Col_T

Unfortunately not, as these license increases are an attempt to mitigate the effect of the reduction in DEFRA grant.

Genuine question - given that LiFe batteries have life-spans quoted in 1,000’s of cycles, is what constitutes ‘long term storage’? I kind of imagine a year or two, rather than a month or four?

Presumably they require a pilot hole that the part before the thread can fit into?

Correct. However, it is highly likely that most boaters do not check electrical cables for chafing, etc, so having the BSS bod do so, and advising if any defects are found, is “a good thing” - no?

Disagree - how often do you check your electrical cables for nick's, chafing, etc??

Or attach a pipe to the pump output, with a jubilee clip to hold it in place, and put the other end in whatever container you have to hold the old oil.

My view is that, as others have said, risk averse translates into they don’t really want to. Selling the house and buying a boat could be described as rash, at best. Renting the house and buying a boat is the best of both worlds. It comes across as you pressuring your friends, it’s not your role. They shouldn’t do what you are suggesting.

As @Arthur Marshall says, the best paint you can afford, applied to a clean, rust free, grease free surface as soon as possible. Several thin coats is better then one, or two, thick coats as thicker coats take longer to dry through properly, if at all.

I bought our boat as a 61st birthday present to myself. Go for it!

@MtB Ah - that’s furthered my education! Many thanks

That line wouldn’t pass muster with a gas engineer servicing a boiler against changed regulations, now would it?

Yup, I think you did the math wrong - BS awarded in February ‘23 would not be in force on Jan 1st ‘23.

Ahh - that’ll be me not looking at the photo properly!!! I’d kind of assumed that wiring connectors would be presented to the outside of the cabinet so that the installer didn’t have to open the box.

Just out of curiosity, why did you take the cover off??

Google suggests meths available via Amazon, eBay, B & Q - these being the only places I checked.

The fact that boat is for sale may be a clue as to the viability of your venture. Regarding the PianoBoat, maybe contact them, explain your idea, and see what their comments are.

We went for the full three days, the first time that we haven’t done a single day visit. On the one hand, it meant that we had more time to just bimble around, giving the stands a quick look and then going back for a more detailed look some time later. On the other, there seemed to be fewer boat related stands and those that were there seemed to be displaying a much reduced range of items. By example, the Midland Chandlers tent had ample space to walk around, Kings Lock Chandlery didn’t have much more than Webasto, fire pits and Hemel blacking. About to the only interesting stand was one which was trying to drum up interest in hydrogen fuel for generating domestic electricity, and was displaying a unit to hold a couple of 13kg sized cylinders. It seems that this is intended to be roof-mounted, as hydrogen is lighter than air, and they don’t seem to have much research on whether / how much of an inconvenience this might be when the boater approached a low bridge. It was suggested that they were speaking to large marina / holiday hire groups, ABC being name mentioned, but that it was very much a chicken and egg situation. Evening music was okay, the Queen cover band possibly being the worst of the lot, but there was plenty of very pleasant beer!

I suspect that we do already live in such as a society. The trouble is that ‘society’ is comprised of millions of individuals, most of whom haven’t bothered to think about the problem, let alone form an opinion on it.

I have heard it said that no paint, be it primer, undercoat or top coat, is actually waterproof, but what companies do is to introduce loads of small particles into primers so as to massively increase the distance water has to travel to finally get under that product. The analogy was to dry stone walling.

I think that insulation is about minimising the transfer of heat from one side of an insulated surface to the other. Therefore, the more efficient the insulation material, the less the reduction in heat transfer, so cooling a well insulated hot steel roof may not have as great an effect as you might hope.

Genuine question - how are ropes inwards to the boat more of a trip hazard than ropes outwards?

Do you have a trampoline for when the lock is empty??

That unit has a built on/off switch - I thought that switches for bathrooms had to be outside the room?

We have an Morso Squirrel on the boat, and always use a coolie hat whenever the stove is lit, with no tar problems over 8-ish years. We burn a variety of woods sourced from a variety of places (garden, canal, towpath and occasional kiln dried) always with a few ovoids. We never try and keep the fire in overnight, preferring to close all air controls when we go to bed. HTH