youthoftoday

There's tonnes of potential mooring space on the Thames. I was talking about officially recognised mooring space. There are boats parked up the towpath in town and downstream that have been there for months. Possibly years, I can't remember.

Your best best is Daily Info - dailyinfo.co.uk . There's usually some boats for sale. I won't comment on their quality, but caveat emptor. There's a local problem of less-than-stellar boats going for too much money because of moorings / scarcity on the canal. As someone who lives in a residential mooring in Oxford (and who got lucky) I can tell you that they are literally like hen's teeth. I wish you the best of luck, but you should adjust your expectations. There's a couple of marinas / moorings - e.g. at Port Meadow, Osney, Abingdon but they are non-residential. Some people cheat. Also, this is an ongoing local issue which can colour some people's views of boaters: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/13373026.Canal_boat_squatters_say_cost_of_moorings_leaves_no_option/

My brand spangling new boat's paintwork was scratched by a tree when craning in. Look out for trees and have a word with the crane operator.

Wow. Had no idea I'd get this kind of response! Thanks guys.

I got a photo of the asset number too (didn't want to bore you) but 80086. If this is the boat you're referring to, the design is similar but very different in places.

If you have a stove running over night then that will make at least some difference (you may end with a damp boat)

This boat is moored at Oxford on the Thames. I think she looks gorgeous. Has a red reg plate so probably on official business.

It's your responsibility to keep up to BSS standard throughout the time you own it, not just on the day of the test. If you install a stove the day after you get a certificate, that's fine legally, so long as the boat is up to scratch. As for how you interpret that, it's up to you. You could say "how can I tell it's up to scratch? surely I'd need another test", but by that token you'd need to re-test every single day.

Pedantic point, but what you're describing isn't what's traditionally called a heat pump (I have used a heat pump aboard). Interested to hear what people have to say though, I've thought of doing the same.

Just my tuppence worth, but you need to be careful about what fire-proof means. The thin Hardibacker board can be used near a stove, but is does *not* offer any protection. People somehow seem to think it does. https://www.jameshardie.com/Products/HardieBacker-Cement-Board Thick fireboard does offer this protection, but needs the right clearances: http://www.stoves-etc.co.uk/InstallationProducts/InsulationProducts/VermiculiteChimneyInsulation/SupaluxBoard It sounds like "3x5mm fire proof board" is more like the former, but that may be a typo? The soflitec PDF is the one usually referred to by people on this forum.

I don't know much about boat equipment, but... motors with brushes take DC and feed it straight into the coils. The brushes take care of switching polarity to stop the motor just oscillating back and forth. Brushless motors require an external driver to switch the polarity of the current (or do something more complicated). This may be built into the motor. These probably expect a constant voltage in order to get their timing, current driving, etc right. A PWM controller varies the duty cycle of a pulsing DC voltage in order to limit the amount of power. I would imagine that it would be quite happy driving a 'predictable' coil load, but would interfere with the electronics that drive the brushless motor. (I could be wrong)

No argument here! I would have thought reduced range would include 'standard' craning and low-loading too. What will people do with old boats that they suddenly can't license?

Getting back on topic, I'd really like to see a copy of this letter! I'm on the Thames with a mooring but there are plenty who are and haven't.

Are we talking about the same boats? There's as few Dutch barges around Oxford, about 100 years old. I wouldn't take them past Richmond, let alone out to sea!

A generous and well-applied ring of fire cement says 'yes', plus it's a double-walled insulated flue, plus it's brand new. I suppose I could check by blocking the chimney and seeing if smoke comes out, but I'm fairly confident that that's not it.

Hi Blackrose, I'm on a widebeam too and the Puffin is rated at about 4 kW. The length of the flue certainly is important! The instructions say 4 metres, which is impossible on a boat (without some extra engineering!), but I thought that since others recommended them that 4 metres wasn't actually necessary.

New puffin baffle is completely free. It sits on the firebrick sides and back and retains them. Everything comes out.

To be clear, the wood is damp rather than green. I've had it three years (and it was supposedly seasoned to begin with) but just when I need it the last 2 years, it's flooded. I'll make something raised when I get around to it.

Thanks for your replies! - plenty of ventilation in the cabin, but a good thought - there's the standard baffle in the stove, but no vent-reducer (can't remember what it's called) - the flue is insulated so if it gets hot inside, most of the heat stays inside - it's all new so no chance of build-up Based on your replies I suspect that most of my problem is that I have rubbish wood at the moment (two years of floods, possibly a bit mouldy, it never really burned that well), and that's not something I can fix immediately! As I said, smokeless burns well (even wet), but that's a different story to wood. I'll give a cowl a go, they look interesting. Also considering sticking an extra bit on the flue to see if that helps. Cheers