basalt

I presume 'batteries' - my father in law has the report so some of these are almost certainly simply recommendations until I actualy read it myself. Prior to us taking it on the batteries were completely loose on the floor so I don't see how it passed last time.

I'm not complaining about the examination or the safety scheme - just my irritation at having missed minor things. I'm not going to bother querying any of it - life's too short for such pedantry, I'll just do it. The scheme is there for a good reason after all. I wasn't there when the inspection was done or I would have just moved the battens there and then, it would have taken a few minutes . So another inspection fee to pay? I do find the discrepancy between the boat requirements and what's required in a house quite suprising - I don't think my gas has ever been inspected you can't get out of the house without a key which would be a big no if there was a requirement to provide a fire escape.

Dammit, I spent a lot of attention on the things we were doing to the boat and making sure they complied - electrics check out fine, and I made life considerably simpler but getting rid of the gas appliances and opting for a spirit fueled hob instead so it's annoying to have missed minor things. We got stung on these - Battery compartment not labelled and he'd like to see the battons holding them put slightly higher up - fair enough Fire escape not signed - really? that one suprised me, I can understand it on a hire boat but on a private boat it seems like putting up a fire escape notice in your own home. I presume are these recent changes to the scheme? - the boat had a current BSS cerificate when we bought it, my fault for assuming things we hadn't done work on would still be ok. All easily rectified but am I going to have to pay another inspection fee to get the certificate?

So when the novelty of the glass wears off....Useful to know that. Cost us a grand in total not including the surround. I had asked the boatyard to just make the holes and collar and let me install the flue myself, thankfully they didn't listen - due to the small size of the boat and the curvature of the roof, the flue goes in at a really wierd angle so needed a custom made elbow joint and collar. The info says the stove isn't suitable for charcoal - not that I was thinking of using it but I wonder why as surely wood ends up as charcoal after a certain amount of time in the burner anyway.

It's been a while - our little boat held very little appeal over the winter without any heating and with somewhat leaky windows but the debate with the inlaws was won just as the pipsqueak became impossible to get hold of so we are now the proud owners of a Faversham stove. Turns out it's a great little stove, fits into the same surround space as the pipsqueak would have done ( good job too since built the surround before ordering the stove ) - about 3kw which is ideal for us and provides me with a steady supply of cheese toasties done on the top. Haven't tried it overnight yet as I haven't build the bed but it seems decently controlable. The only downside is the lack of a window to give that nice warm orange glow but we can live without that and might see about adapting the door one day so we can fit one.

The way they'd set the pipe ( though it was never connected ) we had quite a lot of elbow joints where a bend would suffice and worse - T joints blanked off with crimped pipe to replace elbows. I was under the impression that the feed pipe had to be free from joints - these would be behind panelling when it's all done.

I know a boat will be a never ending project I wouldn't be happy if it got all fixed and all we had to do was relax and potter. We know the hull is in good condition and the engine fine, that's all we bought it on the basis of. I'll check out the Capt Tolley's - looks ideal, thanks for that, Once we've got things livable inside we can concentrate on the really important bits - such as the under-seat cocktail cabinet

Well, four weeks we've had the boat and though we knew it needed a fair bit of work we've rapidly discovered someone else's half finished work is a harder job than starting from scratch needing much strong language and shouts of "what were they thinking?". Electrics now functional - if not pretty, but we can put the lights on, start the engine and sound the horn. Wires will be covered later when we're sure we don't need to do anything else. Water - can't get the top off the tank filling port, it's been painted shut for years and all a blow torch, spanner and mallet have achieved is spoiling a patch of paint. For the moment we'll run a hose through the window but I've replumbed with new tubing and stuck a load of disinfectant in the tank Gas, harumph - I should have checked the regs first - spent an afernoon on my back checking all the joints, discovering some were tightened to the point of cutting the pipe and fixng them before realising we're not allowed joints under the BSS so I'll have to redo the lot - and me a qualified lab gas user. But it does mean I can fit a leak detector whilst I'm at it. Windows - an exciting new problem to deal with! - external seals leaking - I'm not sure they were even sealed properly to start with. No option here except to botch them for the winter then get them off when the weather's drier and refit properly once we've rubbed down and repainted. Woodburner - we won the debate and I've got all the materials for the surround, now deciding on either a pipsqueak or a clarkes thames - we don't have a lot of space. Found a petrol can in one of the under seat lockers - I asked my poor wife to take it outside and work out whether it was petrol or diesel, it turned out to be stale pee in a decade or so we might be able to look back upon that incident and laugh. Dropped a Gopro camera over the side to see what's under the water - murk and the odd leaf apparently with the distant thumping of the neighbours engine. One day I'll stick some bait down and see if any fish show up. It seems like a lot to be done but a couple more weekends ought to sort it and we're enjoying giving a neglected boat a bit of TLC. We reckoned on a couple of grand to sort it out but it's lloking like we might actually get some beer money out of that budget It would be a lot harder without the helpful neighbours and encouragement to get a boat that's been sat empty for a couple of years back into service. Looking forward to taking a vast quantity of my finest bitter down there to share for New Year

From my point of view - no objection simply a joy in making things myself and understanding the processes involved in the production of an object (plus a total lack of organisation in remembering to buy things ). I'll always try to use commerical varnishes etc where it's important (eg on the boat timbers ) but if I'm making a small carving or a knife handle or something I gain a bit more satisfaction by going just that little bit further down the self made route. I don't see crafts made using commercial products as inauthentic or cheating but give me enough space and I'd be trying to make my own iron for the chisels too.

I use turpentine and beeswax with the addition of rosin to about 10% of the wax weight. If you can get or make it ,Birch tar makes a good addition as can a small amount of boiled linseed oil. The rosin leads to a harder finish and the others soften. I use the rosin/wax and birch tar on leather as well as wood.

Surely that would ruin the batteries . I have to admit I go out in Brm a lot and haven't seen any trouble around the boats but they look so vunerable.

I always tie back to the boat - it makes untying easier and keeps the spare length off the mud. Our boat's a ratty little 20 springer in need of work - next weekend's our first full weekend of sorting it out.

I know it's called mooring - just me being deliberately obtuse . We're just on the east side of Brantwood tunnel at Lyons so I rekon about three and half hours to the Mailbox from there - considerably longer in the Stratford direction I know - that's probably be a long weekend trip. I am thinking of getting a couple of padlocks & chains - if nothing else they act as a visible deterrent ( or a challenge....) Thanks for the info - looking forward to our first trip - once the water, electric and heating are remotely usable.

One of the appeals of having our tiny little boat is we're midway between Birmingham and Stratford, we like the idea of being able to chug into town, moor up, see a play/have a drink and potter back in the morning. Security bugs me though - It would seem all too easy for a bunch of louts to undo the mooring ropes/clamber all over the boat etc. Are problems common or do people generally find it's ok?