panji

try midland chanderlers or acorn engineering

Hi there, am just approaching fitting some skin fitting with hose tails on my new build.I am fitting some 3/4, 1"and 1 1/2 fittings, does anybody know where i can get some large and very deep sockets or box spanners to tighten them up or does anybody have another trick i have missed for tightening up skin fittings over 2 1/2 " deep with 50mm brass nuts on.( the largest) the skin fittings are 2" below the finished external panel depth many thanks .carlos

Can i run the gas pipe on the same side under the gunnel past the woodburner which is fitted on the end of the kitchen units in the middle of the boat or should it be run on the other side of the boat. If it is okay has anybody got any idea,s on how best to protect it many thanks

Am fast approaching fitting my morso squirrel in a new build, anybody out there with any experience, advice or tips on fitting said item would be helpful ie: drilling the hole through the roof and how far back should i cut the sprayfoam back from the flue pipe to avoid any fire risk. many thanks Carlos.

Hi there, am just about to run up the plumbing to my copperform horizontal calorifier . I noted on the instructions for the 3 bar PRV that it should be fitted vertically on the top hot water outlet, only problem is i could do with another 1' above the top of the tank to fit it totally vertical which i dont have, so can i fit it off vertical at 45 or 90 degrees which woud be ideal? I assume most of these are fitted on vertical calorifers so would be the most obvious way to fit it in line with the direct pressure exiting from the calorifier, which is how i fitted the last one. Any ideas , pictures , diagrams on fag packets would be most welcome. Also can i use flexible hoses direct off the copper tails onto the hot and cold returns as it would make the pipe work less complicated in a small space and create a better flow . many thanks carlos.

Many thanks everyone for your replies, very helpful. Made a boo boo on the thermostat, meant to say immersion coil that is fitted in the top middle of the tank. Does the calorifier have to be fixed with the immersion on top or can it be fitted with the immersion fitting on the side 45 degrees to the upright , this would mean that the four fittings (hot, cold and the two coil fitting) which are fixed into the tank in a row would be in a horizontal line. would this effect the working of the calorifier. it would be helpful if someone could explain the exact working of a calorifier, if i understand the science then i understand the fitting fully. PS did not get any instruction not even a box, nor is the copperform website any use as this is the only model with no fiiting instruction download. Just bear with me , im sure the clouds will roll back soon.( carpenters never make good plumbers !) Many Thanks. Carlos

Hi there, am just approaching the fitting of a horizontal single coil calorifiers with thermostat . If anybody has any info or experience of fitting said item it would all be very useful especially any diagrams. The cylinder is being fitted under the bed ole in a boatmans cabin next to the engine, the cylinder is a copperfoam type with four connections at one end, 2x for cold and hot , and 2x for the coil with the thermostat on the top in the middle. i am a complete dunce about calorifiers, pressure relief valvels, non return valves and where and how it all goes together so all info including how it works is welcome and i might be able to avoid a hot water explosion at a later date. many thanks carl.

thanks very much for the info was most helpful, just trying to get as many different opinions on varies methods of lining and battening out as possible. had planned to use 2x1 softwood battens fixed to the steel cross members using tex screws with spray foam insulation. mdf seems a good material for cabin sides as i will be having a painted finish on it, my local builders merchants sells it in a moisture resistent form although it is more expensive. anyway thanks for the info and pictures , any more views on the above topic would be welcome.

Thanks for you replies..we are building the boat on our mooring & am interested in different ideas regarding lining out. Ta....

Am just about to start lining out my new shell , am looking for any info regarding what type of batterns ie, treated or not treated. size of battern, different types of fixing and methods of fixing. and also what thickness might be considered for the hull, cabin and roof. i intend to use t&g softwood wood on the hull sides , panels on cabin sides and t&g on the roof .is it neccessary or advised to ply behind the t&g panels only or all panels if so what would be a good thickness of ply in the different areas. any general info regarding lining out would be very helpful. many thanks

thought we had cured the problem, but it seems it is no better,have had a look at the layout of the system but could do with a idea if it is all as it should be. Just to recap we have a squirrel in tha middle of the boat with a single rad running of the backboiler via a pump. the flow of water sets of along the bottom feed from the backboiler (this is the first pipe to get hot when we light the fire) and into the pump about 1m along the pipe then from the pump it travels another 2m then tees off into the rad while the rest continues up another 3m to the expansion tank fitted up high on the front of the boat, the pipe then exits the rad and travels back along the pipe and then back into the backboiler via the top pipe and so on and so forth. have bleed the system to no avail, the pump runs okay and rad gets hot but if the water gets too hot even in the first 5 mins the water pump starts making a slowing and speeding up sound and then dumps all the water into the expansion tank and then rad goes cold i suppose due to the fact there is no longer much water in the backboiler. If we try and keep the stove at a medium heat it might just work for a few hours before it all goes wrong. not really sure where everything should be in relationship to each other, which is the in and out on the backboiler?should the hot water come from the top pipe as i have been told by one boat engineer and the return on the bottom ( ours runs the other way round as described above) should the expansion tank be on the out pipe with the pump or on the return on its own with the pump on the out, also is it possible for the pump to run backwards if the wires are switched around? yeah i know its a lots of questions and very confusing ( well it is for me) the system has been fitted twice now by two so called boat engineers in different ways to no avail, drop us a line if you have any ideas on any of the above questions or just maybe a few words of sympathy, before i tear it from the harth and throw it in the stratford canal, lifes to short !

On our 58ft narrowboat we have lots of damp patches appearing on the woodwork and under the gunnels. We need to use a dehumidifier but have not got a hook up so rely on battery power or generator...any ideas on what type, size and power output would be ideal??

We are just wondering whether to buy any eco-fan for our narrowboat. What do you think of these fans and where is the best place to buy them?

We have a squirrel stove with back boiler which we have managed to get working on only a few occassions. Everything will be running smoothly then suddenly the 12v pump will start whirring and the water then shoots out of the header tank and the radiator goes cold!! Really annoying...any ideas??