Leaderboard

They must be named so others can decide to use them or not, they are only cooperating now that you have proved its there faulty/non existent welding. The crap they tried to imply was a smoke screen as the boat would not sink with a full tank of water/diesel or would you get 8 buckets of condensation in such a short time especially in the summer, so come on Matty lets have the name. Neil

It is I, rouillé soixante neuf. Well, I was on my way to pickup Alans catamaran, best rubber suit packed in anticipation (I know how he likes it), for a weeks sailing around the Scilly Isles. As I approached Plymouth harbour, and to my great surprise, I was approached by a couple of lovely lady beagles with offers of free vactan, fertan and even a shot of the jenolites. Well....that was three weeks ago. I awoke earlier with a banging headache to discover I am on a cruise ship, destination unknown. Internet access is very sketchy out here, so I don't know if I will be able to post again (thank gawd, I hear you say). Farewell, my canal and river dwelling friends, farewell. May all locks be in your favour.

My friend and I have just bought a boat between us. We looked at two prior to this purchase that looked fantastic above the water but when we had them pulled out various major problems with the hulls showed up. On one of the boats the propshaft was waggling about like a flag. Needless to say we rejected both of those at a large expense to us for the haul out and surveyors fees. The third and last boat we looked at, again, was fantastic above the water but we wanted a hull survey. the owner was reluctant to allow us to have that as he wanted a quick sale. I asked him when he had last had the boat surveyed and he said he had never had it surveyed. I was on the point of walking away but then the owner said that we could have it surveyed at our cost obviously. As it turned out the hull was, almost, unworn and the wear edge didn't appear to be diminished at all. The prop sahft was solid in it's bearing as was the tiller post So we have bought that boat. If the owner had refused to allow us to get that boat surveyed we would have walked away. If that survey had shown up anything bad we would have walked away. Three surveys, allbeit that two were only hull surveys, have cost us a lot of money. If we had rejected the third boat then that amount of money would have been, to all intents and purposes, lost. Having said that I would never advise anyone to buy a boat without, at least, a hull survey and if the sellers are reluctant to allow that then treat that with a major amount of suspicion and walk away. Boats and the consequences of buying a bad one are just too expensive, on both counts, to do otherwise.

My two pennies worth - this is quite possibly a 'one-off' and whilst unacceptable, you state that the builders are 'on it' and hopefully, with a truly apologetic attitude. If so, naming them could show that they do indeed give a level of customer aftersales care that they no doubt proclaim. Given that mistakes can and do happen in all walks of life, is it not possible that by naming them, their quick response, attitude and resolution would offset any negativity that could influence future customers?

On the canal next to a tree

If they had pressure tested the tank, (a requirement of a new build, I believe), then the mistake would have been detected and rectified before the boat was handed to the customer. I still maintain they have made two serious mistakes, not one.

Engineer from boat company attended at 9am, tried same test as us and agreed. Tiller off, bearing off, bearing mount cut off and look what's there, a big hole. Welded u9 properly and pressure tested, boat rebuilt and back in water by 2pm. The company had already dealt with the problem a short while ago, sacking the welder responsible for something else so can't take any more action against him. They have paid all bills , paid for new filters and filled the diesel tank for the owners, no idea if that is all they will be getting or not. Well done for quick response Aintree, I have no doubt procedures have been put in place to make sure it doesn't happen again from what the engineer today said.

Watch the air bubbling out of the tank underwater in the video - that's not a leaking deck fitting!

I personally prefer the simple RYA ones for a boat that does not need to be on the Shipping Register: https://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/legal/Web Documents/Legal Leaflets/Members Advice/Sale and Purchase Pack/AGREEMENT FOR THE SALE AND PURCHASE OF A SECOND HAND BOAT.pdf https://www.rya.org.uk/sitecollectiondocuments/legal/Web Documents/Legal Leaflets/Members Advice/Bill of Sale/BILL OF SALE.pdf These when filled in, signed and witnessed are your official proof of ownership - don't lose them! They are also legally binding contracts, so I would quite happily give a deposit (usually 10%) for a boat with these papers. You then agree a date and time when you pay the rest of the money and take possession of the boat. If something seems "off" with either the boat or the seller, you walk away before you get to this stage!

Teaching was the hardest job I ever had. Perhaps I've led a sheltered life.

....make comments about it on a forum?

There is an argument that the very last people one should have as moderators are those who would apply. If you want the power, you shouldn't have it! Like MTB, I believe that my earlier expression of interest is somewhere in Dan's in-tray and will receive a response one day.

I applied about three years ago. I'm still waiting a response...

Well have you applied? If not I think you are just attention seeking.

In a nutshell the boat is bloody fine and looks in good nick overall. The main problem here is you drink Lambrusco and it's bloody crap, get some good booze woman!! ?

Propcalc, an Excel download. [url=https://www.boatdesign.net/attachments/copy-of-propking-xls.67079/] Propking fairly similar [/url]

2 out of 3 of these screwfix pop-up basins work o.k. I got the 3rd one.

Ah now this reminds me of the joke about the boy who comes home and in response to their enquiries about skool today, says to his parents, "today I had sex with my teacher". Mother goes ballistic and sends boy up to his room. Father goes up to boy and says "actually son, I shouldn't be, but I'm rather proud of you. So tomorrow we'll go to the bike shop and I'll buy you that bicycle you've wanted for so long. In fact you can ride it home if you like". Boy says "no thanks dad, my arse is too sore..."

Not put in, but stuck on with weld.

Can we get tree monkey on here and ask him to apologise and do some sort of public pennance?

Obviously one of the welders forgot to weld a bit of the thing up. Mistakes happen, even to someone who has done satisfactory work for years, I, too , would have been a bit miffed if this boat had been mine but lets not put the builders in front of a firing squad. Even I have made a few mistakes, hard to believe but its true, once after doing the brakes on my car I tried to drive off when one wheel was still jacked up. I had to thrash myself with nettles to punish myself.

Fitting one every four hours will take him ages, 8 hours.

As a diesel, especially more modern ones with just three rings per piston, are likely to suffer more blow by that a petrol engine and also suffer more soot particles the oil would be expected to get blacker. The job of the detergent in the oil is to keep the soot and dirt particles in suspension until the filter removes them. So oil that stays clean in a diesel for long periods could indicate its a low detergent oil and the soot is likely to be coating the inside of the engine. The filter can not remove particles below a certain size but they are small enough to do no harm so diesel engine oil tends to go black faster than petrol engine oil. Engines with no or poor filtering are likely to have large oil capacities and more frequent oil changes. In my view it is not being a mineral oil that matters, its being a low detergent oil so there is a chance the larger particles drop out of the oil rather than be held in suspension. Anyway so far no one has produced any evidence that so called semi-synthetic oil is anything but a marketing ploy. As I said I think all multigrade oils are and always have been "semi-synthetic" and higher API specs even more so.

That's exactly the sort of brilliant idea I'd never have thought of !!. With my (lack of) money and age this boat is only opportunity I'm likely to get to get a narrowboat so I'm really motivated to do it right and get it right. Initial shock at binge water has passed now need to be a big girl and get on with it

Whats the bowl for to bail out if you take on water. lol.

If the boat’s a-rocking don’t come knocking.

I too am deeply concerned about the OP's tastes in everyuthing. Lambrusco wine, Ginsters pies and Liverpool boats. I think she needs some serious edumacating in the finer stuff in life....

Unbelievable - the builder should be reported to the Trading Standards (at a minimum) It is an RCD requirement that fuel tanks be pressure tested and marked as such. If this is marked then it is fraudulent If it is not marked then it is not RCD compliant What other shortcuts have been taken. NAME & SHAME

It sounds all very high risk (sure, its all going to be OK, but who is out of pocket if it goes pear-shaped ?) My suggestion would be to do one of the following : 1) Suggest to the seller that if he wants to sell under those conditions no one will be happy paying him the money and waiting for an unknown length of time until his new boat becomes available. he should empty the boat and take a B&B / Hotel / etc until his new boat is available. 2) Tell him that he will have to do similar to his seller but in reverse (take on the boat and then pay for it later) 3) Tell him that you will do exactly the same as a 'house sale chain' does, everyone pays at (say) 11:00 am and ownership is established. You can turn up with a carrier bag of cash, his seller can bring the boat alongside his, you give him the cash, he gives his 'seller' the cash, transfers goods from A to B, other 'seller' takes a taxi back home.

@Mike the Boilerman your next chance to be rejected awaits!

You will not ever be expected to travel in dangerous conditions and if the ice is solid you can't move. However in near on thirty years as a live aboard I have never had the need to breach the 14 day mooring rule. It's very easy to comply with if the boater is intent on complying. ?

On big rivers (eg tideway) I find the best way to reply is to make a deliberate and clear change of course. Then at least the other boat knows that you have seen them, and you are doing something in response. They may not like it, but at least they can see what you are doing. A positive action is usually better than dithering.

Blimey I couldn't disagree more. I guess I am in the minority though...Hence the Clonecraft generic narrowboat. Personally I would much rather compromise on living space and practicality than live in a floating box. Sloping walls, high maintenance, smaller cabins but give me this over any ugly fat narrowboat ...

Ok, then get 2 x 10m of 14mm polyester in black so they don't show the muck too much. It's a good all round rope at a good all round length. 14mm is easy to handle and won't overwhelm your cleats as some thicker ones might. You'll not go far wrong with those and it'll not break the bank either. Then, at your leisure and with something to compare against, you can evaluate your needs from your own experience of either finding too many occasions when you could do with something thicker or longer or just finding out they're about right. You can always cut a bit off if you find them too long, but through a ring and back onboard, or passing a loop through a ring and both the loop and the end coming back onboard, are both methods you'll use quite a bit so all 10m will get used. For your centre line, a length of climbing type rope will do - after all, you're not going to moor with it, are you. Make it long enough so that you can loop the middle of it through your centre line anchor point and each half will just nicely reach the steering deck, but short enough so they won't reach and foul the prop if you drop the line in the cut. This way you'll have a handling line to port and starboard and, because it's one piece, you can extend one line should you find yourself somewhere that needs the extra length. This method hasn't failed me yet. There, you now have a plan. Other people will have different ideas, but too many ideas is why you're dithering!