Alan de Enfield

I have posted this, and extracts from it, a number of times, you will find that the general response is : He's a surveyor, Making work. Justifying surveyors existence. The IIMS, justifying their existence, We always done it this way, Not relevant to NBs etc etc. And there may well be elements of this that are true, but I found it an instructive and logically presented argument.

We looked at putting in 'air-con'(heating and cooling) into the Cat using sea-water for the cooling / heating. The manufacturers said it was OK(ish) in Southern UK sea water but would not generate a huge amount of heat, and, anywhere Noth of roughly latitude 53 degrees ( sort of Lincolnshire to Liverpool) it would not be at all viable with virtually no heat produced. Colder, less-saline waters come from the Baltic Sea through the Skagerrak, creating a counterclockwise circulation in the basin. ... Average January temperatures of North Sea surface waters range from 35 °F (2 °C) to the east of Denmark to 46 °F (8 °C) between the Shetland Islands and Norway. Off the East cost of England around 53 degree latitude it tends to have a Winter temperature of 4 to 6 degrees.

Misunderstood, just read it was a 'selling survey' without realising it was a survey by a buyer on your boat. Some people have a survey done prior to them selling the boat to save the buyer the 'trouble' of having a survey.

Read what I said that you replied to : Why is it energy saving because it is only 760 watts ? You had previously posted you had a 1000w inverter so it is obvious why you would buy it, but surely with your knowlegde of electrics you accept that it is not 'energy saving' as advertised, it is simply of a suitable 'wattage' to be powered by your inverter. We have a 900w 'George Forman' grill, a 900w electric toaster, an 800w electric kettle, and a 1500w (750w output) microwave for the simple reason we have an 1800w inverter. No of these save energy compared to my 'big' appliances at home, do they?

Venetian being the same company as Whilton, be careful, very careful. Ensure your surveyor is not on their 'preferred list' and that you have chosen him, not had him suggested to you by Venetian or Whilton. Is the boat owned by the broker, or is it a private boat where they are only acting as broker. Do your research carefully. If they own the boat then they have to tell you of any failings and privide a guarantee, if itey are siply acting as a broker, they do not have to tell you any of the problems etc. I was interested in a boat at Whilton and made an offer, they pretended to have a discussion with the 'owner' and refused the offer, I then found out that it was actually a 'company owned boat' which they were passing off as a privately owned boat, so as to avoid any come back if it failed the survey, not offering warranty etc etc. A couple of Whilton sold boats heading for London, have been known to never arrive having sunk on the way. Venetian used to be a very good marina (we were there for a while) but their integrity dissapeared when they were taken over by Whilton.

But, as has been explained, that is not 'energy saving' is it ? You just use (say) 1/3rd of the power for 3 times as long. It takes a certain amout of energy to boil 1 litre of water irrespective of doing it in 1 minute of 10 minutes. I believe these are the accepted figures : To boil 1 litre of water from 20C to 100C, requires 0.183 kWh

Good analagy, I tried to use 'food' as its closer to her heart.

Do people really do that ? We tip 2 mugs of water into the kettle to boil 'just enough', after a few times you know the 'level' of 2-mugs and can just fill straight from the tap. Maybe I was brought up differently, switch lights off when you leave a room (unless there is someone else in the room), don't leave things on 'standby', close doors, only boil enough water for what you want to do watch the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves etc etc.

Just because it is 760w, why should that make it 'energy saving' ? It will just use exactly the same energy (maybe slightly more) and will take 3 times as long as a 2kw kettle. SWMBO struggles with this concept.

Congratulations, what was your subject ?

You keep the tank. I was under the same impression as you which is why I had never considered looking for alternatives as it would be 'too much hassle'. Apparently they have an intercompany transfer agreement and the incumbant supplier sells the incoming supplier the tank at a nominal cost. The new supplier then owns the tank, takes responsibility for the maintenance etc (until you change back for a better deal at the end of the contract when the process repeats).

We use Energas for the 47kg bottle on our site, but, the price follows (and is the same as) Calor. For our bulk tank we are in the process of changing from calor (85p per litre) to Flo-gas (40p per lite - a 'change supplier rate')

That makes sense, but, yes it would be better to explain your battery type as you are currently in a very small minority of boaters and it would be assumed (as I did) that without stating the type you are talking about 'normal' (FLA) batteries.

Sound like your battery has been on charge overnight - maybe you have moon-light sensitive panels ? A fully charged battery is around the 12.7-12.9 volts area (depending on whose technical details you read) On this site 12.73 is viewed as 100% charged, and your suggested 50% S0C is 12.1v

The OP is not actually saying he wants one, just asking if anyone has got one.

Not cordless.

830 watt cordless, but it is 1 litre Electric Caravan Kettle 830W 1 Litre - Camping Cordless Low Wattage on OnBuy Most are 1.7 litre, why 0.5l (ish) that's just one mug of tea.

Webasto and Eberspachers are NOT instantaneous (on demand) water heaters, you need a specific heater such as a Morco. Is it an old boat you have just bought or is it a new boat ? Did you specify the heater system or did it come with it.

It was reported a couple of weeks ago and was on my google news updates.

Even the huge offshore windfarms get becalmed - it was only a few days ago that Southern England had no leccy because there was no wind and they had to turn on the gas power stations, at the same time Scotland had to shut down their wind tubines becasue they were producing too much and, surprise surprise, there is no link between Scotland and England to 'ship' the leccy down South.

Are you deaf and insensitive to severe vibrations ? Do you enjoy paying out large sums of money and getting nothing in return ?

If someone has a shower, the river goes into flood 10 minutes later. It changes very very quickly.

I think Aquavista are the new owners of Limehouse marina, and, they are very 'funny' about allowing contractors in the marina to work on boats, particularly where it involves grindind, cutting or welding (there have been problems in the past with tiny bits of metal cuttings landing on other boats and causing rust spots to develop). I'd suggest that you speak to the marina and ask them for their approved contractor list as they will not allow 'just anyone' into the marina, they must register with the marina and provide evidence of 3rd part and public liability insurance for £ millions.

I would say the majority do not, but we certianly do. We had Mag anodes when we were based on the River Trent, and changed to Zincs when we 'went to sea'.

Presumably the boat is out of the water in a yard / marina or similar. Many places have all sort of rules about employing contractors and can be particularly difficult with 'hot-work' contractors, - this may not be relevant, the boat could be in your garded (you have not said) but if you are not aware of this you need to check and ensure that the contractor meets the yards requirements - particularly with regard to 3rd party and public liabilty insurances.