rbateman

Hi all, Would anyone be able to recommend someone who'd be able to fit a kitchen on a widebeam based in London? I've just moved to a permanent mooring and decided to get someone in to take on the job (been getting it rebuilt over the last few years, taking on bits and pieces myself where I could). Ideally I'm hoping to get it done here on the mooring, before winter kicks off, though I may be being optimistic there. Anyway, any thoughts or recommendations warmly welcomed! cheers, Ryan

Hey all, In early January I bought an older widebeam (built in '74) that I'm currently in the midst of restoring. At the time, the boat was held in Shepley Bridge marina in Yorkshire, where (after the sale) the marina offered to black both the exterior and interior of hull (at a recommendation by the guy who undertook the safety survey.) Now, 6 months later, I've reached the point where I'm ripping up floorboards and rebuilding the interior, only to find that the the interior blacking they did consists of only as much as you can see when you lift the small hatches in the floor. Combined with pipes that water pipes that burst while the boat was in their care (the temperature caused them to burst - something I looked past at the time, as I wasn't sure whether it was firmly their responsibility to keep the boat warm during the sale), there are now various spots of rust throughout interior. This isn't a terrible problem - a big of grinding and painting - but I find it incredibly angering that something I paid for was, at best, half done. So, I was wondering whether anyone had any similar experience with them and whether they were known for doing this or whether it was something else. In every other respect, they seemed more than accommodating (going so far as to give me a hand moving the boat an hour or two upriver), so I'm not sure how far I should take this. Any thoughts or experience appreciated, Ryan The Dark Horse

Hi all, I'm just about to purchase two of these solar panels and was wondering whether anyone had any experience with mounting something similar on their roof and was able to recommend where best to get screw-down / secure mounts? I had a search through old posts and, while many discuss various options for securing solar panels or discuss building their own frames, no-one seems to have mentioned actually purchasing frames from a given site and how they found the experience of installing it (unless I missed a post somewhere). Thanks as ever for any thoughts or experience. Ryan

Dean, do you mind if I ask where you got your cabling and mounting frames? I'm hoping to order the exact same setup in the next day or so.

That looks about right. Thanks, guys - appreciate the personal experience and help.

Hi all, Had a search but couldn't seem to find a decent search term that yielded a result, so I was wondering: what's the best method for securing pictures frames? Some people have mentioned double-sided tape, but the links in results were dead and these frames are quite large(30cm x 20cm), so I was hoping for some live links and personal experience. Ideally the solution would be without having to drill into the frames, but that's possibly just wishful thinking on my part. Thanks in advance! Ryan

Thanks. They were £80 each. I don't have the dimensions to hand (but I can get them in a short while if necessary.)

I bought three 110AH Dual Purpose 12v batteries without thinking to ask what type of battery they are. They seem to be sealed (i.e. no place to top up water) and don't have any branding, though what labels they do have seem pretty similar to the Lucas brand of batteries. When setting up my charger and battery monitoring system, though, I need to know what kind they are - would it be safe to assume they're gel-based? Thanks!

I had been mixed up - it's a BMC 2.5. The good news is that I got it working in the end with a little help. It required a little priming and the diesel was a little low, but after all that it wasn't starting mostly just due to my inexperience. Tomorrow will be the first outing - moving it to where I can get it transported. Wish me luck!

Yeah, I've checked - I do have one and it seems to be down, so it should be working.

I noticed - I tend to shoot with "you guys" as a catch-all, just because it's the phrase I grew up with. I'll try to go with "you guys and gals" in future.

Ha. Fair point, though the marina owner seems like a nice enough bloke (already offered to run me through the locks for free to show me how it's done right.) If he starts mentioning cost, I'll back away and take Dave up on his offer (in exchange, of course, for a few pints.) You guys are the best.

Yep, it's this kind. I've left the key in that state for a good two minute before trying to crank it. It may just be a cold engine, but I worry that it's something like the diesel being off (which I don't know how to check) and that I'll do some damage to the engine. For the moment I don't need it - I can charge from the car-battery charger with land power - but I'm going to try finding the marina owner who's run it before and ask him to take a look.

As best as I can tell - there's a switch on the ignition board that's turned to On. I've given it a few minutes before I've tried to turn it over for the glowplugs to heat up, as I've been told that's necessary with the old BMCs.

From what I can tell it's a car-battery charger. Will have to look into getting a 3 stage. Yep, have a relatively good idea of how the alternator works. The engine doesn't want to seem to catch, though, but it turns over fine. I'm going to have to ask for some help with that from the marina owner I think.