Sea Dog

Interesting site Tony, and for more than just this single issue. Thanks. for posting. I wish I'd found it about a couple of years ago when next door was knocked down and a Grand Designs steel framed job went up. Once the steel cage was complete, my mobile phone signal went from 4 bars to none. I tried Ofcom, the local authority, etc, but they weren't much help and I may as well have been speaking Greek when I raised parasytic arrays and RF re-radiation. I've moved suppliers to 3 and have a box which gets me a good signal through my internet connection now so I'm over it (grrr, well nearly!) but this looks like a good site for such issues too.

Interesting, but what we really need to know for comparison with other coatings is how would it have looked if you'd parked it in the canal for 3 years? Plus, I hope it was matt yellow or I don't think MtB will be using it!

Either he's talking bolleaux, he had too much money and was fastidious (yeah, right!), he's clueless, or he's not very good at blacking. Which one of the above would tempt you to buy his boat?

4) Attract the attention of HMRC 5) Find a good tax lawyer ETA (in case anyone thought I was either of the above, or had tried this - in which case it might have been )

It's a Liverpool shell - 12mm baseplate and 10mm sides sounds a bit unlikely, but someone here may be able to confirm wherther or not they did do some like that. ETA - Matty seems to have pressed enter faster than me!

We should not be rushing to 'out' traders everytime there's some disagreement, but I'd be quite interested to know which Mastervolt agent it was that falsely claimed there had been a recall, seemingly deliberately for his own ends. I have a Mastervolt Combi and, as it appears there's always quite a lot of money involved where MV are concerned, I would like to be able to avoid an untrustworthy agent should I need assistance. Genuine mistakes are one thing, but how would one make a mistake here?

Be patient Chris and Jenny. It takes time to find the right boat, particularly so if your 'wish list' is anything like prescriptive (not that yours is a bad place to start). My own boat isn't what I startted looking for, but it's turned out to be a really good compromise between what I thought I wanted, what was the market and what my First Lieutenant fell in love with! Browse the web, perhaps go and see some of the better prospects, and watch as your wish list subtly changes! I found the more detailed websites such as ABNB (there are others) to be most useful, some also allow you to download even more detail in pdf format. Most of all, enjoy the search - it's a big part of the whole experience. I hope you find something that fits like a glove.

Thanks Alan, that's cleared that up for me.

Lots of trains from New Street if you wanted to consider mooring in Brum too. I moored by the Sealife Centre for the Eagles concert last year and it worked out really well. IIRC, the Virgin only ticket is the cheapest option at about £3, fast trains about every 20 mins and the journey's about 12 mins. Easy walks either end.

Yeah, they're pretty darn desperate to watch telly! Must be looking at a different 'what's on' guide to me!

Aren't Flo Gas and Calor different regulators? My home BBQ has a dull yellow coloured Flo Gas bottle with a push on reg with a locking lever.

Lots of folks here who know more about how to find the info you seek than me, but this site is a handy place to look up boat info as a starter. For Mollie Kershaw it has this listing.... Mollie Kershaw Built by Amberdale - Length 17.4 metres ( 57 feet 1 inch ) - Beam 2.08 metres ( 6 feet 10 inches ) - Draft 0.61 ( 2 feet ). Metal hull, power of 50 BHP. Registered with number 510853 as a Powered. Last registration recorded on Wednesday 22nd May 2013.

That's a bit of a sideways remark!

Not really right, no, but it probably doesn't matter too much. Think of cavitarion as the ripping of holes in the water - the resulting "bubbles" collapsing is what makes the associated noise. It can also cause damage to the prop, which some will have seen in high revving applications such as outboards. In applications where it matters, eg warships, one technique to overcome it is to inject air through tiny holes on the propeller which fills these cavitation "bubbles" and stops them collapsing. So you're actually using ventilating to combat cavitation! You can also get cavitation, as you point out, from a rudder or stabiliser fins if the vessel goes fast enough, sometimes known as rasp. Cavitation needs relatively high speeds to cause it, beyond what I think is achievable with any surface on a narrowboat. So whilst anti-ventilation could be a better description of what it does, if the plate concerned is best known as a cavitation plate in narrowboat applications, any distinction is a bit academic and I don't think it matters that much as long as anyone concerned understands what you mean. For what it's worrth, my experience bears out what Dot Piper said to Neil2 above and, on my Piper at least, I don't think I need one.

Don't get me wrong Nick, I like the effect the strips gives and I don't sit around in the evenings with my main lights on. If I'm charging though, I'm usually also steering and even if I do need to run my engine alongside I don't do it in the evening. So such lights would only be on when on shore supply (when this sort of wattage doesn't matter) or when on batteries (when it does). I'm just asking if there isn't a lower power way of achieving a pleasantly illuminated boat. In particular I'm wondering whether 3528 LED strips might be a better starting point or whether there's another, lower power consumtion option.

According to the table posted earlier by nickhix, for a 5m 5050 LED strip (12v 75w) we're looking in the range of 30w-65w load with increasing voltage and nicknorman's figures above seem to bear that out. My LED main cabin lights are 6 x 3w downlighters and the space is very well lit by them. If that (nominal) 18w does that, I can't see that these 5m 5050 strips, which are essentially mood lighting, are worth the tariff. Maybe 3528 strips may be better? Or the perhaps small individual recessed lights? I like the idea so I'm not trying to raise a spoiler here, just wondering if it's worth exploring the more battery friendly options.

Seconded. Mind you, he should have a word with the woodyard - they've flogged him some 'timber no good joiner would touch with a long shaft!' I'm jesting based on Dave's earlier post of course - it's really rather lovely.

I've had that site bookmarked for a while Gareth, but it seemed so out of date I thought it was a relic. Good to see it is alive and well (at least for some areas) and that its being updated by such as yourself. As you say it's only as good as the info boaters send in. Thanks for flagging it up.

I was surprised not to find one on my (pre-used) boat, built by Simon Piper - a yard which, together with his Dad, has done quite a number of fairly decent boats in their time. Possibly like the OP, based on my previous experience in boats with such plates fitted, I thought I'd look at the underwater end and take the dimensions when it was out of the water.for blacking with a view to getting one fitted shortly thereafter. When I'd measured it all up, I realised that since I don't have weed hatch access from the upper deck of my Trad (and hence a perfectly dry bilge!), the contraption would have to be hoisted out of the weed hatch tunnel inside the engine space any time I needed access. That would be a real struggle, so I'd have to need it pretty badly to make it worthwhile. This set me a thinking - after a year of reasonably extensive cruising, I've had no ventillation related noise or issues from having an unfaired trunk opening in the uxter plate and, given a properly sealed weed hatch, I don't suppose I would. I think that any air up that tube would have to be dragged down and out of it to vent the prop - and it would then be equalised with water so thelimited supply of air to vent the prop would be a quickly exhausted. There may be some small amount air still up there at the top of the trunk, but it won't be interfering. So, whilst it's not broke I won't be fixing it - but if I find I need to I'll be straight round to see Martin (Kedian)!

I think the plate you refer to would be termed a (anti) ventilation plate since cavitation is, as someone said above, related to prop design and speed. The issue you are trying to combat (with such plates as might block up that there weed hatch hole in t'pictures) is the prop drawing air down from above, thus ventilating it. Is it actually causing you an issue Dominic (other that people keep pointing it out to you - presumably divers)? Cos if it's not broke, why fix it?

Doesn't really matter now, does it..............

Graham, the CTEK and Optimates mentioned above are designed to be connected 24/7 and do proper battery maintenance cycles. Follow the link I posted for details or look up Optimate for similar info. You'll find they're much kinder to your battery than a standard charger.

Yeah, I know, but the Salwarpe does affect the navigation towards the culvert from the town and if that's tanking through it's pretty likely that the brook will be high too. Neither did I mention the corrugated wotsit by the rugby club, but if she's managed the M5 then she'll be ok there - I was just trying to keep it simple. She also said "as a newbie I know I won't be as fast as somebody more experienced and with limited daylight etc could do with a hand" so that does suggest she's not gonna be breaking any records in the present weather conditions on short winter days. And we wouldn't advise someone new to boating to do that ring in 2 days at this time of year, would we? I saw that too, which is why I said "IF you're coming from the town". Throw me a bone here guys - the lady did say she was a newbie and no-one else had pointed out the navigational issues which she could well be about to face and which may well prove to be show stoppers in the case of the M5 culvert. I was just trying to help, but I'll happily delete the post if you really think it's so unhelpful.