RubyTuesday

Actually Zinga has been around for over 40 years! Lifespan prediction is quite possible to test and calculate in a lab now. Yes some people still use bitumen but that doesn't make it the best option. By "Plain epoxy" I mean a single type epoxy coat rather than a set of composite layers such as Primer, Undercoat and topcoat or Zinga, Primer and topcoat. Zinga has been used extensively in some very serious civil and marine engineering products, it's superiority as a means of protecting steel cannot be denied. It is on par with hot dip galvanising but a practical option for boat owners and large projects. It is also ideal for canal boats because of the way it deals with scratches and how it protect the steel even when exposed. It comes down to personal choice as to what someone puts on their boat, but it is not personal choice that dictates which is actually the better option. Seeing how many boats have to be overplayed and repaired due to rust, Zinga is an easy choice if you want to care for your boat long term. There is nothing wrong structurally with steel down to 3mm on a boat hull. Look at Springer Boats for example. Why use 6mm steel in an area that is not liable to mechanical stress? There you can use 3mm steel plate and save money and metal.

I must point out that plain epoxy on to bare metal is not even slightly similar to the Zinga followed by PU or (after a primer) Epoxy finish.They lifespan can't even be compared. Epoxy is cheap by square meter comparison to Zinga. I believe epoxy to be 7/8 times cheaper at £15/L and 5sqM/L so £3/sqM for epoxy and £25/sqM for Zinga. With that coating of Zinga you are looking at over 80 years of steel protection. Anyway, best is to take the boat out of the water get it replaced by a good metalworker then when the new steel is in get it prepared and coated as best budget will allow. If you can do the entire boats external hull! Then think of the saving and hassle of future, blacking and over plating ect!

It's all down to how good the person welding is, theory goes a wed with 100% penetration should be as strong as the metal. The problem is that that sort of quality weld rarely happens. You can all make your own minds up as to why. 3mm steel is strong. And as a hatch it isn't doing anything at 20cm below water level. The thinner plate at the counter will be because it will help balance against the weight of the engine (a bit) as the heaviest object in the boat is in the area with least displacement. (Unless you have a nice environmentally friendly, quiet and light weight electric motor!) If you want steel to last, get it blasted and coated in Zinga and then the relevant modern paints and you won't have to do any major re-blacking or over plating in the future. The up front cost is higher but the protection will last longer than us.

I have emailed TracPipe and as far as they are concerned: "Dear Mr Roberts Thank you for your email with regards to using TracPipe. TracPipe can be used in accordance with PD 54823 Guidance for the design, commissioning and maintenance of LPG systems in small craft (which has now replaced BS 5482-3)."

Except MTB knows what he is talking about and you should listen to him. I won't always say that... List because it is copper and pipe doesn't make it the correct thing to use. Read the standards and understand first. The £90 you spend on buying the document they are referring to could save your life and the life of your family/friends. Alternatively find a competent profestional (not always easy). Just because it has been seen on other boats does not make it correct also with limited knowledge misinterpretation of what you see is also quite possible.

If only that were true! its unlikely (unless your pump has active electronics) that there would be a short so I would look at it mechanically. Even if it's connections were submerged in water, it would not be the water that would make the breaker trip... Rust however...

Would fill a lot of baths! It's something I really miss

All in all, employing the correctly qualified gas engineer is top of my list, even if I can do it myself. I believe that BSS should require an appropriately qualified gas engineers safety certificate and a proper record of the work as and when it is carried out. Don't get me started about BSS and electrical installation.... Some of the gas instal on ours looks dodgy as **** and I will get it all changed prior to our BSS anyway. I've never seen so many elbow joints and end to end pipe joiners for three appliances! It's disgraceful. If it were up to me we wouldn't have gas on our boat but at the moment it is a practical option as the requirement for a good, reliable and hassle free shower is a non negotiable point!

We have always had Worchester Bosch boilers in all the buildings I have had connections to (family home, home and office) never had any issues. Not sure of the current model in my office. Of course as a repair techy you will only hear of the bad reviews, not the good. I have the same thing with my previous work.

Well as far as power goes, ours is as reliable as any house if not a little more as we are not grid reliant. They are not anything special from an electrical point of view but very convenient.We have never once had an issue with any of our condensing boilers in homes over the years, so I don't see them as anything scary.

Worcester Bosch state discharge into open drains and gully's but what is written in the building regs from what I have seen so far says that these must be part of the foul water drainage or mixed sewer. Still I find nothing specific to boats, I think fitting with a PH neutraliser is a reasonable route, more importantly is its effect on our water filtration system for filtering canal water that we use for drinking, ect.

But it can if it goes through a Ph neutraliser. It can go into limestone soak-away's and supposedly they have to be changed once a year, but I bet that never actually happens in most residences. This is because of the concentrated nature of only it going into the ground without dilution, also we are talking about boilers with much much bigger condensate discharge than that for a narrowboat. As they can be fed into the same plumbing as guttering, where does that actually go? From Thames Water: "surface water sewer carries uncontaminated rainwater directly to a local river, stream or soakaway. " So they have a pretty flimsy argument against it going into a canal from a boat. Fitting a PH neutraliser would be sensible so we will do that, last thing we need is to encourage corrosion on a steel boat! Just my findings and thoughts.

So, I have had a good look and I don't seem to be able to find anything about condensate discharge. There are PH neutralisers for condensate drainage. Building regs allow it into soak-aways And into rain water drainage... I wonder where that goes...

As far as I am aware as long at the controller can cope with the maximum PV voltage, the charge controller can be matched to the charge current capability of your batteries. The controllers current rating is the limit for how much current can be moved from the PV side to the Battery side. Just like any mains charger. It may connected to a 16A mains socket but only draw 10A, it doesn't go bang... Because of P=IxV the voltage will be high if the array is of higher Wattage but you are only drawing low current. So the wiring of the solar array must keep the open circuit voltage within the maximum working voltage of the charge controllers input. Solar charging is another good reason for Lithium batteries as they are 40% more efficient at charging and have a much lower internal resistance so can charge far faster... And utilise more of the Suns energy... Just saying...

Yes, in theory the 1000W will charge your batteries twice as fast as a 500W system. Get the most you can for the space that you have available for them. Panasonic have just released some very nice 330W modules (N330) but they are a devil to get hold of thanks to the solar cartel we seem to have. They are 1000mm wide and 1600mm long which fits nicely length ways along a roof of a narrowboat.