RD1

I wonder if it's worth fitting dash type cameras on boats, you could have motion detectors to trigger the camera. Date time etc. Problem with dash cams on boats, you don't want the camera continuing to record for days after the event, as it will over write the footage, hence a motion sensor, or maybe a timer. A small pir sensor will draw very little current. Of course, best to have it on a small seperate battery well hidden from view. How far do you have to go to protect your property, the important thing is to get these thieves arrested. Marking batteries or any other possessions with boat name, post code etc would be a good start, it helps to put the thieves at the scence of a theft, if ever batteries or stolen goods are found. I don't want to start a survey, but I wonder, how many boats have an alarm fitted, and is it set when people leave the boat? Are boat alarms reliable, what happens if it goes off, and your marina calls you, but you are three hours away, you really want the alarm to hush after say 20-30 minutes, but then the thieves may come back later. Who actually investigates an alarm anyway? if at home you need a group of friendly neighbours and an alarm that doesn't false trigger, I am a member of our local Neighbour hood watch, we do check and look out for each other. One neighbour, his alarm went off randomly, In the end, I volunteered to investigate, there were in fact two faults, a rear door reed switch and a pir sensor that didn't like spiders. I also fitted a new battery, and it has been fine for a couple of years since I fixed it. I also extended the alarm to include his garage. Getting back to boats, how easy is it for someone determined to actually steal your boat? It happens, some are driven away, some simply towed, A lot of steel boats and many cruisers are generic, same starter panel, a simple key. Is it worth having a hidden defeat switch, difficult to do on older diesel engines unless you have an electric fuel cut off, or can disable the feed to the starter solenoid. In Norfolk, there have been many reported outboard thefts, boats have been taken to remote areas and the outboard sometimes chainsawed off, with fixing bolts some times below the waterline, even if removed with spanners can result in the sinking of the boat too. How many outboard owners have a seperate record of the serial number? The police in Norfolk/Suffolk managed to arrest a group who were stealing outboards, they were loaded into a container at Felixstowe ready to ship abroad. The Norfolk Police also sell waterproof covers to replace the solid outboard cover, as engines can be difficult to sell without a cover, and a new one can cost £100+ The owners swap over to their hard cover before starting the engine, but most would keep it on board doh... If you are looking to buy a secondhand outboard, you can look on a well known auction site, and see engines for sale without covers, a few I have seen where the serial number plate has accidentally fallen off. So buyer beware. We just need to keep an eye open, if you are not in a marina, where there is a type of caretaker, is it worth sharing contact details with close moorers? Some will say... don't worry, just keep paying your insurance. To a point I totally agree.

So it is happening already, if they are going for scrap, then isn't there supposed to be a record trail of from where scrap comes from, and from whom? Don't scrap men now have to issue cheques and not pay cash? There will always be the scrapyard that likes to say yes... with no records, difficult to break the habit I guess. Of course it was only suggested that they went for scrap, there might be a market for second hand batteries. if your son replaces the 15 batteries... the thieves may well be back for new ones.

Olive oil or silicone grease, as used by plumbers to lubricate "O" rings, or pay a lot more and buy the lubricant by Thetford. Do not use vaseline or WD40 or mineral oil it can damage the seal. We are talking lip seal which is where the contents enter the base. Open the slider... best to wear disposable gloves, note which way up the seal goes, get the new one set up the same. Remove the old seal, a pair of pliers works well, but avoid contact with the plastic lip of the base. Some kitchen roll to wipe around the slot where the seal came from, a very small amount of lubricant on the outer edge of the seal, and in it pops, some lubricant on the inside of the seal, pay attention to where the slide contacts, and you should be sorted. If the seal doesn't look perfectly round, then retry, but do not remove it with pliers. There is also a vent seal, this too is very easy, all done from the top. Did that one on ours a few weeks back. Best not have a Kentucky fried chicken for a while, you know their slogan, "finger lickin good" lol...

You seem to agree that this was off topic, I guess "clapping" seems to show support for a post, of course I could be wrong. I can't see why I was off topic, the thread was interested in getting rid of algae and the like, I had a canopy that had green algae on the inside, and all I did was ask if the new product was able to shift it. So on topic. A bit of background on why the algae appeared on the inside was I thought important, as this vinyl cover was supposed to keep water out. Not many vinyl covers have green on the inside I guess. So on topic. My canopy that went green was made by a company in Kinver, so can't be many companies making boat canopies in Kinver, so a simple question to see if there was a link, was not unreasonable, so how can that be off topic? I did not critisise Wilson or Kinver canopies in anyway. It was the product that to me appeared to cause the green algae on the inside. I just wondered if ever I find myself or friends on other forums with a similar canopy in the future, I might know where to purchase some stuff from.

My apologies, I wasn't a member when the following thread was discussed. http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=82258 So no connection as Kinver Canopies was started off by ex employees of Wilsons, according to the information in the thread above. I understand now. Many thanks. So in relation to my previous point re green algae on the inside of a cotton sided canopy, would this new product deal with that?

I thought the title would attract your attention. We all need batteries on our boats, this is the note sent from North Walsham Police in Norfolk regarding battery theft. "There has been a spate of battery thefts over the past few weeks with caravan storage facilities being targeted. The miscreants are smashing the battery boxes and removing the batteries presumably for scrap value. This adds many hundreds of pounds of damage costs to that of replacing the battery itself. Whilst at this time there have been no reports of boats being targeted, if it was me a marina or wetshed would be a good target to. So yet another heads up and hope non of our members have this misfortune, but perhaps spread the word that this is the new trend!!!!" When discussed on another forum, some one said... there are more batteries on boats, 3-6 or more and many boats are left unattended, so as boat batteries often contain more lead, so their scrap value is a lot more. So I only wanted to make our forum members aware. I guess this is already happening all around the country so I probably made too much fuss about trying to avoid setting a new trend. So apologies for that. Hope it helps at least one member, then my post was worth the effort. Richard

We are refurbing the boat, vinyl cushions for the cockpit and cabin cushions. I will do the engineering, cutting out and patterns and my wife the sewing bit. The sewing machine is up to it. We have found a source of vinyl, 1.3 m wide, but it's around £12 per metre, seems a bit steep, but the quality is good. We are looking for around 7 running metres. Does thickness matter, 0.7 mm seems the norm and is easy to sew, but we can get it in 1.0 mm which might be a challenge for the machine. The cockpit cushions will be sat on, stood on, etc For the cabin cushions and hopefully the curtains to match, will be in plain fabric, we have had a sample or two, but one was quite coarse and would probably seperate even with deep hems. That material is 1.2mm thick, and needs a liner for curtains as you can see through it. It would bunch up too much and not pull back enough when the curtains are open. Is there a particularly heavy duty material that is easy to clean that will suit the bunk cushions and convertible dinette cushions? We are looking at a royal blue or dark blue fabric. Probably close to 30 metres if curtains included. We are scouring ebay at the moment, but some of the materials are quite course. Any suggestions gratefully received. Richard

When we bought the trailer, that was designed to take 2 tonne, but "we" are not on board then lol. yes, this year we had the antifoul painted an extra 2" up the hull than before lol... Yes, like people, boats put on weight as they approach middle age too. lol We have an additional water tank, inverter, batteries three times capacity as what was supplied, mud weights, anchors, we even have a 4 kg kedge, shore power, battery chargers, even bigger fenders all add up, wine, beer, ahh yep probably over 2 tonnes lol

I totally agree practice, practice, practice, however I am no longer in a postion to even retreive even a 28lb weight, as we used on the Broads, due to a replacement shoulder nearly two years ago, but also to recently diagnosed secondary tumours on my spine. Had we stayed on the broads, I had already knocked up a portable 12 volt winch to lower and retreive the mud weight, but health failed before I tested it, but as it stands it could not handle heavier anchor line and chain directly, unless I use the winch on a trip line on the anchor, now that would work... I could practice with that easy enough lol. Incidentally, I have a trip line on a snap type shackle ready to connect with a small fender attached and 30' of line, should handle most Thames river depths.

Our boat when it left the factory with the engine, weighed in at less than a tonne, bear in mind we are narrow beam too. I found several sites and tried to assertain if 7kg was suitable, bearing in mind most sites considered sea anchorages with high tidal ranges, it looked that we were oversized. some said 4 kg with chain, would be suitable. Some sites claim 7kg is ok for boats up to 30' and several tonnes or even more. There is so much conflicting information. So as I have the danforth type anchor, in fact the anchor was first bought in 1973 so is less likely to be a clone or rip off. I take the point of extra chain, but 6 metres was suggested as the recommended chain length, my father used it at sea with 2 m of chain and was ok with his 18' Sunstar, ok a smaller boat, slightly wider than our boat, but nearly the same weight. He used it to anchor around the Coast of Anglesey, and I was with him when he used it in the Menai straits after we went through the swellies... He also used it to anchor when he went to the Isle of Man. So a well proven anchor with some family history lol.

I was taking this seriously till they talked about hydrogen sulphate gas.. I checked the date of the report, and it wasn't April edition, so I just think it's a typo, and it should have been hydrogen sulphide. Who recalls the polyestermite scare back in the 80's, a creature that bored into the grp of hulls, only when you read the date, April 1st you realised it was an April fool joke, a very good one too.

To be fair, I read it up on the internet, and I will be honest, it might have got thrown overboard like a broad's mud weight, had I not read up on it.This what is in my mind at the moment... Lower it rather than throw the anchor. Be aware of the river flow, let out the chain/line at a similar speed to the flow rate so no chain or line fouls the anchor, when deployed, gently reverse back till it grabs. But if your engine has failed, probably need some slack in the line so the boat snatches it. Now I know this is partly the jist of it, but I would welcome any advice or a link to a suitable website. We need something simple, we don't want an instruction sheet to read. The action of dropping the anchor has to be instinctive bearing in mind, the stress we could be under when we have to deploy it.

When we were on the Norfolk Broads, the general anchor used by broads skippers was a mud weight, some call it a mud anchor, basically a tapered cast iron weight, weighing up to 25 kg, or 56lb, as often cast iron scale weights were regularly used as well. For our Viking 23, we found a 28 lb cast iron weight was adequate, but if the wind got up, I could double that, and I could add more. However, on the Thames, which can have considerable flow, especially near the weirs, I decided to blow the dust off a 7 kg danforth type anchor that I had inherited from my father. I added 6m of chain, and I keep this close to hand in the cockpit, ready to deploy, as we have a rope tied off to the bow that reaches the cockpit, and a depth sounder so we can deploy the correct amount of line. My first thought was... how was I going to retrieve it, then as I read various comments on here, that supported my own belief that the anchor is expendable, when you consider the consequences leading up to it's use in anger. We are not going to be casual mooring in a tidal weir stream. If it has to be abandoned, we could buoy it with one of the large fenders and retreive later. I have also made up a loop of chain on a line, that I could wobble down the anchor warp and anchor shaft, and attempt to pull the anchor out backwards, never tried this though... but dib dib dib, be prepared lol

Do you have any anodes, if so, how many and where? also what material are they, zinc, magnesium or aluminium? Is the water the boat is moored on brackish?

Has Kinver canopies any business connection with Wilson canopies? The reason I ask, we had a canopy made by Wilsons many years back, it had a white cotton inner lining to the blue vinyl material. Seemed a good idea at the time, and really brightened up the cockpit. However, as this was a new to market material, the inner cotton lining was always damp, and algae grew on the inside of the canopy, for seversl inches up from the seams, nothing worked at getting rid of it. Bleach rotted the cotton leaving exposed vinyl. In addition, the vinyl material shrunk, making the canopy virtually impossible to refit in the evening as it had gone cold and contracted. All lift the dot fittings were at least 1/4" out in all directions, very difficult to attempt to stretch the canopy, a few grazed knuckles trying to push down the canopy, with the inevitable slip, and hitting my knuckles on the deck. With all the tension, the seams at the top started to go too. I took 1/2" off the aluminium support poles to relieve the tension, but that only helped a little, as the canopy continued to shrink. I think it was a reflection of the material rather than the manufacture. I think the old canopy has been lying in the shed for 6 years, I kept it in case I wanted to recycle any lift the dot fittings. Probably seen a few mice too. lol

Incidentally, is your boat supply system 12 volts or 24 volts, if 24v the pump current will be half that for an equivalent pump run on a 12 volt system. Re relays, as mentioned earlier, some auto relays have diodes already fitted, and some have 20 amp contacts, for a price under £3

That is a really good price, but again houses a dreaded microswitch again, there is no written specification for the switch's contact rating, also the one originally fitted might be of high quality, and if it requires a replacement, you run into the same problems again, too many clones out there that just can't carry the current.Personally I would be considering doing the relay mod to this too.

The biggest problem with micro switches, and most switches in general, is they generally give the current rating of the contacts for ac however in most cases the switches can only handle a fraction of that current for dc, irrespective of the voltage carried. When the ac switch is disconnected, the voltage and current drop to zero a hundred times a second, ( 50 Hz but passes through zero twice per cycle) so as they switch off there is very little current flowing before the contact is opened with a minimum of a spark. However, with dc, the current tries to continue drawing a spark for longer. This quickly burns the contacts, causing poor connection, so starts to overheat the contacts and then the switch is errr, technical term pending... can't print that lol... I know "broken". A replacement 10 A or even a 15 A microswitch with an ac rating for 230/240 volts will not reliably work at 5 amps dc at 12 volts on a waterpump. The suggestion of using the supply from the micro switch to drive the coil of a heavy duty dc relay, minimum spec 10 amps DC, and the relay contacts to drive the pump will give a greater reliability than the switch alone. The suggestion of using a "flyback diode", to stop the back emf, or high voltage pulse from any coil or motor or inductive load is proven technology. Cathode of diode to + of relay coil, anode of diode to - side of coil. Note only suitable for DC systems. Plenty of diodes to choose from, for small relays, boat battery voltage, I find the 1N4001 through to 1N4004 (higher voltage use) or higher voltage, to provide satisfactory service at a very low price. These diodes when forward biassed, in normal apllications can handle upto one amp. The back emf current is very small, but the pulse could be more than 1kV yes a thousand volts, but like static electricity, very little power, so very low current. These flyback diodes are just standard diodes, that when the back emf starts to rise it is immediately clamped to less than 0.7 volts so no high voltage spike can get back to damage the switch contacts, or in many electronic circuits are well proven to protect transistor circuits and microelectronic systems. I hope it helps. Plenty of circuits of dc relays with flyback diodes on the internet.

Chas Hardern on the Shropshire Union, between Nantwich and Chester, used to run a fleet of Springers.We shared a double width lock with one once... never again, the earlier springers had a rough welded out turned edge where the deck and hull met, if this was below our rubbing strake, and we hadn't got the chance to raise the fenders, it took chunks out of our gel coat, it was like a rasp. They were at the budget end of the hire market at the time. Edit:- Just thought I would add a link about the history of Chas Hardern and his fleet of "Springers" http://www.chashardern.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/WWarticleMay2013.pdf