you're in the deep south pop in for a cuppa
  2. Wow, this is a prime example of personalities getting in the way of useful information. Looking through I feel I have learnt something.
  3. Ha! Almost certainly it had completely run out of oil, or the oil was so full of gunge it wouldn't leak even if the sump was cracked, you have to love the old A series - almost as awful as the K series (why build an engine that the bolts holding on the head also hold on the sump?) A clean, painted engine, not only looks good, it's easier to work on without getting covered in centuries old oil and grime
  4. Throwing in my two penneth, looking at the pitting and blistering I would (like the pig) get up and slowly walk away. That looks like it's going to need over plating sides and base plate before long. Unless of course you can get the price reduced by about £15k to cover the expected costs!
  5. Started on the canals with my parents in the 50s, had a break when I was in my 20s, then bought my own boat after borrowing a friends boat when I was in my 40s and 50s. Sold the boat when in my 60s and, apart from hiring occasionally, I now drive a motorhome. The boss is now in a wheelchair a lot of the time (MS), so the idea of her doing locks has long gone. Her dyslexia meant that she could never get her head around using a tiller, so the Motorhome is the best we can now do. Yes I miss the canals, but at least we can still get around a lot of the country (more than in a narrowboat!) and she loves the MH.
  6. Beware the cash buyer! We "sold our house" in March some years ago. The cash buyer then had a total of six surveys done - foundations, structure, electrical, plumbing, roof and even trees in the garden! Then they had a second roof survey. It took until the August to complete, by which time I had to do some very fancy footwork to ensure the bungalow we wanted didn't disappear. The buyer decided he could make more in interest from the cash than he would pay on a mortgage. He spent two years and vast amounts of cash doing the house up - re wiring, new plumbing, new roof, etc. Put it back on the market for over a million (no, we didn't get anything like that for it) and three years later it's still on the market. He's reduced the price by over twenty thousand and it's still not moving. Oh dear
  7. OK, I can understand why some Springers have a deserved poor reputation, but like any manufacturer there are good boats and bad boats, same as cars. I had a Vauxhall Astra - the only brand new car I ever bought - it leaked like a sieve from the day I got it. The damn thing ended up in the dealership more than in my hands. I eventually sold it, the new owner discovered that the rear wheel arches had never been welded - no wonder it leaked. At the same time a friend bought the same model Astra and had absolutely no problems with it - he said it was a lovely car, nice to drive, comfy and economical.
  8. Venetian Marina did some excellent work for me (yes - really!) I always found them helpful and ready to listen and then explain. The Marina at Wrenbury, on the Llangollen Canal, sorted out a problem with my battery bank - they spent over an hour and refused to charge me anything. I left some money so the guys could have a drink on me. They were helpful, explained what they were doing, why they were doing it and why it needed doing in the first place.
  9. Quite a few of my friends are gay - do I care? I do a lot in the theatre - on stage and back-stage, the theatre seems to attract a lot of gay people - do I care? I am actually quite jealous of a lot of my gay friends, they usually have excellent taste, their homes are wonderfully decorated, their taste in furniture is amazing, their ability to make something drab appear attractive is excellentl - yes I do care, they are good friends and often have the most wonderful way of putting people in their place whilst seeming to be as polite as anything. They often have the most dreadful gossipy tales that are hysterical to listen to. To be honest I prefer their company to that of a lot of my "straight" friends who just want to talk about football and swill vast amounts of rather poor quality beer. Please don't get me started on black, female, labour, ex-politicians and whether they should be shot !
  10. In answer to the queries about the "eating away" of the hull - I am no expert, I have a CSE in Chemistry (56 years ago) so I asked people with far more knowledge than I. Their view was that a combination of a boat either side permanently plugged in to the mains together with MIC in the water would in all probability produce something along the lines I described. Whatever the cause, over a period of six years the same surveyor found that 8mm had reduced to 2mm. To me that seemed a trifle excessive in a relatively short period of time.
  11. Probably asking the same question again
  12. MIC and being bracketed on both sides by permanent live-aboards plugged into the mains, ate the hull on my Liverpool boat, down to 2mm in places on an 8mm base plate. My solution was to sell it. Having said which I was honest, told the buyer and accepted a ludicrously low offer working on the principal that he/she could have the pleasure and expense of over-plating. At £10k I didn't bother.
  13. I fondly (?) remember coming across a hire boat with two young men opening every paddle - top and bottom - at a lock. I managed to persuade them not to do that and talked them through lock operation. When I asked why the hire base had not instructed them in locking, they said that two of the party (who were still asleep after the previous night's boozing) had been shown "the ropes". It was a stag do, I was so pleased they were going in the opposite direction to me, I hope the hire base got the boat back in one piece!
  14. I did have insurance covering everyone who used the boat, but since (as I said earlier the "friend" denied all knowledge) I had no idea where, when or how the incident occurred which was info required by the insurers, I was unable to satisfy their requirements and therefore did not claim.
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