AndyM

I fitted four flexible solar panels on the roof of my NB with Sikaflex, zig zagging the adhesive over the area of the panel, also carefully sealing around the edges to ensure that no water could get underneath to rust the roof. I only recently found out that the flexible panels do not last as long as the rigid panels due to the flex and stresses on the panel (I was not told of this when purchasing them!!). My four stainless steel backed flexible panels, when first installed put out around 15amps on a clear sunny summers day, but that reduced to 1amp under the same conditions after around five years - extremely disappointing for an outlay of over £2,000!! I have now replaced two flexible's with two rigid panels and was shocked to see the extend of rust under the flexible "sealed" panels, possibly from condensation, I'm not sure, but I will never fit flexible panels again. Andy M.

I have just fitted a Webasto C Top into my L/B Narrow boat. I decided to fit a separate fuel tank - sitting (and secured) on the swim to feed it, as there are too many tales of woe for me when they are run on red diesel. I used ISO flexible fuel pipe from ebay to feed from the ISO 49 litre fuel tank all the way to the heater with no problems at all. The problem I encountered was insufficient water in the system that would return the water too hot to the Websto resulting in it cutting out a lot and restarting when the water had cooled down enough. The second problem i had was air in the system. This caused the unit to overheat very quickly and lock out. This was solved by fitting a genuine 5ltr Eberspacher/Webasto header tank that has two 19mm (three quarter inch) outlets at the bottom to allow a through flow through the tank to constantly get rid of any air in the system. In order to make sure the unit doesn't lock out on you start the heater up, start the unit up and let it run until the fuel pump starts to "click" then turn it off immediately - this allows the water pump to circulate water through the system to get rid of any air, then shut itself down through the shutdown sequence without heating up, it only takes a very small air lock to cause it to lock out. When you have done this two or three times then let it heat up. Only when the top outlet pipe gets hot and you don't hear any air bubbles go through the heater should you allow the heater to go into "high" mode - when the pump clicks very fast, this is the time it will lock out if allowed to overheat with any air in the system. All sounds very alarming, but it isn't in reality! It just ensures you are not left with a locked out heater that only software installed on a computer can unlock. Hope this helps.

Hi Catweasel, I have just had my Vetus bearing start to drip after I recently serviced the engine and put a couple of cc's of grease into the allen screw hole of the bronze bearing, as required periodically on my Liverpool Boats NB. It is currently a drip every 6 seconds when under way at the moment and only leaks when the prop shaft is rotating. It has never leaked one drop in the previous 9 years from new. So I'm now concerned that it may suddenly give way and flood the engine bay(?). I would be interested in the method you used to replace the parts to cure your leak and how much it cost for the parts, also which parts you replaced and where from (I see you mention from Vittesse Marine). I assume that you had to disconnect the prop-shaft and move it out toward the rudder to pull the old bronze fitting off to replace with the new one incorporating the seals that keep the river out(?). Do you have a large amount of water come into the boat when this bronze fitting is undone? Would this be better done with the boat out of the water on its next blacking? Would appreciate any and all advice you could offer on this, as it appears to be a daunting task with dire consequences if I get it wrong!! Cheers, Andy M

Hi, Thank you all for your replies - I serviced the engine and cleaned up the contacts on the sender and now the gauge works, I assume, as normal - first time in ages!! showing about 4 bar pressure on cold new oil and filter. Thank you all for your help, much appreciated. Andy.

Thank you for all your helpful replies. I serviced the Isuzu engine today, and as the general consensus on the board was the sender and/or connections, I cleaned up the two connectors on the back of the sensor and hey presto it appears to be working again - no throwing straight over to the right, but reading 4bar on new cold oil - I'm assuming that that is about correct as I cannot remember what it read before playing up, it's that long ago!! As with all things electrical, I always assume the worst/most expensive, then anything else is a bonus! Again, thank you very much. Andy.

Hi, The Oil Pressure gauge on my Isuzu 35 installation no longer works (always shoots over to the right, off the scale, on start up) so I am thinking of changing it from electrical to a mechanical gauge with a nylon/plastic capillary tube from the engine to the new gauge. Has anyone done this before? If so, what was the thread of the engine block to put the tube feed into? Is it a standard fit. Are there any problems associated with doing this? Apart from a copper feed tube work hardening and fracturing? Cheers, Andy.

Stuart Holmes at Peterborough Boating Centre. I had him do my last BSS a couple of years ago - very good. Andy.

Another vote for their MiFi - superb piece of kit. Find it works best when "Blue tacked" to the window frame. Always gets a signal. Andy M.

We also bought the Dyson DC24 Ball - a small collapsing upright - just the right size for the boat, excellent.

I'm definately not posh! But I did buy one of these - hand made specifically for your boat, tank dimensions etc. by a very helpful man. Recommended. Andy.

I used the following silicone from Screwfix: http://www.screwfix.com/prods/75562/Sealants-Adhesives/Sealants/General-Purpose-Sealants/Vallance-General-Purpose-Silicone-Clear-295ml I put a good spiral on the back of each black 4" square tile to fix it to the Masterboard surround, after first priming the Masterboard with PVA with a paintbrush. The tiles were spaced with normal spacers and I tiled the whole fireplace on one go. I then bought a bag of black powder grout from B&Q and mixed this up to a paste with "flexible tile grout additive" (also from B&Q) - this was supposed to be diluted with water but I did not use any water, just the liquid additve neat. The tiles have stood up to extremely high temperatures - too hot to touch, there is no cracking in the grout and all the tiles are attached perfectly after three years now. Hope this helps, Andy

Midsummer energy is a good start as they sell the connectors separately. Our cable is also through a mushroom vent. I bought two of the 70w semi-flexible panels from Mid-Summer Energy, they are possibly the cheapest supplier of this type of panel and they seem to perform fine so far, they have the power take off in the middle of one edge so a hole in the centre line of the roof would be OK but I have also run mine into the Mushroom vent after glueing the panels to the roof. From a distance you don't know there are any panels on the roof - well worth having. Andy