Chris Pink

The end of the tiller and its socket are tapered so wear is taken up, you just push it in a bit harder. I broke the taper off my tiller a couple of years ago on a lock gate (the shame) but i was able to clean up the rest and it still works, albeit a touch shorter.

You said your bed was in the middle of the boat, i initially misread 'centre' to mean that there was space each side and the bed ran front to back. A cross bed, unless it hinges up like a traditional back cabin will divide the boat. If it hinges then the mattress must be able to fold into the cupboard created, foam or futon will, springs won't. What Lady Muck was talking off (i think) was a fore-aft bed high up on one side with corridor on the other. It would need to be built but you might find that your existing bed can be hiked up, depending on how it fits with everything else. Most boat furniture is built to fit though I do know of people who convert futon bases. Everything is fixed to everything else so you will probably find whatever holds the bed up is attached to a bulkhead attached to a... well you get the idea. I would advise, after using both that you use a slatted rather than a solid base to let the mattress breathe. Even though it's more work. Hope this helps. difficult to explain things in words that are 3-dimensional. you really should get nosey with your neighbours boats, it's the best place to get ideas and in my experience most people don't mind. We're all in it together.

Maybe not, if the run is put in properly then it should be possible to disconnect each fitting/switch on the main supply cable simply by disconnecting the live at each spur. I don't know your boat (obviously) but the above assumes you have removable panelling (trunking) for the wiring. If not maybe you should consider this as there are few things more difficult to fix in a boat than wiring just laid loose behind the main ceiling or wall panelling. As far as I know mains wiring has to be in conduit or trunking on it's own for the BSS not laid with other cables.

Anyone with any experience of using the propshaft from a lorry?

Yep, have it out and then see. I reckon it is the most likely unless there is obvious moisture or physical damage. If everything seems fine after then put all the rest back together first before the flourescent fitting. Probably also a good idea to reinstate each light after testing, except, of course, if you have more than one fault. The reason i asked about switches is that you will have a supply cable running down the boat which is split for each light and if you can find the place it splits then you can isolate each light/switch pair. edited to say: don't worry about safety as long as you disconnect the supply (unplug it!) before each investigation you will be totally safe.

Get the bed as high as you can and make storage underneath? If in centre you mean you can get down both sides then block one side off to make a hanging wardrobe. And take everything very slowly - especially spending money on (more) things. And my favourite saying for small home living; "inches count" - there's always a space that is exactly the right size for something. It is important to keep sightlines and space clear to make the space seem larger. It is tempting to put cupboards up high but it can get overhanging and oppressive. Mirrors and shiny things.

A simple bodge to get you through to spring is to use some fencing wire, take up some strain until the crack is small, rub in some fire cement mixed with a little water then tighten up the fencing wire some more, rub on some more wet fire cement, will last easily until spring (it is rumoured there will be one this year) when you can take it apart long enough to repair. Use two sets of wire at the top and bottom of the door and you will tighten up the door too.

Wooooooooooow

There's a couple of privately owned wide beam hireboats based near Bath you could try for a short notice deal one is moonboats (.co.uk i recall) and the other is name Grand Cru and may or may not be on the net. There's also quite a few cruising up and down between Bradford-on-Avon and Bath, worth walking the towpath.

hmm intermittent is the nadir of faults. I agree, try with the flourescent completely removed. Where each fitting is spurred off it should be possible to break the line, if it's not a ring which i guess would be overkill on a boat. I can feel a diagram coming on but I'll wait and see if you know what i mean. Do you have house type switches? or on the light fittings?

Truly truly beautiful. Great pics too. Love the angle on the one taken whilst standing in the canal.

Would the surface be clean enough straight after blasting - i heard it needed air cleaning after grit, do you know about this?

Can't find a fault in your fault finding procedure, sounds like you are to the point where it is between the lighting circuit isolator and the lights themselves, if they are on a ring then it is pretty tricky to trace as there are no more options for isolating any part of the circuit. I would suggest removing each light switch in turn as the next step. But disconnect the flourescent completely as the last part of checking the fittings, there may be a fault between the wire coming in and the casing. Look for places where wiring goes through bulkheads. An RCD tripping mains fault is a mechanical fault normally and mechanical damage is what you are looking for. Does the trip go off instantly? or intermittently? Chocolate terminal block is a good alternative to tape for holding the wires safe when fittings are removed.

Because having a licence does not entitle you to live on your boat. I take it that the Daily Mail readers here are somewhat confused between DSS and Housing Benefit. The grey area has been covered in the forum in a housing benefit ruling.

i can kinda feel your tongue in your cheek but the 'boatie swap shop' that the local bins used to be until someone somewhere who should have a proper job told the workers to clear out all the boatie tat instantly was a useful resource. Some of my best bits of boatie tat came from there. Womble on. Re-use don't recycle.

no mate, the literal truth. btw can i have a copy of 'The Importance of being Albert" too please, i may be 567th in the queue but i'm sat 4 foot away from a Walkers boat needing much of the restoration malarky.

PM John Orentas? He'd know. Happy new year John, miss you

I think you're giving up a bit easy, it would be a wonderful trip and get you accustomed to your boat in the best possible way.

In the back hatches during a long tunnel, there's a couple of variations.

Well as someone who knows that part of the river well and has experienced how hard it can be in bad weather, Weston Lock in ice, Netham in flood i think, strongly, that it is criminally irresponsible to hire out a boat there at that time of year unless, possibly, hired at very short notice (the weather's fine) to someone who knows the river and is expert on a narrow boat. Yes they should have done their homework better but there is also a responsibility on the part of the hirer. I have seen boats 10' under water after a bit of fresh not 2 miles from that base.

Interesting - I'm still moot on the issue but tending towards getting it done at Devizes Marina, in the shed out again a day later no worries. Just have to get the nose down in the pixel mines to raise enough cash. Especially factoring in a. the price of poly-tunnel/tent, b. doing it outside any time before the summer and c. the clean-up/environmental issues not to mention that doing something as an amateur takes at least 6 and a half times as long. Thanks to all for sharing experience and thoughts. And boat paint, Phil, is what you put on boats, thought you would have known that with your reputation, and I'm afraid I wouldn't know the difference between a battleship, cruiser, corvette or a washboard but I believe you'll find them all in Devenport, probably being painted as we speak with boat paint supplied by the very nice man who took a hour out to talk to me about hull coatings (including paint) and explained how he could make up an epoxy-based formula to suit most outside climatic conditions in the south west of England. Chris

It's my opinion that the boaters with licences hurt themselves more than anybody else. Having a licence entitles you to certain rights, without one you don't have much at all. I would never moan at someone because they don't have a licence, it's none of my business, but I would certainly point out the benefits of having one. It's also a mistake to assume anything about what is displayed on a boat. If a licence is not displayed then a bye-law offence is being committed but it doesn't automatically follow that the boat is unlicenced.

About £4,500 for 52 foot at 10/6/4mm cabin halfway. £3,300 got the hull and sides bought by weight so add on about 20% of that for your spec (can't be bothered to do the exact maths) GUCCCo boats had 5/16" sides (8mm) on 3'9" frames (1,100mm) which I guess was an 'industry standard' if you want to chuck 20 tons into it. I think if you specify side (or bottom) thickness then specifying the frame distances follow, so 6mm is fine if the frame distances are closer and vice versa. including VAT

I was looking at the blog of Syncopation, the picture seemed to imply that the blasting was done in a general workshop rather than a specialised space. Is this the case when you did it? I was thinking tenting with tarpaulin on the ground as the grit can be used 3 times. I agree it is very tempting to buy it in but i am, in my meanness, worried that i am being a bit of a wus to avoid a day or two of hard. I have had quotes from £800 to do the outside in the yard (mobile operation) to £1500 on a boatyard slipway with the epoxy as well (both plus VAT). Whereas the kit hire is about £250 for a week. And there's a boat paint specialist in Newton Abbot that says "they paint battleships with it" [the epoxy] and "winter outside? no problem" the same people that poo-poo'd bothering with zinc (Zinga) coating. 4 hours is interesting, I want to do the inside as well as the hull has no cabin at the moment. a bit longer for that with all the frames. I'm a bit smiley dyslexic so i can't tell whether you're joking (or just want to put a few dead animals in the area to get flayed) but the hire does get very much cheaper over a week and i am a fan of sharing big kit, cranes and such. It's all outside and i heard dry grit is essential. And the leave it for a year to rust the scale off was mentioned. So will the acid give a good paintable surface after? like phosphoric acid? It's very tempting to let the weather do it. Tell me more Monsieur Le Magnét. Just bung it cut like? I've never had a new boat before i want it to have the best possible start in life - aaaw. Thanks for your help all.

Does anyone have any experience of grit blasting? Is it a job i could consider tackling myself or best left to the experts? Brandon Tool Hire will hire the kit for not too much money, including protective clothing. And there is a large difference between hire costs and the initial quotes i have garnered. Roughly how long to blast the outside of a 50ft shell? what sort of quantity of consumables? I understand grit rather than shot for preparing SA2.5 for epoxy painting, is this sensible? It is an outside, new build with millscale to remove. All advice, help and gratuitous insults gratefully received Chris