jojoknitter

Hello all. its along time since i have been on the forum but i just had to share this with you all. I have had my cassette for my loo STOLEN! I emptied it at my local elsan point, put it in the back of my van ( and i definatley remember doing this because i had to wedge it in!) I then left my van ( and i am guessing - unlocked) came back , got in, got back to the boat - opened the back of my van and.... GONE! no loo cassette thing in sight! A) who would steal a used ( luckily emptied - although i wish it had been full now..) loo cassette, and how did they do it with out me noticing? i left the van for only a few minutes. And the saga of getting a new one over the xmas period was a nightmare. ahhhhhg!!!!! I am used to other stuff going walkabouts unless you chain and lock it - but a toilet?????? has this happened to anyone else??

Tom, Thanks again, good to see a proffessional response...exactly what I wanted when I posted! We are tackling the damage and the cause. What a mission! JO

Hello Bag O bones, I did not 'slag off' the boat inspector. If you read my post properly you will see that. As I said I thought it was an unlikely cause but wanted to check. As I also said when you come home to find a lot of your stuff ruined by fuel ...you naturally want to find a possible cause, and being unable to contact the boat yard or inspector my next port of call is this forum which I use to find advice and solutions from those perhaps more experienced than I. The Bss inspector who saw the boat did infact offer his own advice on this forum and was taken by us. Please do not try to 'stir.' thanks. THANKYOU! My sentiments exactly.

Hello Tom, We have since discovered the cause..... and it took us a while to work out. What has happened is there is a weak/missing weld around the seal that has oozed fuel down onto the engine bay. This happened because we have emptied the boat of our stuff and furniture etc and the boat is noe much lighter at the back....therfore the fuel tank ( which was full ) has flowed in the opposoite direction to normal, out of the weld and down the various channels on the boat...soaking into our bed. Obviously in the heat of the moment when you find fuel all over the place you grasp at anything that may have 'caused' it. ..hence my wanting to find out if that section was included in the exam - I hope I havn't offended you in any way - it did seem an unlikely cause, but I wanted to know . I would have called you straight away but the sheets with your number,went up to the yard straight away, and the boat yard was closed when we called!! Thanks for the post anyway... Thanks JO

I have had a similar day. We received a notice saying we had overstayed in a 14 day spot - when in fact be have only stayed 13.... Now I know this as I keep a strict record to avoid such notices and be a good girl....but... ALSO I had a notice a few weeks ago saying the boat had overstayed in a spot that a) we hadnt even been moored in ...and that we had overstayed the 7 days.... but the spot we were in was a 14 day and we had only been there 8 days. WHAT???! I think they are trying to wind us up on purpose. When I rang them the nice lady said ' oh dont worry, chuck it away..disregard it...it is a mistake.' mmmmmmm.....thats great ! but can I do that with any further notices I receive... and further can I disregard any letters threateneing to take the licence away due to such 'mistakes' and fictional overstays??

Hi All, Do the boat safety inspectors by any chance check/ inspect/ wiggle/ or unscrew the fuel float switch cap on a fuel tank? The reason I ask is that we came home from work tonight to find a large pool of fuel and a flow from said cap filling up our engine room. The flow has poured somehow down pipes and along edges into our bedroom and spread accross the floor ruining a lot of our stuff. Quite upset about that. We found the leak was coming from the cap on the top of the fuel tank where a screw was missing. Very weird as we have never had a problem like this before - not even a tiny dribble!? It happened very quickly in the space of 4 hours..... and I just want to check that it was not caused by the person who checked the engine over.....???? It is probably un -related but I need to know if that is part of the boat safety inspection. Any suggestions?? Thanks,

the little delight came in when we had heavy rain through an open vent in the engine room ( we are having work done at the moment...and we heard it scrabble down inside the wall then under the floor. We have just bought the boat and it is FULL of little weird and wonderful cavaties and has an old water tank under the floor through parts of the boat. (!?!?) Weird but hey! We have since been round and sealed all of the holes that we can see....it makes the hunt for the rat even more interesting. that is a very pretty ferret.

hello bones! where are you moored up these days? thanks for the offer....

well i was thinking of finding a ferret to go in and drag it out. Now its gone quiet ( 2nd night now wooo!) i dont think i will need the ferret unless they like dragging dead ones out too..?! If it is having babies under the floor, then this is all out war, and i will get a dog, cats and ferrets on to them. All at once.

morning i have no tiller arm on my boat ( just bought the boat )....we are becomming constant cruisers and will obvioulsy need one. I assume that s what that bit is called.....the bit you steer the boat with.... but we do have the bit coming up out of the deck . I have tried finding a supplier on the internet - does sanyone know where I can find one on Oxford area reletavly cheaply??

thanks for all info do far......an update is that we had a quiet and sleep silled night . NO RATTY NOISES! It is eerily quiet and i have a feeling he has either moved out ( dont know how as we blocked all the holes ) OR had been driven by hunger to eat all the poison and has died somewhere in the boat. I am sure it will present itself very soon...we have placed bets as to where this may be...and ripping apart shall follw! Luckily most of the boat is due for a revamp/ new insulation etc so the rats final resting place will dictate where we start.

...not as awful as it is going to be for ratty....with the fate that awaits him. well i think B&Q will do well out of us..I will get all the gadgets going.

ah well we have considered this too...but do cats actually fend off rats well and kill 'em when they come accross them?

help help help! We are in battle with a RAT ! it has moved in under the floor boards...makes a racket all night and scrabbles inside the wall down the side of the boat. We laid poison 5 -6 days ago EVERYWHERE on the advice of an expert....but yet he still scrabble and scratches about. He got in though an open vetilation hole in our engine room ( having work done to the engine so was left open....) he couldnt handle the rain so thought he'd move into our lovely warm and cosy boat. It is starting to have a serious affect on the ol' mental stability...i am getting traps tomorrow to try out. ...Luckily he cant get into the boat - we have blocked all sneaky holes and gaps. Any advice for two sleep deprived folk with a very unwelcome guest????? By the way I am fully aware of the fact he may well die under the floor - and the pong will follow.... but at least it will be quiet! So any grand plans or words of experience would be appreciated, cheers!

I am about to move off a rented boat down here on the OXford nonew tennant found as yet if anyone is intersted.- rent takes the piss though ...hence why we are moving onto greener cheaper boat pastures new. ha ha!!