Arthur Marshall

Not always easy to do. I had a major engine rebuild a few years ago and part of the deal was that after it was done I would get a complete itemised list of what had been done. Not only did I never get it after several increasingly annoyed prompts, but the guy refused to believe a diesel into oil leak was happening (or even possible on a Lister SR2) following the rebuild and do anything about it. Sometimes a breakdown in communication is what boatyards do best.

How they managed to run mine backwards I have no idea, apart from sheer incompetence. If you look at the back of the boat you can see one drainage hole is about three inches above the other one. They just welded the deck on wrong. When I complained they just shrugged and suggested I took all the ballast out of the front of the boat and put a load more in the back to change the whole boat angle. It would have looked like a speedboat to get the drainage working. Not a yard I ever went back to. Oh, and they also fitted a new stern tube with a seal that failed after a year and nearly sank the boat. I won't name the yard as I believe it's now under new management, thank god.

That's more or less what happened with my re-steeling. I got a quote of about 7 grand, which was fine, but when they actually cleaned it all off it need a lot more work than anyone could have guessed, and we found more as they went along. They more or less said they wouldn't put it back in the water unless some extra work was done (complete new weed hatch and tiller tube) as the boat wouldn't be safe without it. The flexible coupling was just a nightmare, which didn't surprise me at all, as we'd had real trouble getting it in and out before, though if the guy who rebuilt my gearbox had put it back properly in the first place, it would have been completely unnecessary for the yard to do it again. That's the other lesson for the OP to remember - every time you get an engineer or a yard to do a job, you'll either have to finish it off yourself or hire another one to do it. I don't think a single job has been done on mine which didn't need me to go over it again at least with a spanner to tighten the nuts up. Most have needed another engineer to finish it off, unless, like the self-draining deck which doesn't, you just have to put up with it. Boats are essentially pits you chuck fifty pound notes into. Worth it, though...

That's the way every yard that's ever done any work on my boat has done. I've only ever taken a quote with a huge pinch of salt and basically ignored it. That's why it's called an estimate - yards tend to assume you want the job done whatever the cost. And the bloke actually doing the job probably had no idea what had been quoted, anyway - if a yard employee he'd be on a wage, if a subbie, he'd just put in his bill afterwards.

My cruiser stern is about eight foot long and I had the same problem. I did get someone to put a self draining system in (it was just wood boards right across before) and that would have been fine if the yard, in accordance with age-old boat-building practice, hadn't managed to install one of the drainage channels at an angle that ran water back into the boat instead of over the side. Over winter, I've just been putting a couple of 8 x 4 sheets of ply on the guardrail and draping a whacking great plastic tarp over the lot. I can't afford a custom made cover, though that would obviously be the best solution.

Fair enough then, but still, you would expect to be informed if a bill was going to be five times higher than the estimate. It doesn't strike me that the OP is complaining about the actual size of the bill, rather that it came as a hell of a shock. As bills for work on boats tend to. My resteeling from Stoke Boats cost nearly three grand more than their quote, and the taking out and putting back of my flexible coupling was quoted at £150 and ended up as £900 - but in both cases they kept me informed and there were good and valid reasons for both. I still grumbled to myself though, and I still got told by blokes from other yards that they'd have done both jobs considerably cheaper. Wouldn't have been true in practice though.

Not very fair - presumably the yard had looked at the boat before they made their estimate and also thought the pipes were for water? It's very rare that an estimate for work on a boat doesn't get at least doubled when the work gets done. I had some work done estimated at about a hundred quid that ended up costing just under a thousand (virtually no parts, all labour), but at least they phoned me up to warn me they were having trouble.

I, following advice on here, fixed my no longer functioning gas fridge with a bit of wire for a wire brush run through the gas jet. Ten minute job... except that to get the fridge out, I had to dismantle the kitchen cupboard, which involved various other bits of kitchen furniture, all of which had to be put back again afterwards and took most of the next day too. At a boatyard's probable cost of forty quid an hour (more if they'd got someone in to do it), the whole job would have been about £600. And as I was doing the job, it didn't really matter if things got bodged a bit in the process - a boatyard has to do it right. First law of boat maintenance is that it'll take at least twice as long as you expect, cost probably double the estimate even if you do it all yourself, and you'll have to take something else to bits to get at the bit you want to fix. And then it won't fit when you try to put it back. It's mostly because everything is linked to everything else and it's all trying to squash as much as you can into a very small space, and it's also why trying to fit out a boat while you're actually living on it is virtually impossible - it can be done, but the boat tends to be surrounded by a blue fug of swearing for a couple of years.

Reverting vaguely towards the topic, if not precisely, can anyone explain why cyclists on the towpath wear helmets?

Can you not trace and ask the previous boat owner?

Really? I suppose it's a typical British attitude, but I still find it weird. Especially as there seems to be more criticism of the rescuer for leaving the dog behind (which we don't even know that they did) that pleasure that someone actually could be arsed to help someone ill enough to warrant an ambulance. I find it incomprehensible that some of my friends have nearly bankrupted themselves paying thousands of pounds for an operation on a dog's leg, and the same again for rehab, when the animal appeared to be suffering no discomfort and was old enough to only have a year or two to live anyway.

There's a lot more occasional boaters about than there were back in the year dot, staying mostly in their marinas and using the boat as a kind of holiday cottage, and there's nothing wrong with that. They just never really, on their rare forays out, pick up on the usual friendliness and co-operation - they're the ones who stand by their boats at locks and never walk up to help boats through (or just chat with those who don't want helping). It's mostly ignorance, occasionally combined with arrogance, especially if they've spent a lot of dosh on their tub. But they're a very, very small minority - it's still a giant community, really, with a sort of spread out village mentality. With, as is traditional, the odd village idiot. I know I'll miss it when I have to pack it all in.

Electric too. That's what you get with polluted soil. Dangerous stuff, this coal ash.

I don't think it was differentiated in the original thread, which means I've been poisoning hedges for the last six months instead of binning the stuff. I am now not only old and forgetful, but also wracked with guilt.

Not long ago there was a thread on here saying that the ash was very good for the hedge and that was where it should go. And now it isn't and it shouldn't. It's just lucky you can always rely on the Internet for good advice...

It's all rubbish. But now its digital rubbish instead of analogue rubbish, which means it's more expensive and lower quality. And I've still got a Nokia E90, so I wouldn't worry about being a luddite if I were you...

Well, my old users site at zetnet.co.uk is still there, and zetnet folded at least ten years ago and I certainly haven't paid any money to whoever owns it now since 2009. It even has a little flash beside it that says "updated". I think the internet is littered with zombie sites that will outlast us all.

Basicboat.co insurance is nice and cheap, and they do pay for wreck recovery.

Ah, but I don't think you were Gareth E then! I'm easily confused. The lights are still working and are appreciated by my wife who likes reading in bed, and not at all by me who doesn't... I'll pm you his details and you can give him a ring.

There is, I think, but the farmer doesn't allow living on, apart from the odd night here and there, and usually only rents on an annual basis. I'll be down there this week so if I see him I'll ask, or I can pm you his number if you like,which might be quicker. He's a friendly soul.... It's a mile south of Congleton station.

That was what always bothered me about it. I suppose in a CC boat it would stay dry, because of regular use, but in a leisure boat it spends most of the time soaking wet (cruiser stern). I think I'll take mine off and have a look... I've left it on as I thought it might cut the noise down a bit, and everything helps with a Lister.

i thought the insulating bandage was no longer a requirement? Not that it doesn't have a use.

How does that work in practice? You're still really a CCer, but if you got, say, a farm mooring for five weeks, which would seem to be the logical solution, would you have to get a mooring permit from CRT for that period? I suppose that in a marina, the fees would automatically cover you.

B&Q wood is awful. It's warped and usually full of cracks & splits. If you buy a pack you need to check every piece. Any reputable timber yard will usually be a bit more expensive, though that isn't always the case, but the wood will last. As above, buy screws in bulk from Screwfix. And an electric screwdriver!