rusty69

I would agree with everything that had already been said above. We have both an instantaneous gas water heater and a calorifier on our boat, suitably valved such that we can switch between the two. The calorifier has a thermostatic valve on the output such that the temperature can be set so not to be too hot. The use of a gas water heater will consume quite a bit of gas, so make sure your bottles are adequately sized, and ideally available at the marina at short notice if you don't have a spare. Similarly, the calorifier will need to be big enough for everyone onboard, or showers staggered so that water has time to heat up again. We have both a paloma and a rinnai (on separate boats) , and I much prefer the paloma. Be aware that as the temperature in the winter drops, you may need to increase the temperature selector on the heater, which in turn reduces the flow rate. Showers in winter with gas water heaters are not as good as those using the calorifier.

I'm not surprised it has failed if in continuous use for such a long period of time. I'm not sure they are designed to be used in an uninterrupted manner.

I mean as safe as it can be for the set of guidelines and training that they must adhere to in order to be granted the status of boat safety inspector. That, which I would hope would surpass my own knowlege and that of my clueless neighbour.

Well, yes, but I would expect the opinion of the boat safety inspectors are guided by knowlegeable guidlines which surpass my own. They are afterall trained. I pay rather a lot of money to have my boat checked for safety, so would hope that for at least 1 day every 1460 it is safe for at least 2 hours of that day. Point taken about your boat, but I think it unfair that you introduce cars into the discussion. The boat safety scheme concerns the safety of boats surely, not the people. Clues in the name. We don't have the equivalent car safety scheme, its called an MOT. No mention of safety at all.

My boat has already been inspected with the hybrid setup in place, and passed the inspection. I will be extremely upset if it turns out that the system is deemed unsafe by future boat safety inspectors, and that I have infact been living in an unsafe environment all this time.

I agree. By the time the scheme have deemed it unfit, I will probably have 5 or 6 years of use from a hybrid battery setup onboard. If it is unsafe, it seems rather short sighted not to have done something about it already. However, seeing how long it took them to introduce CO alarms, I am not surprised. I will make my own decision when the time comes.

Maybe not, but perhaps guided by the manufacturers recommendations and our American cousins practices, it could well be adopted here. Don't cha fink?

I would think so. When thousands of people have fitted these hybrid systems, manual intervention will be required to remove them again when our proactive BSS and insurance providers deem them not fit for purpose.

....Including what might be quite a high discharge rate into a LA battery with one or more faulty cells.

My brother Kevin is like that, full of hot air.

Don't tell us his name, you stupid boy!

Have you considered a vinyl wrap? No, it's not a raincoat

Two hedgehogs in a Maze would be amazing. Could be a bit prickly if they bump into each other though.

A Maze amazes me. Just why?

Can you recommend a good paint supplier?😂

I would agree, had you known A] You would be onboard for 28 years B]. That you could get spares for that length of time (or bought them up front) and C] That the pump would last that long, you might have a point. However, assuming, at todays prices your pump cost 700 quid, and mine 100 quid, that 7 x 6= 42 years of pumps. Mine aint doing too bad afterall, and if I drop dead in the next 10 years, i'm quids in.

Miele and Sebo make great vacuum cleaners. We have, amonst other things a George and a Henry, a dyson and a Sebo. I would say the dyson is the least well built of the lot. The thing that amazes me the most is why we think we need 5 vacuum cleaner.

I wouldn't say they were rubbish as such. They do leak after a time. The last one we had lasted 6 years full time liveaboard before it started leaking. Now that may not compare with you belt drive pump, but then neither does the price. BTW Do you need spare parts for the old belt drive pump if they go on and on, or have you got a triggers broom?

When we were choosing colours for our boat, we got lots of those little paint sample pots and painted the whole boat until we found one we liked. I say we liked, but really Mrs R chose the disgusting colour we finally ended up with. It just so happened it was the same colour as one of her handbags. When asked in the paint mixing shop what colour we would like, she thrust her handbag at the poor sod in the shop and said mix us 10 litres of this please. Unfortunately, 15 years later we still have some left. Turns out 10 litres was far too much. I'm reluctant to repaint until its all gone, or she's gone. I suppose we should count ourselves lucky he didn't mix the paint in her handbag.

A spare pump in case of failure is a useful thing to have if you intend keeping the boat for more than a few years. These jabsco pumps have quick connections, so it's usualy only a 15 min job to swap over. As a general installation point, as said above, flexible pipe is preffered for the final connection to a pump. Both at its inlet and outlet. Installing the pump on a vertical surface with the pump head lower than the motor, and a receptacle of some sort (we use a lunch box) to catch any drips, when it does inevitably start leaking, will hopefully prevent your wood work, and the bilges being damaged in the future. Some people even put a water leak alarm beneath to give an audible warning. You have to give some thought to damping the vibration caused by the pump on a hard surface too, and the noise it produces. Whilst these pumps generally have rubber feet, that do an ok job, its not always enough. Having said that,you don' t want a pump to be totally silent either imo, as its a good indication of when a leak does begin, but only if it is on the high pressure side of the pump.

Thats a push type clamp with an 'o ring' type connector beneath. Make sure the clamp is fully pushed home. Make sure you push it the right way. The other way will make the connector come out.If that fails, Isolate the supply and check the 'o ring' is intact and positioned in the groove correctly, and there is no debris in the pump inlet.

The other thing worth looking at if its beneath the kitchen sink, is the sink drain and overflow connection (on both the sink and the skin fitting outlet). If its a metal sink, they are also a culprit of condensation. But you may have a mixture of things going on here. You won't really know (unless its an obvious leak) until the area is thoroughly dried out, and then observed. If you have access to a fan heater, that, in addition to a solid fuel stove going should dry the area out prettty quickly.

You just said you were sure it was the window. But yes, a constant, but slow dripping would cause damp and a wet floor, and if the pump running was caused by low batteries, may have masked the problem. Looks to me you still have a pump leak. Try checking the connections are tight. That brass connection looks like it is dripping, though may be condensation.

That looks like quite a lot of water. First off, did you resolve the broken window and pump running problems? No point laying new floor, particularily on top of wet wood, until the leak is resolved. Kitchen towel is good for finding pump and pipework leaks. Thoroughly dry the area and lay towel beneath suspected offending area. Does the pump run when all the taps are off? After you have eliminated a plumbing leak,I think you will need to remove the carpet near the window to see whats going on.