pinkoi

Have to maintain the pale part of "pale and interesting" :-) I didn't realise lockgate did just a water heater.... I think having both that and the stove might be metal cylinder overload. Interesting to know though... thanks :-)

Yep we speed up hot by switching off the solitary radiator, I guess there isn't much we can do to reduce the heat output from the actual stove when its heating the water... Bunging a full kettle on the top helps and has the neat side effect of acting like an overnight teasmade! Immersion heater isn't possible really though, we dont have the power for it realistically... The plan is to wrap the engine exhaust with copper pipe so we can combine electricity production with hot water in the summer... the reality is there are never enough hours in the day to get all these things done!

OOoh, that sounds intriguing, how did you do that? This is our only complaint with the refleks, having to sit with the heating on in the summer when its 25 degrees out because we want to have a bath or do the washing!

Lockgate Refleks stoves might be worth a look... ours is very good, provided you keep filters clean and the backboiler defurred every now and again.... takes much less time than lumping bags of coal about, runs on red diesel http://www.lockgate-stoves.co.uk/ is the manufacturer - or atleast they adapt them for inland waterways craft http://www.oilstoves.co.uk/appres.php?select=Stoves&select3=All&select2=Oil&select4=All is a good resource for comparing prices, never brought from there mind...

If you fancy a more DIY option try this... http://www.maplin.co.uk/water-level-meter-module-265562 You have to make your own probe to go with it, which gives you more scope to make something that suits you I guess. I made a probe for ours by drilling holes at measured points on a thin plastic tube and then feeding down wires to each of the points and stripping the wires. Which I suppose would be a bit more withstanding of freezing as the electronics are kept indoors and just wires run out to the tank (although our tank is under the bed anyway - if the water tank froze we would have probably gone the same way). Like I say, it's more work but it does perhaps give more flexibility, we do still have a rough idea by how far up we are sitting the water but we haven't run out of water since it was installed...

Given it's essentially "a boat you can't boat in" lets hope who ever buys it has a mooring near the water point, or a long hose. Given that it has a dishwasher, an automatic washing machine and shower complimented by less than a 600 litre water tank... good work!!

oh I feel a purchase coming on! :-)

you are a superstar! many thanks :-)

Excellent, thanks for the info! We know a bit of history about her being a camping boat, in fact we have met a couple of people around and about who used to take Rowan on family holidays in the 70's who have taken details and offered to send pictures which in the end haven't turned up, such is life :-) Indeed she still has the Lister SR3 fabulous thing. Now has a wooden cabin over the hold where it previously was just canvass (get cold just thinking about it) I think that was added around 1993. If you do come across the brochure that has Rowan in I'd love to see a copy of it if you are able to scan/photocopy - PM me. We have a few bits and pieces of her history in a folder that we would love to add to

I was having a look about to see if there was any reference to our boat on here. I don't know if any further info would be useful given this thread if from years ago but I now live on Rowan (ex Middlewich camping boat) I'm interested in any history I can get about her. I believe Rowans hull is Hancock and Lane. Any old photos of her would be brilliant. The only boat of the same fleet which we have ever seen is Sycamore, moored at Cropredy.

*applause* The Thetford 365 is perfectly adequate for 2 of us living on board. 2 x 25 litre tanks virtually nothing mechanical to go wrong. If bits do break like the seals or flush tubing you can buy and fit yourself. If the worst comes to the worst and you need an entirely new one its £150 quid ish. Needs no power (apart from the water pump used for the tap that we attach the hose to fill the flush from every now and again) A few quid of chemicals each week (blue for the tank and pink for the flush) and there really is no smell as you empty it frequently. One 25 litre tank lasts us both about a week. You don't have to pay anyone to empty it, your not stuck if your iced in (until the elsan point freezes) and your not sleeping and/or living on top of a festering vat of sewerage that has been there for weeks... How anyone expects that /not/ to smell is beyond me.... I love my technology but I'll confine that to areas of my life where it's less crucial if it goes wrong...

Well apparently they will but It took 10 mins to find the right menu option and then I was on hold for another 10 mins before I gave up... try again tomorrow I suppose...

I can't remember which lock number it is at Napton, but it's 2 or 3 locks up from the folly pub, it turns out is known to be slightly narrower I learned last year. Our boat managed to pass ok without the use of tie rods (we are just about 7ft at the widest point of the old girls middle age spread) but later the same day one of the Coventry Canal Societies boat Panther (ex working boat that had been shortened) got stuck. I think it all depends on the water level in the lock. As I understand it, it's narrower the deeper you are in it, sort of a v shape. Eventually Panther did get through by getting the water level slightly higher that normal by emptying a few locks above it in the flight first and then filling it.... Hope this helps/makes sense

We have one too and I have to admit so far (after 6 months) I think I may be a little bit in love with it Granted the hoses look bad, but maybe they look worse than they are, as we have used the supplied emptying hose without issue so far. We just fill with a normal hose that we cobbled together with a tap attachment... I wouldn't be surprised if the hose did die shortly. It runs happily of a 1000w inverter although I think ours is a pure sine wave one, so can't be much help there. I suppose it is a bit of pain having to stand over it but it's worth it to not be chewing through the batteries or in the water point every wash day :-) And you can fit in a massive amount more than a studio automatic...