Sea Dog

Matt black is a unique boat paint scheme? You need to get out more!

This ^^^^ in my (singular) excellent experience of Tom Keeling, but which was also similar to the experience of others around me at the time a couple of years ago - and two of those were given failures! I had just changed my gas hose (on age - me being thorough, not cos it was tired) and although it was identical to the old one and met British Standard, it was the wrong British Standard! No problem: Tom had some in his van which he supplied free of charge. He also found the tiniest of pressure drops on the gas test, tracked it down and fixed it, again free of charge. Thorough check by a thoroughly nice bloke. I'd use him again and wouldn't hesitate to recommend him to others - in fact, I most recently did so this weekend! Since this is completely the opposite of my experience, did you mean former rather than latter? Or do you need to expand on your own experience for balance?

Although this hasn't seemed to work well for striking doctors, Just Stop Oil, et al, who's cries appear have fallen on the deafest of deaf ears. Let's not stray from General Boating into politics, but sad to say that a few more narrowboat horns, commendable though our cause might be, are probably not going to push doing a U-turn on CRT's long established tapered funding agreement further up HMG's current options list.

I've noticed a significant number of dogs (not all, obviously) have trained humans to follow them around bagging up their waste - for free too. Perhaps we could extend the system?

In the 70s my mate's grandad was a TV detector van man. He was quite a bright bloke with a telecoms background, not the sort that I'd have thought would have been content to spend his days idly driving around in a dummy* van, pretending to detect naughty folk's tellys. Maybe he was? * It may have been a Bedford

Hmm, are you sure that particular newspaper is a reliable sauce? I think the once dependable Independent may be rusting on its laurels...

Yep, I wondered how there could possibly be an agreed universal standard for that. Thanks Mike.

A quick Googling found me "universal" fridge thermostats available for a little more than a fiver. Do you have any idea whether this brand of "universality" extends to Shoreline models? I've long wondered whether my own fridge is performing quite as optimally as it should and throwing a fiver at a new stat is definitely a reasonable first step check. However, when Shoreline themselves want £48.90 plus p&p for a specific stat for the RR47 fridge, that purchase really needs to be as a result of accurate diagnosis.

Awesome! Thank you to all involved.

I've had a few very nice breakfasts in the little cafe by the top lock, but I'd have given those occurrences a far better than one star rating.

Ah, of course - those with macerators would miss this bonus. Also those with boats on flat calm canals, I suppose...

I've heard this often but I've never really understood how sleeping above a completely sealed tank that most rarely even see is somehow worse than the horrendous interactions described in your post and others above.

Whilst you appear the be disagreeing with my post, I think you illustrate my point very well. If you were to ask me what evidence I have to support my claim to be an Engineer, I could point you to my Charter which was hard earned and granted not only based upon my academic qualifications (which don't always prove much in the real world) or my long experience (which many people do not really learn much from) but also having evidentially proven success in my field, underwriting my ability to apply my knowledge and experience. The same thing goes for other levels in engineering, but if our professional bodies do not defend their profession, and allow anyone to call themselves an engineer, technician, mechanic, or whatever, then you're back to pot luck. The medical profession, as a key example, don't allow it.

That looks good Rob. I've been wondering about Owatrol for a while now (the gel coat name issue was a bit confusing, but this thread has cleared that up). The acid test is time though, as a lot of products look great immediately after application. I've done mine previously with Autoglym products which involved lots of hard work, but looked fantastic... for about 3 months. I now use a silicone-free, cheap wax wood polish spray which takes minutes and lasts about 6 weeks before needing another wipe. Of these two, from both a bang for buck and an effort/reward perspective, the little and often approach wins hands down. However, it may well be bettered by Owatrol if it lasts and has no other downside. With that in mind, I'm sure many of us would be grateful if you could provide updates regarding longevity. In the meantime, my fingers are crossed for you!

I wouldn't have thought Magnetman would have found stainless steel particularly attractive...

Fixed that for you. If the job was done by a proper Engineer (in this case it would more likely be a mechanic), you'd have checked and found it had been done properly. Sadly, however, the professional bodies in the UK allow the term "engineer" and "technician" to be used willy-nilly so the terms are practically meaningless.

I sympathize and recommend you regain your composure over a nice pint. I believe there's a great pub in either Nantwich or Northwich...

Possibly a fish he-gull?

We tried that last year. We went through 11 months of rain in mucky sheets and when the sky cleared and they finally got washed they went on the line in a heatwave and burst into flames!

Anyone relishing an interest rate 4-6% less than inflation isn't very good at finance...

Thank you all for your input. Just to update this thread... With the new loo onboard I got the old one out to find that, apart from 2 short-ish lengths of 38mm Flexi, my system had been done in Floplast solvent weld pipe during build. Useful info for future reference: 1. 15 year old Saniflo Premium flexi is still allowing absolutely no smell through. 2. Contrary to some expectations, it seems that standard white Floplast pipework is up to the job.

I suspect the bold above makes the difference with boats and tin tents used for leisure not being classed as "dwellings" hence not subject to CT at either full or 50% rates.

Crikey, I'd missed that! Used to do those pretty often so I wouldn't have expected summer timing restrictions. I guess they're doing what they do on booked winter transits and are using the same lock keeper who travels between the locks as you transit.

Did you mean MDF?

Same here. If it's under 10 though (as mine was) you can pay to courier it to the Netherlands and give them £400 quid (more today I'm sure) for them to look at it in their repair loop. If they declare they can't fix it or deem it obsolete, they'll bin it for you (or you can pay to have a duffer shipped back). It would be nice if they'd at least listen to the symptoms first before you have to shell out at your own risk.