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Thanks for this. I've sent you a message about it. Hope you don't mind.

My boat was hit earlier this afternoon by a Canal Boat Club boat which had lost control below Newbury lock. It's left a pretty nasty dent in my bow. See photo. I've been in touch with the local wharf where these boats are run from and they're being pretty helpful about it. Right now, I'm more concerned with how you repair something like this than who's going to pay for it. I'm assuming that it's possible to grind the paint off and infill it with some sort of body filler. Then smooth it off and repaint. The dent must be less than a centimeter deep. I have no experience of these sort of repairs. Please tell me this is do-able.

Lol. Yes, I've had some experience of this.

Thanks for the response Tracy. Actually it now seems that the slope isn't going to be as bad as I thought so am hoping the flue can run in a straight line. It is a bit bizarre though that 4.5 inch pipe is fairly common on boats and there are no elbows or bends available. Hey ho.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get an offset 45 degree elbow for a 4.5 inch flue pipe? Many thanks.

I need to find the owner of this boat. Can anyone out there help me?

It would appear that Blisworth does have a number of ghosts but nothing that I can find answering to this description. Unless you know something I don't... Actually I started there but can't find anything that matches.

I was wondering if any ghost story officinados out there could help me track down a canal ghost story I heard many years ago as a child holidaying on the canals. The story went something like this: A woman was married to a navvyman of gigantic stature but a short temper. He was famous for being an amazing worker. One day his wife was delayed on her way to bring his lunch and didn't arrive until his lunch break was ending. In a fit of temper he struck her and she fell dead to the ground. The story went that the murder was covered up by the canal construction company because the navvy in question was indispensable at the time on the works which were being undertaken and because of this the body was hastily buried somewhere or thrown into the canal. It was her ghost which was said to haunt this particular tunnel. I have no idea which tunnel this was or even which canal. I have scoured the internet and cannot find it. Does it ring a bell with anyone?

I just thought I would post these pictures for the sake of future researchers. I did this with stencils from The Graphics Boat and Craftsmaster signwriting enamel. Michelle from The Graphics Boat was very helpful and was happy to tweak what was available on their website slightly for me. The actual painting part was very, very easy. The hard part is the planning, positioning and applying. Anyway, chuffed to bits. My crappy pictures don't do it justice.

I'm looking into getting a wind turbine. I already have solar which has been brilliant but I'm thinking every little helps. I also think we're get a lot more high winds and storms in the coming years and why not get something good from it? I've just read quite a good article online about it but they don't mention specific makes or models. I've noticed that they vary hugely in price from just a couple of hundred to well over a £1000. Any advice/experience much appreciated.

Thanks Jen, For what it's worth I think that looks pretty good. I know what you mean about the curves of the boat. Mine curves quite a lot more than yours so will not be attempting a straight line!

Newbury, West Berks.

Like so many before me, I'm really struggling to find a good sign writer to paint my boat name. I don't want vinyl but would love to hear from anyone who has done their own with a stencil and would be interested in any recommendations for suppliers. Photos would be even better! Many thanks.

Just wanted to concur with the above post. Electrical cabling is surprisingly expensive and scrimping on cable size is one of the most common mistakes on home fit-outs and is potentially dangerous. I also discovered whilst I was wiring out my boat that some appliance manufacturers will refuse to honour the guarantee unless a minimum cable size is used so if you're running a fridge etc you might want to check that. Also think the above suggestion about using a cable puller an excellent one. It probably sounds like a huge faff but in the long run will give you a much more professional look than running cables 'over-land'. Just something you may want to bear in mind if you intend to sell the boat at some point in the future.

For my money you can't beat personal recommendation followed by a visit. It's particularly important if you're doing your own fit-out that the 'fit' is right with your builder and you feel you can work together on what will essentially be a joint project.If you feel a builder is not fully engaging with your ideas, don't use them. Some builders are very reluctant to stray from the conventional (as it will involve extra work) so if you have strong design ideas of your own it's important to find a builder who is willing to accommodate them. The other piece of advice I would offer is to invest as much of your budget as you possibly can in the shell. By which I don't mean use the most expensive builder you can find, but don't scrimp on port holes for the sake of an expensive kitchen. Have the extra side-hatches or the windows of your choice. In the long run those details will have a much bigger impact than a granite worktop. It's easy to live in a house with good architectural bones but virtually nothing in it and the same principal can be applied to boat. I ended up spending over £5000 more than intended on my shell (I bought a 65ft widebeam battened and spray-foamed sail-away from Paul Widdowson in Newark) and I'm so glad I did. For the first seven months I had virtually no services on board, it was basically camping indoors but she was a joy to live on from the start. Even at this very early stage people would come onboard and say what lovely feel she had or what a fantastic space it was. Nearly two years down the line and I'm as besotted with her as ever.

Many thanks. That's really helpful.

Is there any reason why you shouldn't mix two different colours of coach enamel together? If I wanted to mix, say, an International Toplac black with an International red in order to get the right colour is there any reason why that would be a bad idea? Many thanks.

Many thanks. She sounds perfect.

Can anyone recommend a good signwriter in the Wiltshire/West Berkshire area? I just need the two rear name panels (hand-painted). Can anyone advise how much this is likely to cost? I just want the name of my boat, location and a few decorative flourishes. Much obliged.....

Sorry, just realized you're talking about Hardtop AS not AX.

Actually it's for the cabin sides largely above the gunwhales up to the roof (which I'm happy with). I think Old Son has answered my question though. Which is - is it possible to get a nice flat finish with Jotun Hardtop AS using brush and roller..

Hi Jenevers The rest of my appliances (hoover,hair straighters,hair dryer etc) barely make the volt meter flinch. I've been running a compressor for a nail gun and even in the dead of winter it was fine. Obviously I wouldn't try run any of things at the same time but with a bit of management it's not very different from house living. Difficult to say exactly how much engine running (I don't have a genny) because I have a mooring with a hook up. Over the last year I've been fitting out a sailaway so have had very little time to really study the solar system which went in last September. It wasn't until April that I noticed how much I was getting off the solar and unplugged the mains hook up. I haven't had to plug since. (But as I said in my other post, this does require a certain amount of management and common sense). That said, over the winter the solar was supplementing my power and even with running the washing machine and heating the immersion element I was only getting through £15 per month. I think the bottom line is, my system will cope all year round with most electrical appliances but I'll only be able to do hot washing cycles and heat the immersion element (ie anything to do with heating water) for three-quarters of the year. The only other thing I'd say is that one of the reasons my system is so effective is that it was all designed 'in one go'. It doesn't usually work quite so well if you're adding to a system which has already gone in. I'm not sure what the rules of this site are or where you are but I'd be more than willing to put you in touch with my engineer. Maybe you could message me.

Hi Thanks for the input. Which Jotun paint did you use exactly? Hardtop AS is quite new but my fear is that I am going to have the same finish problems as you describe and which I found with the other 2 pack I used.

Anyone out there had any experience with Jotun Hardtop AX? Last year I painted my roof with an industrial/automative polyurethane 2 pack and have been very pleased with it from a durability point of view. The problem was, try as I might, I couldn't get a decent finish out of it. (The manufacturers claimed you could paint with a roller and brush but to be honest, it really needed to be sprayed).I added sand to the roof paint for grip so the finish didn't matter very much but I now want to paint the cabin sides so obviously, the finish is important. So my challenge at the moment is to find a 2 pack that can be painted with a brush and roller. (I don't really like the sprayed look I'm afraid but want the 2 pack for durability). Also interested to know if it can be applied over red oxide. The manufacturer recommends their own primer but they would, wouldn't they. Any suggestions much appreciated.

Just wanted to throw my hat into this thread although not sure how helpful it is. I do virtually all my laundry entirely off the solar. Clearly I have a monster system (four 250kw panels, Outback regulator, Victron 3k inverter and six 2v 1000ah traction batteries) which wasn't cheap (4-5K) and needs a certain amount of space to house (I'm fitting out a widebeam). Due to supply problems the system didn't go in until late last year so I had to wait until this spring to see what it was really capable of although it's performance through-out the winter was pretty impressive. I've been doing all my laundry off it for some time but now that the summer is upon us it's capacity has exceeded even what my electrician thought would be possible. On a sunny day I can do a 65 degree white wash in the morning and the batteries will have fully recharged inside a couple of hours. Last thursday I did two 40 degree cycles and heated an entire tank of water (I have a 2kw 18 inch immersion element in my calorifier) just off the solar. I'm not posting this to boast, I just wanted to show what was possible with the right kind of investment. It's obviously also helped a lot that I'm fitting out from scratch not trying to improve a system already installed. It also clearly requires a certain amount of human brainwork. I pick exactly the right weather, forecast and time to attempt anything major. Currently I'm laundering everything on the boat to within an inch of it's life before the days start shortening.