captain flint
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Posts posted by captain flint
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On 13/09/2023 at 19:06, Steve Manc said:
Captain
What products did you use?
What is the tank like now?
Thanks
Oof!
I've put the whole thing out of my mind.
Um, I did some research and used what I thought seemed easiest and most like what used to be allowable for tank blacking. I thin it may have been Black Jack. It went on very glossy, whatever it was, which is probably entirely unimportant abd uninteresting.
I can't really say what the tank is like now, as I've bolted it back shut, and hope to never look in it again! (yes, yes, I will be opening it and doing it again in a few years but I'd rather not think about that thanks).
I did empty my tank recently and the water ran clear right to the end, which is an encouraging sign of the coating holding up ok, but it's only been just over a year, so I'd hope so, too!
Do use a proper filtering mask thing with cartridges. An experienced and professional boat chap, who's even supposedly a mate of mine, said, with a fan blowing in, a regular mask and goggles should be fine. It isn't, you want the proper filters, you really do. I did half a day without. Not good.
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32 minutes ago, Steilsteven said:
Some Dutch barge owners in Europe have installed one of these but they are eye wateringly expensive.
https://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/scienco-fast/product-33374-208418.html
They can't be used legally in the UK until they are approved by the E A and for that to happen someone needs to install one and then seek approval.
Keith
Wow! So it treats it then you can just dump it? And is it environmentally friendly I wonder?
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On 17/09/2022 at 16:44, Guest said:
Time to leave this site. Don't know who you think you are but you dont shout at anyone , period... don't reply if it winds you up.. shout!!
Don't take it too personally, there's a few who might sound gruff (to you) on here, but as others have said, some excellent knowhow. And it's just a forum, so, you know, you could act like a duck with water on it... Of course if you don't like it, then, sure, don't stay, but if you can take it all with a pinch of salt, you might find this place a useful resource.
*
Oh I see I'm a year late to the party. Oh well
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4 hours ago, jacko264 said:
The trailer cable is only 3mm thick
yeah plus it's electrical cable! I had a proper look. I'm getting some 5mm cable with soft loop ends. Just an experiment. Might not be worth it but it's not gonna break the bank either
3 hours ago, MtB said:Probably has a breaking strain of a couple of tonnes then.
yeah but it's not even proper cable, it's for brake lights! Does say it has a wound steel core for strength iirc, but there are other similar items that are just cable. I'm gonna have a play with one of them instead
3 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:You could always thread the wire through a sacrificial length of hose pipe, replacing as necessary.
this is a good thought! Though now I think some more on it, I reckon if I can get hose through the gap, it's most likely big enough to pass the links of my mooring chain through. But maybe I have some thinner plastic tubing knocking around, calorifier type plastic pipe rather than garden hose
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21 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:27 minutes ago, PeterF said:
Can I not trash this posting accident? Seems not! Maybe I'm being a luddite. I'll try again
29 minutes ago, PeterF said:I expect that a small diameter wire rope that rubs along the armco as boats pass will wear through a few strands, which will then lift and make a good source of finger piercing sharp pointed objects. Wire rops is great but rubbing contact is not its forte.
This seems like a good point. I might try my luck, but I'll mind my fingers, thanks for the heads up
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I guess I just meant the Paddington basin area itself has that kind of shiny corporate not very interesting vibe - to me. But I certainly don't think that of the area around, or little Venice. It's subjective, of course
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Oof that's a fair old schlep though isn't it. Don't think I'm up for that right now - recently I've been feeling really really ropy, no idea what, it's like how people describe really bad long covid. But it's only just come on and I had covid ages and ages ago, so I don't think it can be that. Hopefully it will disappear as mysteriously as it came on and anyway it's only just on some days.
I'll keep an eye out round Vicky Park or Stratford, or maybe the filter beds. Pretty sure I'll find somewhere to break my journey even if just overnight
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24 minutes ago, matty40s said:
Were you in there last Sunday, the boat name rings a bell?
Paddington basin could be so much more, have a real atmosphere and vibe to it, although I think it's too far gone now to stand a chance. The area near Kings Cross with the old coal yard and cross canal cinema has been very well put together and buzzes.
I was iced in at paddington for a month in 2010, it was 11 min cycle from my base office so very handy that cold winter.
Nope, and it's not my boat name! Pitched up here yesterday... Tbh I can't wait until I'm out past Enfield and I'm slightly dreading the next stage of my journey, and whether or not I'll find anywhere to moor. It was fine coming the other way, but that was in midwinter...
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22 minutes ago, magnetman said:
Mooring to railings is obviously a no-no because those railings are there for the safety of pedestrians.
Unless you produce a written risk assessment as to the durability of the railings versus the mass of the boat and potential unexpected outcomes it is not acceptable to tie to railings.
There are railings and there are railings. Some are strong as houses, written assessment or not. There are railings plenty strong enough, 2 inch steel poles attache to concrete as sturdily as a mooring ring, where mooring creates no issues for pedestrians at all. I don't use them for mooring, ever, as I know I would get in trouble (it happened once, as I want aware of this rule, having only seen the advice in the Boaters' Handbook which runs contrary to it).
I can see that it's simpler just to say its not allowed and then to enforce it regardless of whether it would in fact have been secure and totally unproblematic. Indeed, I'm somewhat sympathetic to that. But I reserve the right to think that, in some specific lcations, this is rather silly in and of itself.
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12 minutes ago, matty40s said:
Paddington Basin is dead, deader than a dead dodo in Didsbury.
We were in London last weekend (to see Spitting Image the musical, and the BBC Earth exhibition), and happened for old times sake to alight from a bus at Paddington and walk through the basin area. It was hot and sunny, 2pm.
The widebeam cafe was closed, the whole of the SE end of the basin was dead, and no restaurants were open either. The new lifting bridge which replaces the perfectly good old bridge has never moved since the widebeam arrived. The electric boats were all sat there with none out, the chap selling paddle board, canoe and other things hire was snoozing in the shade, and nothing looked like it was out.
The very limited moorings (one space is now impossible to use due to the extended pontoon of the electric hire boats had 3 fairly smart boats, and over the other side by the hospital, there were about 6 or 7 boats(mix of narrow/wide).
Only as you approached the station east entrance after crossing the bridge (lift out of order) did things liven up with a cafe boat, book barge and an musical boat which are all obviously permanent now.
So Paddington Basin has now even less going for it than it had 10 years ago, and less available water space.
How odd. I'm there right now. Sunny day. Weekday. Electric boats were buzzing around (and bumping into me!) last night - after work hours. Saw a bunch of 7 or 8 paddle boarders this morning. People very much in evidence at lunch time and after office hours. But they could of course accommodate way more boats if they wanted to. But that story is one that's repeated in so many spots all over London
I wouldn't exactly describe it as vibey here, though. Kind of bland/boring/soulless. Again, though, the story of so many new developments. That said, it's clean, and, I would guess, a pretty safe/secure place to moor in town
9 minutes ago, frangar said:The more boats in London the better…..means I know where to avoid….awful place!!
Bully for you but you know some people were born here. You may, if you chose to, regard that as unfortunate. But have a thought for us poor souls with family and connections here! I could avoid it, I suppose. But I really need to be within striking distance of my elderly mum - though maybe 'striking distance' isn't quite the right turn of phrase 😂
But really, I do actually tend to avoid it. I can't see it as a dreadful place, I really can't. Too much tribal loyalty. But I've been slightly surprised to discover, now I'm CCing, that I gravitate to quiet spots outside the m25 and just get the train in. I've been even more surprised to discover it's not just the boating aspects that do my head in.
Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner that I (keep telling myself) love London Town (despite the evidence to the contrary) ! 😳
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So far lots of excellent replies making perfectly valid points, thanks for all of them!
However, cable would have advantages over them in the right circumstances, in particular where there's a gap behind the piling that's very narrow. Kind of my whole point really!
It's true that I might fall foul of the odd bylaw, but it seems to me that in the places I frequent, there are sticklers for not attaching yourself to Riverside installations such as railings (however sturdy, however appropriately situated, and despite the fact the Boater's Handbook specifically recommends this!) - but I've never heard of them saying anything about attachments to the pilings
7 minutes ago, Rincewind said:A much better solution is to use a section of Stainless Steel lifting chain like in the picture below.
Looks lovely, and very effective when usable, thanks for the tip!
But of course the inclusion of a shackle is a solution to a problem that chain would absolutely have - namely, you'd have to be able to fit one of those large ovals through the gap you want to use. Which brings me back to square one, really.
Don't get me wrong, I really don't have an issue with how to moor the heat majority of the time. I have various bits of kit, and ways of using them. My question is for those times when only a mooring pin in the bank is currently possible, but where a small gap behind the piling is there, ready for anything small and strong enough to wriggle through. Where I am, it's not the norm, but it's not exactly rare as hen's teeth, either.
So far, I still reckon my basic idea is a good one, would be really handy and easy, and have an obvious advantage in the right circs. But it's just a question of being able to find something suitable. That breakaway cable suggestion might do it, though
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6 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:
I just wonder whether something like this might be more vulnerable to getting worn down than the solid chain variety. At least that outer sheath would probably start falling off quite soon I expect.
The other sheath would fail, I'm sure. But that wouldn't bother me - if the cable is strong enough that's the main thing. (If...)
(I mean, the sheath is largely cosmetic, I think, and a maybe a little bit so it's nice and smooth and not chafing, but that wouldn't really matter. Without the sheath corrosion, over time, would probably be an issue, but only over time, and you could replace it easily and cheaply enough when needed)
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13 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:
A trailer breakaway cable or bike security cable might do the job, dangle it through and then pass one end through the other like with chains or shackle the ends together?
Those were the first examples i grabbed
Actually, you might be onto something. If I removed the sprung hoop from this it might be just the ticket, thanks for the idea!
Just now, Tony Brooks said:Unless the cable has a diameter of at least the width of the chain links it replaces, I think it is just as likely to jamb or even slip past several pieces of Armco unless put down by bolt.
Um... The cable could have the width of the steel that makes up a chain link without being anything like as wide as the diameter of the *whole* link though, couldn't it! I mean the steel in my chain is maybe 4mm. But the width of the oval that is the *link* is more like 20mm. And that's before we even get onto the fact that each link is attached to the next, creating angles, rather than a single, straight bit of cable.
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4 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
I wouldn't put a chain down anywhere except by a bolt . its a recipe for jamming as it gets pulled along by passing boats
Yeah. This is rather my point I feel! (hence thinking about cable)
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1 minute ago, ditchcrawler said:
If you pass it down beside a fixing bolt it shouldn't jam
Indeed. I'm talking about the tricky spots rather than the easy ones
6 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:A trailer breakaway cable or bike security cable might do the job, dangle it through and then pass one end through the other like with chains or shackle the ends together?
Those were the first examples i grabbed
Thanks, but at least one end needs to be smaller than a link in a mooring chain
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13 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
I saw a boat rigged with sheet in a similar fashion a few years back
Yeah, if we continue having these baking hot summers, I might look into it. I have some old tin steamer trunk type things I could dot along the roof and drape sheets/dustsheets over. Heck, if I clear them out I might even have somewhere to store the sheets...
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On 30/10/2013 at 10:05, WJM said:
If we are honest about it is the residential boats with no official moorings that are spoiling the London visitor mooring situation. If you put in a pontoon or a mooring ring you can be sure that you have now committed yourself to repeatedly evicting overstaying scruffy peeling boats piled high with junk, belching out dirty smoke and running screaming generators. It is this small band of oiks that are spoiling it for the more respectful boaters. We all have a duty to be respectful to those around us.
I love Paddington basin because the security there wont allow scruffy overstayers, so there is almost always a mooring to be had for genuine boaters.
Zombie thread I know, but worth revisiting ten years on, as the numbers of residential boats with no mooring in London has rocketed so much.
As one of those boaters I have a couple of points to make:
1. The majority of CCers in London (including me) don't have especially scruffy boats or bad attitudes. People who get their knickers in a twist about them just tend to remember the scruffy ones. It's true that some people have a shitty attitude, though, and aren't considerate. Again, and as you maybe hint, a minority. But yeah, that's a tough nut to crack. Perception of CRT might be a little overly polarised, but CRT - possibly due to underfunding and being under too much pressure, I acknowledge - hardly helps itself in this regard. It seldom seems to even want to generate the *appearance* of being on the side of boaters. And so so many mooring rings have been removed over the years, including from places with no residential properties hard up by the towpath, and where the canal is plenty wide enough. That really hasn't helped.
2. The situation is - quite obviously - a symptom of the economic reality of trying to live in London. When I first lived aboard 20 years ago, moorings were pretty cheap and there were next to no CCers. A few retired couples passing through, and a smattering of 'water gypsies' who were tolerated as eccentrics. It hasn't exploded simply because people became aware of the option. It's because everything else is so *unaffordable*. This isn't your fault, or the fault of other boaters, and I'm not entirely unsympathetic to those who feel it has spoiled the feel of things (I myself am a Londoner and now I seldom come into London unless I have to traverse it. In fact I am zeroing in on a possible mooring well being the m25. It's such a hassle being in town, because of all the boats. But its not their fault things are like this). It's also not CRT's fault there are so many boats. Maybe it's hard to say to whose *fault* it is at all. But it's an entirely relatable expression of the state of things in this country. It's annoying. It really is. But it's just a sign of the times, really. The increasingly shitty times. As such I reckon we should be largely sympathetic to most of em.
Screw the assholes though. There are some of them too
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2 minutes ago, Tam & Di said:
Not exactly as large as a boat, but Osokool 'fridges' work very well. For any who may not know them they are a small metal box with frontal door, totally covered in a water-absorbent chalky material. There is a shallow saucer in the top which you fill periodically with water, the evaporation of which keeps the interior of the box cool. We used to keep vegetables and such in a basket on the deck, covered in a damp towel. For it to work you need to let the towel get more or less dry before dampening it again.
Tam
Yeah this is basically a version of the classic camp fridge, a bowl of water, a cloth tent with the end in the water. Evaporation = cooling, and wicking draws more water into the cloth to keep it damp. As said earlier in the thread, doing that on a giant scale over a boat, with a damp sheet just proud of the roof, with the ends in the water, would quite probably/almost certainly make quite a significant difference. But not very easy. Huge sheets required. Then you'd need to store them.
But maybe worth investigating, I suppose. I did see a boat with a sheet draped over it the other day, though its ends weren't in the water
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I've been thinking about mooring fixtures - and reading old threads on here on the subject.
I've had what I think might be a good idea, but it might not. And in any case, I can't find what I'm looking for online.
So I thought I'd sketch the idea out here to see what people think of it in principle, and if it's seems like a good one, how I might get my hands on what I need.
Like many on here, my favoured way of mooring is with mooring chains, the ones with a ring on each end attached by a shackle, one ring smaller than the other, so it can pass through it. I think that's what people mean when they say 'goat chains' (?).
If the gap is too small even for the ring to pass through, I sometimes undo the shackle, remove it and the loop, drop the chain down the narrow gap, reattach shackle and loop, pass one ring through t'other, and I'm good to go. Or good to stay, I suppose that should be.
However, on departure, I have sometimes had problems with a jammed chain. I can usually get it out with various bits of jiggery pokery (sorry to blind you with technical jargon). But it's a pain the arse - and on one recent occasion, after a lot of effort, I just gave up and left the chain there (I had no means of cropping it).
What I'm thinking might be great - but you might think otherwise and I'd like to hear your thoughts - would be a length of steel cable with a low profile, twistable threaded barrel. I might not have described it well they're are some links below to something similar in form (but not size or strength) that should clarify.
Basically, what I want is a longer, stronger version of a steel cable keyrings.
Like this:
And this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153659906769?hash=item23c6d81ad1:g:WXMAAOSwPEBgLqBu
You could just wiggle the cable down through a fairly small gap, and screw it back up, and pass the mooring chain through the loop and f cable (or pass the cable through one of the rings on one end of the chain and then screw it back up, obviously).
The cable length is usually 15cm - I think you'd want at least twice that. And while you could of course screw two or three together to make a double/triple length, they usually come with cable that's only 2mm (or even 1.5mm) thick. And they're designed to hold keys, not 20 tonnes of boat. But maybe they'd be strong enough, maybe 2mm of steel cable is comparable to a mooring line in terms of strength? I have no clue on that front (interested to hear what you think on that).
I haven't found any with thicker cable, and steel cable producing companies I've spoken to aren't interested (unsurprisingly - they've got bigger fish to fry)
What do people think of the idea in principle? Is there a reason - given suitably robust cable - it would be a *bad* idea? I'm not overly concerned that someone might unscrew the ends. Not a lot of that sort of thing where I am, plus I reckon you could make sure the threaded bit is out of sight.
Otherwise, I'm trying to think how I might get my hands on/get someone to make such a thing...
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2 hours ago, LadyG said:
My portholes area on the boat are much cooler than window areas, they are not insulated, I have thought about it, bur I think extra window insulation would be more effective, maybe Celotex on sunny side.
Hmmm. There are special films for Windows which are designed to keep heat out (I'm going to get them applied to my skylight/dogbox windows). They might be good. But I'm not at you can buy the good ones (Vkool, 3M Solar Prestige) for self installation, and not sure installers will be happy with rounded corners on window panes etc. But I might be wrong on both counts there.
But in my experience other insulation just makes the boat hotter. Following tips from a thread on here from a few years ago, I fitted magnetically attached acrylic secondary glazing to my windows. It's absolutely brilliant in winter, but if I leave it in place in summer it significantly increases the heat inside the boat.
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4 minutes ago, GUMPY said:
Problem for us was being out at work all day the boat was shut up so very hot when we got home.
After the heatwave of 2003 we fitted a roof mounted Aircon which cured the problem 😉
Presumably quite a drain on the batteries?! Then again, I guess hot weather = more solar power
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38 minutes ago, harleyj said:
Moor under a tree, wear a hat and drink plenty of water don't spray it on the roof. You Poms are a bit soft!
Shade, you say?
Drinking water, you say?
Mind. Blown.
Thank god for expats being able to share their experience with us poor old poms, or we'd still be living in caves, eh
Though I'm not sure why I would want to wear a hat in the shade. Pretty sure that would just make my head warmer
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16 minutes ago, GUMPY said:
First hand experience here.
On a previous boat that had crap polystyrene insulation it worked reasonably well.
On my last boat with decent spray foam insulation it made not a jot of difference.
So to sum up if you have crap insulation it works 😉
Ah! First hand experience - thank you very much! And if you've tried both that sounds, if not utterly conclusive (every boat is different), about as damn close as I am likely to get. Much appreciated
9 minutes ago, Col_T said:
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.Yes it is, but I think it acheives this by being a substance through which heat moves slowly
(As I've noted a few times here, though, I'm good at being wrong... Plus whatever the theory, GUMPY has kindly shared his practical experience, and it very much sounds like it's a waste of time on a spray-foamed boat. I suppose, then, that we can agree that I am least somewhat wrong here, and leave open the possibility that I'm totally and utterly wrong).
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3 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:
If you are going to use all that 'lectric running a big enough pump to do what you suggest, you may be better opening the front and back doors and investing in a medium / large fan.
Hi Alan, thanks for replying
You will no doubt be positively staggered to hear I actually do all that already.
When it comes to power, I've noticed it tends to be hottest on sunny days (I'm very observant) and my fairly chunky panels would, I think, more than cope with a little bilge pump on top of their current workload (you say "big enough pump to do what you suggest" but I don't think it would need to be that big...? I could be wrong,though. I'm good at that.)
3 hours ago, Kudzucraft said:It would largely depend on how much insulation you have on in the ceiling. If you have a lot I can't see how it would make any difference.
Regular spray foam amount, 20mm or something. I struggle to believe think if the cabin top were able to be kept cool it wouldn't make a big difference, insulation or not.
Obviously, insulation slows down heat loss and gain, but it certainly doesn't eliminate heat. I'm no expert but there are some fairly constant thermodynamic principles to consider here, I think, that - I'm guessing here admittedly - the insulation aspect is not really that relevant, unless you're talking about fairly short periods of time. I might be very wrong, but currently I would need some convincing that insulation isn't largely a red herring here2 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:Rather than faffing with suspect science and Heath Robinson devices, I would think it would make more difference to change the roof colour. Having said that, I wouldn't want a light coloured roof because of the glare when steering.
I suppose I could change the roof colour. But it is currently white....
2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:I have seen boats with garden canes tied across the handrails supporting sheets held clear of the roof. I think that would make more difference, but never tried it.
Yes, I'm pretty sure that would make a significant difference, especially if the sheets could be kept damp (which would probably just be question of putting them on damp, and having a corner trailing in the water. Evaporation and wicking would, I think, keep the whole thing damp. And evaporation from that, if kept clear of the roof, would work well, like an old camp fridge. But as I said in my post, faff-heavy
Mooring idea...?
in General Boating
Posted · Edited by captain flint
I ordered some plastic coated 4mm steel cable (6mm including the plastic coating) , 60cm long, with a loop at each end.
It's been brilliant. I can wiggle it through little gaps too small for my mooring chain links to get through.
Brilliant, that is, until I left it on the towpath somewhere.