Peteonthelee

Took the flue pipe out - after a very little wiggle I have to say. So looks a simple case of putting in flue to collar - there is a moderate amount of rust in the collar. I thought I would scrape this out and then maybe put some sort of sealant/adhesive where the flue runs into the collar - there does not seem to be space between the collar and a 5 inch flue as the old flue was tight in (going back to Dave's point about not being captive in the collar - not sure this is avoidable) Pete

Thank you all for that input - I am going to knock out the existing bit of flue going up to the collar and see the condition of it all -Hopefully it will be a relatively simple case of replacing the flue and then sealing properly as some have advised

Hi - no pic at present but there is about 30cm of flue pipe coming into the boat itself so not the collar (I don't think).

Any tips??? am attempting to fit a new stove - I have kept the old part of flue going through the roof and am looking to attach a new flue to the old part left inside the boat. Has anyone done this before? The main issue I have I think is matching the right diameter of old flue to the new. I was looking to put some cementone where the flues attach as well as a brace (jubilee clip thing) around the two to hold together.

I did think about doing that then figured the boards have been well exposed to all sorts of weather and decided they did not need it -time will tell……..

as requested

Thank you all for your replies - sorry I did not get back before - I decided to go ahead with the boards - and I have to say - they look damn good!! Not easy but not too hard.

Does anyone have any major objections to laying old or new scaffold boards directly onto metal bearers? I will be putting a barrier in between the wood and the metal - I have been advised the stuff they use in brick laying as a damp proof layer. Also I will probably caulk in between the boards to allow some expansion/contraction room. Any responses gratefully received.

Well yes I borrowed an ultrasound machine and the readings are very good i.e 7.8 to 8+mm so I think that is all good - I am actually less worried about the hull now so. I have used aqua steel rust eater/converter. Many thanks

OK - more of an update - I think the water in the hull was due to an old leak that was not dealt with properly at the time and covered over - including replacing the water tank and just putting it on top of rotten ply! The hull has dried out really well but I have not taken out the flooring under the water tank - I think I will have to do this - unavoidable. But there will be certain parts where I will not get to the hull - i.e under the floor of the toilet/shower room which is adjacent to the water tank divided by a partition wall. I am going to put rust eater down over the whole hull after scraping all the loose stuff. QUESTION - would there be any problem in not doing the bit under the toilet floor? Obviously this will not be as protected.

many thanks - will check - not around for a week or so - will post update…...

So the plot thickens - now it appears I may have a leak on the boat but am not sure where it is coming from. I have attached pics of the wettest spot found so far. I do not see how this could be caused by condensation and the previous owner assures me there was not any significant damp areas and certainly no wet areas. Would this level of rusting and wetness caused major alarm for anyone? How worried should I be? He did have a leak from the tank. He replaced the tank with the one in the pic - I think you can see the tank has been put on wood boards that sit across two bearers - the floor board below is clearly rotten and wet. As I have progressed from the bow of the boat the flooring has worsened in that it was more rotten and wetter. The previous owner had done some work in the shower - this may be leaking but cannot access the piping. The other possibility is a leak from the new tank but I am cants see any 'active' leak. The final conundrum is that he has an old toilet tank which has not been used for years and I found today that this had 3 inches of water in it. The tank is open so you can put your hand in it and the water was fresh water. I cannot see how this could be the source of the leak but at this point I am really not sure. I suspect this may be a difficult thing to resolve on here but any ideas would be useful. Thanks again Pete

Thanks everyone. Again all very helpful. Why would you not put floorboards straight onto the metal stiffeners? Is it a question of more airflow underfoot? also there is not much space in between the flagstones for insulation but I could put some on top of the flags - would that be ok if it fills the gap between the flags and the flooring? Cheers

So the investigation into the damp patch showed the patch was the whole floor - see pics. There is still a bit more to take up but as far as I can see the hull is dry. Could this all be down to condensation? So my decision was made for me - now my question is are there any problems associated with putting e.g reclaimed scaffold boards directly down onto the metal stiffeners maybe with some insulation under the boards as there was none done originally. I have included a picture of the space between the ballast and the skirting. I think this can be filled with some other skirting? If I go down directly on the stiffener this will create a gap. From the picture with all the boards up you can see the bulkhead. I may just take the new floor up to the bulkhead but not under it - I will get a chippy in to see what's possible I guess. Beyond the bulkhead new ply has been lain down - I think I will have to take all this up too but that may depend on what the chippy advises. The first picture shows the space under the bow area - this is marginally damp but actually not too bad - I think I may be able to leave this? Any thoughts will be again gratefully received and sorry if that is too many questions. Pete

Ok. I did end up buying the boat…. and am now a little worried. On first inspection of the flooring there is a big very damp patch at the bow entrance door. I have only taken part of it up as I wasn't sure whether to continue to pull it up or not. It appears that the damp is coming from below the flooring as the undersurface was very wet and rotten. So the question I have is what do you think may have caused such a degree of damp and effectively rotting of the ply flooring boards? Any ideas of things to check would be gratefully received. I am going to pull up the rest of the affected board later today and I am crossing my fingers I do not come across anything too sinister.

Hello Neil I am in that vicinity all being well. How can I contact you? Peter

Thanks again all. Much for me to chew over. I will take up the floor myself and just cross my fingers that the base ply is solid looking and no damp parts!!

Thank you all for your replies. This has helped a lot. My question has been answered re both potential options of taking the whole floor up or just the laminate top - many thanks.

Thank you all for such quick replies. Much appreciated. I am thinking I will just replace the existing floor above the base ply? Which I think should be ok. I was toying with taking it all out to create more headspace as I am 6ft 4 but I think this sounds like too big a job. Could you foresee any issue with removing the existing laminate top floor? There are actually 2 layers of decorative flooring so this should give me an extra inch by taking them out and replacing with one.

I am about to buy a old semi trad. I want to replace the flooring throughout and put in a new kitchen. I will be based in Sawbridgeworth (border of Essex and Herts). Any recommendations of workers that can do this? I would love to do it myself but time wise is a struggle. Cheers Pete

Thanks for that I will check it out and let you know how I get on

That seems good advice. I have exactly the same problem with brand new batteries - the first night to test them out fully we watched TV all night (about 4-5 hours) and had the fridge on as well as lights etc and come bedtime and the next morning the charge in the batteries was still healthy i.e above 12.2V.Since then despite running the engine for 2-3 hours on some days they have not held as much charge. Last night the charge was 12.46 when I got back to the boat when it was dark so no solar, I ran the engine for 40 mins and at the end of that the charge was 12.35!! I am a complete novice - how do I find the alternator??? Pete Sir Nibble Does it matter how much different the readings are ? If the reading from the terminal warning light to casing is only slightly higher does this still indicate a positive diode failure? Cheers

On this point I have just replaced all my domestic batteries. I now have a bank of 4 110ah and before I had 100ah. I did not look at this discussion board beforehand (unfortunately) and just removed each battery one at a time. When I used the Webasto heater again it made some weird noises, then didn't work, then did work on a couple of occasions and now seems not to be working again. Any ideas?