David Schweizer

I'm off to find an egg to suck!! 🥱

Probably more to do with who writes their articles. The Wiltshire Times tends to rely upon freelancers, plus random members of the public and individual organizations, some of whom sometimes manage to get biased or poory researched articles printed. AFAIK, the Bath Chronicle still has in house reporters .

In the old days before silicone was readily available, on BMC engines we used to soak the gasket in water to make it pliable, and then used Vaseline to stick the cork gasket to the cover and cylinder head. I continued to use this method on Helvetia's engine, and it still prevented any oil leaks.

My surveyor must have been one of the 10%, he was very thorough and took a lot of time.

Only if Oxygen is also present, which may be a problem with modern shallow draft boats, drawing air under the boat. The bottom of Helvetia was more than 30" from the water surface underway, so less chance of oxygen getting near it. Perhaps that helps to explain why there was comparatively little pitting after 35 years. Top quality British steel may also have been a contributing factor.

I have never understood why people believe it is neccessary to black the bottom of their boat. Helvetia was 35 years old when I sold it, and the bottom had never been blacked. The survey I commissioned before selling showed that the thickness of the original 10mm base plate was between 10.1mm and 8.9mm

Deleted.

Pisces at the 1964 Stratford IWA Festival of Boats, moored alongside Joe Skinner's Friendship. Joe can be seen standing on the foredeck of Friendship in the B &W photo.

Yes, but usually on something not very important, and I aways double check before pressing the confirm button. Pressing the wrong digit, and not checking it could result in some sort of legal action being taken against the innocent "offender" Would you be happy if that happened to you?