Phil F

Thanks to you all for replies.

Hi, looking to install a stove on my boat which means cutting a 6+ inch hole in the roof for the flue (4inch twinwall ??) and chimney. My boat is just over 2 years old and has diesel blown air heating which is OK but doesn't cope too well when really cold. I am not a liveaboard so am doing this mainly as a project and will not be dependent on the stove as permanent heat source. I feel OK with insulating around the stove etc but am struggling to understand the dynamics re flue, chimney etc. My stove (Hamlet Hardy 4) has a 4inch opening at the top. After a lot of searching on the internet, Youtube, forums etc it seems the traditional approach is to use flue which goes into a cast iron deck plate bolted and sealed on the roof with a removeable chimney on top of the plate. Recent regulations seem to indicate that twin wall flue has to be used. Is it possible for me to do the following ? Can I use 4inch twin wall attached to the stove by an adapter which exits the roof about 100mm above a Dektite heat proof roof flashing then attach to that a 500mm length of 4inch twin wall (+ cowl) secured by a locking band as a chimney ? Could this work as a removeable chimney ? or is it not possible to undo the locking band once fitted ? I would protect the ceiling internally with a firestop collar and pack around the flue inside the roof space with fire rope or similar. So, what I really need to know - is 4inch twin wall too small ? If so, what is the minimum I can use safely on a boat. I cannot find anywhere where minimum flue size is mentioned. And, more importantantly, is what I want to do possible, or is there a reason why a cast iron deck plate has to be used rather than a Dektite, and, would what I want to do work and pass a BSS ?. All comments/advice welcome - thanks Phil

Hi all, received email yesterday from Mark Taylor, managing director of Aintree Boats asking for bank details. Rang this morning to confirm identity etc and spoke to Mark who said they were going to pay the £330 that it cost to fix the engine problem. I apologised for making my complaint public, but explained it was out of frustration at receiving no responses from emails etc for nearly 2 weeks and believing it was being ignored. So, Aintree Boats have demonstrated a level of integrity and honesty that I wrongly thought was absent and now feel a sense of regret and embarassment at publicising my issues. However, hindsight is a wonderful leveller. Thanks for all your comments - supportive, not-so-supportive, and informative. Phil

Thanks for the replies and support. Not wanting Aintree to put it right because got the boatyard to refit engine and fix hull. Plus, I don't think i'd trust them to do a good job. Otherwise, I'd have a boat that I daren't use waiting for an outfit that ignores correspondence and it could have gone on for months. Total cost was £330 - not as bad as would have been if engine had lost all oil. So, not a massive sum but worth fighting for.

very good, thanks Phil

In August this year I bought a 30ft Aintree Bettle which had a build date of July 2018. The engine had only done 35hrs so all good. Then we have the problems: 1. The Beetle has a wet room with Thetford cassette electric flush toilet. To attach the wires and pipes to this toilet they cut a 4inch square hole in the wet room floor and then threw a few lumps of sealant over the hole. This was discovered when water leaked into the corridor. 2. The general quality and finish of the sealant application throughout the wet room was terrible - amateurish would be an insult to a bad amateur. 3. The windows internally have been sealed with a light brown sealant. This is also of a very poor standard of application - most windows have gaps in the sealant adjacent to the hinges. One window has no internal sealant at all ! 4. I then discovered water in the bottom of the kitchen cupboard. In an attempt to find out where the leak was coming from I had to pull out the fridge only to find water in the adjacent space and a spaghetti junction of hose pipes and jubilee clips covered in silicon. The leak was eventually traced to the sink tap which, surprisingly, was connected to a thin hose by a jubilee clip without silicon plastered all over it. The kitchen units, now leak free, are starting to bloat as they dry out. All of this I was prepared to grudgingly accept because I could work round it and the rest of the boat seemed fine and virtually new - or so I thought. Now we come to the biggy. 5. 2 weeks ago I decided to have the boat serviced. The day it went in I got a call from the yard to say I need to come and look at the boat. Why ? Because the engine had been incorrectly fitted ! The elbow joint at the bottom of the sump was resting on the steel crossbeam of the hull. It had gouged out a grove in the crossbeam due to the vibrations when the engine is running. Fortunately, this had not caused damage to the elbow joint which would have caused all the oil to pour out of the engine. Contacted Aintree Boats by phone regarding the engine whose first response was that at 15 months old it was out of warranty. Subsequently, I have had no response to emails etc. Technically they are right but morally no way. Legally I am not sure where I stand but I intend to find out and pursue for compensation if possible. Regardless, I think it is important to make people aware of my experience and the claims by Aintree Boats that their boats are quality built and their customer service excellent. A company should be judged not by its claims but by how it deals with genuine, valid, problems and complaints, especially when they are wholly responsible for the fault.