MartinW

I'm just glad that she feels healthier. In photos from her previous life she has a painful neck condition that causes her to constantly look up into an inexplicable middle distance.

That's great to know, Dorah because the ElectriQ looks virtually identical and is quite a bit cheaper. It might also stop me smelling. Are cold washes, perhaps the reason why the (very droll) bloke on cruising the cut is mostly soap-isolating?

The single(? can't spot another)alternator looks newer, which is probably a good thing, but might make one of the many electrical experts on here ask supplementary questions. If you like the boat, an indefinable quality that only you will recognise, get a proper survey and all your questions will be answered (plus you'll get a whole lot more questions and answers you needed to ask, but didn't know to!)

At the risk of being an armchair expert, I saw the https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/wmtf722h/hotpoint-wmtf722h-freestanding-washing-machine Hotpoint being recommended by 'cruising the cut', specifically as it has a cold wash button. The cheaper https://www.electriq.co.uk/p/eiqwmtl75/electriq-eiqwmtl75#!#maindesc alternative I found does not. but does have a cool 15 degree wash

' I can safely say that its not portable in the slightest' Masterful understatement, I imagine. I think that it will be next to impossible to find a mooring anytime soon ( I am on lots of waiting lists but know that it's about the person as much as the boat and being in the right place at the right time) so it looks like a Honda will be in my future, and the acronym B.reak O.ut A.nother T.housand is beginning to ring true. I will take possession of the boat in about a week so then can have a really good look at everything and revise my 'white Board' list accordingly. Thanks again.

Cheers, Brian, I was grateful to Alan for the detailed information I didn't already have about the sad suffocation case. CO alarms are high on the list of my items to check/obtain.

What a brilliantly informative range of replies. My mention of 'Geek' was an attempt at gentle humor, since the poet in me always rhymes it with 'chic' so I see it as a compliment rather than insulting. My dislike of petrol was partly as a result of having been burnt in a petrol-fire some years ago but also because of the extensive mentions of the hazards in the BSC literature. I see the issues very clearly now. I apologise in advance for any inadvertent use of terms or words (Like 'old' or 'Banger' and 'Lister' in the same sentence) and look forward to allowing myself to be educated by the knowledge and mistakes of others before I make expensive ones myself. Just to preview possible areas of insult, my boat has a Technodrive gearbox........

Hello all, I hope that this is in the correct place and I did try the search function. I will be doing some recommissioning work on the boat I have bought before puttng it through its BSC and re-registering it. I have mostly 240v power tools and , in the absence of a shore line (I have no mooring yet) will have to hire/buy a small Generator.My first question is, since the boat has an isolating transformer fitted, should I plug the genny into the shoreline socket to power the boat or plug tools directly into the Gennie? Since I have no mooring yet (whoops) I think that I may need temporary generation as a semi-permanent thing so am thinking about buying a small diesel generator (Not petrol) and installing it under the stern plates alongside the motor or storing it on the boat and lifting it onto the towpath. I have a fridge, cooker and microwave on the boat but was thinking about maybe 3kw set. Does that sound ok or would one of the geeky-sparkie people school me please.

Thank you very much. That kind of knowledge-based information is exactly why I joined the page. My only experience of torque curves is mostly from motorcycles, where the requirements are more or less diametrically opposite. I also recall how better Spitfires and Hurricanes became at higher altitudes once variable pitch props were introduced , so it's a good job most boats with fixed-pitch props work at water-level.

Thank you very much Richard, I have already learnt much from lurking on here, including just how patient the Reverend Tony Brooks can be.

Hello, I'm Martin and I'm just in the process of buying a 57' semi-trad. We both need work. I had lesson number one today as I lifted up the cover over the rev-counter and it flipped off its rusted hinges and over the rail. I shall be taking a large magnet on a rope with me next time. Lesson number two was closing the hatch cover and realising that I'd left the keys inside. Fortunately the front doors were only latched and not bolted. As a lover of detective fiction I was delighted, in a very mouldy drawer, to find an engine service bill from 2008 inside the handbook for the Vetus M4.15. The technician had written that he felt the engine might be over-propped and threatened dire consequences for various overloaded parts as a result. My survey says that the prop is 18"x 12 and 3-bladed. I looked up the Vetus specs and that is at the top of the range for the motor but not over. Nevertheless I shall be paying close attention to mounting bolt tightness and so on. the surveyor also told me that the prop was in really good nick. Since I know the boat has seen very little use that might be the original or a replacement. Lesson number three is to wait and see. now I'm just off out to look for a bit of steel to make a new Throttle-Quadrant cover just in case the magnet fails...