Nemysys

I bought one of these off eBay for £60 Maplins link Have not used it a lot yet, but Set it up a couple of times now both at home and on the boat, very simple, just listen to the frequency of the beep as it gets higher the signal is stronger.

Impressed with the knowledge on these forums, you are right about the control panel. sorry about the poor photo.

Thanks to everyone for there replies. Thats what I love about this forum, lots of quick helpful advice. It may be a week or so, but next time I go to the boat, I'll try what has been suggested 50-100% throttle, try turning the key backwards to see if that position exists, if not I'll try turning the key half against the spring. I'll post the results, hopefully good news. I'll upload a picture I took of the engine, not sure if you eagle eyed readers will be able to tell the type of heaters from a photo or if you need to take them out to look.

Thanks everyone - I'll try that next time I go to the boat. This would probably explain why it does start eventually, as I would have the heaters and the starter going at the same time.

Hi All Hope you all had a good holiday season! I'm a novice boater and I have a question about starting my BMC 1.8 engine. Now the weather is colder I've notice it is a bit more reluctant to start - always managed to start it but can take a while. I run a diesel car and understand about the pre-heaters, but now not sure if I am using them correctly on my boat. I turn the key one click - a red light (ignition?) comes on - I presumed at this point the pre-heaters came on. As when I turn the key further (against the spring) the starter motor kicks in. I assume I have pre-heaters but have not found another switch for them. Is this normal behavior, am I missing something here? Thanks Darren

Hi Dave. Could you PM me the details of the painter at Heyford Fields Thanks

Well spotted! :-)

Here is a small pic of the name area - the 'cream' panel extends all the way to the front of the cabin. Our first idea was to change the name but leave the scroll pattern intact. My wife is not keen on adding a panel - but if that is what we need to do......

Thanks Dave for the quick reply I understand what you are saying about matching colour etc, that was my concern. Unfortunatley there is no 'panel' as such, it is a solid block of colour the whole length of the boat. I'll PM you a picture of what we have and what we would like, you may be able to give me a 'ball park' cost?

Hi We want to rename our steel narrowboat, but first need to remove the current painted on name. Anybody got any suggestions on the easiest / best way to remove the name without damaging the underlying colour? I had thought about adding a frame / border, and repainting the bit in the middle, but my wife is not keen on the name being framed. We are thinking of replacing the name with custom vinyl lettering, any experience (good or bad) using vinyl lettering instead of paint? Thanks Darren

Hi, just wanted to say hello. Darren, Susan and 3 year old Lewis in the process of buying our first boat. Hope to be on the water soon! Thanks to all for the replies to my questions so far. I am sure there will be more.

Just had the FULL survey done, and it went very well. Only a couple of minor issues to sort out. Hope to be on the water soon!!!!!!

Thank you, I have asked the surveyor to do a FULL out of water survey. Better safe than sorry!

I have the same surveyor coming back for the in water survey that did the hull survey 18 months ago

Again, thanks to all who answered questions and gave opinions, much appreciated. Offer was accepted yesterday, spoke to the brokerage today who had received an 18 month old hull survey. Terms like 'made from superior quality steel' and 'no pitting found' was very comforting, blacked in 2009 (at time of survey) and fully painted and blacked in 2010 (seen the receipts) has given me a very good feel. Based on this, decided on an in water survey only. Getting really excited, even my 3 yr old has already decided which bed he will sleep in! Rod - hope all doesn't go to plan on 18th August 2093! Many happy years of boating yet!

Many thanks to all that replied. Today we were able to look at the 1980 boat I mentioned in my first post. It didn't disappoint. This was the first boat that lived up to the pictures and we both loved it straight away. We still looked at other newer ones afterwards but nothing lived up to It. Offer was put in (subject to survey) and has been accepted. Fingers crossed! Thanks again to all your comments and advice, I'm sure I'll be back on asking more stupid questions soon. Happy boating days ahead!

Thanks all My disability is with mobility, so I do take access into consideration I have just found an alternative boat, this has the BMC 1.5 with a HBW150 box Just had a quick google and the HBW150 doesn't seem to be highly rated is this correct ( most sites I saw appeared to be US based)

Thanks Paul. There seems to have been a typo appear in the thread, the actual boat I am looking at is 6/6/3 (not 6/3/3) I was told (maybe wrongly) that a minimum of 4/4/x was required before it needed over plating. You may be right, I may be worrying too much, it is lack of knowledge, and to me, a big chunk of money! I want to make sure what I buy is right! Please keep the comments coming though, it is helping. Darren

Thanks Paul, appreciate we all see things differently. I just want to make sure that I dont buy a boat that will need major work in 5 years time based on its current condition. I understand that eventually it will need work. As an example I did read a survey on another boat (neither of the two mentioned above) where the original steel was 5mm, and the recent survey indicated that it was now between 4.4 and 5.1 mm I had concerns over the 4.4mm as I understand the minimum for insurance purposes is 4mm. I decided not to question it at that marina in case they were biased, but went to another marina, and asked. They said that in their opinion, it showed that the steel on the 20 year old boat was deteriorating slowly and not to be concerned. I can see their point of view in respect % terms, but even so, 4.4mm seems a bit too close to 4mm!

Thank you Still looking for an answer to this though.... If a boat passes a survey, should I be concerned if it is 30 years old?

The 30 year old boat I am looking at has a 4 Cylinder BMC 1.8 engine with a PRM 150 gearbox. Being a novice this means very little to me, is this a good engine / gearbox, easy to maintain, easy to get parts etc?

Thanks Tony Exactly the sort of info I was looking for. You are completely right it does have a Ford Diesel engine. As I thought, the price looked too good, so there had to be some compromise somewhere. If a boat passes a survey, should I be concerned if it is 30 years old?

Thanks again for the advice. We have been to see some, which has focused our criteria - i.e. We definitely want a cruiser stern. So my wife, 3 1/2yr old son and I are not at seperate ends of the boat for most of the day! As you say, we have seen some boats, which look great on paper, but in the flesh/steel - a definite No. I'm definitly up for ensuring the structural side of things is ok, but have realised that the interior layout is important. Being disabled, I need to ensure I can get around inside OK. Should I be concerned over a 30yr old boat if it passes a survey?