p6rob

There's been a few boats moored for longer than overnight recently, just above the top lock. Don't think they came to any harm. I moved from Birmingham to Knowle over the weekend. The elsan was in a terrible state, mainly because it's been blocked up and seeping sewage into the bin area. Spent three hours on Saturday trying to clear it up, then reported it to CRT and they're getting in touch with the contractors to fix it. Apart from that, it's quite a nice place. My work backs onto the canal about 600 yards up from the top lock.

Hi Stefan, Not specific to matt black paint but generally speaking you should stick to the same manufacturer for the primer, undercoat and top coat. I'm using Craftmaster rust treatment, primer, undercoat and top coat on my cabin bilge at the moment. Not sure if they sell matt black off the shelf but I had them mix me a small pot of a specific RAL colour in their signwriting paint for an old car I own, which arrived next day so presumably matt black wouldn't be an issue. They're very helpful both online using their contact form and over the phone. craftmasterpaints.co.uk Rob

Thanks everyone. Mind back at ease now. I do have a wet and dry vac but not one I want to chuck, however, there does seem to be quite a few on ebay to choose from, around the price of a pump out, so that could well be a viable alternative. Rob

Hi, As part of refitting my boat, I'm removing the unused pump out tank. Before my ownership, the boat had a dump though toilet which had long since been removed and the porta potti sat on top of the tank with a plate over the dump through hole. I've now discovered the tank is about 1/3 full of at least six year old bodily fluids and is a bit too heavy to maneuvre without risking spillage. If I reconnected the pipes, would it pump out successfully or will the hole where the toilet should be cause an issue? In my head, pump outs require vacuum to work but now I'm wondering if it's just a suction pump pulling the liquids up but then how do they cope with solids. The tank sits low in the boat, so not sure how I could successfully siphon it into portable containers for elsan disposal. Also, if anyone wants a stainless steel dump through tank there's one available very soon, currently in Cambrian Wharf with or without existing contents. ? Thanks in advance Rob

I'm guessing I've missed some excitement! The floor still isn't sorted that's for sure. I've got all the boards and joists but it's been an experience cutting to fit, finding the board wouldn't fit through the door. Taking it back to my mother's to cut, returning again finding it would fit through the door but needed a bit more shaving off, etc. Replacing the floor without removing the side panels is proving to be an endurance feat with at least a few more weeks to complete. Rob

It's a job to tell and unfortunately those are the most rotten joists and literally fall apart when you touch them but from what I can make out, the extra bits are the full height of the joist. I don't think so. The amount of work that would have gone into fitting them at that stage wouldn't have made any sense.

It has been proving quite difficult. The most frustrating thing is my boat is in Lapworth, right by Curtiss' timber yard and pass it everyday going to work. I can see the stuff I want, neatly stacked at the side of the road but they are shut. Realistically, I can just wait a bit longer to order the wood and spend longer cleaning, prepping and painting the metal.

Thanks for the replies. There were four reasons for the standing water. A long term leak from the hose to the bathroom sink taps, which I fixed when I bought the boat six or seven years ago. The shower tray having a crack, which will be replaced as part of the refit, the pipework to the carolifier, which I'm not convinced is fully cured at the moment but as it'll all need to be disconnected to fit the new floor, will be. Oh and a partial sinking when the base plate had a hole in it, that one has definitely been fixed! I'm attempting to buy the wooden joists today. Rob

I'm stripping out the interior of my boat to replace rotten floors and joists. The joists are 75mm x75mm what type of wood should I use? Are fence posts adequate? Also on some of the transverse beams it looks like 12mm x 75mm pieces had been screwed to both sides, why would that would be? Would it be better to get 100x75mm posts to replace them? The boat has had a lot of standing water in the cabin bilge for some time, so a few of the joists have been squidgy enough to pull apart by hand. It's a job that I've been wanting to do for a couple of years but a frozen shoulder has prevented it until now. Thanks in advance. Rob

Thanks. I suspect I'll just keep replacing the batteries every couple of years until li-ion controllers become affordable but might take these ones into work and use their fancy charger to see if that perks them up a bit first. The isn't much electrical stuff in use. If all the lights are on they draw under 3 amps and the lights might be on for six hours per day in winter, The water pumps run for about 15 minutes a day in total. Phone charges overnight but the internet dongle is always plugged in. On the rare occasions I use the TV, the engine tends to be running, same with vacuum. Only really use the laptop on its battery. The diesel heater gets used about 30 times a year when the weather is chilly but not worth having the stove going. Fridge and water heater are both gas.

Sorry. It's a battery question. Since moving on the boat about 6 years ago, I've had to replace the batteries every two years. Up until the last set, I always bought sealed maintenance free lead acid as I didn't think I'd be regimented enough to keep an eye on acid levels, two of the three batteries are difficult to peer into the filler holes. Getting on for two years ago, I thought I might be better at maintenance, so bought 3X 110 batteries. Initially I was fairly good at checking the levels but as they never needed topping, that soon slipped to 3 or 4 months between checks. Yesterday I checked them for the first time in probably six months and they still don't need any water adding. They have however lost a bit of power. This isn't a major issue as I don't really consume much, the lights are LED, I occasionally run a vacuum from the generator but the engine is usually running at the same time. Whenever I've fitted new batteries the Smart Gauge tends to show 13.2 volts at rest and after about two years this drops to about 12.8v. What I've noticed is at night, when there's no solar the diesel heater won't start because of low voltage. When it's doing it's start up sequence the Smart Gauge shows volts are around 12.3v. The heater is not a marine one, so I understand why it won't run. When the batteries are tired if it's a bit nippy but not worth getting the stove going, I'll run the engine while the heater starts up to keep the volts high enough. Once the startup has completed, the engine gets turned off and the heater will run for several hours quite happily. Getting to the point. During winter I charge the batteries from the engine at about 1200rpm for an hour or two every few nights and about six hours at the weekend. During the sunny season, the two solar panels do the charging through an outback mmpt controller. Is there a setting I should change to make the charging more aggressive and if so, with proper maintenance, would that make the batteries last longer than two years? I don't necessarily think replacing batteries every two years is bad but when I hear of people getting 5+ years, Having never had to top up these batteries makes me wonder what they do differently. Cheers Rob

I've use these people a few times. Easy to find what you want and stuff arrives quickly. https://www.bearingboys.co.uk Rob

Thanks David, I didn't realise you were so close to the stores. I visit there fairly regularly and have spent many hours trawling through boxes of random bits in the hope of finding a few missing parts. No. It's a 5.0 straight six petrol. This banjo is for the automatic chassis lubrication though, so not engine related. Rob

Maybe that's why I'm struggling to locate one. Using the wrong name... parallel brass hydraulic union perhaps?

I had hoped to get there yesterday but didn't make it in the end. Was the Siddeley KMP 700 or CXT 150, by any chance? Rob

Thanks, I'll follow up the leads. I had a price to get one made but it was going to be a few hundred quid. The annoying thing is, when dad bought the car it was on it. but in the past 23 years it's gone missing and with him no longer being around to ask, it's been like looking for a needle in a haystack. I've found most of the missing bits and know from previous experience that as soon as I spent a few hundred replacing it, it'll turn up within a week. This has already happened a few times. Rob

Hi, Some of you may know I've been rebuilding a 1937 Armstrong Siddeley Siddeley Special car. It's back on the road now but I've not been able to find an inline double banjo union for the central chassis lubrication system. I think the threads are BSP P. I know it's not a boat but a few of you have good engineering contacts. Has anyone any idea where I might find one of these? I've been trawling autojumbles for the last four years with no success. Rob .

@cheshire~rose Can you bring a bottle for me please. Rob

I've just booked the hotel, so, unless something bad happens like last year, I'll be there. Rob

As well as Apollo Duck, one of the best places to start looking at lots of boats is Whilton Marina. Their website has lots of boats to browse, so you've got an idea before you get there, once there you can get the keys to three boats at a time and they'll leave you to look around. That's a good way to get an idea of what's on offer and more importantly what aspects of a boat appeal, eg stern type, layout, round or square windows. Whether you buy from there or not is up to you.

OAT antifreeze is not compatible with yellow metals, so, if there's any brass or copper in the system, you should really stick to Glycol. That being said, before I knew it was bad, I used OAT and hadn't noticed any bad effects after three years, I did however change to glycol. Euro Car Parts, GSF and any motor factors that sell to trade will stock antifreeze in 20 or 25 litre drums. As for removing the old stuff, catch as much as possible, undo the bottom hose and drain into your bilge, then mop it up is one option. You should disable your bilge pump first though. Buy a vacuum pump like a Pela 6000 and hope you can get the probe deep enough. Depending on the age of your boat, the bleed valve might be an imperial size, scrape the surrounding paint off and try heat and a correct sized spanner, probably 5/8af, before resorting to stilsons.