starman

No complacency allowed here - The Boss is too close ?

Yes it’s going okay thanks - slower than expected (why did I ever think it wouldn’t be slow) but sitting on a farmyard 10 mins from home so easy to reach. No excuses for not getting on with it!

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Hmm. A bit radical I think.

It'll probably end up whatever colour the painting department (Starwoman) likes ? But it would be interesting to know if many back cabins have been done non-traditionally just for a few ideas.

Well here's a question to get the purists' blood pressures up: our daughter came to visit and admire our almost finished back cabin. Looking at it in its white primered state she asked: "are you going to paint it like the last one, all red and green and scumbling (actually I'm afraid she said 'scratching') - can't you do something different?. It looks lovely like this in white." Well of course we can do whatever we want; it's not a historic boat - it didn't even have a back cabin until we fitted one. But is there any precedent for working boat cabins that aren't red, green and scumbled? The only one I can recall is the simple cream planked and brown cabin in Caggy.

That'll be tree wood then.

Plywood and t&g pine! Oak seems to be the favourite - what was the thin ply for?

What wood would be suitable? Mounted onto a steel plate base.

Yes indeed.

Dare I utter ‘MDF’. You can get the blue water resistant stuff In sheets with tongue and very groove machining. I’ve put wall cladding in two bathrooms using it and it’s still perfect after several years. And if your boat interior gets wet enough to damage it you’ll have more to worry about than the lining going soggy.

Most modern t&g will have cupped into a semi-circle by the time it's dry and seasoned. It's also full of knots which definitely need treating with knotting and primer at least on the undersides. Wood quality is rubbish unless you have the cash to get hardwood machined up. If I was painting the outer surface I'd use a second fix nailgun, fire pins under the surface the and fill the tiny holes. (I just bought one and it's so fast). I must admit I've not tried gluing when fitting stuff to our boat; secret nails seem to inevitably split the tongues, I've used visible fixings like brass screws but I reckon the smartest finish personally is plugging.

Thanks for that - very kind of you. I'll give him a call.

I still have my old stove at the moment - reduced to a pile of bits! Still deciding what to do with it. Yes I might in the end have to get a collar made - who do you recommend?

Unfortunately not. I’m building a back cabin - the boat didn’t have one before - and the flue exits right in the middle of the drop cupboard section! The stove itself is a bit too far forward as well but that is easier to deal with (I think!)

Thanks for the extra pic: I’ll check your dimensions against mine but looks pretty similar. I rang Brinklow but only an answering machine. I guess they are on full or partial lockdown.

No that’s BWM’s dimensions not mine. Mine is (I haven’t got exact figures with me) approx 8 ins total width with a 61/2ins outside dia collar to take the flue pipe. If I ground it to fit the space I need it to fit there would be virtually nothing left at the sides to seal onto roof.

Thanks for pic - this is my problem: where it was and where it needs to be!

That is a good plan - I can’t quite see why mine is such a monster; half inch thick casting, weighs a ton. Will 5in pipe leave enough clearance for flue packing?

Yes it has - I know that determines the flue size at that point but the pipe itself could be reduced down from that. Does a stove with a tiny firebox really need a 41/2 in flue?

I’m trying to move my Epping but roof space for the flue exit is tight - the cabin sides curve sharply inwards so the gap between them and the slide diminishes rapidly. (The slide is the traditional timber type which adds width.) Anyway the present collar seems on the large side - the internal diameter is 5 1/2 ins and the overall width (footprint width) of the collar is 8ins. How does that compare with others? And given that the exit from the stove is a 5x2 oval does the flue really need to be 4 1/2 ins?

Still looking for a bit of a steer on this. Also the manual talks about flared pipe ends for joints but the connections to/from that metal box are conventional brass & olives as is the one on the heater. Everything seemed to work so I guess I just leave well alone.

These people made a couple of custom rigid plastic tanks for us - very good, helpful, family firm. http://www.jpplastics.co.uk/index.html

A few months ago I stripped out our Webasto C Type during the boat refit and now I'm about to refit it. I've got the manual but, being a bit dim, am still unsure where the main feed and return cables go. Presumably the +ve is to the fusebox pictured; is it to the screw connector? And the -ve is to the stud which has the brown cables grouped? The feed would come direct from the master switch side of the battery and the return to the end of a shunt on the -ve. Finally, the box pictured contains the fuel pump and an in-line filter which looks rather different to other set-ups I've seen - is it an ok system?

Snapped across the bolt hole - possibly over tensioned sometime. I’ve got the broken bit. Not a problem compared to the other stuff. Swore loudly at it. It’s very sensitive.