widebeamboy

After having taken his picture I'd have been entertaining said gentleman with a few words, one of which would have been off. I am sure some more sensible replies will follow shortly.

Is this going to be your first boat other than spending time on cursing holidays? I ask as when considering my own first vessel the BEST advice I was given was "not to buy bespoke (I had similar budget available) as I didn't really know what I needed as opposed to wanted". It probably came from this site. The advice was to buy something that was good enough and then work out what you didn't need and what you really missed. For example I was looking at boats with double ovens, microwaves and coffee machines (was always going to be marina based). I haven't missed ANY of those, there were preconceptions about needs from being land based and glossy magazines. If you've been on lots of canal cursing holidays you may have stayed on some fancy vessels, however I don't think there are a huge amount of them about that are fitted out top notch. So my advice. Buy "good enough" and use it for a while and then if it really is a need for new and bespoke commission it. If you buy well in the first place you shouldn't lose that much money on what you buy (especially if you buy in the North and sell in London).

when you look at the planning application for the new Greenwich superdock for super cruise ships etc the pollution caused by all diesel boats in a year will pail into insignificance as these cruise ships will not use a shoreline, they will all be running massive generatorso onboard.

I am with Navigators and General (owned by Zurich) via Collidge and Partners in Margate. First year liveaboard in marina with £25k contents on £100k vessel was about £550. Having worked in insurance for a decade or two the most important part to me is really how they handle claims IF I should need it, as that is when you really need the good service customer service approach. I had a £3000 water damage claim in first 7 months of the policy and whilst Nav and Gen were helpful and appointed an exceptional loss adjuster they said no to almost the whole claim on the Friday, which by Monday had turned into paying all of it!!! They are not a specialist canal boat insurer and are not set up to instruct repairs so will settle in full and leave you to your own devices. Sometimes this is a good things, sometimes it is not (9months later still not finished the bathroom!). In the second year I removed the contents, it went down to £250 approx. and I added the contents it to my home insurance policy as a specified second home.

depends on the 3 rads you are fitting.........if single then unlikely, if double at size as described by Ditchcrawler and you check the specs as per Mike then most likely. Don't buy just because it looks pretty and modern.

This was some advice that the previous owners of my boat could have done with receiving so its great that Richard is on here asking and finding stuff out. When I bought it at three years old it was on a complete new set of batteries, in fact it was a "selling point" on the features on apolloduck. One of first thing I asked was why new batteries? To be rather sheepishly told they hadn't been told how to utilise them and were running them down to quite low volts and then starting to charge them (they had dishwasher and washing machine onboard) and a Victron 3000 (which I suspect might the one that keeps on being anonymously mentioned as not being 3000w).

Saw these on the DBA forum earlier today. Look very interesting indeed. http://www.skirtingheating.co.uk/blog/wordpress/

that sounds like what I changed to as they built it with x3 single rads at that size and a small towel rail.

Make sure you (they) don't scrimp and put in single rads, otherwise you are just starting off on the wrong foot. Not sure how to calculate it properly though.

Good point, one other thing. If it is the only source of heating he is also going to have other more expensive issues as Webasto are not designed for continuous running like a central heating in a house.

Personally you need the opinion of NMEA on this. I have a 5.2 in my 70x12 and it is more than sufficient. Too much power means you will need to make sure the system is challenged when working, ie if you've a 9kw you need to ensure you've got enough rads on board with sufficient BTU etc to make it work. Its a bit like running a Ferrari around London streets. It will screw it up eventually. Mine was 3 years old when it needed a new burner due to under being underpowered with single rads. IF you've got the money, forget the Webasto and put in a Kabola (again NMEA will be a man to get his opinion) If you stick with Webasto get a Thermocall upgrade so you can turn it on remotely. It is definitely worth it in my opinion.

The biggest you can fit (in my opinion). I have an 8l in mine of the same size widebeam and would have gone bigger had it fitted into the space when I was replacing my tiny one. Make sure you get a potable rated one (usually white or blue although sometimes silver) rather than the red ones used mainly for central heating.

So having installed the Whale one way valve and had a bath last night, tonight I shall be uninstalling it tonight It does a great job of preventing gurgling through the sink plughole when emptying the bat and could be a great use if you had a straight flow out of the boat (as it would catch things like rings and the such like - although it would also probably clog up fairly easily too and doesn't drain that fast). The byproduct of no gurgling is a high pitched whilstling sound as the Grey tank is trying to find air from somewhere plus the sink half fills before there is enough pressure to make the valve work. It was worth a try and was only £12 so not too expensive.

Try this guy: http://www.whalleyglassfibre.com/narrowboat-products/

I use the Webasto Thermocall app and one of the best bits of kit I bought. Although its an "app" that is really just an interface to save you from remembering the phrases to text as all pushing "on" on the app does is open the text screen and preload "start" - you still need to send the text. Basic however functional. I've Hive at home and that is great. I saw a boat in the marina with Nest running his Eberspacher however geeky tech interior solutions was his business and lots of people said it couldn't be done so he did it prove it could. Hive/Nest of course relies on wifi signals. I use Wiwo Orvibo socket controls to control many other electrical devices including my 2kw calorifier immersion element. This does however require an internet connection onboard and doesn't have the confirmation response commands as part of it (I use a remote camera if need be to check lights have come on for the dogs).

Limehouse were using it as Ive heard it squawking in the background on numerous occasions. With little traffic at the moment I cannot say I have heard it recently particularly as the office shuts at 5pm due to winter hours.

I think with a shower you will be fine unless you have a massive water pressure and flow and even then it should be ok. I haven't experienced this cycling frequency however good to hear your experiences as will watch out for it and understand the logic that the muck must be tricking the switch into thinking it is full etc. I don't have a trap on the bath as it is roll top and runs straight into the tank with a restrictor to try and slow down the flow. I do have a trap on the sink. I bought a Whale one way valve which allows water and air to be sucked however it wont allow for "blowback" (or at least that is my expectation). I need to test it before I am happy and if it doesn't work as planned Ill just remove it and keep it as simple as possible. A small smear of Fernox on the seal AND the cables/grommet (from both sides) has stopped it. I did actually lower my float switch to kick in earlier hoping it would prevent the water getting to the level of the lid. It didn't work and now the pump kicks in earlier than it should so I will be un modifying that as a lesson learnt. I just bought a 38mm whale one way valbe

When you say "larger" which size, the 100l version? I have the 16l version however it has to accommodate the contents of a bath and even with a restriction in the bath to the grey tank of 1" the gravity and pressure feed is bigger than the 220 extraction capabilities so the tank fills and bubbles out the seal (or at least it did). Mine has the built in float switch which doesn't move at all as it must have a sensor inside like in the IC set up, however it still comes with a recommendation to clean it out every few months. I only smeared some Fernox LS-X around it and it did a wonderful job. It shouldn't be too difficult to undo (he says). It will smell as the grey waste contains soap and other things which sit on the bottom of the tank. The gulper does not extract the last half inch/inch of water so the tank is always wet. This is another reason for testing with a one way valve on the sink side as a smelly drain box isn't what I want when brushing my teeth.

My sink gurgles too, I am just about to test fit a one way gulper valve to try and eliminate that and also help remove some of the odours as the gulper grey tank never completely empties. There will always be air pulling from bath or at least there should be so I will see how I get on. MY grey tank weeped when it was full, that was because I hadn't used a sealing compound on the seals. Now it doesn't :-)

If you fit a Gulper IC (yellow one) with the intelligent manifold you just need one pump. The manifold receives two different supplies of waste and turns the pump on automatically. I installed one, it was great. Ive since removed it to install a bath so now have the Whale grey tank where the water collects (from up to 8 appliances!!!), it has an automatic sensor switch which then turns on the Gulper 220 that I have I fixed to the floor.

NMEA above is the same person who I suspect is helping you out on the London Boaters Facebook page as I guess this was you posting yesterday (Sam here)

Alan, thanks very much for posting that in the first place. As you know I am in Limehouse marina and whilst I am aware of the nearest official exit point ladder to my pontoon it is a good swim around a long dutch barge to get to. I've only heard anecdotal evidence of how hard it is to get out onto a pontoon from the water whilst fully clothed and even worse so in particularly cold weather. I'll put one on the stern between myself and the neighbour as a precaution.

Ray, I just bought one from ebay as a result of this thread for £29.99 - search for "5 step ladder boat yacht"

Yes absolutely, never seen a boat lengthened only pictures of the cut and shut slicing for shortening barges which I would have thought should have taken same principle as shown here, however they seem to be strong enough to cross from Holland the straightforward way they are doing it.

Thanks for posting, hadn't really thought whether it would be one continuous cut and weld as they seem to do when shortening dutch barges etc however can see in this picture this would presumably provide significant strength versus as straight line all the way around the boat.