Kae

Yup, no problem at all. My stove was ceramic tiles direct onto wood for 12 years and all it did was discolour the wood slightly. Not safe by any stretch, so now it's done properly, but trying to show that hotspots caused by screws are of minimal concern.

After just going through this very process, it was recommended to use porcelain tiles rather than ceramic. Fingers crossed, so far so good.

Trundled past a few Sea Otters in the last week and not one have I seen with dents - although some of them were definitely getting on a bit, you could only tell from the faded/tatty paintwork, no corrosion though!

Two main points to consider. 1 - Epoxy is "better" as it isn't affected by diesel spills - unlike traditional blacking that just dissolves! 2 - When choosing your hull surveyor, find out if they have to remove the hull protection when taking hull readings. There are devices that don't require this, but if it does, it will obviously create dozens of bare patches on the hull that will need repairing!

He's taken care of the most critical things first, painting the outside of the hull...

Nope, it's the same in any tender process, it's amazing the range of replies you receive (and not always surprising when you hear of which businesses go tits up only a few years later). When you have your short list, please, please ask for opinions in the open market (here, facebook etc) to get a good range of opinions and replies before you select your builder. Although few and far between, there are bad builders out there. Good luck

Be happy that I have a pump out

Drill hole through cap and thread on opposing sides and fit a long padlock through both.

Rambling - it's charging to only 80% that's the problem. You should be charging to 100% at least once a week.

It's the heavy metal poisoning that would bother me, more than them swimming in otherwise "dirty" water.

Me three. I'm a first try kinda guy! (and the boat will be buggering off without me if I'm not careful!).

VSR - voltage sensing relay

Electroquest - easily found on Ebay or their own site.

Buy a Smartgauge, two wires to fit, maintain the level to at least 50% during the week and charge to 100% once a week at least, and that is by far the simplest answer Edit: and as Richard say's, it's not a straight forward topic. Lots of details here: http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/

I have the same silly design, as you say, it traps the gases escaping the flue, causing the various chemicals to condense, and then run down the inside of the outer skin and drip all down your roof making a right mess. It's high on my list of things to either fix (by fabricating a new inner bit) or replace before using the stove 24/7 over winter. Right after finishing my tiling and putting the stove back where it belongs and fitting the new flue. Perfect job to start when it's getting cold!

Thanks all. I'll do a little experiment and see if there is any additional current draw at the higher voltage to see if fully charged is fully charged.

Having read this thread, and more importantly Allan's e-mails with Varta, I wonder if it would be best to charge my Numax CXV31MF sealed batteries at 14.8v rather than the 14.4 that they currently are charged at? This is for liveaboard use. I believe (although get a clear answer isn't straight forward) that these are calcium based batteries, as it says in Numax's documentation that they are "Calcium technology".

That's rather nifty, I was wondering if that was what the fancy hose connection was for

Can't really be of any other assistance, but just a note for anyone that doesn't know, condensing washing machines use a considerable volume of water as they use cold water to cool the condensing plates for the hot moist air from drying the clothes.

Empty tank. Time how long it takes your hose to fill a known volume (so a large measuring jug for example). Fill tank with hose and time how long it takes. Do the maths, sorted

Yep, certifiable, but you fit in well

I like vactan, works well.