Philippe

I see - neat! Will consider if I freeze this winter.

Just did a search and I see what you mean! I'll stay quiet about the fans...

I'll wait and see how it goes then.

Good point! As long as I don't get chillblained feet (memories of being a child before central heating became standard in houses) I don't need much heat in the bedroom and prefer it cool. I'll see how it goes with just the pipe and only add a couple of rads nearby in the living area and kitchen if necessary. Would an Ecofan help by circulating the air round the boat more efficiently? How well do they work, are they worth the cost and are some makes better than others?

The calorifier is in the bow so the long pipe run is just for heating the boat I believe, though the back boiler does heat the water as well. There is also a feed to a heated towel rail in the bathroom. This isn't a deal breaker. I don't plan to go continuous cruising until next spring so I can test out the effectiveness of the piping at warming the boat over the winter. As the plumbing is all there and the pipes are currently exposed it should be too difficult to fit a couple of radiators if necessary. What are finrads?

The boat I am considering buying for continuous cruising has a diesel stove in the living area with a back boiler that feeds a copper pipe running the length of the boat and then back again to the stove. There are no radiators and the heating consists entirely of the stove and pipes. It is a reasonably new boat (2006) so has modern efficient insulation fitted. Will this be sufficient to keep the boat warm in winter? This is something I will be unable to check out sufficiently when looking over the boat as it is still too warm at the moment, so I wanted the opinions of those with experience of being in a boat in sub zero winter conditions.

Thanks for all the replies. The boat does have a corridor running down the same side as the bricks so it probably is to balance out all the furniture on the opposite side. I fully intend to have a full independent survey performed before buying if I do decide to go for the boat after the demo this weekend. The significant cost of the survey is worth the price, especially as I do not have the knowledge or expertise to assess much more than cosmetic conditions or spot any underlying problems. Trying to keep calm at this relatively early stage but getting quite excited about this already.

Thanks for the prompt response. It looked pretty harmless to me at the time but being completely clueless I started worrying about it when I got home in case it was a subtle indicator of some fundamental problem. Thanks for putting my mind at rest! Phil

Complete newbie here and I'm after some advice on a boat I'm looking to possibly buy. I've done an initial viewing through a broker and have a test cruise booked with the owner at the weekend. One thing that puzzled me when looking around the boat was that one of the bow lockers was half full of bricks. I guess this is for ballast to balance the boat but I wondered why it would be necessary to have this only at the bow and only on one side. May this indicate a problem of some kind with the boat or is it perfectly normal? I can't actually remember what was in the opposite port locker and whether it was empty or not(too much to take in at once!) and will check out at the weekend. Possible there's something in there that needs balancing. Regards Phil

Hi everyone! My name's Phil and I'm poised on the brink of purchasing a narrowboat with the intention of taking a year off and go continuous cruising on the canal network with my dog. Haven't pinpointed the exact boat I will be making the plunge with, so may be looking for pointers on specific items from the members here as I have little experience in this area. Been cruising the canals a few times but will undoubtedly be looking for lots of advice before I venture out for real, hopefully next spring. Thanks Phil