sassan

There's a few hundred boats in the harbour, would take a little time to find mine. There's a pretty secure security gate, watchful neighbours and my doors are well secured, I think it'll be fine. Also, there's bugger all of value on it except the engine, and good luck getting that out without a crane! Have edited it though, since it's reasonable advice.

The wording of the article is a little misleading. I think that by "only suitable for the high voltage electrode", they mean only suitable for the anode.

Craftinsure have just got back to me and confirmed that I am allowed to use an oil filled heater in this manner. For the benefit of anyone else with craftinsure, I quote my email and their response below. I think I'll be going with this one: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4152318.htm as the only cheaper one argos has lacks a thermostat. Thanks to all for your advice.

Thanks for the advice, I'll give it a quick check. Edit: I've checked my policy (craftinsure) and there's no mention of any such condition, I'll shoot them an email.

Since we're away for a couple of weeks over Christmas, we've arranged for friends to feed our cat. However, we're worried about the poor chap getting cold without a fire. As a result we're looking for a heater that can either run at a low level constantly, or on a timer. A timer is easy enough to arrange, but we require something safe for unattended use, ie: very low fire risk (including if stuff falls on it). I'm thinking that perhaps something oil-filled would be the best choice, since there's no exposed heating element. I'd ideally be looking for something as small and cheap as possible, as it's only getting 2 weeks of use per year. We have a shoreline, over winter, so electricity usage is not critical (although naturally we'd prefer to keep it low). How would you folks approach this problem? Do you have any recommendations for a suitable heater?

Looks like it's tough enough to survive going over a weir ok! If I had it I'd just walk downstream every night until I found it again

I would say that if you could prove that they knowingly deceived you into having a survey done on an unfit boat, just banking on the small possibility that the surveyor wouldn't check then you would be able to claim the money back off them in court. And hang on, one more point, was it Whilton Marina that you paid for the lift? Seek legal advice, make whoever you ask for advice aware that you can get copies of both the surveys (the previous surveyor will usually be happy to send you a copy of the survey they did for a fee).

I'd advise having either legs or runners on the bottom, reduces the amount of nastiness that accumulates underneath. If the box is flat on the roof, you can end up with it being moist under there all the time and causing mould/rust/rot.

Top tip: gold anodes eventually pay for themselves due to the very low level of corrosion they exhibit! Also, paint over them for additional longevity! Mine have outlived my last 8 boats!

We've got the same with ours. It goes away in spring and returns in autumn! It does mean that the double glazing isn't behaving optimally (or maybe it was never intended to be evacuated double glazing). You should carefully consider the balance between the cost of replacement/repair and the cost of extra fuel used for the heat lost (hundreds of quid on new windows will take a long time to pay for itself, but it's your choice). One possibility someone suggested to me was to repair the seals yourself, and although your dodgy work will be no good for vacuum, it may be enough to keep water out in future. Also, we've just added window insulation film to our windows, will report back on whether it's worthwhile. Certainly cheaper than (although I can't imagine it being anywhere near as effective as) new double glazed windows.

Weld large tanks to the side. Pump water in for low bridges, out for shallow sections. Shallow with low bridge? oh dear.

I built one this summer, old car radiator painted black, small barrel, cheap (£4) 12V pump and some garden hose and fittings. Saved a lot of complexity by not connecting it to my existing hot water system, You just fill it with water using a valve, leave it half an hour, turn the pump on, leave it another ten minutes and then the garden hose spray nozzle delivers water to shower or sink (hose through window). Works well in summer, but I'd like to encase the radiator in glass and insulate the barrel to increase the number of days where I can use it. Redneck engineering at its finest.

If you don't find enough takers on here, I'm sure there'll be canal restoration trusts that'd love a job lot of them.

You ever spent time around goats? I guarentee you they'd be worse than he was. No washing line is safe! That bitumen soaked paintbrush CAN'T taste good, why the hell are you eating it? When my ropes get chewed through and I get swept over a weir to my death, I'm blaming you. Cows on the other hand basically just eat vegetation.

The back door doesn't look like much of the exhaust gas would get in, I'm guessing that the exhaust blows sideways. I'd certainly whack a carbon monoxide detector inside the door for safety.

I agree with being considerate to others, and with building good relationships with the community, I just don't believe that keeping a boat tidy is really that critical a part of this. I do agree that avoiding causing a nuisance in the form of noise or pollution is very important, however. Personally, I'm always intrigued by untidy and vernacular structures (both land and water), that's a matter of personal taste. On the K&A where I spend much of my time, although many of the boats are somewhat untidy (mine included, it's a good looking boat, but my roof is generally a mess), the local land-based residents seem to be largely friendly and to enjoy visiting the towpath and having a chat while walking by. There's always a few who disapprove, anywhere, but my point is that canals don't have to be sterile environments full of well-maintained boats to be a popular attraction and a benefit to the area. Edit: To be honest, the thing that most annoys me is the idea of someone reporting a fellow boater to the navigation authority before speaking to the owner themselves.

I'm of the opinion that a person's right to keep their home however they please far trumps any business or political needs.

I agree that we should be considerate, but I don't see how the appearance of my boat relates to that. The only possible exceptions I can think of would be if my boat was decorated with graphic pornography, or racist text.

Just cheat, get close, jump off with rope, pull it in.

And what exactly is it that makes the appearance of someone else's boat any business of yours? Snobbery and bigotry, pure and simple. On a side note, round my way that boater would probably be mocked for an excessively shiny and tidy boat.

I should be ashamed at the fact that this sounds awesome and I'm considering it, shouldn't I? Maybe it's the 4 beers at lunch...

Ducklings also make use of them.

If you're blacked in bitumen then just paint over the scratches with that. You could use some rust converter and maybe a little primer first if you like. For epoxy, it's probably more complicated.

There was a story in Trowbridge a couple of years ago about a kebab shop being burgled. It ended with "Wiltshire police request that members of the public contact them immediately if they are offered kebab meat in suspicious circumstances".

And you'd quite like another ride on it, admit it!