MrsM

For a very cheap and effective tile effect you could do the following:- Choose a colour and buy a tin of gloss and a tin of matt paint in the same shade. Paint the whole area in matt. Depending on the base surface you may need to use a primer first. Mask out 'grout lines' using fine line masking tape. (De-tack it by sticking each strip to fabric, eg jeans/overalls, a couple of times if required.) Then paint over the area in gloss. The matt paint acts as an undercoat for the gloss. Remove masking tape when dry. This will be cheap, quick, reasonably hard wearing and easy to touch up in the future. Using the same colour in different levels of sheen can be extremely effective and good value. Look forward to pictures of the rest of your new galley. V exciting! NB you could use a lighter shade of matt to make the grout lines stand out more but this might look a bit gimmicky imo. (You are giving the 'effect' of tiles rather than trompe l'oeil).

Won't open

What a clear and useful description! I can never quite remember which of the controls (top or bottom) to use on my house stoves but will do now. I also won't be so fussy about clearing the ash from the griddle/grate when I set the fire with logs. Thank you ☺️

Not sure what I could spend the extra £0.0005 on though 😃

Me? I'm just wandering where Machpoint is so I can invite him to a duel.

True and I wasn't really expecting a response if I'm honest. Put it this way I would rather hang on to it than sell it for a fiver, only to have to buy another one in 10 years time. I was being rather tongue-in-cheek and reacting to the hoo-ha that this thread generated. You don't have to be a boat-owner to go boating. We will probably hire and will certainly crew on friends' boats.

Because it was a birthday gift and we left them 2 'normal' windlasses, along with everything else they could possibly need (life jackets, furniture, WiFi router & aerial, new boarding plank, pole & hooks, new mattress & bedding, crockery etc etc). We anticipate getting another boat on retirement and I will be glad to have it.

I was just being a bit of a provocative stirrer I'm afraid 😄 (as I hope y'all guessed). I'm 5'4" and fairly slight and I found the Go Windlass really handy for the more tricky locks, however most of the time I preferred to use my standard el cheapo one. As tempting as the generous offer of cash + mince pie was I think I'll hang onto it for the day I can persuade himself that we need to get another boat.

Tempting (you cheeky thing!) 😄

Having sold my boat I could be persuaded to part with my Go Windlass if the price is right! 🤭😃

We had flotex in a room in a house many years ago and found that pet hair stuck to it like velcro and was quite tricky to remove. If your cat sheds a lot I would think twice about it. We certainly wouldn't get it again.

Typical that one of the very days I don't walk past at least once, that happens. I could have been 'reporting from the scene'.

Remember it well! A thorough pain in the a**se that was. The boater had quite the reputation in the Nottingham area by all accounts (and lost their boat shortly after?). This has sometimes been quite a tricky, heavy, leaky lock though by no means the worst on that stretch.

How is your new galley coming along? Any photos to share? X

If this newbie wants help perhaps they should post a photo of their barge, or failing that their mangina 😶

Solid or engineered wood needs regular upkeep - sealing etc and is not especially tolerant of high levels of moisture. Top quality vinyl, karndean etc is much easier in terms of mopping up muddy footprints.

Exactly what I was going to say.

I don't know why RCR would show a photo of the refloated boat if it wasn't the same one sunk in the lock. The pictures of the boat with the RCR team working on it in the lock sure seem to show the same boat to me.