Mad Harold

Mine has a plastic bladder tank in the bow. It may well have had a steel tank in the past,but the bladder tank is in a triangular compartment and it is a pillow type tank so doesn't fill the compartment. It holds about 25 gallons according to my water meter,not a lot really,but I only use it for showering/washing,I have a camping container for drinking water. A shower (if I leave it running) uses about 3 gallons of water.Wetting myself all over (no jokes please) turning the shower off, soaping up and rinsing uses about a gallon. An advantage of a smaller tank,is the water isn't in the tank long enough to go "off"

HELL'S TEETH!!!! Thanks for the reminder.Going to pop to the local Sainsbury's to see if they have any cards left.

I am assuming you mean diesel (or gas) hot air heating as these systems are room sealed. Personally,I would be unhappy about fitting a non room sealed heating system (including non room sealed gas water heaters) on a petrol powered boat. I know people do fit unsafe (in my opinion) heating systems in their boats,but the thought of petrol vapour igniting in a fibreglass boat,fills me with horror.

25K will be more than enough for a fibreglass cruiser. You need to ask yourself several questions. Wide beam or narrowbeam. Staying in one place or cruising.Petrol or diesel.Outboard,outdrive or shaft. Livingaboard requires heating,(a stove) in which case forget about petrol. Outdrives have not got a very good reputation for reliability,and I can only think of two narrowbeams with shaft drive (Freeman and Creighton) I am sure there are others. As Mr Ambrose pointed out,an older GRP cruiser is likely to be more substantially built than a modern one. My choice would be an older widebeam,70s or 80s,shaft driven, diesel engine. so you could more safely fit a solid fuel stove.

Is that when a seagull craps on you?

You're lucky to be so well endowed!!!

There's always stuff to do on a boat as we all know. It's just that the BSC is due for renewal,and although a boat's physical appearance is not part of the inspection,I don't want a professional engineer inspecting my boat and thinking "what a scruffy boat" I am sure most of us have "a quick tidy up" when we have visitors.

A lovely clean engine and engine bay. Looks an easy area to keep clean and tidy. Am green with envy. To get at my engine requires me to get into more positions than are listed in "Kama Sutra" and I have given up trying to clean the engine bay out.

There is brown scummy staining around the waterline on my boat.Dipping a brush in the canal and giving it a good rub seems to get rid of it,but when it dries,the staining is back. Have tried clean water and Flash,but the result is the same. I could rig up a pressure washer,but am afraid that it would remove the blacking. (It's not due re-blacking for another year) I am assuming that the staining is caused by peat in the water (I am moored in the Pennine area) and would be grateful for any suggestions for any product that will clean the waterline without damaging the blacking. Thanks.

Check the that the gear cable is pulling (or pushing ) the gearbox lever the correct amount. If you disconnect the cable from the gearbox,you can check that forward and reverse are working by operating the lever by hand.

No, it was a Yamaha 9.9 long shaft,as recommended for a Norman 20. This is so that the prop turns in (relatively) undisturbed water. The Norman has a flat transom Drought 14 inches,and there was much disturbed water behind. I did cobble up an adjustable outboard mount and lifted the motor up to various depths,but the prop thrust was much reduced and the steering was even worse. I gave up most reluctantly with the Norman and bought a steel NB. If I was to buy another fibreglass cruiser,I think I would look seriously at mounting the outboard further aft on a swim type platform.Some of the later Shetlands have this.Mounting the engine thus might get the prop away from the disturbed water from the flat stern,so enabling a shallower prop depth without losing too much thrust. I did measure the depth from the skeg to the waterline,it was 27 inches.Hence "about" 3ft of water rqd.

The Bridgewater is ok. Twenty miles and no locks .You will probably yearn for all those lovely locks on the HNC.

There has been more blood spilt in the name of religion than any other cause.

Agree entirely. When you get an outboard,buy one with "shallow water drive". On this type,the outboard "hangs loose"and will ride up when it rubs the bottom or hits an obstacle and when reverse is engaged, a pin automatically locks it down. The more common type of outboard is locked down and usually has a lever on the mounting to unlock it for lifting up. Grounding/going over a shopping trolley,can result in damage to the prop or transom with this type of outboard. (Guess how I know this!)

Congratulations on your work so far. You are a braver man than me! I had a fibreglass cruiser and now a steel NB. One of the reasons I gave up on the cruiser was I kept hitting the prop on either the bottom of the canal,or some rubbish. (outboard powered) Outboards need about 3ft of water which is not always guaranteed so now you are getting close to using your boat,may I pass on a tip. Two types of lifting the outboard, 1,fixed in the down position with a lever to release the mechanism allowing the engine to swing up. 2,Hanging loose but with a pin that engages the locking mechanism when reverse is selected. (this is also known as "shallow water drive") The second is best for canal use as it allows the engine to swing up when it hits an obstruction. If your motor is of the first type then it is best to rig up a cable to operate the release mechanism,not forgetting to unrelease it when you need reverse,not like me entering a lock,forgetting about the release giving the motor a burst of reverse engine rising up, me rapidly shutting the throttle and the engine coming down with a hell of a bang! If you know about this already,then just ignore this post.