Q & A
Got a technical question or a boating query? Post your quandaries here and pick the brains of the WW team. You can also add your answers to others' questions, or browse through previous answers.
advice
can someone pleace tell me if you can put a wet room on a narrow boat insted of a shower tray
Asked by: martin jones | Friday 3 February, 10.36pm | 2 answers
Why is my diesel heater sooting up?
I have a Kabola Old English drip feed diesel room heater which has given me good service over 13 years. It only needs decoking two or three times each winter and normally burns with a nice blue 'cup' of flame, indicating (if I remember my school chemistry lessons) good combustion.
Just this winter it has started to get very sooty and yellow, and even two or three days of burning leaves an appalling amount of diesel-laden soot after I turn it off. And I seem to need to clean it almost every day.
I was wondering if there's something wrong with the burner, or am I encountering the new dreaded 'biodiesel'?
Asked by: Andrew Denny | Tuesday 31 January, 7.48pm | 3 answers
Conversion to pumpout toilet
How difficult/expensive would it be to convert a narrowboat from cassette to pumpout toilet. I appreciate this will differ from boat to boat, I am just looking for a rough guide as i have found 2 boats i like but both are cassette and i would like pumpout.
Thanks in anticipation
Paul
Asked by: Paul Jones | Tuesday 31 January, 1.43pm | 3 answers
Single Handed Lock operation
Hi,
I read the article in Feb issue on single handed lock operation and have a question.
The article says that you should tie off the bow and stern lines to central bollards. As the boat rises in the lock these lines will go slack, similarly as the boat descends the lines will get tighter?
A I missing something obvious? It seems to me that the boat would start moving on the way up or get hung up on the lines on the way down?
Thanks for any clarification.
/jh
Asked by: John Hitchins | Monday 30 January, 6.25pm | 1 answer
paint restoration on a narrowboat
My boat is eight years old and unfortunately the paintwork was not looked after in the early days. I have tried various lotions and potions but nothing seems to bring back the shine for more than a day or so, however hard I work at it. Any fail safe answer or do I need to consider a re-paint?
Asked by: John Burt | Monday 30 January, 1.46pm | 2 answers
New Build Boat
We wish to order a new built Wide beam, however are not happy to make stage payments. We are very happy to pay the full price in advance into escrow pending final delivery. The Boats seem to be built abroad, but what use to us is a part finished boat in Poland if the company goes bust. How can we secure our hard earnt cash ?
Asked by: Mark Meopham | Saturday 28 January, 10.19am | 8 answers
High Charging Voltage Problem
Our boat is fitted with an Iskra 100a. alternator and an Adverc management system. Since fitting, five years ago, the alternator has charged as it should - cycling between about 14.1v & 14.5v through the Adverc system, measured across the starter battery terminals on the boat's built-in digital voltmeter.
Late last summer, the charging voltage abruptly changed to 14.7 - 14.8v - the boat's meter agrees with my hand held multimeter and with two others, one used professionally, so no question of faulty meter.
Disconnecting the Adverc made no difference - in any case, the Adverc will control up, but not down.
The alternator went away for a replacement regulator, but this too has made no difference.
The boat is also fitted with a Sterling 3-stage charger : the first stage 'boost' charge should be 14.4v, but is now 14.8v.
The batteries (1 x 96ah + 2 x 110ah) are only 3 years old, and hold charge very well, but are tending to need topping up regularly.
Do I have a problem ? - and if so where is the likely culprit, and how do I confirm ? I do not want to spend nearly £300 on new batteries on a hunch that they may be the cause.
Asked by: Richard Smith | Friday 27 January, 2.06pm | 4 answers
Ellis Heatmaster Boiler
Can anybody please direct me to an online manual for an Ellis Heatmaster or does somebody have a manua they are willing to copy or sell.
Thanks very much, Roy.
Asked by: Roy Harris | Tuesday 24 January, 11.15pm | 3 answers