maywillis

We bought a lovely narrow boat and are doing it up slowly as we go. Pulled out the kitchen to build more 'purpose built' units and have found the previous owner has cut away some of the insulation and exposed bits of the steel. Under the gunnel. This explains why there was damp in the old kitchen units. Can people suggest how best to 'patch this up'. It's not like this everywhere, just where you can see in the pictures. Is it worth me scrapping away sections so that I can put a long bit of rigid insulation in, or just use a spray expanding foam on the bits you can see? I have also got some hammerite to put onto the bits that he exposed.

Whilst testing the shower, the pump for the waste water takes quite a while/doesn't really work so I had a little look underneath. Can anyone help with what i'm seeing? After some googling one of the bits is a Polypipe shower trap, but there's then some electrics going into it with a pipe out for the water. I presume it's going to be some cheap version of a pump? The electrics then lead up to a switch which turns the 'pump' on. Is it simple to just switch over to a Whale Gulper 220? (Any recommendations for better shower pump welcome but after research seems that this is the standard) Don't have much knowledge of electrics. Turning everything off before tampering will be rule number 1 of course Whilst under there, got a chance to see the inside of the hull of the bathroom area. Quite a lot of flakes and orangeness going on. How best is it to treat it? Had a survey done prior to purchase and the hull thickness came out pretty good.

Thanks! The first 2 i've tried so will give Peter a try

OOOOO and gas technician..have been looking and ringing to no avail.

Hi, trying to get some plumping done for our bathroom. Already has a plumbed in shower and sink, and we aren't needing any pump out bits as have a cassette and moving to a compost. Struggling to find plumbers who are available to take the work as they are too busy. Any names and numbers would be great.

Just want to say thanks for everything. Slowly understanding that there is simply no black and white answers and more personal preference (and how much money you want to spend!). Will update on what we go for...discussions to come!

We are planning to liveaboard hooked up at the marina for most of the year. So in order to have a hot shower when we haven't cruised for say a month... The only system in the summer would be something like a webasto or eberspacher? Does this sound right : An immersion for heating (granted not much) and hot water in summer A corner bubble drip diesel stove with back boiler for winter Or have I hit upon the most costly way of doing things?

Thanks really interesting! If I were to get a drip feed stove with boiler for hot water I would presume I would still have to put the stove on in the summer to get hot water from it?

Thanks all for the pointers...very informative. Hi Dave, the plan is to use the months where we aren't on it to do the essentials, which for us is heating, electrics and plumbing. That way when we move on we can fuss with the other stuff to make it pretty and homely. I believe it was left intact to put an Eberspacher straight in, but i'm not sure what model it was previously and not really sure how to find that out? What would I look for to research the 'just press a button' option? Thanks Chris! The stove is a pot belly and the flue pipe needs replacing either way. It is literally tiny...it wouldn't fit a stick in let alone a log and has no 'window' to see how the fuel is doing. I should have specified! We will be mainly shoreline and out and about for holidays and days out etc.

Hi everybody, this is my first post and am not completely up to date with the technical jargon so please go easy. I've already found some amazingly helpful posts over the last few weeks, but I think I need some advise on my particular situation. Have just had a survey done on a boat and the hull is sound. That and the interior cladding on the walls and ceilings are actually the best parts of the boat! The floor of the interior is fairly sound, with 1 board we may need to reinforce. We've got it at a reasonable price and have the luxury of a couple of months where we want to get the boat fixed up to be a liveaboard before moving onboard. We aren't looking to do most of it ourselves as we simply don't have the skills, but we also don't want to be taken for a ride simply because we don't know what to compare things to. From the research I have done, I have my eyes open to the skills needed for this and want to assure anyone reading i'm not just after 'the cheapest' price. 1.Do I have to use specific marine electricians and plumbers in order to pass the safety certification? 2.We want to have the equivalent of central heating and hot water. It has radiators and a calorifier but the Eberspacher that had been there was removed as it was 'broken'. (My guess is that it wasn't broken and the person wanted to keep an expensive kit for another boat...fair does I have budgeted for a new Eberspacher but before we go down that route I want to really understand if there is another way of getting what we require.) We don't want to have to turn the engine on for hot water. We would prefer it more inhouse like immersion. We will be replacing the stove either way as it is too small but we also don't want to rely on this for heating. 3.The electrics has been described as 'spaghetti junction' and pretty amateur. As electrics are a pretty standard and important part, we would want to make this a bit plainer and also up to safety standards from the get go. Does this mean stripping back behind the panels and the flooring to remove? Half of the electrics work off the battery, half only on shoreline. (The half only on shoreline are the kitchen...not great for when we will want to go on an adventure). Does this suggest a complete refit? We want everything to work both on battery and on shoreline. 4.I would really appreciate any recommendations of electricians/plumbers/engineers in the Reading area. Thanks in advance for any help and advice. We are quite prepared for the initial spendout and we are happier to do it this way rather than having a sailaway (repeating myself) as the hull was in such good nick as is the immediate interiors. It also looks like the boat has spray foam insulation. Please be kind. We have spoken with a couple of people who had a bit of superiority complex, but we are just trying to learn and we have to start somewhere! (Luckily for us, found a very good surveyor and helpful boatyard in the end.) Steph and Liddy.