Gordon

We had not had our Mazda 626 very long and our spaniel pup an even shorter time. Jenny came home and reported that there was a stange flashing light on the dashboard. Investigation realised that said hound had squeezed under the passenger seat and chewed through the wires to the airbag and possible the seat belt tensioner, would have served him right if that had activated To repair this involved Fiona my eldest daughter lying with her toes over the back seat rest and her arms under the passenger seat holding the wires together whilst I somehow manager to reach under the front of the seat and solder them together.

All good stuff, just a point to put the domination or capture effect into an understandable context. If you listen to AM signals on medium or short wave on a normal domestic radio you will hear all sorts of beats and hetrodynes (whistles) however it is rare to hear the same effect on FM. This is due to the fact that with AM the interfering signal needs to be at least 50 times stronger to dominate and completely wipe out the other signal. With FM it only needs to be twice as strong.

Very smart indeed thank you for posting the pictures Clive. It is good to see a restoration rather than scrapping. So many good cars have been condemmed to the scrap heap. There are those smugly driving around in "green cars" trying to tell the world that it is kinder to the planet. How much energy and polution was involved in the making of said green car, the old banger will probably not produce that much in decades. Off the soapbox and back to the Calypso, am I right in assuming there was a prop access hatch that has been done away with I think it is just visible in Dans picture Well done sir nice looking boat.

This thread has gone awful quiet, is she finished? what is she called ? and any recent pictures please Clive. SWMBO is talking about rear cabin rearrangements in Woodland Dawn futons at an angle etc after I showed her the bed at an angle.

Every hire boat has a fuel saving device fitted. You will not be able to get one without the device. There is a lever somewhere near the wheel to operate this fuel saving device. They even have a little dial to show that it is working . Pull the lever back a tiny distance untill the reading on the dial is showing 100 less. The fuel saving will be very significant. Ok this post was written in a slightly sarcastic manner but the bit about the fuel saving is worth thinking about, probably buy you a free meal out at the end of 2 weeks

They still are ,one for one swap, or as we once knew "ME" hell of a job to get a new one. Yes and the oil will be in the little glass jars in the leather case. See you round Richos then Pete.

You should be able to get a perfectly adequate one for less than a fiver and for 20 quid you will get one that will measure all sorts of things that have no place on a boat or car http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DIGITAL-MULTIMETE ... 5884e1369a No need to go to ebay even any car accessory shop, diy shop, market stall and even dear old lathams

Colin I am not even sure if the last question even is that simple. I go back to the advice I have given many times which is to invest in a cheap multimeter possibly digital for this use measure the battery voltage with the engine off, at a rough guess it should be about 12.5 volts start the engine and it should rise by at least a volt try it on both batterys and with the switch in both positions and it will tell you which is charging when. Batterys can die in two ways, they can lose capacity as previously mentioned but they can also lose a cell or one or more cells go low capacity this again will be indicated by your cheap meter. Fully charge the battery, and then measure the voltage if below about 12.5 v you got problems or if it drops within a few minutes its bad news. Must admit I have always been too mean to buy any form of drop tester and use a bulb and a meter. Will get one one day cos having 2 110Ah in parrellel it is less easy to know when things are not tickety boo with one of them

Ah I thought that would flush Peter out. Hi Peter you ok? hardly saw you last year. I guess the strowager/strowger arguament has been going on as long at the AT1/81 discussion. The at1/81 thing is lost in the mists of time with theories ranging from Apparatus terminating No1 to item 81 in the rate book. It reminds me of an old auto colleage who had an admiration for the old quality stuff and total hate of modern technology lovingly admiring a bit of the old test gear in its mahogany box with brass handles, hinges and locks. Look at that he said , " you can see Strowager was an undertaker. All of this is a long way from the original laptop problem so are we all agreed that the cure is to measure the head tension and oil the spindle of the hard drive

Strowager. Never had any springset guages, although I did find some in a old cupboard last week but could not think of any use for them. My area of work is where you guys says nothing moves especially the staff. Still working for them on PW and data ccts

Srowager, Can I take it from your site name and avatar that I would not have been surprised if you had also suggested a little bit of oil dag on the hard drive. If the previous sentence makes no sense at all forgive me for the mis-interpretation. Gordon

Ah a chicken and egg situation methinks. If the previous suggestion of starting in safe mode and doing a system restore is not possible as it refuses to go even start in safe mode might be to use the last known good configuration. The prompt for doing that is on the same black and white page as the safemode prompts. If it wont even get that far it is possible to get into system restore from dos prompts, possible but not easy Or perhaps this page might help, there are hundreds like it on the web. Good luck http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread4684.html#

Hi Kingo. I am not very familiar with the little gas canisters but I am assuming they are the same as the ones you buy for the little blow torches. http://www.rekri8.co.uk/Go%20System%20DIY/spares.html These are available with a butane/propane 70/30 mix,might just be enough butane to overcome the cold it probably burn a bit hotter too. A trick I have used on the boat when its cold and I know the butane will be too cold for the morning cuppa is to fill a thermos with boiling water before going to bed and chucking that over the butane cylindar before lighting the cooker in the morn gives it just enough start to get the morning brew and a bit left over to kick start it again once the kettle is hot

Just a thought guys, going back to the original problem, could it be a simple issue of air in the system. Being a savage the only way I know of dealing with that is disconnecting the pipes and either blowing or sucking on them till the water flows.

Brilliant idea David

A cheap multimeter is in my opinion a very valuable tool on a boat, you can get one for less than a fiver and the cheapie ones are perfectly adequate

Well I think so Carol as I can recall as a small lad getting between the handles and pushing the thing. It was however fun to turn it upside down get between the handles like a horse and charge round the lawn

Wow that was serious money, whilst I was waiting for my car to be MOTd last Friday I was reading some MG magazines and one was refering to the cost of post war cars comparing them to the average wage at that time. That radio was about 3 weeks pay. We whinge about the price of petrol but it seemed to be twice the price in real terms then.

Carol You can buy one if you want http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Planet-Jr-Very-Go ... 20af93055e Looking at the web they seem to be an American product and indeed there seems to be a modern version as well as people making their own. I have seen them from time to time in museums in England. I have no idea where my father obtained his from but suspect it probably might have been bought at an auction in Suffolk.

With regards the guys on the land I am assuming they are using wheel hoes. I remember my father had one and you could change the blade attachments and their spacing. I have just done a swift web search and come up with the Planet wheel hoe, that name certainly rings a bell http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.c ... l-hoe.html

Proof of the galley is in the eating. Seriously it is nice if you can get a job done that actually improves the boat rather than having to shell out funds just for repair. Hope it goes well for you

Hi Jonny, Thats one big price you have been quoted,I have no ideas what such a job would cost but such a figure does not surprise me, there are a lot of windows to remove. Do they really all need doing? are they leaking and if so is it the mastic round the frames or the rubbers . I reckon there are loads of ways water can get in a Calypso and believe it would be impossible to kep it all out. We get gallons from condensation alone . I assume you have had a word with Chris.

Carol Well done and thanks, once again you have really come up with the goods and made an old broads fan very happy.

Even more undignified when you have got short arms and slide forward into the engine bay a bit further and then are like a tortoise on its back trying to get out. Am I to assume from the comments that the super new forward well calypso is completed and awaiting my inspection

Er yes both of them Clive . I bought WD, or Serene Gem2 as she was known, from a highly reputable boatyard, both nuts were fitted and I have diligently put them back each time. Now you have lead me astray and they probably will never go back on again. What is a biggerr pain is moving the beds to get the panel out, I bet you gonna tell me that is not necessary either