Sea Dog

Please tell me you don't make it with Uncle Ben's microwave rice...!

As I understand it, the theory is that if you hand prep after having bitumen blacking, their epoxy primer won't react with any residual bitumen 'stains'. This then acts as a good base for normal 2 pack epoxy which usually requires SA2.5 levels of prep.

Yes, £800 a pop iirc. He apparently went for portholes to "retain the traditional look", which I don't think is achieved by fitting huge, shiny black plastic-looking frames. Still, the idea of a thermal break in the frame appeals.

If you're gonna make risotto, then use arborio rice. I can't think of any reason to ever use Uncle Ben's, let alone microwave Uncle Ben's rice. Just say No!

What's occurring at Market Drayton? The once busy pontoons are now mostly empty and the evidence of much duck doos along their length suggests they have been for a fair while.

I have Daniel, yes, in June this year which was after 2 years. I have reported the results in one of these threads, but clearly not this one! The results were mixed. The bow was absolutely as new, well adhered and unscathed. Midships had picked up some battle scars with local whitening where the coating remained intact, but localised rusting where the scrape was through to the steel. Seeing the rusting scrapes below the waterline when in clear water prompted the haul out. The rust here was not serious though and the coating around it still mostly well adhered. However, I did find some areas where moisture had crept in, oddly particularly around the anodes where even though the finish looked good I was able to lift some patches. I had a supply of Jotamastic 90 on hand to complete repairs to the scrapes, but a. because of the moisture creep and b. because of the vulnerability to scrape damage (both cosmetically and brittleness) I decided to get busy with the power tools and then reblack using 3 coats of SML's Ballastic Black bitumen blacking. I just think this tends to smudge rather than shatter when it meets underwater nasties, hence for my use I went back to bitumen for DIY work. Whether the failings were as a result of my prep (bare metal, but not SA2.5 - this is the point of the primer) or the effectiveness of the SML epoxy primer I can't tell, although I can say I saw no evidence of weakness where I'd used Vactan in old pitting and scrapes. Lastly, apart from white scrapes, the Jotamastic 90 finish was still black, not grey.

Explore the internet? You can do that anywhere - having gone all that way, you really ought to explore Llangollen!

Worse are Tunnel Wraiths poking their icy hands through any open windows and scraping their nails along your woodwork in search of souls to ensnare. Never moor within a phantom horse ride of a tunnel!

I don't think Simon changed much that his dad had already got right. I particularly love my side hatch gas locker.

When I first got this boat, I talked to Dot at Piper's about what water tank maintenance they recommended. The tank is integral taking up the fore end (where most gas lockers are) with a sealed tank top of a size few could wriggle through. She told me they'd been building their boats like that since the sixties and didn't expect them to need anything in their lifetime. Counter-intuitive perhaps, but earlier this year I inspected mine with an endoscope and this seemed to confirm her view.

Sounds like a great position to recruit volunteers for. A regular walk with the odd spanner here, a lick of grease there and an early heads up on anything requiring a stitch in time would probably work wonders.

Yes, because if you aren't getting a proper earth on such a thing thing, you fail the mandatory testing until you do.

Fertan is supposed to be washed off with fresh water, probably not the best idea to then leave untreated. I'd have thought Vactan a better choice in your circumstances.

I borrowed one of these to inspect my fresh water tank. The focal length was incredibly short and the field of view so narrow that it was far less useful than it promised to be. There must be good ones about amongst the overwhelming array of Chinese tat so, whilst the concept is excellent, choose wisely. If anyone can recommend one that delivers, I'm sure many of us would be grateful.

Well, of you're desperate to fix your bow thruster, it's probably gonna do you good. If you really don't need a bow thruster, it'll be a handy extra tool once it's recommissioned.

My Jotamastic 90 didn't, except where it had been scraped.

I've done a new Vetus prop like the OP has and it's definitely a pin (as a later photo of the kit confirms), but whether it's a solid drive pin which won't be the issue or a weeker shear pin which might be the cause I'm not sure.

Struggling to recall if there's a shear pin through the prop itself, or if that is just a drive pin?

Also relatively more sociable with increasing distance though, eh?

Of more concern, I'd suggest, are the one wheel electric wotdyacallums. They're pretty damned quick on a smooth towpath, but how do they do an emergency stop without going over the handlebars they don't have?

Nowt wrong with a bilge pump, a back up bilge pump and then more bilge pumps, but it has prompted me to wonder what comes next in the following sequence: Belt, braces and....

Hmm. I'd possibly give you "annoying drone" for the quietest ones, but have to say I'm struggling with "gentle and relatively innocuous".