Bee

One for the brave, genuinely scrap value.

Sorry, been away, chances of engine/ transmission being seized are slim but things do jam, only takes a minute to make sure everything is turning properly and to save another bunch of annoying problems.

Nothing to do with solar but years ago when we were house hunting and had to travel with infant kids we would heat up food on the exhaust manifold of the Allegro, jars of gloop for them and a pasty each for us. As a car the Allegro was crap but as a cooker it was excellent.

Well I am not looking for a boat but if I was .... For the price of a nondescript old cruiser you get a classic that is worth putting some money into.

Just make sure the engine turns before you stick another starter on.

I would love to know, reasonably accurately, how many boats are lived on. Take away the number of boats with residential moorings and see just how many boats are used outside the rules. That gives an idea of the 'problem'. If all those boats then cruise around in circles to comply with the rules it doesn't really solve much at all. There are hundreds of awful boats from the 1970's onwards that should have depreciated to their scrap value and disappeared but they still have a value as somewhere to live. There is an undeniable shortage of affordable housing and a lot of affordable boats. I signed the petition

I have put a few floors down in boats and the last one I did, in our boat, is ordinary floorboards with sections that lift with inset brass 'ring pulls'. It looks boaty and lets me get at the bottom of the boat. I would do it the same way again, it still looks good with a few rugs on top and I think that sealing off access to the bottom with layers of ply and stuff is not a good idea.

Oh very good!

Most of these things are obviously suspicious if not downright ridiculous but sometimes people do sell stuff below value for all sorts of reasons. Now if these people only learnt to spell properly and use a bit more common sense they would doubtless catch a lot of us who think we are too clever to be conned.

Just out of interest does anybody know what the constant velocity joints are from? My guess is Volkswagon transporter or something because they look similar, could save someone (me!)a few quid sometime in the future.

Yep. All true. depressingly perceptive.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161585579337?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 For information. Apologies if this contravenes advertising rules and purists might be appalled.

I would be happy with an overplated boat, with a few extra checks but I would be worried if the original plating was rusted to nothing, like the sills of a car, I would be worried about water getting between the plates from the inside. If the plating, original as well as doubling, is rusting from the inside as well as the outside this is a Bad Thing. Having said that though, if the original plating is good for 20 years plus, the overplating for 15 years plus then that is pretty good and then it can be replated and start all over again.