Rebotco

I believe they are of light aluminium construction. So magnets would be useless.

You can always cheat - like I do! Method is to have crew member stood on front bow with the long boat pole. I put into reverse at tickover, and all the steering is done only from the bow with the pole used as a punt. I just stand on the stern ready to fend off from any contact if needed, and keep the rudder straight. The most important thing is to keep the reverse speed constant for the front steerer to be able to keep sole control of the direction of travel. We can reverse for miles without any stress using this method, as well as complex manoeuvering. You do have to have a crew member you can trust implicitly of course, and they can rapidly get very competent at the task.

Well, you presume wrong. There is a brief suspension of Business rates for 6 months on empty retail premises, to allow time to find a new tenant. But then the rates become fully payable by the landlord, so they are actually losing money on their property. That is why some charity/bookshops get short term rent free shops, especially over the Christmas period. Although the landlord makes nothing out of them, it at least stops them losing money for a while.

Have you thought of the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal? You can continue up the River Severn, and run back for safety when bad conditions are threatened. These are quite predictable, and you soon get to recognise the signs well in advance.

Yes Zinsser Cover Stain is the bees knees for that sort of job. It can be used on MDF as well as timber as a stain blocker and a base sealing coat. It does have a high volatile content though, so be careful on a boat to ensure lots of ventilation, as you don't want a hull full of flammable fumes.

I always store new or opened tins of paint upside down. This considerably improves its natural mixability. And for opened tins, any skin that forms will be on the bottom, instead of the top.

These are the same sort of thing I use for those jobs. Brilliant! THESE

That blue cable is not connected to the inverter. It is to a connector block (or possibly its a fuse box?) Your fridge runs on 12 volt battery power. Your inverter provides 240 volt mains supply. If your fridge light comes on it is receiving 12 volt that it needs. To switch the motor on, turn the thermostat switch anywhere between the numbers shown 1 - 5, If it doesn't start the thermostat may be faulty or your battery voltage may be too low.

If you search the Gas Safe site HERE you can find qualified engineers by location and the categories they are authorised to deal with.

In defence of CraftInsure, I had my first ever claim last year. Due to two bilge pumps in my cruiser stern narrowboat running excessively in the rainy season, they eventually flattened the batteries and stopped working. The engine bay consequently got flooded to about 12"+ deep. Luckily it was spotted before the whole thing sank. CraftInsure paid out in excess of £6K for the damage, and were very fair about it. That's far more important to me than saving a few bob on the premium. Although in fact, they were the lowest of the quotes I had at the time.

Aren't you being a bit over-stroppy here? He has added some useful info and links that may well help others using the search facility in future.

Would you trust your life on a guess that it might be faulty or not? I sure wouldn't. Just as well you're planning replacing it.

I think your reply exactly illustrates the benefit of an LCD display. It is telling you that either you or a neighbour is introducing CO into your boat. Or possibly your monitor is faulty. Either way, it is information you will want to act upon. Without the display you would have no idea of either danger.

Neither of the above two are directly comparable to the Lidl one, as they are not the LCD display versions. None of them seem to advertise whether they are the type1 or type2, if that does actually matter.

The farrow and ball stuff I have used was all watery junk. They are masters at colour shades and marketing, but rubbish at paint.

A lot of boaters happen to also have homes!

I would suppose the chief value of a display is that you can see whether the level is increasing or decreasing. The danger is not in just the level, but a combination of time and level.

At under £10, this Lidl offer looks to be a very good price for a CO alarm with digital display. HERE

Thanks for that - the results are mighty impressive. It could inspire me to do the same with the 12 tatty looking windows on my narrowboat. 👍