floydraser

As a business a potential buyer would look at the profit/loss/takings situation and negotiate accordingly. There's probably more value in the potential of the land and if I were the owners I would want to cash in for my retirement.

If someone lets me know when the auction is I'll give it a go. Plenty of funds left since I was outbid on the ex-Alphacraft yard. You never know, if it's Cruso & Wilkin I may get it for the "magic pound". But seriously folks, in reality I think whoever owns the land that Brooms sits on will want to win it. You could try hoping that an excentric millionaire bids for sentimental reasons.

I get that; I could see why anyone would get that impression. I've said this before about East Anglians: they are either outgoing and friendly, or hard work, and friendly. I always thought of getting Paul to smile as a challenge, I did manage it once. Nobody mentioned the filthy gent's toilet yet so I will. For all that, I would still go back if I wanted a good place to go for a meal. In the modern era with our high expectations of good customer service, some of these poeple would struggle to get employment if they didn't work for themselves.

Good heavens, what ever will "the last of the summer wine" do!? Three old boys who seemed to live at the end of the bar where you walked in. For me, they helped create a friendly atmosphere just by being there. I hope the new owners get rid of that chuffing step which always catches me out! It'll be funny to see it without a desk full of paperwork. Lovely pub but apart from anything else I think Michael and Paul deserve a decent retirement. I can see apartments being built in that area in the future but they would have little appeal without a pub that side of the railway. I could see it going the way of Windermere Marina Village if the investment was there.

Thanks everybody. I was just being cautious and didn't want to discover there was a miracle boaty oil available after I had spent my money. I'll stick with SAE 20 with a decent brand name. I don't mind change but I know old engines are not always so broad minded. One sniff of a modern synthetic and they hit the self destruct button.

Wood is alive. Don't use immature wood as it won't understand what you want it to do. Don't use teenage wood, it'll be awkward and do the exact opposite of what you want it to do. That's why boats are built with matured wood; you can reason with it and get it on your side. Sometimes. Good luck. Prefer metal myself.

There comes a time in every man's life when he has to change the oil in his boat engine. I am seeking advice on what oil to use. The engine is a Thornycroft/Leyland/Standard /Triumph/Fergy Tractor jobby. OE.160 Oil recommended by the original instruction book: Mobil Delvac Special – Shell Rotella 20/20W – Esso HD20 – BP Energol SAE20 etc. Looking like SAE20 then? The bottle of Morris's SAE 20 tucked in the engine would suggest that's what is already in the sump. The oil pressure comes up quickly and looks healthy. So should I stick with SAE 20 or has oil technology moved on and produced a better alternative? I won't be doing it until next year but someone round here was selling off excess stock the other day. Thank you in advance for all the helpfull advice.

Somebody please tell me Edward Woodward was a nice bloke....

Excellent. Well done and thanks to all those involved in the preservation of the forum. I am very confident the future of the forum is in very good hands.

It's very reassuring to read that you, Ian and Polly are not going anywhere. The forum would be much poorer without your contributions. Well done and thank you.

He clearly didn't intend keeping it until they had grown into to adults.

Not off subject at all, welcome any contributions. I keep thinking this thread has the wrong name as the Denham Owl is not strictly a Harvey Eastwood. I didn't know that 3 years ago when I arrived on the forum. It's a Santa Caterina Mark IV if anyone cares. She was never a hire boat though. Flip back a page or two of the thread and there's stuff about how I've traced the records. The bunks in the forecabin (or should that be forward stateroom?) are only youth sized due to the original owner's preferences.

I nipped over again on Monday with a view to staying a couple of days. First thing I noticed was that the water was as lower than I had ever seen it before. Not as low as some of the pictures I've seen but very low indeed. The Owl was actually aground and listing to port. It was a very weird feeling! Combination of the low water and the chuffing great lake which had formed in the cover due to the recent heavy rain. I hadn't thought to take my spare bilge pump and pipe so I had to stand there with the manual jobby while it syphoned. Then it was dark. Damned nuisance these short daylight hours! Then once again, despite a favourable forecast, it rained. Aagh! Cover on. Nothing to do then so had a beer, something to eat, then stripped out the internal panelling to inspect the starboard deck supporting timbers, or what's left of them. Videoed it and that was that. Tuesday was nice and bright but the underside of the cover was dripping with condensation so I had to get my waterproof coat on, crawl to the edge to undo the elastics and roll it back. Oh look, frost! I thought about the poor lady who bought the boat to live the dream in Scotland, only to find it leaked like a sieve. She would have had to do the same every morning and then go to work. No wonder she gave up, brave lady though. I've trimmed down the tools I made for the deck and so I cleaned out the slots ready for resin. My slot funnel worked a treat! I had moved the pillows and spread some old towels out on the bed to catch any resin that made it through the deck but they weren't needed; although some did get through I was able to wipe it away before it got anywhere to make a mark. I was pleased to see it come through though; I know I will have sealed it when I've finished. I need to modify the funnel as the slot tends to close up. I'll add some bits to enable me to squeeze the slot open while pouring. And although it worked fine for liquid, the slot wouldn't be wide enough for fibreglass matting so I'll use heavy duty tape along the slot edges for that. Back to the starboard deck timbers then. The neighbours wouldn't have appreciated the noise of my multi-tool at 22.00 the night before so I cut away some rot with it around late morning, then measured for new supports. Lunch. I had planned to have a look at the diesel supply, but stopped after draining the water separator, which didn't contain any water! At that point, around 13.00, I made the decision to come home a day early. I had done all the important stuff and there was a smell of resin around the rear bedroom (sorry, stateroom). The British Seagull is now here and looking good. It's nothing like the piece of scrap I was expecting. Everything there including a new plug and the mounting. As expected though, no spark. Rare on a BS anyway! So this is where one turns to Youtube. Points cleaned and set, ignition module tested – perfect. But no spark. Tell me you all knew this and I was the only one who didn't: If you remove the plug and spin the motor with an electric drill at around 1500 rpm for 5 minutes, you get a spark. Yep, works. I'll be cleaning out the carb today and having a go at starting it later....

Actually, just this very day I have learned how to restore the spark on a Seagull, using an electric drill, but I'll save it for my restoration thread.

Er, best forget the Seagull then...

I've now got the British Seagull from the auction. You're more than welcome to use that for now; no bodywork at all!

We keep getting lovely sunshine and occasional short, sharp and heavy showers and we're 30 miles from Sywell. I'm confident he should have a great time. Fingers crossed.

I had the Denham Owl craned in by Tingdene at Brundall. Not up to date with modern standards of customer service. If I wanted it craned out I would look elsewhere.

Well stuff my old boots as they say. I logged on, read this thread as it's first and thought well it's not affecting me. Then I hit the back button and it came up! We've been violated!

No, I'd have gone up to a tenner; I'm no cheapskate!

Blast! Just over my budget.

Well I managed to find a couple of days to nip over on Friday 8th and came home Saturday. Luckily I had a good trip over and got there with enough daylight left to get a coat of Toplac on my repairs. Again, there were three tins in the boat, two partly used but this time the first one I opened (the lightest) had usable paint! That was my main objective for the visit so as to get some decent protection on the repairs for the winter months, so with that achieved, I could relax. I hadn't set myself much to do inside this time apart from wipe down all the surfaces with anti bacterial cleaner. I look forward to the day I can start revarnishing the it all..... However, with the extended darkness I spent some time assessing the work required for the worst part of the deck repair along the starboard side. I got under the deck from the inside (easier if I were still 30 but just slow everything down!) and shot some video. By the look of it, there has been a lot of damp in one area, for a long time. I'll have to remove the internal panelling to get close enough even to measure, let alone do any work, but I'm more confident as we go along. On Saturday I had plenty of time to start stripping out the caulking in an area of the deck at the rear port side. I used my custom made tools which turned out to be a little on the wide side but they have since been pruned. The idea was to use my slot funnel for the first time to get some resin into the deck support timbers. On the bright side, I was right with my assessment that they are a bit soft. On the down side they were still a bit damp therefore the resin wouldn't be so effective. I left the slots covered over with tape. Never mind though, I've now trimmed the tools to make the slots a bit cleaner and next time should see some significant progress deckwise. In other news, I have been playing live online auctions again! There is a space in the saloon where some oaf has cut out some cupboards to make way for a log burner. It's 52” wide, 26” high and 16” deep. I've been looking for an old radiogram or similar to convert into a drinks cabinet as a “temporary” installation until an internal refurb takes place. So this wine rack came up, looking for all the World like a magazine rack, I thought it may be useful with another unit instead of the radiogram. I was the only bidder at the minimum £5, net £7.50 with charges. It's huge. It's a bit weird in that it is held together with crude pegs, takes 12 bottles, but it's portable! However, as can be seen, it's more likely to have 6 bottles of wine, with gin taking up any available space. And to keep the glasses in, this lovely little drawer unit. I didn't inspect the rack before the auction but this I did. I'm no furniture expert but I have seen a few antique shows to have learned something. I removed each drawer and noted they were numbered with the base unit so each drawer was matched to it's own slot. The joints are all excellent dovetails. It was listed as mahogany. The brass bits make it look a bit boaty for me, or military. They are laquered brass and patinated but that's ok by me; I'll not be trying to clean them up. I've waxed the wood and fed the leather top. How old does it look? Guess the hammer price? And for the Grandchildren: There was a poor picture of a British Seagull outboard in one auction and I thought it would make another little project for the kids to strip down. £15 hammer price. I haven't got it yet, it's still in Norfolk, but it turns and the plug looks new. It's even got the string!

"Beautiful barge" she calls it. Beauty clearly in the eyes of the beholder here; I can never see it in Dutch barges.

If you decide to go for decals as Griff says, try Brian Wards (link to the right) and mention the forum. We get 10% off for chandlery, probably graphics too but I can't be sure.

Buur Caarsll. Remember where you are!