Karen Lea Rainey

Well, I've ordered the £10 pump , we'll give it a go. Just bearing in mind it only gonna be used for a few odd days, a few times a year, I reckon it could do the job. Remember I only want it to empty the few litres of shower tray water , so maybe 5 minutes operating for no more than a dozen or so times.

Currently looking to install a waste water shower pump, at the moment I pump a bellow by foot power to send the water overboard after showering to empty the shower tray. I've seen these 12v pumps on Ebay for around £10 -£12, does it matter that there wont be any psi (advert says works upto 100psi), I think they can be used with jet washes and other powerful needs. I simply want it to work by pumping waste grey water overboard at the flick of a switch during showering. They are only small and about half the size of a whale gulper or shurflo pump and obviously a fraction of the cost. Will it work ? Has any one used one?

The anode was bolted on to a fixed hinge inside the water tank, the whole of the anode would have been underwater , not touching the sides of the hull, just fixed mid water.

Have you got an on/off valve closed on the pipe to the calorifier or something similar in the pipework stopping any flow of hot water. If you've only just had the boat, was it all drained down some time ago hence closed valve or air crept into pipes creating a blockage.

Thank you both for your responses, reading the document above, magnesium is an important part of the human nutritional diet. Sadly the potency of the water with this amount of magnesium in it, is almost certainly bad for your health. Tomorrow, empty the water tank, allow to dry, repaint, flush through again and refill with fresh unadulterated tap water. Thanks again.

Unbelievable, or is it me, have I missed some new brainwave idea with anodes. Having recently taken on a new to me, (older boat). When i ran the taps in the galley or bathroom, i got a whiff of pongy eggs coming out of the taps/ sink. I put it down to water that has sat unused in the cold water holding tank, going stale/contaminated etc. I added a small amount of milton and flushed it through the system. Only then did i realise ' what's this bl****y anode doing in the cold water tank ? It's obviously been there a long time as its virtually wasted away and used up, I've never come across this practice before, have i missed something? Obviously this hasn't been used for drinking water or even cooking etc, Personally I wouldn't want to wash in it either and smell of bad eggs all day. Can anyone give me a good reason to put a new anode back in its place.

£5.60 for the fitting, cheap as chips.

New connection / brass olive

Sorted now, picked up a brass olive connection, 5/16th I believe from Streethay, Nick there was very good and quickly sorted the size. Fitted in beautifully. Engine now runs at tickover around 44 lbs pressure, under load goes upto 60 lbs and then reduces slowly. Picture of the end piece of the horrible tube, it's incredibly hard, definitely a nylon type tube.

Brainwave over night ! What about a small brass olive it's about 3 or 4 mm and do away with the barb and use a compression fitting nut?

I will call into Streethay tomorrow to see what they have available, oil pipe or threaded barb etc,, My guess is I need approx 5 to 6 metres of pipe, the gauge is at waist height on the back of the trad stern with the other gauges, all Smith's gauges for oil pressure, voltage, etc in the standard 52mm sets. It then travels down the inside of the control panel with the throttle cable and gearbox cable, goes under the floor of the boatmans cabin for approx 8 or 9 feet and into the engine room for another 3 feet or so, reckon on approx 16 feet in total.( 5 metres). It will be a sod to replace the pipe so I'm hopeful we can work around it. I cut a small circular gasket with metal inside it to fit inside the threaded barb today and tightened it up well, knowing the oil pressure is around 45 or 50 lbs I thought that should hold it until properly repaired. Started the engine with no leaks of oil for 20 mins plus running. Thank you all for your input, i am very grateful for your knowledge.

I wonder if I could change the barb/screwed thread, I took the joint off today to get a better grip. Surely I can buy the connection with less ball on the end and clamp it on with a circlip.?

Tried with boiling water for 4 or 5 attempts today, I cannot get any stretch in the nylon tube, boil the kettle again and again with no joy, even tried 2 pairs of soft claw molegrips, to give a bit more shove and push and twist. The nylon tube just will not stretch. As the boat is 40 years old , I suspect that this could be the original oil pressure nylon tube, could it be that due to age and heat over the years that the tube has now lost all elasticity, therefore would I be better to just replace the tube and be safer/ happier knowing it's not gonna split and lose my oil unbekowingly.

Just need a bit of advice, my dense plastic pipe that goes from my oil gauge to the sender and oil filter has a small split across the end of the barb which holds the pipe on. I can cut the pipe at the end of the barb tail and reattach there is plenty of length of spare pipe, it looks incredibly tight on to the barb, Is there a knack or solution to use when refitting the pipe back on once removed. It is a Lister HRW2 with I think a Borg Warner gearbox and Jabsco water pump/ oil cooler unit attached. I dont want to very far to get a repair done for fear of losing a lot of oil and major consequences. Perhaps you could give me some advice on the best way to reattach the pipe and confirm my thoughts on the gearbox make etc. Pictures attached.

Got my mooring pins and spare chimneys, hammers etc in, very useful box it is now.

Thought I'd share this picture with you of my "fake Epping stove". Recently took a new boat with an Epping stove, well bits of one! Wooden box built to similar size, screw on the original doors add the collar, paint it black and here it is. Now just need a 4 1/2 inch inside diameter flue pipe to add to the authenticity! About 1 metre long should do it, if any body has a piece I'd be 'grate' full.

If it's the big red oxide coloured springer built about 1975 in my estimation that previously was moored at Alvecote for many , many months, it's such a terrible shame for the new owners. It really was a big project, but I noticed that their was quite a bit of internal fitting going on and window replacements etc in the last month or so. It was also licensed for the first time according to the badge in the window. Only last week I noticed they had moved the boat to just past the priory to continue working on it. Fingers crossed it can be salvaged and the repairs continue very quickly

Atherstone station is just 200 yards from lock 5 on the Coventry, trains run every half hour in both directions, I've used that service many times. Just moor by the kings head pub and pop your head up the side of the towpath bridge and you will see it.

Check your batteries are almost on full power first. I also have the hydronic pw5 , it wont stay on past the first heating, fuel burning stage if the first burst of heat and power take the voltage of your batteries below 12.5 volts.

Hi Sarah, In your picture it looks like there is a possibility of the rubber pipe which goes into either the bottom of the skin tank / or goes I to a calorifier on the other side of the bulk head( dividing wall). Could it be that part of this hose connection arrangement is being compromised by the weight of the stones and or lumps of iron. They may have moved a circlip band that everything water tight. You have an arrangement of rubber pipes, white and black with circlip / jubilee clips in view in the top right of your picture. I would move that area of ballast and dry it a little, then see if anything has worked itself loose. Hope you work it out, I had a similar problem last year, but mine was a prv valve on the calorifier which had rusted through the threads, The flooring under my bed was very wet indeed, which eventually works it's way to the back of the boat. Hope this helps.

I filled my expansion/ overflow tank for the central heating system just a little bit too much a few months ago. When I put my central heating on after, it spilled out inside a bedroom cupboard, it took about 4 weeks to absorb, evaporate even with the use of paper towelling on untreated wooden shelving.

I think my tank must be a home made job, house copper tank type, both ends are foam covered, 7 pipe inlets/ outlets in a row like soldiers. There is no immersion boss or fittings on either end. I have seen on Google that that can get cylinders made to any style/individual design, so it could be one that's purposely made at coppercylinders.com. Yesterday I fitted the expansion tank by teeing off the pipe to the hot tap in the bathroom cabinet. Fits nicely, ran the engine for one hour, tiny drips on the tee piece. Tightened up a bit more, took it a cruise today for a couple of hours. I'm very pleased to say my prv did not need to operate and my bilge remains dry at last. Tank full of hot water also after an hours cruising.

I will take a picture later, basically every pipe in or out is on the side of the tank, there are no open ends on the calorifier, they are sealed over with foam. They are lined up like buttons on a shirt, if I looked at the tank end on, every pipe is in a parallel line at the 9 o clock position.

Thanks, just checked the possibilities of where to site it, I can put it under the vanity unit on a shelf in the toilet/ shower/ wash basin sink, It should fit nicely on the internal shelf and hopefully wont lose to much water plumbing it in.

But still all in a straight row .