DHutch

Yes, I have been trying to make contact using that number and email address as of yesterday but have yet to make contact. As I work in Runcorn at the moment it would be an ideal winter mooring for us. We shall see! Daniel

Passed at the start and end of this year, there was a guy working on the one of the jetty legs, no photos but a year later it looks broadly the same as above. Odd, because Park Farm, and all the surrounding marina are full up, and with space for around 60 odd boats it should be worth £150k a year in income from moorings. The moorings are Park Farm are also knocking 2/3 the price of anywhere else in the area if their website is correct. Just seems so close to being able to put boats in it!

Does anyone know when Orchard Marine is due to re open? Appears to have taken an awful long time to turn it around, mean while good moorings in the area command a reasonable price.

I believe this boat is the Water Womble.

Is it? 7am is a bit keen, but I would much rather see a younger boater enjoying the canal than an older one being miserable!

Well, so far I've bunged 1.5l of the Jotamastic 90 Al on all the 'bare metal' areas where the paint is thin, just as we would with the Leighs M902 and it's gone on just lovely, exactly the same to work with once mixed, and no reaction with the M535 Vinyl blacking just as before. Happy days. You can also see the amount and quality of the retained finish from the Vinyl at four years old and a good amount of cruising during that time. It really is mostly in good nick, and unbroken finish that is as good as new, other than where it has been mechanically removed in service. NB, also worth saying that most of the 'bare metal' is actually still covered by an amount of the original blast primer and epoxy zinc from 1991 and has not suffered any discernible corrosion. Actual bare metal, areas with rust, is contained to three 50 x 900mm scars on the soft chine where the slightly wider points of the hull tend to rub on locks, and very very small amounts right at the lower rear edge, where I guess it runs in the sludge when we can't quite get into the side to moor. You can also see the extra rubbing strake we added four years ago below the water line at the rear, and lower down on the bow, including the reduced thickness of the previous coating, where it was removed to allow for the welding. These have made a noticeable difference paint loss in these areas of heavier wear. Daniel

I'm sure it's good stuff, I have used Dacrylate paints as have Northwich drydock. From the test patches we did on the baseplate four years ago, the Epidac HB Ali (D) appears slightly more silver in places than the Leigh's/SW (L) M902, it's unclear if that's because the Ali has stuck better to the hull, or the Leigh's/SW M535 Vinyl blacking coat has stuck less well to the Ali, but either way both look very good, as does the area painting in two coats of the vinyl blacking (N) as per below photos. In short, it's all bloody good paint and likely much of a muchness! These are right at the back of the boat, just as the swim starts to come it. Hence at we're 2ft8ish the edge 6inch or so doesn't stand a chance, but the rest is sound.

That's a bit better! Our curbside waste (which goes to the same place) won't even accept plastic trays or yogurt pots. The only plastic we can recycle curbside is bottles. We offload our plastic trays to our parents who both live in different neighboring counties who do. Cheshire and N Wales. Bonkers isn't it. Yeah, that's what happens here. Local unadopted road (public, no houses off it) is the prime candidate. Anything from two bags for life full of tins an bottles, via a soiled mattress, to a Transit tipper full of mixed green waste and hardcore. Council has its own website for reporting flytipping.

Fair enough. I guess you could invest in a 110v to 240v step up transformer. But it's a bit old fashioned and inconvenient.

Or local tip recycling centre (Veolia, Bidston) has a LED display at the end of the queue to get in which proudly displays that they manage to recycle less than half of what turns up to the site.... ....apparently this year it fell again, from 35% ten years ago to now only being 30%... ... the target was 50% by 2020! https://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/23681117.recycling-rates-wirral-branded-dismal-scathing-report/

We are doing it ourselves, yes. Rightly or wrongly we have always done the job DIY which I think is a mixed of sort of enjoying it, being a glutton for punishment, and being a bit anxious and or neurotic! However having watched Matt paint your boat when we where on last time, I can also confirm he does a bloody good job and takes care in his work. More so than other boatyards I have seen. Daniel

Yes!

I don't know, but I do wonder if a low speed centrifugal fan might be better for creating a low flow rate against a reasonable resistance. Obviously it slightly depends on the ventilation afforded by your bilge already, and or if you are trying to vent the whole bilge, or just the bit at the back it tends to run back into! But yeah, otherwise, try isolating it with a bit of that foam. ....because you already have one elsewhere.

Quelle surprise.. On one level I understand it to a certain extent, and compared to a short term Marina mooring it isn't even that bad, however it does come over as unfriendly and with current interest rates I can see it being only a matter of time before the sign department gets some more work! Liverpool docks was one of the first places where you could pay to extend your stay in an otherwise time limited mooring, and where space etc allows it appears a reasonable business model and adds to the overall flexibility options.

Very interesting. At 36 I certainly feel like I am one of the younger ones boating on the system, but I also expect that the majority of those who received/completed survey will be boat owners (as per the op) rather than boaters as a whole, as most younger folk on the canal will either be hiring or using family owned boat. Disclaimer; I believe it was me who completed the survey for our boat. Daniel

Great news. Thanks for posting back. We are on dock next week and I am looking forward to seen how our test patches from 2019 look and for the first time switch the entire boat over to Epoxy blacking from the high performance pitch/coaltar free vinyl product we have been using for the last 30 years.

Right, well, we have just ordered a load of Jotamastic 90. One tin of the 90 AL to touch up any bare metal areas, and a coat on the baseplate, and three tins of Black to do two coats both sides and the second coat on the base plate. Hopefully all goes well!

Yeah, and I completely understand that, but this is about going onto predominantly sound existing coating, after high pressure water jetting, rather than onto bare or rusted steel. Hence compatibility with the existing vinyl coating is the foremost consideration.

Ooo, good spot! And very interesting. Obviously someone must make it, and I had got a feeling it wasnt Jotun. Interestingly, because its what Northwich drydock used before moving over to Jotamastic, we did actually do a significant test patch of the Epidac HB, both the ali and the black, on the base plate four years ago. Obviously I don't get to inspect that till next week, however we have no issues with the paints reacting. Elsewhere on this forum Dacrylate have stated "Epidac 2 HB Epoxy 90-294 is designed to go over all existing coatings (except bitumen), even those of other manufacturers" which fits with what most people have said about most epoxy paints going over most coatings anyway, certainly if the are 'aged' having been on a few years. Also slightly interesting as one of the main reasons I believe Northwich DD moved away from the Epidac is poor colour retention, which has also been suggested of the SML blacking. If it got damp before fully curing (touch dry paint getting silver/grey spots and runs on it if it rained even lightly) which is an issue for them as there is no roof on the dock.

@Dacrylate Paints Ltd It appears the website has yet to be significantly updated. Perhaps as a reference you could detail a suitable distributor here and or upload the relevant datasheets to the forum?

Doing a bit more digging, and I have found Internationals "Intertuf 203" which appears to be a very similar one-pack vinyl product to what we have used in the past. Availability appears to be somewhat limited, and restricted to 20L tins, but given we where likely going to buy 15-20L anyway that should be ok. Prices appear to fluctuate from £317 to £690 but assuming you can you pick the lower end its around £16-18/L https://www.mylorchandlery.co.uk/antifouling-paint/international-intertuf-203/

Due to go on dock shortly, our second time using Northwich, looking forward to it! Cant recommend enough. I also believe Middlewich drydock is available for hire again which is nice/

Leaning towards going straight on with the Jotamastic. SML are sending me out their free 'test kit' (basically a rag soaked in epoxy thinners) to stick on the side of the boat for a bit. Assuming it passes, hopefully we are good for most 2pack epoxy products and can continue with an additive coating rescheme. Daniel

Northwich DD is currently £350/week for a narrowboat which I think its a great price. Wigan DD doesn't have any power provision, and is in Wigan. Northwich is secure, has power, and a 15hp 3ph pressure washer. Pros and cons to both of cause, but there is more to it than you suggest.

Current prices as follows, prices inc VAT. SML Ballastic Epoxy black £92.34 per 5l or £18.50/litre Jotamastic 87 (in black) £82.75 per 4.5l or £17.60/litre (from SML, or £89/4.5 at Paints4trade) Jotamastic 90 (in black) £92.60 per 4.5l or £20.80/litre (from SML, same price at Paints4trade) Jotamastic 90AL (silver) £87.18 per 4.5l or £19.20/litre (from SML) Sherwin Williams L524 £96.56 per 4L or £24.00/litre (from SW Online, a subset of Paints4Trade) Sherwin Williams M902 £178.87 per 5L or £25.80/litre (SW online) or £68.36 per 2l so £24.20/litre which is a nice amount for just touching up bare metal scratches etc.