dmr

I promised myself to stop gate stepping once I turned 60, and briefly did. I started to walk round a lock when a lady who was watching asked me why I was going the long way rather than stepping the gate. I explained. She said,ok I'll step over and do the gate for you, and I'm 70. 😀 Have seen lots of lock jumping, especially at Star lock in Stone.7 foot is a bad width, it looks easy to a fit a teenager, but it only takes a little hesitation in the run up to make it all go wrong. ...............Dave

I agree in that rust converters are a sort of last resort/second best when its not possible to remove rust, but "easily remove rust"? in my experience its always hard work and tedious, and if there is pitting then its very difficult to remove 100% of the rust. Painting rust converter onto 100% good steel "just in case" is daft ..............Dave Stone Chandlery sold it.....and it must be good because it had 0% discount in the closing down sale. ...............Dave

How many people have actually died as a result of using a boat that has a BSS but not an RCD ?? If the answer is more than zero then could basic common sense have prevented these fatalities ? ...............Dave

Our boat does not have an RCD, in fact it does not have any instruction book at all and very little paperwork. We've lived on it for over ten years, it appears to work ok but I am worried, does the forum think we should get one of these RCD things ? They do appear to be very important 😀 ...........Dave

Interesting stuff, thanks. A bit counter-intuitive for me....I always reckon anything will stick to a non-gloss surface and old epoxy is pretty matt.....but then the yard who do ours do a huge amount of surface abrasion so I suspect you are correct. I now have some experience of three different epoxies and they are very different, I don't know which one is the best though. ...............Dave

Foret the electric, but solar heated boilers are very practical, they use something called trees 😀 (but they do need rather a lot)

ABNB does predate AirBnB by many years. They specialise in the more upmarket boats but have a very good reputation, the opposite end of the market to Whilton

Rusting is a slow process, it might need blacking now but its not going to be significantly worse in 4 or 5 months time so don't be rushed. The £300 saved won't really be £300 saved if its a bad job. If you buy the boat then take your time, find out which yards do a good job and get to know the boat, then get the work done under your control at your pace when its more convenient. Its a bit of a worrying co-incidence that there is a blacking slot available the very day after your survey 😀 Maybe its because nobody wants to black their boat in January. ..................Dave

If you spend five hours in an evening making something and sell it for £15 that is infinitely more profitable than spending those five hours watching TV. Hoping that trading will pay for living on a boat is optimistic, but if you want to live on a boat then a bit of trading is a little bit of extra income, and many people exist on several little incomes. We usually take a bit of money at the Middlewich festival but I expect it all goes to the local pubs, is this a profit or a loss? 😀 .................Dave

We know the K&A very well, till recently we spent every winter there. East of Newbury there are just no good places to stop and trade, and its a hard-work waterway too. We have sold a bit of stuff at Kintbury and the Pakistani lady found us at Hungerford last summer 😀. Canal trading is not a licence to print money like some people hope, many passers-by are dog walkers who never have any money with them. Stopping in one place for a few days helps as people see you and come back....but most moorings are only 48 hours. Selling to hire boaters whilst sharing locks is surprisingly good (though not strictly allowed within the trading licence rules) and the K&A has nice wide locks. ....................Dave

Selling home made stuff from a boat from a boat does give you some advantage. My wife recently sold some of her (quite expensive) stuff to a pakistani woman visiting the uk. She could likely have found something similar and much cheaper back home but it was home made on a boat and she got a photo of herself next to the boat buying these things. Stuff made in a factory but with a "designer name" sells at a big premium, its the same concept of making stuff special. Its not all about money. Selling from a boat also makes it easier to have variable prices, you can probably get more than £15 in some places, othertimes yoiu give stuff away because you realise your quality of life is so much better than your customers. If something does not sell don't throw it away, keep it for those give-away moments. ................Dave

There are always nice boats for sale at ABNB, thats what they sell 😀

You have to get the price right. Set it too low and it won't sell because people see it as cheap worthless stuff. Selling crafts will usually involve selling at below "true cost" because time is not charged at a market rate, but that happens everywhere, most stuff from China is well below market rate, and all those lovely shops on eBay that will sell you a a single bolt (post free) are not really making money from that sale. ................Dave

So does (did) the coaltar take a real part in the two pack reaction or was it a sort of chemical filler? As people here say it can react with later coatings I assume its a bit more like a filler and never fully set? .....................Dave