Hannah Jones McVey

The buyers survey didn't pick it up. The explanation is really useful thank you. Is that a significant amount? I am saddened you think it's poor application, I agree but the bloke who did it doesn't, have already lost £700 off the negotiations as a result. No neon lights that I know of.

Ok, should I try and check this out or is it pretty standard? I should add we have a galvanic icolator professionally fitted and the hull is in excellent condition. We do live on a river stretch of a marina

Hi, A few weeks ago our boat came out for survey and the blacking job done since months earlier looked like it had seen better days. During investigations since the man responsible for the blacking has done an electrical leakage test and sent us this outcome ' basically I don’t think there was anything switched on on the boat because the current draw was 71 milliamps and at that current the imbalance between live and neutral was 0.3 mA . the earth wire had zero current. This means that the imbalance current is flowing out thru your hull Although small at this quiescent state it would likely rise when other units are switched on' I am no electrician and this means nothing to me. Can someone explain it in a dummy's guide style. The boat is being sold at the end of the week and I need to know what I should do. Many thanks

We accidentally left ours at a pump out point and when we returned it had gone. Struggling to work out how to replace it. The hole is 5.5cm at the top and 5 in the screw area. Any advice gratefully received!

We currently have a mooring with free electric so it seems silly not to have a radiator in the bedroom as our stove heat does get to the back but has usually receded by morning. I looked at De longhi ones but apparently they need to be 80cm from any furniture which is a little unlikely! Any suggestion for any good uns, ideally something we can hang on the wall. Thanks

waters too deep and very gloopy muddy so even if we got in chances are it's sunk through the mud.We have another that matches. Was going to take it to our local chandlery for them to look at.

Hi all, At 4am this morning we got woken by the ducks scraping the side of our boat. I went to open the window to shoo them and somehow (was half asleep!) managed to send the top half of the porthole plopping into the water. We don't seem to have any info on what type it is just size to guide us. Any ideas where we'd get replacements for things like this? Many thanks H

Thank you so much. I was being an idiot and this has helped me though. Struggling to get the top of the toilet back on those 4 screws though, seems like an impossible task...any tips?! tank is plastic. I will fess up and tell you that I was going wrong from the start and was trying to screw down into those holes rather than slide the flat heads in and put the toilet on top of it. Now I have the toilet dismantled to the correct degree, old broken tops removed, new ones in but am really struggling to get the tank back on. The rubber seems slightly too big and needs to fit snug in order for the bolts to come out enough the toher side to be able to attach the washers, tips appreciated!

Hi all, I got some great advice from here when our toilet initially started causing trouble two weeks ago. I was advised that the bolts that hold it down (mansfield/traveler toilet) had probably sheared and I'd need to fix new ones. We bought new ones and I've stripped the toilet down. 2 were totally broken and one was v wobbly so correct diagnosis. However I can not for the life of me fix them...I am no DIY wonder so I am hoping against hope that I am being thoroughly daft. The issue I think I am having is that the bolt shearing means that there is still a bit of bolt stuck somewhere inside. Am I meant to keep screwing the new one down and the old one will drop away? I've tried that a bit with no luck so far. It's also a bugger of a place to be screwing bolts...I thought maybe a little knock with a hammer would help get it going but you can't get anything there except your fingers. Any advice massively welcomed as I have no idea how to get myself out of this very literal mess! Thank you

Good people of the canal world you are wonderful indeed! Thank you so much for you excellent advice, money saving tips and humorous quips...I knew I could rely on you!

Morning all. Got the mother in law staying (it's fine, she is lovely!) and our toilet has decided to misbehave, typical! We have a traveller toilet sat on top of a pump out tank. It's always been a bit wobbly to sit on but nothing problematic but yesterday we had MIL, Sister in law, brother in law and sister all here and by the end of the day the toilet was a lot more wobbly and a bit of water had appeared. The water wasn't black water (no awful smell thank goodness) but on further investigation turned out to be flush water post flush (I think) and the wobble is now actually the toilet itself come away from the pump out tank. We can't really work out what holds it in place to fix it. Does anyone know or have any suggestions? Long term we want to convert to a cassette but even if we were to fast forward this plan we'd need to look at trying to temporarily at least fix this problem for now. Many thanks H

Hi all, We need some work done including fitting a proper fuse box and a shoreline. We live at a marina with a service but we have been waiting three months and they are happy to admit they can't meet demand and are OK with someone else coming in to help. Can anyone recommend someone who could come out to this part of the land? Many thanks Hannah

It's an arrow fires multi fuel, sorry. Thanks guys...I have stove paint and am pretty sure of the steps I need to take but just wanted to double check I wasn't about to do something totally ridiculous. Daniel, what you said fits best to be honest...it just has a little patch of mild rust that came off with a quick sand. Thanks

I'm about to repaint my stove. I've just re sealed the bottom of the flue and was cracking on with cleaning and sanding the stove as instructed but I just wanted to check some things which are probably very silly. As I sand a redish tint is coming out from under some of the black. Is this rust? It's not bubbly or bright red, like a morning ember glow...if that makes sense? Should I try and get to the bottom of this (literally) before painting or is it normal? Any other tips? Thanks

Sigh of relief, thank you. Sorry my wording was obviously a bit presumptive. Obviously solid is a hope but it has a recent survey by a good surveyor (we will get our own regardless) and above the water is well maintained so it's the best 'guess' we've seen so far. Hope it follows through that way!

Hi all, Finally found a boat after a long search. Outside seems solid with good paintwork and a great beta marine engine that's dry as can be. We put a deposit down this morning. The inside needs a lot of work and I know some people stay clear of an owner fit out but we have really struggled to find something this solid. My only niggle which I can't throw is the builders. It was built by V and G Engineers in 2001. I can only find one other boat claiming to be built by this company and zero about them online. It is registered etc etc but this is bothering me. Ring a bell to anyone. Bit late now I suppose but better the devil. Thanks, and thanks for all the help you have all been along the way. H

We have been thinking very carefully about purchasing a 1974 boat with over plating. Everything we have read, seen and researched suggests it was a top quality boat when made and last survey said over plating was well done. We've ummed and ahhed for ages but are close to making a decision. Overplating described as follows: 'At some point prior to 2006 the boat underwent hull restoration including over plating to the hull bottom and sides up to the waterline. This has added many years of life to this classic boat. During their ownership they have extensively restored the interior adding many modern benefits. The restoration was completed in 2009 with considerable improvements to the deck steelwork and a complete bare metal up repaint and hull blacking. Rubbing strip around bottom of hull renewed 2009.' Alas however every time we get close one more thing makes us ummm again! According to the current owner the shower currently runs straight into the bildge. The bildge pump is a really good one but we found some advice online to suggest this is a really bad idea and should be altered to a different system. Any opinions on this? If so does anyone have any ideas what the cost of doing this is likely to be? Many thanks H

We are looking at a lovely boat tomorrow but it's 33hp engine on a 55ft boat and we want to take it to the river. Realistically it will be on a marina through the winter at least but we'd like to be able to take it our come spring here and there. Is this the wrong boat for us? Its a Measham with a Vetus M4 engine. Any help much appreciated....just desperate to find our perfect boat!

Thank you so much all...I hadn't realised that I wouldn't be informed by email (probably missed a button somewhere!) so had thought I'd had no replies until I had an email from someone who'd spotted it today. Your advice is fantastic and I will be following up on it. I am trying at the moment to get in touch with the one boat with mooring near Cambs advertised...I can't imagine it is still available but if it is it may be worth going over budget for if it is going to be that hard to find something else. We are planning to walk the river around Waterbeech over the next month or so to see if we can find any leads to a mooring there...we make excellent cake and are very charming so I hope this may help! Alas a London commute from Cambridge will be long and expensive I know...but perhaps unavoidable as there are not many jobs in my line of work around at the moment. Thank you again for your advice...all that remains is to request that if ANYONE hears of ANYTHING just out of Cambridge please please let me know. Thanks Phil...where is it that you moor? Many thanks H

Hi all, We will be looking to buy a boat in September. My wife will be doing a PhD at Cambridge and I will be finding a job most likely in Cambridge or London (we won't be looking until I know). Currently I am keen on continuous cruising with perhaps a winter permit (1st question- do they do these on rivers as well as canals?), my wife is still nervous of it so wants to check out mooring. We will have the full amount of money to buy the boat so are no reliant on mooring to secure a mortgage. This morning I have started looking at the Cam and Ouse as they seem between them to cover the areas that we are looking at the best. However I have only found mooring on the Cam for the center of Cambs and that seems to have plenty of issues around it and we wouldn't be looking for a city spot ideally. We'd love to hear from anyone who moors or continually cruises on the Cam or Ouse....outside of the city. Is continuous cruising a viable option as long as you adhere to all the rules and have a plan in place? Would anyone recommend any areas for us to check out for mooring? Any links to blogs about living in the area? How often are their pump outs or water points along the more rural parts of the river? Sorry, many questions, but if anyone is up to answering any of them I would be hugely grateful! Thank you