Alan de Enfield

So you are agreeing with me ? The RCD inspectors are very experienced, multi discipline engineers - they have to be they are signing off everything from the strucual steel and welds to the gas, fuel and electrical systems

The part 2 is the one approved for boats, but, when the BSS first came out they did not seem to know there was a Part 1 and a Part2 and were happy with Part 1 alarms being fitted - now they are stuck with them until they break / wear out which is why they say replace them with the Part 2 alarm.

Currently narrowboats have an exemption in the RCD/RCR in that the builder is able to sign-off compliance. Other categories of boats are required to have an RCD/RCR approved surveyor sign-off the boat. Mabe it is the time to have the canal boats exemptions removed and the boats signed-off by 'competent' inspectors (ie not BSS examiners) The RCR/RCD has detailed ISO specifications, which, if installation is in accordance with those specs, it gets the automatic certificate of compliance. If the boating ISO standards are up to date & cover the latest technology it shouldn't be an issue. Currently the norm is for the standards to say "should be installed in accordance with the manufacturers requirements". Nothing will stop 'tinkerers' and "I can do it better" boaters from fiddling about and changing settings post purchase.

The installation instructions are pretty clear - they should not be installed on the celing, or at height' as there is a dead-air-space. They should (ideally) be installed at head height, when lying down, as that is the air level you are breathing when asleep and, most unlikely to notice you are being poisoned. Smoke rises - so the ceiling is the place for a smoke alarm. CO is virtually the same weight as 'air' and it is said, "floats around" generally between waist & shoulder height

Wax crystals start to form in Diesel from +1 degree C to -6 degrees C, Below that the wax starts to become a 'solid block'.

In the UK, caravans are using predominently Butane (blue cylinders), but boats are virtually 100% Propane (Red cylinders) When camping / hiking the gas cylinders are a 'mix' of typically 70% butane and 30% propane as Butane provides 9% more energy per unit of liquid volume than Propane.

It is an automatic addition at the refinery, so if their delivery is before early October they will be getting Summer grade, hopefully they plan their stock levels so that they are not left with 1000s of litres of Summer grade as they go into Winter (and presumably reduced sales volumes) I doubt it - it generally gets a mention most years I seem to remember even posting pictures of my 'waxed up' filters last Winter, or maybe the Winter before.

Yes - it has an anti-waxing agent 'added' into the diesel, normally after the 1st October, never fill your boat up in August / September if you will not use the fuel up before Winter. If you are not going to use the boat at all during /winter than it makes no odds as the fuel will wax at low temperatures, but will go back to normal once the weather gets warmer. I can have problems with my digger and tractors in very cold weather - sometimes it can be weeks before they will start. Yes it is - when the Diesel is manufactured at the refinery they do not know which is going to a canal boat and what is going to agricultural use.

It is extremely bad practice to have the water pipes to pump fitted with rigid copper pipes. Vibration will cause leaks. Is the pump mounted on rubber feet or screwed directly to the 'white baseboard' ? Remove the short length of copper pipe each side of the pump and replace with flexible braided hose (as used for under sink tap connection, the same as the one going from the water supply to the grey accumulator) I does look as if whoever fitted out the boat had no experience of boat building or operation.

Ours certainly did - it had a deep well-deck and when stood in it your head was lower than the cabin top - if the boat could get thru, you certainly could even standing up.

They don't (didn't) allow liveaboards, and I don't think any of the moorings are long enough for a 70 footer. They are mostly 30ish foot GRP cruisers. You have to be interviewed by the Commodore and if you 'pass', you maybe invited to join. Part of your commitment is to do X hours work on the site each month (mowing grass, paining the sheds, paining/repairing the moorings etc) My Brother in law was there until recently Forget all of the above ................... The club has 132 Moorings occupied by a variety of craft up to a maximum length of 40ft, however members are limited to a max length of 32.8ft for the first 2 years.

You need to wait a few hours / overnight

You want laws ? According the the Waterways laws they can only be used as a home IF the navigation authority grants their permission, technically if you do not request, and receive permission, you are breaking the law. Use of vessels as clubs, houseboats, etc. 30. No vessel on any canal shall without the permission of the Board be used as a club, shop, store, workshop, dwelling or houseboat. What I'd do is wrap a sheet of kitchen roll around every joint in all of your water pipes. Whichever piece gets damp is where the leak is (unless you have frost damge and a pipe itself is split)

Exactly, if you are buying from a broker representing a private seller you have no protection at all - just as If I just answer a "House for sale" postcard stuck in the newsagents window, walk up to the house, hand over the money and take possession. No lawyers, no surveys, no guarantees. If the broker is selling a boat owned by the broker (which few admit to ) then you have legal pretection. If you are so risk averse that you will only buy a boat with a guarantee then buy it from a business that owns boats.