Captain Fizz

The pub business is going through a really difficult patch with a constant stream of closures. Sometimes though, you just despair. Called in for lunch yesterday at The Old Royal Oak at Hillmorton Wharf. We joined the queue to order food and after a 15 minute wait, finally made it to the front. The young lady serving apologised for the delay and started to take our order. Ham and eggs Sorry runout of ham. Classic burger. Sorry run out of beef burgers Finally settled on Cod and chips x 3 We then waited for 45 minutes before it arrived. Serving food on a huge plate does not make it a large portion, it just makes it difficult to fit three meals on a small table! The fish was over cooked and dry. All together a very underwhelming experience that we will not be repeating.

Yep, it's great when you make a complete pig's ear of a manoeuvre that you do loads of times.

One of the main advantages of helmet over hand shield, is that you have a hand to hold bits when tacking. Also, usefull to steady your welding hand in tight locations. Has anyone tried "Tig Fingers". They are a heat proof shield like a finger stall that fit over the glove. They enable you to rest your guide hand really close to the weld site on those fiddly little tight spots.

You will be fine with those dimensions but you will definitely want the larger engine and make sure it is 4stroke. Don't forget, you will need to get a licence and a boat safety certificate. Shouldn't think so. 18inches minimum with keel up.

It is unwise to own a boat constructed from dead vegetables!

Oil and filter at 150hrs engine and gearbox.

Slightly off topic, but does anyone know where I can get a viscosity cup? Or the dimensions for making one.

It really does depend on what you want from a mooring. Some marinas offer fantastic and immaculate facilities with superb shower blocks and club rooms. Others are just the basics. At 45ft you should have quite a bit or choice. All I would say, is visit plenty and talk to boaters on site to get a true picture.

Have a great weekend all, we would have loved to have made it and put some faces to names but grandparently duties called.

Really? Name these marinas please.

I don't think anyone is trying to negate other peoples experiences. However, if a bit of a problem and inconvenience over a mooring is the worst that life has to throw at you, you ain't doing bad!

Biggles, stop making sensible suggestions, it will never catch on.

Engine mounts installed and prop shaft alignment reset. A quick trip up to the Hillmorton winding hole and back for a test run. All nice and smooth and a bit quieter.

Having broken two engine mounts in as many weeks, I have spent today making two new ones. Redesigned and much stronger I shall fit them tomorrow and check the alignment.

We are moored here and generally happy. It is true that it is still a work in progress but we knew this before we signed up. The roads are rough but not just mud. The fueling/pump out berth is crushed hardcore but is fairly level. The steel piling has a timber facing which will accept a set of mooring chains so, mooring is not really a problem. As for the wind, that's not under the control of the owners! I do not know what experiences people have had in the past and can only relate how I have found it. The owners are doing their best to progress things and hope to make a start on the services building in the spring. I'll keep you all posted.

It is through problems that we all get to learn the systems on our boats. It's easy when you have built it from scratch but when you are dealing with previous owners "modifications" it can be very frustrating.

The link works fine, that's a lot of trailers. My welding was mostly hp steam pipe work but I have built a couple of trailers in my time. Nothing like your numbers. These days it's boats and general fabrication.

If you have your old pistons, worth trying South London Pistons, they can usually match most up.

It always makes me grin when people start a reply with "Listen". But, it did peek my interest enough to make me take a look at your blog Kev. Love the motor home conversion, terrific standard. But you state that you were unable to make the tow bar because your welding set was at the boat and required a mini digger to lift it out! Where was your cheap set? Or did you just want to get a decent weld. I bet you use an auto welding helmet and that your chipping hammer is not made of plastic. Come on, an inexperienced welder will struggle like mad to get a decent weld out of such a cheap set.

I think it is caused by the inertia of all the fenders with which they are usually festooned!

Sound advice from Nicknorman. It is worth the money,(not expensive) to use the proper cutters for plastic pipe so that you get a clean cut without any scoring. Fit a skin fitting for discharge and forget an expansion vessel. Current thinking on Legionella is 20-45 celcius so you could turn down the thermostat some if you wish.

And this is the difficulty. When you buy fuel, you have no idea how it has been stored and how clean it is. Probably the yards that have a hire fleet have pretty fresh fuel due to high turnover, but it really is a bit of a lottery.

Where are you Chubby? There are many reasons why prv's play up. The pump pressure may be too high, the prv's spring may be tired. Prv's seating corroded or scaled and so the list goes on. As advised up thread, they should always be installed to discharge either out of the hull or into a pumped bilge. As also stated up thread, any expansion vessel needs to be stainless as the ones sold for heating systems are designed to run on a sealed system containing a corrosion inhibitor. Happy to give you a hand if you are not a million miles away. Cheers, Simon.

Either way, it would seem prudent to clean out the tank thoroughly. From what you say, it does indeed sound as if you have stirred up a load of crap which would be the case if you were filling from virtually empty. This is probably be an instance when fuel polishing will be beneficial.

Far from teaching you to stick weld, it will raise your blood pressure, frustrate you as you spend hours waiting for the thermal overload to reset and give you crap welds as the welding current floats all over the place. But apart from that, a great bit of kit!