micknkaz

I have heard that there is a poduct out for coating the hull that lasts ten years does anyone know anything about this?

The problem with running my engine on grade 1 diesel is that the boat only has 1 tank, so I guess in order to prevent me breaking the law, I would be best taking the diesel burner out and installing a wood burner.

Having read the answers to my question regarding taking out a Kabola old english diesel burner and putting in a wood burner, I am still unsure what to do.Even an engineer at work last night said not to take the diesel burner out as I can burn grade 1 central heating diesel which is considerably cheaper to buy.Having told him I only have 1 diesel tank on board he said the boat engine will run on grade 1.Can any members comment on grade 1 central heating diesel and its average price?. I am tending to sway towards taking the kabola out and putting in a wood burner,preferably the Morso Squirell, as a boater at work recommends them as 2nd to none.I can get offcuts of wood free of charge from a factory near my wifes workplace, so my heating costs would be nothing, save for firelighters and matches, and half a gallon of fuel i my van to pick up the wood once a week,whereas I reckon a diesel burner would cost around £15.00 per week to run(especially in winter).

M y wife has been looking on ebay at wood burners.There are literally hundreds on there .What we want to know is do we need to modify one to heat our radiators?We currently have a kabola diesel burner on the boat we are buying and that has I thunk,2 pipes coming out the back and running to 3 radiators, therefore heating the water.If we were to buy a wood burner from ebay,that has been in someones house, do we need to modify it so we can use it to heat the radiators?, or is it not advisible to buy a house wood burner?

Just to fill you all in on the narrowboat my wife and I are planning on buying.It is called "Fantasy".It is a 1991 from chappell and wright.It was originally up for £46,999.00.After several months of being unsold, it was reduced to £39,500.00.We put an offer of £38,000.00 for it and it was accepted.The survey was carried out last friday and the report was received on tuesday.It is all sound hull wise.No loss of metal.All fixtures and fittings work .The engine is sound,but the gearbox is a bit noisy but the surveyor said it might not be noisy when it is in the water.There are a few minor problems to sort as regards to needing a fire extinguisher to bring the current level up to 3, the paloma hot water heater needs re-connecting,probably disconnected through the winter whilst not being lived on.The batteries need charging, a horn needs putting on, and the water tank needs sterilising, and the bilge pump needs replacing as it doesn't work.Other than these situations, all is o.k. We are just waiting for the contracts to be drawn up for the buyer and for us to sell then the money is ours and we have the boat.All should be finalised in around 4 weeks.Been looking at a waterways dvd.Quite interesting.Looking forward to living on the boat and cruising the canals.

Thanks for all the help and hints and tips.I think for safety sake I will take out the kabola and fit a wood burner.Probably a morso squirrel

My wife and I are just in the process of buying our first narrow boat.A boater friend at work suggested running the diesel heating stove on parraffin because it is cheaper and cleaner and more efficient than diesel.Can a kabola diesel burner burn parraffin without the need of modification, and is parraffin easily available? Or would you suggest taking out the diesel heater and replacing it with a solid wood stove, or can the kabola be modified to burn solid fuel?

We have a survey being carried out on friday.As the staff were very helpful at the marina, we decided to buy from them(depending on the survey result), and it is only 15 minutes walk to work.The builder was chappell and wright and the boat was built in 1991.Providing the survey comes back o.k. we will go ahead with the purchase, but we will have 230v electrics fitted as it currently runs on 12v.It has diesel fired central heating, but we will take the stove out and put a solid fuel burner in as we can get offcuts of wood free of charge.It has been extremely well planned out and the best use of the space has been well thought out.My wife and I are the envy of a few bus drivers at work because of what we have achieved.At the end of the day, we wanted to be mortgage free, so we downsized from a 3 bedroomed house to a flat 5 years ago.We recently decided to sell the flat and live on the water, hence why we have done what we have.

Thanks for the welcome "bottle".We have never done boating before unless a rowing boat on a lake classifies.We decided to look at Castle Marina in Nottingham as Sawley Marina only had 2 we liked.However, upon viewing what Castle Marina had on offer, and noticing the same size boats and relatively same year of build were about 10%-20% cheaper than Sawley, we liked one so much that we decided to put a deposit on it.We can have a residential mooring at the marina.We have a lot to learn but with the help of other boaters who seem to be a friendly community I am sure we will survive.

Hi all My wife and I are about to buy our narrow boat.We have just sold our flat and are looking to buy a good second hand boat up to about 50K.We are hoping to moor up at Sawley marina in Long Eaton.My wife suggested buying a narrow boat around 6 years ago but I flatly refused, not even giving it any thought.As 4 bus drivers(2 have since retired), have boats, and have told me a lot about them,I decided to give it a go.My wife and I have been looking for the last few weeks at what is on offer in oyr price range.We are really impressed with the equipment that is on some of these boats.We are now just waiting for the contracts to be drawn up for our buyer to purchase and for us to sign ours to sell, then we will be living with relatives for a few weeks until we have a boat.I can really say with hand on heart that we are both looking forward to a life on the water.At least the boat will be ours, it wikll be fully paid up,and we can "take the house for a walk".We have a Jack Russell who loves a walk along the canal path, so she will be in her element.I am a bus driver for Trentbarton, working from Nottingham,so if you get on a rainbow five, and you see a first aider badge and a gold fish badge on the jacket pocket, and receive a smile and a welcome, then that is me.my name is Michael, and I don't bite.My wifes name is Karen.We are both Seventh Day Adventist Christians.We worship at Long Eaton S.D.A. church which is currently the St.Lawrence nursery at the back of Long Eaton Library, as we don't yet have our own building.If you would like to come and pay us a visit and see who Michael and Karen are, you are welcone.Our main service is saturdays around 11.15 a.m. Looking forward to getting on our boat and meeting other boaters.See you soon.God Bless.XX