tosher

Hi "Bob the welder" Shortly after my original post I bought the boat with the punp out roof connections and it has worked fine with no problems for almost a year now. Not yet got round to a self pump out system though. Thanks anyway for your post. tosher.

Had this once on a sea going yacht, Perkins engine/Hurth gearbox. Afraid nothing but a recon gearbox cured the problem. Incidentaly it was caused by who ever fitted the gearbox fitted the linkages the wrong way round, so when the gear lever was pushed forward the boat went backwards. and pulling the lever backwards the boat went forwards. The cleaver dock yard maties overcame this problem by simply changing the pitch of the max prop from right handed to left handed which cured the direction problem but of course meant the gearbox spent most of it's life working in reverse gear. It worked like this for 15 years before the gearbox finally died. The cause was diagnosed by a very knowledgable Perkins engineer who fitted the replacement gearbox and out of interest I asked him what the reverse gear time rating was on a Hurth mechanical gearbox and he replied ---- 30 MINUTES !!!! tosher.

I use 120cm 12v x 0.25amp computer cooling fans, one in the galley mushroom vent and one in the bathroom mushroom vent. They cost less than a fiver and last for 30k hours. The one in the galley is on a simple on/off switch and the one in the bathroom is on a timer switch (stops after 10 minutes). They work very well, draw little current and cheap as chips. tosher

My boat is on a John White shell. No problems or faults at all. Well built, nice to look at, handles well, sound as a pound and dry as a bone after 1 year afloat. tosher

You've got me there, not sure what the pulley ratio is but out of interest I will check when next on board. tosher

I have a Sterling 210 amp Alternator-to-Battery charger with both alternators (110amp & 70amp on Isuzu 42hp engine) connected together. This has worked fine for a year now with no problems at all. I also have a remote control panel which shows alternator output and on occasions when my batteries were a bit low I have seen this reading 150amps which is a good indication that both alternators are working ok. tosher

I understood that lighting circuits do not go through the RCD on domestic systems, only socket outlets use the RCD. That is certainly the case at home but my house was wired 10 years ago, things may have changed now.

Repair of paddle chambers required to secure navigation through 2008. At least that's what it says on Waterscape web site. Oh and BW "appologise for any inconvenience cuased" Totally cocked up my plans as well. tosher

I believe "impact adjustment" to be the technical term for this type of activity???

A Challange for all dog breeders -- to design and make a dog that only needs emptying once a week and preferably one that eats plastic bags so the sh@t comes out already wrapped !!!! Just a thought.

3 x 270ah domestic 2 x 110ah bow thruster 1 x 110ah starter. tosher

On the contrary I have had 3 x 270ah Elecsol batteries on my boat for over a year now and they've never given a minutes bother although I do have an external regulator (Sterling) as "chris w" suggests. They hold their charge very well when the boat is left unattended with no charging at all. The warranty is for 5 years but never having had to make a claim I cannot comment on it. tosher

Went passed Wrenbury last weekend and everything at the Alvechurch base seemed to be in "winter" operating mode with most boats apparently laid up. The actual basin was full of boats but also there was about 20 or 30 boats tied up to the canal bank on either side of the basin, some on the towpath side and some on the off side. When I licence my boat I have to have a marina berth or have a continous cruising licence and move on frequently. Are hire boat company's excempt from this rule or are they just flouting it. ?????

Logged on with Firefox 15 minutes ago -- no problems. tosher

After spending 30 years burning coal in power stations I agree entirely with what John says above. The most modern of our large coal fired power stations operate at a maximum efficiency of around 38%. So for every 100 tons of coal burned only 38 tons (equivalent) of electricity is produced, most of the remaining 62 tons being lost in the hot gasses (pollution) going up the chimney and in the steam going up the cooling towers. A typical 2000 mw power station burns around 20,000 tons of coal PER DAY and of that around 12500 tons of coal PER DAY is lost to the atmosphere as waste heat. The notion that electricity is a clean and efficient fuel is very much a misnomer. (I burn free wood on my stove, seen enough coal to last a lifetime).

I don't use any sealant at all simply because I always remove the chimney when cruising to avoid losing it on low bridges and the odd excursion into the bank side trees and bushes. The chimney is double skinned and is a reasonably tight interference fit on the base flange. Occasionally I just need to wipe off the small amount of gunge that appears on the roof after several day's in use (burning wood). Never had any problems. tosher.

Thanks "blackrose" I think you have a point there. tosher

Spot on Chris, I have an L-shaped dinette with a FIXED table that folds down to make a double bed, it's super as far as the bed goes but being fixed is a real pain for relaxing or entertaning visitors etc. Would be interested in more details of yours if possible with a view to converting mine. Many thanks - tosher

A belated hello to you all. I was at Gary's yesterday but arrived early and left early due to prior commitments. I was actually onboard the wide beam on the river when you all arrived but had to leave soon after so didn't get time to meet you all then. Hope all went well in the evening and hopefully I will be able to make the next one. Many thanks to Gary (and his collegue) for opening his workshop to us and allowing us to look around his boats, I was seriously impressed by the quality of his work and his depth of knowledge about boat building and really appreciated the way he freely passed this on to us, (especially to me regarding props & hatch sliders) I think this helpfullness also comes through in his posts on the forum as well. So thanks again and hope to see you all at the next meeting! tosher.