Simon (Hawksmoor)

Understood. Thank you.

I have seen that I need a windlass with a 1.25" square hole for the River Nene Is that the same size as the larger hole in a standard windlass or do I need a special one? (Obviously I am not on my boat at the moment so cannot measure mine!! )

Its a drop-through.

Precisely the point of my original post - "So..... has anybody had something like this done, and if so by whom and for how much?"

Nobody who would be confident at removing and capping off the toilet in particular. And also having the right tools in the right place at the right time working 150 miles away from home when you can't just pop down to the garage for the wrench you didn't know you needed and having no 240volt power for the power tools you have. We would sooner pay a professional to do a good job than a home spun bodge. Just not £5,000!!

Our shared ownership boat has a main bathroom midships and a second toilet astern with hand-basin and is somewhat euphemistically designated an "en-suite bathroom" Has anybody converted their aft toilet into a storage room? None of our current owners use it as a toilet; it is a badly organised storage room. We are considering having the toilet removed and capped off, the sink removed, shelving installed in half the available space, coat rails for wet coats in the top half of the remaining space and boot racks in the lower half. Possibly add a small radiator to aid drying. The one estimate we have had for this so far is "£3300 to £4400 plus about £500 of materials" which is somewhat vague and somewhat excessive, and tells me the boatyard concerned isn't really interested. So..... has anybody had something like this done, and if so by whom and for how much?

2 years ago one of our less experienced owners got "leaf bound" and did not recognise the symptoms so called out RCR. Two separate RCR mechanics diagnosed a gearbox problem. Only the third recognised the problem, bow hauled the boat clear of the autumn leaves and hey presto! But 3 call outs! (I think they only charged us for one)

Would RCR have been as efficient I wonder? That fault could have easily turned into a cancelled week for many boats.

Here is a reply I received on another forum from a shared boat owner. "Hi Simon, we've been in Cropredy with a shared boat for about 18 months. We find Tooleys really excellent. As in your case, they do our turnaround day checks and we've had no issues there. Just in the past couple of weeks, one of our owners reported a fault; Tooleys made an appointment to come out a few days later while we were on board. The engineer spent about 4 hours taking the engine apart and diagnosing the problem (drive plate needed replacing), ordered the part, came back next day as promised and repaired it (another 4 hour job). He was really friendly and polite, and even tightened our throttle while he was there - we were going to list that for next turnaround as it wasn't urgent. Tooleys did our winter maintenance last year (and will be doing it again in Feb). Again, an excellent job, they provided a diagnostic video for us to show what was working well, what needed tweaking, and anything that might need us to pay extra. All that aside, Cropredy is a beautiful marina, very peaceful and friendly, and with plenty to do around the locality if weather or winter stoppages prevent you from cruising. Highly recommended!!"

We are considering moving our home base to Cropredy Marina this winter. Looking for feedback from other shared boats, especially on the Maintenance, Engine Servicing, and Turnaround Day Trouble Fixing facilities offered by (I believe) Tooleys Boatyard.

My understanding is that "Hexagrip" and "Buffalo Board" are two brand names for the generic material which is phenolic plywood.

I need to find two 8' x 4' sheets of genuine Buffalo Board to replace the deck boards and locker covers on my narrowboat. Our boatyard has tried and failed twice to source good quality stuff. On both occasions he bought off EBay and the board delaminated in months. I suspect he did not receive GENUINE Buffalo Board I have been looking on-line and see a wide variance in price (and I suspect quality) Some at £160 per sheet (Chiltern Timber) Some as high as £250 per sheet (Ply Direct) Some as low as £95 per sheet (Sheet Materials Wholesale) I am looking for a recommendation for a reliable source of the real thing not a cheap imitation. How much should I be paying for this? Stafford / Stoke-on-Trent area

I pee over the side! (or into the sink and hence over the side)

We had a back to bare metal repaint done in 2016 at Tattenhall marina We were pleased with the job done and the sides are still in good condition. A couple of dozen spots require touch-up. But the roof is now looking the worse for wear. Hundreds of pinhole rust spots have broken through. Is it a practical option to have this ground back and repainted? I have heard that most paint-yards have over a year of backlog. Would this be true of a limited scope paintjob as I describe here? Any recommendations for paint-yards ideally within a couple of days from Great Haywood? Any feel for how much this might cost?

Unfortunately my fellow owners voted to stay at Great Haywood for a 13th successive year! I despair of ever getting out of the midlands. May have to consider selling my share and buying into another boat elsewhere. But with my luck they will immediately relocate to the midlands!