[Bilge paint or floor paint]

I can believe this easily having been taking care of rust in the front locker, engine compartment and bilge! 

[Not got a boat, yet, and family are aghast]

Happy days. Good to have a project boat. Hull integrity is key. Enjoy putting your mark on your new boat. We are. 

[Water leak somewhere]

Hi. It's leaking somewhere. Provided you have plenty of antifreeze note the color and look for blue or pink water?

[How Posh is that!]

Worryingly theres no pump out on a Sunday, so Saturday Vindaloos are definitely not on!!

[How Posh is that!]

Too true Nick. Happy to pay £15 for someonelse to handle the contents of my bog. I've done caravans and know the alternative

[What have you fettled for the boat today?]

 Busy busy. Decided not to bother refitting chimney. Instead replaced the 2 cheapo 4 year old leisure batteries with 3 smart new ones. Took the opportunity to upgrade Ajax from all 12v to 240v with a 1000w (2000w peak) pure sine wave inverter. Luxury!

 

[Solar - junction box and diodes]

I also have one of these. Works well   .

[What have you fettled for the boat today?]

Taken out the whole chimney to replace collar and cure a leak. Messy but getting there....

[bmc1 1500 maintenance]

Very helpful. Thanks. Need to go check if it has a spin-on filter conversion then will get sorted. 

[bmc1 1500 maintenance]

David. How does the brass tap arrangement work. I'll be honest I've one on my BMC 1500 and was unsure what is for!

[Not got a boat, yet]

Hi. Our boat is moored at Leighton Buzzard. What is the name of the NB your interested it?  I may know it....

[Anyway to install big solar panels without drilling?]

And your battery bank. Lots of solar and only a couple of batteries and all that free power is wasted. Realistically on your horrible cloudy day it's more like 10%. 

[Anyway to install big solar panels without drilling?]

You apply it thinly with a plastic spreader. I bought a big pot for a tenner or so and have used hardly any. But always handy to have some decent adhesive on board. 

[Anyway to install big solar panels without drilling?]

No. So long as the surface is clean and the brackets sit flat. This sort of glue will stick pretty much anything. 

[Anyway to install big solar panels without drilling?]

Hi. Just done this today and bonded the brackets to roof with Wickes extra strong contact adhesive. Should be secure enough. Of course as roof isn't flat I had to be a bit inventive....

 

[Cracked 'collar' Morso Squirrel]

Nice one, much appreciated!

[Cracked 'collar' Morso Squirrel]

So I ordered a replacement collar for the Squirrel, but now I have it I can see the old one is ok. It is the 'collar' above that is cracked. But what is it?  I have looked at a number of installations and they don't appear to have this arrangement. Can anyone help me and explain what it is and where I can find a replacement?

 

[Am I Stupid? (lenghtening a 70' x 12' widebeam)]

A butty, or maybe a smaller boat you could also take out on some trips. Much easier to handle

[Test for the electro wizards!]

Or a TR7 pop up headlight for some real 80s style? I do have an 80s NB!

[Test for the electro wizards!]

Put some tape over it and leave a little slit like they did in WW2

Love it!

[Test for the electro wizards!]

Hmmm. I've just fitted a 4500 lumens led and now I'm worried. The bracket does allow it to be tilted so at least I can 'dip' it I suppose...

[what do you use..........]

I blog whenever we're doing a long trip, so friends and relations know where we are and can meet up.

 

I normally include distances and rough timings, so if I go back in the future I know how long distances took last time, where we stopped, etc. which is useful when journey planning.

 

It's got to the point now that on certain bits of waterway I can predict our arrival time at a destination within 10 minutes, which is quite good.

 

Edit: when skippering the trip boat, I try and get the timings accurate to a minute or so. Arriving after a five hour trip, five seconds after I said I'd be there, was fun.

Edit: when skippering the trip boat, I try and get the timings accurate to a minute or so. Arriving after a five hour trip, five seconds after I said I'd be there, was fun.

I'm very impressed. Regularly missed planned deadlines by hours rather than minutes

[Overfilled the leisure batteries.]

I'm thinking much the same. No shore power. Cheapo sealed batteries taken care of as well as I can (thanks for the wealth of info on here) binned every couple of years. Not a big cost vs. All the othe boat stuff!

[How to soundproof the engine bay?]

Noise cancelling earphones work though.

They work well with the wife as well as the BMC

[Small Double Bed Linen Sets??]

Small double is also known as a 3/4 double (4'). I was in Dunelm and they have fitted sheets in lots of colours for them. As for duvets, I thought the accepted wisdom was to go up one size, hence double duvet ideal. Stop the wife nicking the whole thing...

 

Edit for typo.