gary955

Does anyone know how an ex automotive Webasto thermo top can be made to work on a narrowboat. I've had a bit of a search on google and youtube without much success. I'm thinking that it might be the ideal solution for hot water without having to run the engine in the summer. In the winter the back boiler of my squirrel will warm the water to just under 40 degrees but will take an age to do it as the cauliflower is at the opposite end of the boat, so a boost would be usefull there as well. The plumbing, mechanical connections, inlet and exhaust etc I can handle but what are the electrical and control requirements? is the control circuitry part of the unit or does it require an external thermostatic switch to prevent it boiling the water? Must they use their own circulation pump or can a quieter and more efficient pump be used? I dont need any fancy timers or room thermostats just the ability to turn it on and off will be fine....any idea's?

Thanks very much to the OP. I've been wondering about this myself I have a bottle in the boot of my car but haven't been sure whether I should use it or not. Vinegar hasn't been that successful so far and "Rola Cola" just made the bowl sticky!

Pipe cots across the boat might work better. Easier to secure in a boat already fitted out and possibly more comfortable

Good job! I think you could have left out the macerator though Doodlebug as the sea toilet pump will mince up your poo!

Sea toilet adapted to discharge to the tank rather than over the side. More pleasant in use than a dump through with less smell. Simple and reliable in use with no electric pump to worry about, the hand pump has a macerating action that probably aids decomposition in the tank.

Have you noticed the "Fair Lady II" ? A remarkably similar motor yacht (also being brokered by Eastern Yachts) in need of finishing. I bet you could buy it for around half of it's 200k asking price! This one had me hurredly calculating my net worth before realising that the cost of completing it might be multiples of the cost of buying it. and even then the cost of running and mooring it would sadly be beyond me.

WOW

Phylis /NC/Rachel You're making yourself seem even more ridiculous than normal. Please stop, I'm embarrased for you. I think you like to think of yourself as a big hitter on this forum but most of your posts are simply rebuttals of an argument without reasoned explanation, or increasingly, insults of other members. It really adds nothing. The members list shows you te be one of the most prolific posters but your approval rate is amongst the lowest of any at less than 0.8 % of your post count. The average for most posters seems to be 4% to 8%. Interestingly Joelsanders was 26% when i looked. If you dont like what the "angry boater" has to say then dont look, there's really no need to interfere if others wish to engage with the sort of thing that you clearly think is mumbo jumbo. By insisting on participating in the way that you are, you're sort of inadvertantly exposing your inadequacies.

Are you googling "compromise" naughty cal?

OK fair enough. Of course I can follow his blog but what I found interesting was others thoughtful reaction to his post's. It seems to me that his blog isn't really about boating in the way that Robert Persigs book wasn't really about motorcycle maintenence. His blog posts invite discussion in a way that most other blogs dont. Unusually he's not claiming to be right or insisting that others agree. Some find him obnoxious, some agree with him and some disagree but can recognise some of the traits that they dislike in themselves. The blog writer himself seems to consider all these opinions with equal weight and value. I just thought that such discussions would make a change from the endless circular narrative of pump out v cassette or CC v marina mooring but I can see the argument that if you invite one to promote his own blog posts, then you invite all. Perhaps MTB's idea is a good one. Then how do you know?

His storys are often interesting to discuss but also very lengthy, making them a bit unweildy for a post. It's surely not a bad idea for him to bring an interesting topic to our attention so that those who may be interested can go and read it in order to discuss it here. Just a thought.. I'd enjoy that and his blog is much more interesting than the usual travalogue type blog

Can Joelsanders be given the freedom to draw our attention to his blog posts? I know I can subscribe to his blog but there is often an interesting discussion on CWDF when he draws our attention to his musings (if you discount the whingings of the usual suspects that is!) Joel himself seems ready to engage constructively with any critisism of his posts, his opinions or the way he interacts with others and that makes for a much more interesting discussion than the all too frequent dogma of so many threads. Those who have complained about him and dont wish to engage could simply ignore him.

I think he may of been selling a boat or boats from a laptop. Hardly running a brokeridge from the marina...unless the boats he was selling were moored in the marina. In any event I dont think that was given as a reason for his eviction was it? As for all you little scamps revelling about being in my "nasty clan" it's a little silly but I conceed much easier than reasoned argument. For the record I just pointed out that NC made a comment that had no value other than to antagonise another poster who's own posts were a model of patience and restraint, in a word...nasty. Another word might be futile which is pretty much what all threads become once they go beyond about three pages.

So not really like for like then. In all the scenarios you offer, the boat is actually cheaper although the monthly outgoings may be very similar. is that a fair conclusion? i never was very good at maths

I think all those points have been made before and are not in dispute. Perhaps affordable housing would be a better term than cheap. Affordable housing is a very real need and all forms of accomodation legitimitly used as housing should offer the tenant some security. Knowing you have no security of tenure but choosing that option because you cant afford a mortgage doesn't make you foolish, just unfortunate. You could pour scorn on those who chose to live in the Somerset Levels for the same reasons, (after all the risk was well known and the EA is under no obligation to dredge the rivers) But few would argue that they deserve no help....Well Phylis might! It would be a shame if boating became so elitest that no one could afford to live on boats. live aboards add colour and interest to the waterways, (the people in the recent short film elswhere on the forum seemed lovely) and in my experience the niceness of people and how interesting they are is often in reverse proportion to their wealth. It would be a shame to see all but the wealthy priced off the waterways.

Are you comparing like for like though? I assume that you own your boat but are comparing the monthly cost to rented accommodation. You give your location as London. How does the cost of buying housing in London compare to the cost of your boat? maybe you have a very expensive boat. In any event I dont think this thread was originally about the cost of mooring as such, rather the impact of that cost suddenly doubling and about the unfairness of following a published complaints procedure and being asked to leave because of that. I think it was pointed out that the person concerned (sorry dont remember the name) paid the increased mooring fee in full.

Not sure I see your point in your "pot, Kettle" comment I thought I was clear in my view that boating could be a form of low cost housing!! How did you interpret that post? You for one seem to be arguing that marinas should have cart'e blanche to double their fee's, change the definition of the moorings and, I may be wrong, but I thought that you were in favour of them being at liberty to decide that a tidal marina could be catorgorised as inland. I think you probably belive that in a free market the market will decide what is resonable and that customers will drift away from the more expensive options and migrate to more resonable operators. I'm sure that model would work very well for you and for the majority of leasure boaters who could vote with their feet (or propellors) Unfortunetly that is very much more difficult when your boat is your home and you feel rooted to an area because of work, schools or even friends and a little bit of empathy for people in that position wouldn't hurt you. Your'e "didums" comment to ctr was particularly nasty.

It's relative. I moved to Bristol to work a few years ago. I didn't know how long I'd be there so didn't want to sell up permanently but didn't want to stay in "diggs". A studio flat might have cost £120k to buy or £550 to rent. My boat was a great deal less than half that and is lovely. So for me it certainly is low cost, has many benefits and few problems. Why would I resent someone else being equally fortunate?

I shouldn't really be posting again because apparently my 4 or 5 comments and observations so far have been the most combatitive of the entire 20 pages! But hey ho! It seems to me that a few regular posters are prepared to defend uscrupulous marina owners at any cost, even rather comically defending their right to catogorise a marina as inland despite not being connected to the inland waterways. Without any evidence whatsoever they have rubbished the character of the people being evicted from the Thames marina despite several posts from people who actually know them vouching for them. It's all rather puzzling. NC recently offered the fact that she had been offered moorings for her (presumably) twenty foot odd boat as evidence that moorings were available for a much larger widebeam at the same marinas. There's a perception that many here have a default position of predudice against people who live on boats, perhaps thinking that boating should be preserved only as a leasure pursuit for the well heeled. If you accept that boats can be a valid form of low cost housing then surely it's reasonable to suppose that people choosing that lifestyle should be afforded the same protection from exploitation enjoyed by people living in houses. Regulation of the power of marina owners can surely only be a good thing can't it? Boaters arguing for marinas to have cart'e blanche in the way they treat their customers is just like turkeys voting for Christmas

you're quite right. I shall be a model forumite in future

that's the one.

Slow day at work I guess

Indeed. Post 338 I belive.

Thank you Phylis I knew you'd be along with a rebuttal soon. I did re read your post. You miss quoted ctb leaving out the qualification in his statement which was "to the tune of rentable properties in the locality" and therefore eluded to a similarity between property ground rent and marina mooring fees. You even included a banging you head on a brick wall smiley, as if to say, how could ctb be so stupid. There is no such valid similarity, ctb is quite right and I think you know that. I accused you of "asserting" that which was possibly a bit strong, your word "aluded" is more accurate so thanks for the correction

I did say OFTEN peppercorn, nevertheless your not inconsiderable £500 is still worlds away from the many thousands demanded from the subject of this thread, so therefore not a valid comparison as Phylis was asserting. Jeez! what makes people so entrenched and combative on these type of forums?