FadeToScarlet

Wow, was that really five years ago?! Play "spot the forum member..."

Living aboard and fitting out a boat is very hard work. We moved on to a lined she'll effectively, with the solid fuel stove and engine installed, and a sofa bed to sleep on. No electrics, no running water. We got 70% of the work done within four months, both working full time- but it was hard. The next ten percent took another six months. We've been 80% done for years now..... No shower at first- at one point we had three weeks without a shower, only washing from a bucket, until we got back to our mooring and could use showers elsewhere. You will need a bare minimum of "stuff" to live with- clothes, cooking utensils, wash kit- as otherwise the stuff will get in the way of fitting out. I really recommend either hard standing or a mooring where you can work on the boat, with storage for materials ideally- Keeping them on the boat will mean you spend about a third of your time moving things to get at the bit you want to work on! In short: -It will cost more than you think -It will take longer than you think -It will be harder than you think But it is very rewarding!

Putting my moderator hat on here- no, certainly not. People get sanctions (unofficial, official warnings, suspensions, bans) for breaching the forum rules and guidelines. "No Arguing" isn't one of them. You may have seen people "disagreeing strongly" with certain individuals, but they were certainly not banned for disagreeing.

https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/silica/041494.pdf A special kind of silica apparently, used for grinding operations as it was so fine. Assuming the modern stuff is the same as the old stuff.

You won't get a mooring in the centre of Cambridge I'm afraid- there's a waiting list which is currently closed. CCing is possible but bloody hard work, because all the moorings are 48 hours so you're moving every other day. There are visitor moorings to commute to Cambridge by public transport at Cambridge Jesus Lock, Waterbeach, GOBA at Bottisham Lock, Upware (with a cycle ride), Stretham, Little Thetford, Ely, Littleport, and Downham Market. Moorings out towards Bedford are also commutable- St Ives right through to Huntingdon is served by the guided bus, then Huntingdon to Bedford by the X5 coach. Having a car probably won't help unless there's two of you. CCing means moving between one and three hours every other day, after work in the evenings. I wouldn't recommend it. The Cam Conservators are the licencing authority for the Cam above Bottisham Lock, you can pay a small supplement to your EA licence to gain access for up to 90 days in a year. Buying a CamCon licence gives access to the EA Anglian region too, so not just the 9 miles. If I were in your situation, I'd look at mooring in: -Shrubb's Wharf -Tiptree marina -fish and Duck marina -Moorings at Stretham -Upware marina (and the small moorings on the end of the Lode) -Cathedral at Ely -Little Ouse Or possibly Jones in St Ives. All are commutable by car, but will involve either the A10 or A14 which gets busy. Anything further away than Little Ouse will be a nightmare commute- Ely can be hard enough. The other alternative is somewhere at the top of the Lea or the Stort, and driving up- in my opinion much better boating, and possibly less traffic up the M11 into Cambridge that way.

Someone fire the sub-editor. The three locks proposed to be left out of use are: Welches Dam on the Old Bedford Dedham lock on the (Essex and Suffolk) Stour Harlam Hill lock on the Ancholme. I know Welches Dam has been piled off for some years now, I don't know about the others. There is no suggestion that the Nene or Great Ouse might be affected. It's just "Alternative Facts".

"Oi, slow down to tickover you lout, you just derailed the 11:19!"

What kind of shower is it? As I mentioned, I had exactly the same symptoms from the thermostatic cartridge scaling up- even turned up to maximum, the shower wasn't demanding enough hot water from the Paloma, causing it to cut out.

Nah, pass under the second lamppost from the right, it's the fastest stream

How much?! Will have to get the magnet out when out and about this summer....

It could be your shower, rather than the Paloma. If you have a thermostatic mixer shower, you can remove the cartridge and the O rings, soak the cartridge in vinegar overnight to remove limescale, then reassemble. Or match up the cartridge with a replacement from eBay for about a tenner if it's a cheap mixer. I've had the same problem with my shower and Paloma twice and both times it was the cartridge. Soaking cured it the first time, replacing the second time.

If I remember right, one of the main problems with the Morco F11 room sealed heater is the flue. It is one piece, sticks up quite a lot, and can't be made shorter. There is a horizontal exit version I believe. This means it's not very practical for boating. I've seen one installed on a boat near me, and the flue sticks up about 18" or a couple of feet above the cabintop, and can't be removed as far as I know.

There's more detail on Norman Chamberlain in the book "By Lock and Pound" by Vivian Bird.

I like the swerve to avoid the fairway buoy at 2'17". The reason why is that I had a bit of an intimate encounter with it during my second ever rowing race on the Tideway (was it really twelve years ago?), when we were caught in a four-boat-wide overtaking maneuver- during races, slower boats must cede the stream to faster, and we were the slowest of a group of four.

Wet vac. The area above it is a cupboard for storing spare loo cassettes, so I have a look every month or so to check there's no water. It already helped me stop a drip from a pipe onto the Gulper, spotting it much earlier than otherwise.

Exactly how Fox Boats of March built their hire boats.

If you look at the Declaration Form, it states it may be used on historic vehicles. So I'd say hopefully yes!

But don't worry, if you're feeling a little lonesome in your shower you can call one of the numbers of the lovely, outgoing and unselfconscious young women on the cards and stickers helpfully provided in the box.

I dropped my shower tray down below floor level to gain headroom. I cut the ply floor, removed the brick ballast and used the cut off shape to support the tray on plenty of wooden blocks. The shower enclosure sits on an aluminium upstand I made, sealed to the tray. Best thing I did was seal off the under shower area into a separate bilge in case of leaks.

Built by Yarwoods, who'd want a boat built by them