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Sea Dog

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Everything posted by Sea Dog

  1. I've usually gone up one and down t'other, so they both have their merits albeit slightly different ones.
  2. Really? Two and a half litres of bleach in my tank sounds a bit excessive.
  3. I use Elsan Fresh Water Tank cleaner which is purpose made for the very job itself. Pop it in a full tank, draw some into the pipes by running each tap. Drain and refill the next morning and you can then drink the water. (Obvs, read the instructions for yourself).
  4. This bit doesn't seem excessively restrictive: This is a leisure site and is determined by us to be a mooring site for the storage of boats between leisure use, customers may well spend weekends on this site, and occasionally longer periods, but it is not sold as, or intended to be suitable for long term residential use
  5. I scraped all previous bitumen blacking off with a hand scraper, wire brushed either hand or machine where there was still bitumen residue and then applied Vactan (rather than used a grinder and remove metal) where there was any remaining evidence of rust. There really wasn't anything of the previous coating other than the odd "stain". I didn't find evidence that the Vactan had caused any poor adherence. The main area of failure was moisture creeping under the coating around the anodes. I can only surmise this area was very smooth and perhaps needed extra keying and also an edge appeared where the 2 pack met the rough edges of the anodes as the magnesium receded. I could have 2-pack repaired this, but what tipped the balance for me was a few underwater scrapes through to bare metal, not a nagging concern I can live with. However, these had not badly rusted, so they weren't actually a disaster. Perhaps SA2.5 levels of prep would have prevented these issues, but reducing that level of prep to hand tool level was the whole point of the SML Ballastic Black 2 pack epoxy primer. If the boat was a marina queen, I'd probably continued my plan to repair with Jotamastic 90, but with a mooring on the Shroppie and enjoying extended cruising I thought the scraping risk too great. I'm still considering the Debdale Zinga and 2 pack option for next time though, as finding a slipway seems to be an ever increasing struggle. It's a conundrum.
  6. Radio Frequency Propagation hasn't changed, so stick with the Log Periodic if you've been happy with it. No power required either. Win-win.
  7. No need to apologise to me - it's not my theory and I'm not selling it! No need to apologise to me - it's not my theory and I'm not selling it!
  8. Please tell me you don't make it with Uncle Ben's microwave rice...!
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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!
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. Explore the internet? You can do that anywhere - having gone all that way, you really ought to explore Llangollen!
  15. 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!
  16. I don't think Simon changed much that his dad had already got right. I particularly love my side hatch gas locker.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  20. Yes, because if you aren't getting a proper earth on such a thing thing, you fail the mandatory testing until you do.
  21. This post cannot be displayed because it is in a forum which requires at least 10 posts to view.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. My Jotamastic 90 didn't, except where it had been scraped.
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