Serendipity

Worse still spirit vinegar! This week Waitrose have got soft herring roes in - I had them dusted in flour and gently fried in butter, also with some delicious bread

Great - thanks both very much.

Can't work out what I would use to connect 15mm speedfit to the 3/4 internal diameter braided hose coming from the water pump. The water pump is a flojet with the barbed outlet connector that locks into the pump body, so have to use that. Cheers

You don't need to get the bowl of the tank, just off the column it sits on which contains the ball valve and water lever. It's held in place with a giant jubilee clip, and the whole job will be twenty minutes. Kit contains a gasket and a seal, and differs depending whether your loo has an overflow or not. Be sure you put the right bit in first (the seal), then the gasket.

14 years on my car now, but it did show signs of being tired last winter - think I'll coax it through this one and try and make 15!

Does the Globe Surfer have an aerial socket, or do you have the 'pad' type strapped to it. Also, do you run it on 12v? (I've found the manual, but doesn't help with these) Cheers

How about simply using a 110-240V transformer?

Thanks for that. Any idea what the screw on the top is for? I can't take any better pictures as she's back in the water now. I didn't think the play was excessive, but I guess they are concerned what it might be after being disturbed. I think I'm just gong to get them to replace the rubber tube, and then if they find a problem whilst doing it then we'll get the whole lot changed. ETA - Same pics, but they might be clearer viewing at source:- (That's a tiny mussel on the left side of the hull flange)

Hmmm - two at that price with one controller would be fantastic. Do you know if it is mono or multi crystalline and the size to help with verification of the stats?

Can I have the sellers details please Seriuosly, if you can do better than £1/watt you are doing well. so if that really is 275 watts at £45 + £95 for controller great. What is the seller using it for - perhaps you can get advice on their controller?

Yes, stick with your existing setup, and parallel a new MPPT controller for the higher voltage panel.

Well it says it will take 60v input, so it should do. How much can you get the panel for? (for cost comparison with a 17v one)?

Well a bit more than that surely. Additionally the 'proper' ones will take much higher voltage arrays and drop them down to the system voltage, upward adjusting the amp output. ie 17v panels need only an 'ordinary' controller for 12v systems, and will lose the benefit of the spare volts over 14.4v, but if you put an MPPT controller in you get a few more amps out for the extra few volts over 14.4V. And here is the additional bit - if you need to match much higher voltage panels to 12v you need MPPT which again converts the extra volts to more amps at 12v system levels.

Good thinking - I'll forget that idea.

Valuable advice thank you. Co-incidentally a 3010 boiler came up on eBay early afternoon today (I have a search in case a spare for my old one comes up cheaply locally), and he suggested "a clever little trick is to connect the outlet of the calorifier (where the hot water comes out) to the inlet of the 8.4L tank, then the outlet of the 8.4L tank to your hot water system. This would mean that you will always be able to get 8.4L of hot water quickly whilst you're waiting for the larger calorifier to heat up." Might have some merit?

8 litres is far to little to consider using that feature. TRV's are a nice simple option, which I might consider, but then the thought of water being heated in the summer for hot water use only going up and down the length of the boat will result in heat loss. I've considered the heat exchanger option, but think it will be cheaper just to put the engine through a second coil? However, I'd get radiator heat in the winter if I did go the exchanger route. Needs weighing up.

Don't know about the voltage spec, but if it's correct you'll need an MPPT controller to drop it down. (And make sure the spec of the MPPT handles that input voltage, as the cheap ones don't). That may be justifiable for a several panel setup, but not one.

Perfect thank you. That's the way I will go, and I might give some thought to a control stat stuck to the calorifier. I had read about the non copper requirements, I'm also considering the heated skirting covered in another thread, and as that's aluminium that's looking like a viable option too. By the way, how did you find out it was better to include at least one rad in the 'non rad' circuit? Cheers

Many thanks for that Dor, very encouraging and just what i was hoping. What size calorifier do you have it connected to?- there will be two to three showers taken at a time. Julian

Thanks. I have the older one too, CH only with a Rinnai for hot water. I have loved the simplicity of the Alde for several years. Now looking at a new build liveaboard, but want to think of the best/most efficient way of providing summer hot water. Don't want to have a Rinnai/Paloma on any of the walls, although I suspect they are the cheapest option to run. Summer solar means I don't have to run the engine to charge the batteries and get heat that way. Don't want an unreliable diesel heater, can't/won't afford a Kabola at £4k plus much as I would like it. The new Aldes have a good reputation, and are much more efficient than the old, hence wondering if anyone heats their water this way in the summer and can give me a ball park on consumption.

I'm considering the Alde as a backup to solid fuel, and I like the idea of it also providing instant hot water in the summer, but at 8 litres it is very small capacity, and I know from here some don't connect this feature and simply put the heating circuit through a calorifier. This sounds a good idea for summer using isolators from the rads, and using the timer so it heats the calorifier morning and again in the evening. Wondering if anyone has any experience of using it this way, and how much gas they get through in the summer. Cheers

Yes, and that tube seems to have a little movement within the flange on the hull, but whether by design who knows. If you rotate the prop you hear a rubbery groan/squeak, so I reckon there is a rubber or is it neoprene cutlass bearing inside. Actually it's not too bad getting a rope off the prop, though I did crack a rib as I was laying across the hospital silencer to do it No, deffo not.

Sorry about the quality, taken last night in the shed. Long story short - my rubber tube on my stuffing box needs replacing. The yard reckon there is a little play on the prop and are concerned about what they find when the shaft is removed. They would prefer to cut out and replace with a traditional unit, but apparently they don't come in the size of my shaft. So new shaft, centerflex, stuffing box, shaft bearing and prop. Apart from a small amount of play on the prop shaft, it seems to me that the log containing the prop shaft is separate to the hull flange and has some play within this. Is this by design? What is the screw for on the top? If anyone can identify this for like replacement, or service details, it'll save me a shed load. Cheers

Doh - Why not indeed. Begs the question why have the two anyway?

Viewed a boat we're interested in purchasing over the weekend which has a macerator loo and stainless steel tank under the bed, the width of the bed, two feet wide, and about 18 inches high. The (single) owner reckons to get two months out of it. I noticed there was no rinse out on the hull, so I was wondering if this was usual and how to clear any sediment that would accumulate over time (or perhaps the take off is lower than my underfloor dump through tank, and so ensures complete emptying on this type of set up?), and whether the time estimate was realistic? I've done a quick calculation, and seems to me about 90-100 gallons which is prob same as my dump-through which lasts two of us 3-4 weeks.