blackrose

I have a widebeam on a river. It's also a boat which has cruised more canals, rivers and tideways than most narrowboats.

Suddenly the idea of having to get into my integral tank to clean it out and repaint it doesn't seem so bad...

The thing to do if you can wait that long is see if the problem persists into summer. If not then it's not a leak.

So the bottom line is that unless it's a dedicated underwater hull penetration with a proper seacock, all waste outlets, skin fittings and welded-in pipes should be a certain height above the waterline. I think my galley sink outlet skin fitting is about 8" above the waterline rather than the recommended 10" as that was the highest I could put it while allowing the sink to be gravity drained. I decided that was good enough when I installed the sink and the skin fitting so at least I made that decision with some awareness of the issues. Some boats I see have outlets right down to the waterline and I can't help wondering if the owners are even aware of the potential problems.

"You would hope" ...famous last words. I've personally known several people who had absolutely no idea that a waste pipe was leaking into their bilges until they noticed a damp patch on the floor or the boat listing. If you have animals on the boat the smell of wastewater may be masked. Also a corroded pipe may start out dripping but the hole size could soon increase if it's not noticed. Is that really something you want close to the waterline? Holes from damage to a hull will always vary in size whatever their cause and no two holes will ever be the same. But unless we're splitting hairs, I maintain that a hole in the hull that's close to the waterline is effectively the same thing whether it's a sheared skin fitting or a corroded pipe.

Is 3mm thick enough to get enough threads in to make it secure and watertight? I honestly don't know but I'd hate to think about some clumsy oaf with steel toecap boots accidently kicking the fitting and emptying the contents of the skin tank. If you can empty the skin tank with your wetvac then I think it's reasonable to leave it alone and not fit a drain. But I would flush it through with a hose and empty it again with the wetvac to remove as much crud as you can. Have you tried lifting the back (stern end) of the sliding hatch at any point in its travel? Or the same thing with the front end?

Yes I didn't notice that and a steel pipe welded in and ground flush is obviously not going to get damaged in a lock. However, all waste pipes, especially those from galley sinks are prone to collecting bits of crap from above which in turn hold water and can corrode the pipe from the inside, possibly without anyone realising. I'm afraid the result of a welded in steel waste pipe too close to the waterline which has corroded through is exactly the same as a sheared off skin fitting.

If they're very close to or below the waterline then they should have a seacock fitted. Ideally all through hull skin fittings should be 10" above the waterline and that's why the OP's surveyor has picked it up. It's not a BSS requirement but it is a recommendation. You say there's nothing unusual about having skin fittings closer to the waterline and that may be true, many canal boats have skin fittings that are too close to the waterline which is not ideal. Also it's not just about the pipe or hose attached to the fitting inside the boat. If the fitting is sheared off in a lock or on a wall as Ditchcrawler describes, then a hole may be left in the side of the hull only a few inches above the waterline which the owner may be unaware of. Then the pipes or hoses connected to the ruptured fitting become irrelevant. Skin fittings getting sheared off isn't as uncommon as one might think, especially if they are plastic like the ones in your picture. Plastic skin fittings have no place on a canal boat.

Well then clearly your skin doesn't collect much crap inside. A small stopcock would have got blocked the last time I drained mine. But my point was, even if the OP fitted a small brass stopcock wouldn't it still require a hole to be cut in the tank and a spigot to be welded into the tank first? In which case if you're going to all that trouble why not weld in a bigger spigot for a bigger fitting that will never get blocked up? Or perhaps you haven't taken all the factors into account when looking at my reasoning? Unlike most engine parts the contact surface on the inside of a skin tank is mild steel and despite the corrosion inhibitors in antifreeze it will react and furr up inside and create deposits which sink to the bottom of the tank and just sit there forming a sludge. We see the same thing in central heating radiators despite the use of inhibitors. But again the point is, if you're going to all the trouble of fitting a drain valve, why not fit something of a decent size that will never get blocked? Are you trying to save money fitting a small one?

Is there a way to do that other than cutting a hole and getting a spigot welded in for a fitting? There's no point putting a small 15mm stopcock type fitting in there as skin tanks are prone to collect crap inside and it will just get blocked. I can't see that there's enough plate thickness to thread something into the tank. Wetvac as we've been saying. If the airflow is controlled from the opposite connection it should suck everything out, or connect a piece of hose to the wetvac and get it down to the bottom of the tank.

Not necessarily. It just depends on how the tank has been made. As it's got both connections at the top it might have a central baffle or two and that's it.

I don't find it sad at all as I don't know the OP's personal circumstances or their previous commitments for the Easter weekend. For all we know they may be working; visiting a relative in hospital with terminal illnesses or a child in suicide prevention or drug rehabilitation centre. I sincerely hope that's not the case by the way, however the point is I prefer not to judge people I know nothing about. When it comes to leaving a boat on the towpath unattended for a week or two it can be a bit hit and miss. Whether it will be safe depends on several factors including where you leave it and how secure the doors and hatches are, but I can completely understand why the OP might not want to do that with a boat that's new to them.

If you have a wetvac and access to mains power then sucking the water/antifreeze out of the tank will be the easiest way. You should also drain the engine of antifreeze as well as the rest of the system. When I changed my antifreeze mix I flushed the big hoses and skin tank out with a hose too. There was a bit of sludge and crap in there. A wetvac is really useful on a boat. With a pela pump you'd have to get a hose down to the bottom of your skin tank without kinking the hose, pretty much an impossibility if you only have access from the top of the tank. Also with a wetvac you can clean up the mess and suck all the water out of the bilges very easily. I recently bought a Screwfix own brand model for about 50 quid and it's brilliant. https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-1300w-16ltr-wet-dry-vacuum-220-240v/826kh

That reads like you think it's unusual. What did you expect to find in there? A skin tank should always be full of water (and antifreeze).

As far as I know any automatic washing machine will require a pure sine wave, so you won't get away with trying to run it from a semi or pseudo sine wave inverter. Having said that of course, I assume the purity of "pure" sine waves will vary according to brand, price, etc. I run an older Zanussi compact washing machine (ZWC1300W) either direct from my Honda EU 3.0is generator or from my Sterling pure sine wave inverter. It runs fine from the inverter but it doesn't like the generator and hesitates for up to 20 mins before deciding it will run the washing cycle. Once it starts it's fine but I've never really understood what the issue is as the generator is meant to have a purer sine wave than the mains. Anyway, all of this may be irrelevant as I don't know whether my washing machine has an inverter motor or not? However, if not and you think running an inverter motor washing machine could an issue then I'd avoid them and go for a standard motor type.

Can you give us an example of an inverter motor washing machine please? I'd never heard of them before.

Presumably a large metalised plastic bag is used and thrown away after every flush, so the environmental profile of the system can't be good. Or perhaps I've misunderstood how it works?

If nobody's replied after 16 hours I guess you better call bimble.

I'm not sure if it's the draught that's the issue? The air draught looks a bit high but I guess it depends where it's moored. A sense of humour is fine until you can't get it under a bridge - assuming it moves?

Are you talking about the shower area itself rather than the ceiling above the shower? Check out Showerwall panels. They're not cheap but they're good quality. https://showerwall.co.uk/

But isn't Billy Ocean more interested in getting people into his car?

Hard-wearing? Is that for all those Lionel Ritchie music videos that are made in your boat? I've got to say that all the beneficial properties of lino you mention sound completely unnecessary for a bathroom ceiling, as does the lino itself. The plywood above my shower is now 19 years old and it's never suffered from any damage or adverse effect from the shower.

Scrap prices fluctuate quite a bit and there have been times when it's hardly worth bothering. But in recent years it definitely is.