Ray

Thanks to you both. Is the Watermate key the same as the one we use "down south" for the elsan disposal sites? Can we get the handcuff key somewhere locally before we go?

We bought our sailaway - On Schedule ! - from Reeves in October 2006 and have been busily fitting it out on the GU south during the winter months 2006/7. We're still a long way from finishing but hope to be in a position to head north to Gargrave (and back) after Easter, at the end of March 2008 to show far flung family members what we've been harping on about for the last 6 months. Although we've had several hire boat holidays over the years, they've mostly all been of a week's duration, so next Spring's trip will be the longest that we've ever tried and the first when we aren't really racing the clock. We don't have a schedule, save that we need to be back by about 20th May, giving us about 8 weeks. We'd like to make it a circular trip, without duplicating too much of the system, other than south Norton Junction. We recognise that a trip of this nature will need a lot of planning and would welcome input from forum members about the journey. What do we need to get / take?, specific navigation notes, places to be wary of, all that kind of thing. We've got the basics, like windlasses etc., but there's talk on the forum and in books of all sorts of keys and the like, so clarification would be useful. There'll be just the two of us but we're used to long days (and getting up early!).

I bought a Reeves hull last Autumn and am fitting it out myself. I found Reeves easy to work with but do make sure that you write down everything that you think you've said to them and send it to them by mail so that you have a copy in case of problems. Probably no different to any other builder. There have been a couple of problems which they've agreed to resolve but as I only discussed these with them this week its too early to report back. I'd suggest that you get Reading marine - or whoever - to spray, batten and ballast because they'll know exactly where the last two will be needed and how much ecess foam they'll want to avoid having to remove. Hope this helps.

I have literally just fitted a Mastervolt 2000 = on Thursday. Its too soon to say whether it works properly - only currently got one battery connected, or whether I'd choose the same again or different, sorry.

We've been working on our boat since late October 2006. Usually doing no more than 7/8 hour days. One person with the ideas - most in his head or thought of as the problems arise; frequently someone providing the extra pair of hands. The main person (me) is the only one prepared to take the gamble and cut the wood, etc., the others help me carry it and hold it in place while I put the screws in! I can usually manage 3-4 days a week at the boat but it is a 30+ minute drive each way from home, so time away from home is usually 8/9 hours. I'm not skilled but I'm trying my hardest. I'm keeping a diary (blog) at www.729.me.uk/boat/home.html for those interested. We're still a long way away from finishing but I hope our first (short) leisure cruise, as opposed to the delivery journey, isn't too far off. It's a lot of dosh, time and effort and you'll need understanding associates / partners. Get as much advice as you can before you sign on the dotted line and kiss goodbye to virtually any spare time until the boat is done, unless you want it to drag out. Unless you're prepared to really rough it, any idea of much more than a night away from your moorings is going to be quite a way away, time wise. Remember, if you keep it on the water while you're working you'll have licence and moorings to pay. That could be around £2.5k per year. Makes transport to a land based site for fitting out seem a good option if you can get it near to home.

Many thanks for all the responses. After 20 odd years working with trip and hire boats on a very part time basis, I planned to go for the biggest tank I could fit. My problem is that, even with a 57ft boat, space is at a premium and I'd prefer not to encroach upon the bedroom if I can avoid it. I've contemplated removing the floor and the relevant part of the supporting bearer and levelling the slab ballast to the cross steelwork height and resting the tank on that. That would give us about another 60mm. We have the inevitable bulkhead behind the loo and then a small service area, about 75mm wide to hide the pipework from the wash basin. We could eat into that service area below the pipework to give us a bit more (front to back) depth but I'd only want to do this in the middle of the tank - which is across the bathroom - to enable us to continue to support the bulkhead on both edges and also so that we can get to the pipework joints for the wash basin water and waste if we need to - the boat is being fitted out to be as maintenance friendly as possible. If push comes to shove I can encroach slightly on the bedroom but as this is our main storage area for clothes and bedding, we want to minimise any space loss. My own calculations were that approx 5 litres per day should be sufficient per person, so we'd get 10 days out of our initial tank size. We kind of confirmed our calculations by working out that we normally drink about 4 pints of tea a day - just over 2 litres. Throw in some soup and some solids that will need to be disposed of, and 5 litres seemed adequate. However, having just spoken to someone who runs a couple of hire boats, he reckons that their average returns, so to speak, indicate that they need to provide for 15 gallons per person per week - that's nearly 70 litres per person per week, 10 litres per day! We've gone down the dump through path to minimise the amount of extra water that the tank has to accept. In all my time working on trip boats, the only smells that we get tend to be those from the area immediately around the toilet and not from the tank! The boss says that she can cope with a loo with the base 30cm off the floor but she has to sit with only her toes on the floor. I'll have a look at Bio Magic once the tank gets here and the second vent and fan seem good ideas.

Hi. I'm about to place an order for the dump through toilet waste tank for our sailaway. We have a preferred size which should give us about 105 litres capacity. However, we can increase this size by robbing some of the storage space under the bed and/or by increasing the height of the toilet above the cabin floor which makes things a bit uncomfortable for the shorter female crew members. Ideally, we'd like to be able to go for about 2 weeks betwen pump outs when there's just the two of us on board (and cruising). Does anyone have any idea of the average (normal) usage as measured in litres per person per day? We think we have an average liquid intake Thanks