JDR

Fair comment, but I was stood in the drydock at the time the survey was done. No blame attributed, it didn´t occur to me to tell him about the hatch. I think he did a thorough job on the survey and found him very professional and straightforward to deal with. It is not a big issue but may be of interest to anyone that buys the boat to know the hatch exists.

boatcat, absolutely no need to apologise for anything. On the other hand the poster on the other thread that described that paint colour as "puce". Now that hurt.

As the boat seller I would like to clarify that I am happy for any buyer to have any survey or inspection they desire. I have spoken to Braunston and believe there may be some miscommunication. Before they accept a boat on brokerage they insist on a full survey. Although not standard practice I agreed to this as it made sense on a number of levels. Any potential buyer has access to an independent report on the hull condition before considering making an offer, that has to be a positive thing as it avoids the possibility of spending hundreds of pounds on a full survey to find that a boat potentially needs expensive remedial work. I hope the buyers were given a copy of the survey. I believe (from memory= the lowest point on the baseplate was 9.5mm and 5.6mm on the sides. The only wear on the hull is above the waterline below the skin fittings for the galley waste in a small area which is still 4mm +. I believe what has been suggested is that it is possible to transfer the hull survey to the new owner, this would (I am making an assumption here) include any liability for the accuracy of the report. I also strongly believe that the buyer should have the choice to pay for their own full survey including another hull survey if that is their wish, or indeed any independent inspection they feel fit to commission. I have no intention of selling a boat with any faults ( I can´t say there will not be some issues turned up on a survey, I would be very surprised if a boat over twenty years old didn´t have something that needs rectification, however trivial). I was surprised about the comment on the survey about not being able to inspect the internal hull as their is an inspection hatch in the bedroom close to the engine room bulkhead but being under the carpet was obviously not visible at the time. I hope this clarifies my position as the seller. Thanks John

As the current owner of Aquarius, thanks for all the comments. The engine (Beta BV1505) is direct water cooled with it´s own skin tank. As is the genset. The engine for the the genset is a Beta BV1305 which uses between .75ltr/hr to 1ltr/hr depending on load. The solar panel is a 250W Sanyo HIT the most efficient panel (19%) I am aware of. MPPT is a Steca. There is also a secondary cooling system for the engine which has an intake from the weed hatch if temp reaches above 85deg C. There is a heat exchanger between the engine and skin tank, the cold water from the river/canal is expelled on the the port side. If wanted this system could be disconnected in ten seconds but is useful on long river runs. The previous owner spent time on the tidal Thames and Trent. The calorifier is heated by the engine, the heater element is 1kw. A brand new Surecal was fitted by Hilperton in 2010. The calorifier has insulation already fitted. The immersion element is vertical. In October last year I had to leave the boat for two months to go to India for work. Being paranoid about frost damage I put a spare single duvet on the top of the calorifier to prevent any frost damage. The calorifier will produce hot water after 30 minutes, after a long run you will have hot water for a couple of dayse genie. Powering the immersion by the generator is also an option. Given the power output of the gennie whenever the washing machine was used I would always put he immersion on at the same time as well as charging anything that needed charging charging to put some load on the genset. When I first got the boat it had 1" galvanised steel pipe running off a backboiler on a Parkray stove running the length of the boat. I replaced the stove and replaced the galvanised steel with 28mm copper (gravity/convection) intending to add rads but found it worked so well without any rads that I left it with just the copper pipe. It is an unpressurised system, completely safe and has worked perfectly since 2009. Boat was repainted in 2012, absolutely no rust on superstructure. Water tank cleaned at same time and new cratch cover fitted. Water in the engine bilge was due to a new bilge pump fitted by me with with an off/off/auto switch being left in off position by mistake.I thought I had mopped most of it up, apologies if there is anything left. Please contact Paul at Braunston with any other questions and I will do my best to answer any queries to the best of my ability. Surveyor for the hull was Craig Allen, who I had never met before but found very straightforward to deal with I have no problem with any potential buyer contacting Craig direct. Sorry for the decor! Cheers John

On the Shurflo pumps I have seen the pressure switch mechanism is on the "top" of the pump where the connections are for the incoming and outgoing water connections, secured by four screws with an additional screw hidden by a label that can alledgedly be used to adjust cut in and cut out pressures. It is part of the pump, as long as it is connected correctly to a 12v supply no extra relays are required. I would advise leaving it alone if it is working OK as from memory when I took one apart there is a spring behind the switch and it can be a bit of a faff to put back together properly. There are differing opinions on Shurflo pumps, I had one which was machine gun noisy but worked OK for years but the replacement was dead in 18 months. If you do need to replace the pressure switch there is also the option of buying an external inline pressure switch rather than using the one provided with pump. Whale used to sell them for around £20.

There are some private moorings behind Brampton Mill and some spaces in front of the pub.Don't know who owns the moorings at the back but you could try the pub on 01480459758.