RosieP

Hi - I've messaged you

Thank you Peter for your detailed advice. I see the logic in your suggestion that people would generally want to accompany a boat move or else pay a professional such as Matty who had lots of references. Incidentally Matty moved my boat when we were novices and did a brilliant job. I'll look up the NBT. Thanks again.

Thanks for all the helpful thoughts everyone. I didn't really consider recommendations and a boat cv but that's a good idea (I've done all of the grand union and all of the Lee and stort). I suppose I didn't consider the more cynical interpretations of my offer, which was genuinely meant in good faith. My intention was that if anyone was remotely interested they could just get in touch and discuss the details with me over the phone including my experience, insurance perhaps what would happen in the event of damages etc. And if anyone felt this a too risky proposition they could just not take me up on it and pay someone instead. In response to those that suggested I just want a free Holiday, I suppose I do, doing something I enjoy which might also be beneficial to someone else who needs their boat moving. I don't really see the problem of offering this, since it is only an offer and this might suit some people given the wide range of circumstances of boaters. I've moved this thread to the crew swop section.

I'm keen to hear from anyone who needs their boat moving from A to B. I lived on a narrow boat between 2013 and 2017 and now on land but really miss boating and would love a week or so aboard. I thought there must be plenty of people who need their boat moving and can't do it themselves for whatever reason. I'm very experienced at handling and manoeuvring boats. Free service. I have limited holiday from work so am not very flexible on dates but happy to discuss your needs. Rosie

Ok good idea, I didn't spot that thread. Thanks

I'm keen to hear from anyone who needs their boat moving from A to B. I lived on a narrow boat between 2013 and 2017 and now on land but really miss boating and would love a week or so aboard. I thought there must be plenty of people who need their boat moving and can't do it themselves for whatever reason. I'm very experienced at handling and manoeuvring boats. Free service. I have limited holiday from work so am not very flexible on dates but happy to discuss your needs. Rosie.

Thanks everyone, that sounds sensible.

Hi all, We have put our boat up for sale privately not through a broker. We've had quite a bit of interest and an offer. What's a fair and secure process for selling a boat, particularly when more than one buyer is interested? I can't remember what we did when we bought her and were in in the buyers position but I remember nearly being stung by another sale, being confused and feeling at risk of losing money. I don't like being an estate agent! I think this might be fair; Accept first offer at the asking price Take a 10% deposit and agree terms for refund or not. Buyer does survey at their cost. If they decide not to buy the boat because it's not 'sold as seen' then we return deposit. Move onto next buyer. If they want to buy the boat but any necessary work to carry out, seller pays for this. Does this sound fair and reasonably secure for both parties? Thanks

Thanks everyone. The running pump was a red herring - no leak. As suggested by the previous posts the pump will run even when no water circulating. we took the pump apart and it was clogged up with rust and limescle - declogged and now we have water in the taps once again. Phew!

Hi, I've started a new topic as I had originally asked for advice about a burst pipe but now after some helpful advice I've found that isn't the problem its the water pump - water is going into the pump but nothing is coming out, despite the pump being activated. You can guess my next question - what is likely to be wrong with the pump? It is a SHURflo diaphragm pump - Aqua King. Looks to be 6 years old. The problem is now occurring after leaving the boat cold and drained for a week in freezing conditions. It has recently been playing up - takes about 5 seconds from tap opening to pump kicking in. It was getting so bad we had to start running bath tap (which is lower) in order to get water out of the kitchen tap. We are in a soft water area so possible limescale build up. All ideas would be very much appreciated. Thanks

Hiya, Thanks for all your replies. There is no evidence of any water in the bilge, either at the stern or mid-way down the boat. One possible clue is that the pump is still running even when we've isolated the tank at the stop cock, and so no water is running through the pump and it still activates. This shows that the pump running doesn't indicate water running out of the tank. Mike - my money is on your suggestion, frozen pipe feeding the pump and fingers crossed there's no other burst pipes.

Hello, I've just come back to my boat after a week away over Christmas. We are in the south east so no snow but freezing conditions. Before leaving we drained all water out of the taps, assuming this would drain the calorifer too. I am now trying to fill back up but I'm a bit concerned as the water pump has been going for about 2 hours and only deactivates when turned off. This makes me think we must have a leak somewhere and its pumping water into the hull. Or, I'm over worrying and its just taking a long time to refill the system. I stopped filling up the tank when it was about half full as I worried I was just pumping it straight out into the hull. It now sounds like the tank has gone down a lot when I tap it. Does anyone have any ideas how to get a good diagnosis? Thanks very much.

Thanks everyone, very helpful as usual.

We do have a bit of height to play with. Are you suggesting we can get 3 batteries in with smaller base and taller?

HI, Apologies if this is repetition, I have tried to find the answer elsewhere but I think this is one of those questions so obvious any answers to it have to be read between the lines. Our batteries are tired so we want to replace. The battery bank currently sits inside a metal 'casing' in the engine bay and will only fit two leisure batteries. Is there any way we can increase our capacity without increasing the number of batteries? Currently we have 110ah sealed batteries, can we replace with 135ah? (If it helps our output is generally low, lights and radio. I would like to run a 12v fridge for at least part of the day. We charge up with solar and engine on dull days) Thanks

Oh dear - would there be any further signs if I have wrecked it? It still starts fine and there were no warning lights or buzzers at all. It seems it probably is time to get a proffesional out, Thanks again...

.... hopefully a crisis averted, then.... Great explanations Mike and Bottle I'm afraid I did run the engine quite a bit (maybe a whole day) - hope it hasn't done too much damage. Thanks Matty - I'll give you a ring if we've more problems. Surprisingly, this is the first one we've had since this time last year...

Thanks very much all. That makes much more sense now. Can I just ask: if the belt came off, would that have caused the overheating by stopping the water in the cooling tank circulating? If so, is there necessarily an airlock there at all? Or could the absence of the belt be the sole cause of the problem? I'm in central London at the min, so it hopefully won't be too much trouble to find someone. If it is just a case of replacing a belt,and bleeding the tank, though, is that something I'd need to call someone out for? Is the engine repeatedly overheating likely to have caused further problems I don't know about? Thanks again for the help....

Hi there, I would like some advice on what I think is an overheating engine. The engine is a keel cooled Mitsubishi 414. We stopped after about 10 minutes cruising because of steam coming from the engine. This was about a week after doing an 8 hour cruise with no problems at all. We found that one of the water pipes (not sure if its inlet or outlet – the bottom one into the thermostat housing) from the thermostat housing had broken (cause unknown). We made a temporary fix with some hosing and went on our way again after topping up the water in the engine. The engine then cut out due to over heating with steam coming out of the water-cap. At this point our domestic hot water tank was not being heated via the engine any more (whereas there had been no problems with this before). After repeated stopping and starting we pulled up for the night. The next day we tried taking the thermostat out in case that was causing problems but the engine still seemed to be getting very hot and it was still the case that no hot water was making it through to heat the domestic hot water tank. Possibly unrelated and possibly not the belt which turns to make electricity also snapped at some point. Also possibly unrelated the engine had just been serviced! Please help!

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. I've had a look and there is very little rust so we're not going to treat (but make sure we can still get under the floor. Now to get on with laying the flooring!

Hi everyone, I am laying a new engineered wood floor and wondered if it would be a good opportunity to check the condition of the hull under the floor. There is currently chipboard screwed down but I can easily unscrew (I think). Is it worth me doing this, and if I do, what sort of condition would I want the hull to be in. i.e. would it ever be worth me rust treating the inside of the hull and painting over? From the bilge access point it looks pretty dry and a little bit rusty. I also presume there is some ballast but don't know what or how much. Thanks

Hi all, I am a bit stumped by a plumbing problem. We have hot water in the calorifer but the water coming out of the taps is cold. The hot water in the calorifer is heated by both the engine and the alde boiler and both seem to be heating it fine.the water coming out of the hot taps is clean and smells fine. We have had some recent issues with our engine cooling system whereby the thermostat wasn't opening and various hoses were leaking and hot feed perished and 4l of air bled from skin tank. We think this is fixed now (does presence of hot water in calorifer after a cruise prove this?) so I don't think issues with engine cooling system is causing our problem. But others might know better! Thanks all

Thanks very much everyone

Upon more careful reading, the Thames isn't an option over winter (thanks Leo). Any reason why I wouldn't the Grand Union route, going down the Hatton flight when its reopened on 22nd of Dec. How trustworthy are these dates? Thanks all.

Thanks to all those who replied. All very helpful. I will have a look at the alternative route.