BEngo

Look for an exploded parts diagram on line. Google "Little Wenlock parts" or similar. That will show how it is held together and if there is a sealing rope (likely). There are lots of stove parts suppliers and most of their websites ate helpful. Their services may not be as good for your bank balance. Caveat Emptor! If not remove the top and look for whatever the sealing stuff is. Glass rope is obvious, though not its size. Goo type sealants are also easy to spot. If it is rope then a drill set will give you some idea of size if laid ibn the rope groove. If it is goo then there are several high temperature sealants available. Google is your mate. N

Can't help with the fix, sorry but the preventive action once fixed is to turn the temperature control through its full range once a week when there is hard water in the tank. That will stop it scaling up. N

The card pump out is locked so it cannot be used. The smell was too much for the householders. N

I reckon this is one that will keep until you are able to spend a day sorting the problem out. The pump will work and deliver water, albeit it is inconvenient to turn it off when not needed, so the boat is habitable. When you go next take a tyre pressure gauge with you. Onboard, sort out the details of the water system- the owners manual might help and find: The water pump. Get details of make and model off it if you can. The Owners manual may also help. The accumulator ( cylindrical or spherical thing, usually red or blue, and near the pump) The calorifier ( if fitted) The pressure relief valve- usually adjacent to the calorifier. Then do some diagnosis: Turn the pump on and let it run till it stops. take the end cap off the accumulator and put the tyre pressure gauge on the valve in the end of the accumulator. This is the pump cut-out pressure. If it is 45 psi you need to reduce it. Some pumps are adjustable. The instructions for how may be found on the web when you know what sort of pump you have. If not either a new pump or a separate pressure switch is needed. Investigate the PRV- see if it is dripping/leaking overboard. If so turn the cap on top and see if that will re-seat it. If the pressure is 45 psi it will be very close to its normal setting so may be operating normally.., but still leaking. In that even reduce the pump cut-off pressure Check all the pipes and the calorifier and connections for leaks. Fix as required. N

No need to separate them at all on technical/safety grounds- the stove will not harm the cooker, or vice versa. They will both have been designed to get hot without coming to harm. It will not be nice cooking next to a blazing stove though and if the cooker were right next to the stove the heat from the stove will not circulate well. I would aim to get at least a 6 in air gap all round the stove- there is a Code of Practice which deals with solid fuel stoves- and to have it position so that I could stand a use the cooker without getting toasted by the fire. Think also about gas pipe routing, assuming you are having a gas cooker. The pipe will not mind being warm, and the gas can't burn inside the pipe 'cos there is no oxygen, but I would not want a joint anywhere near a stove, just in case of a leak. N

Tom Foxon describes the Hednesford arm as being known as the 'eavitup. That says much for the BCN approach to passing horse boats. N

Many years ago I bought some cotton line from Outhwaites in Hawes, Yorkshire. Wonderful stuff to handle but a bugger to splice. Gets dirty easily so is only got out for ceremonial purposes and when we want to look posh! Outhwaites are still in business and making cotton line between 6 and 25 mm diameter if anyone feels in need. http://www.ropemakers.com N

That matches my own observations. I have welded several things, including quite a large piece round the chimney to our sprayfoamed 4 mm roof and seen more or less the same things. It helps not to make long continuous weld runs and, where the foam goes all soft I pushed it back into contact with the metal as it cooled. N

Having, courtesy of BW, been transported by Tuckey's twice between Milton Keynes and Aylesbury I can say that everything was fine. We cleared the roof externally as I didn't want to lose a shaft, but packed up nothing internally, beyond the normal way we put the mugs and glasses away. If they can stand the uphill GU locks without ropes a bit of the Leighton Buzzard bypass isn't going to worry them and 56mph on the M40 is almost motionless to the stuff inside. Not sure I'd want to be in an accident with 20 tons of narrowboat at even 30 mph though. N

Interesting. That is one serious piece of rope! I wonder how long it lasted? Must have been natural fibre or iron/steel wire and neilther of those much likes continuous immersion. The explanation about the barrels seems odd. - If the rope is being wound onto the barrel then all five plus miles of it will be on one barrel and that is a huge coil of rope, probably taking up half of the boat. It is also unnecessary. It would also not be possible to have the arrangement described with a single rope though the article is not really clear as to whether there is one rope or two. It seems much more likely that the rope(s) would be wound in several turns onto a barrel which then pulls in at one end and pays out at the other- the only rope in the steamer is that from bow to stern and round the barrel. There might be two ropes and two barrels- one for each direction of travel and providing redundancy in the event of a rope failure. N

If you decide to try it, rather than painting it for non-slip rout a series of V-grooves about 2 or 3mm deep in a pretty pattern so that it looks like DITY diamond plate in reverse. Rather than polyethylene, or even worse polypropylene, what about what the architects call 'solid surface' ( Corian clones). Not cheap though. N

Do you need to comply with The Boat Safety Scheme? If you do the scheme guide is available on line https://www.boatsafetyscheme.org/media/180428/bss guide 2005 complete web.pdf and will tell you about requirements for battery siting and securing. Alternatively find a friendly local examiner and pick his brain over a beer. If you pick one that will do your next BSS exam then he's not likely to fail it at the exam provided you follow his advice. If you don't have to comply with BSS then I would only be worried about the possibility of sparks igniting the petrol vapour from the tanks but provided all the lids are on and the petrol tank vent is away from the battery box vent you should be OK. In an ideal world you would only lift the battery box lid with the tanks on the bank! N

In theory, once you have dealt with where to put the leisure battery, securing it and venting it etc., all you need to do is connect the cable which goes to the domestic fuse box to the 'new' battery positive terminal via an isolator switch and fuse and join the negative terminal of the new battery to the old battery negative. Your lights etc. then run off the 'new ' battery. Then you need to sort out how both batteries are charged. That will mean connecting the new battery positive to the old battery positive with either an ignition switch operated relay, a Voltage Sensitive Relay or a blocking diode. Blocking diodes are not really a good idea as the cause voltage drop and the 'new battery will take longer to charge. the solar also needs to be connected up to the 'new' battery. N

An outfit called Mann Buck advertise in the meeja as being able to supply steel for ballast. Usual disclaimer on my part but I thimk Alan Fincher has either used them or spoken to them. A big scrappy may also be able to help. I had some railway flat bottomed rail chairs from the scrappy at Sharpness dock for a previous boat. N

Having had our boat attacked in a gale by a solar panel secured only by its own weight I would say that a restraining strap is a very good idea. N