Slow and Steady

Is this seal really permanently under water or is it more like a weed hatch seal? I know I can take my BT out while afloat though I have no idea if using it would expel the air trapped in the "T" and replace it with water. Interesting.

Fitting out a boat IMO takes supreme organisation and planning skills, you need the whole thing planned in detail from start to finish before you start. If you're hoping to work it out as you go along you will end up doing it all at least twice, there isn't much scope for adding things as after thoughts. Just the wiring and electricals is enough to put me off! Having said all that I reckon a wide boat would be easier than a narrowboat to do in a marina simply because there is more room to work. If you've ever had to cut up a sheet of ply in a narrowboat you'll know what I mean! Material storage and working around those materials is like one of these games.

It took one of my neighbours 2-3 years full time and he was highly skilled ex-college lecturer in the skills required. He did work part time at the super-market to give himself some breaks but other than that full time living aboard. He was skilled in all aspects needed. Took me about 3-4 months just to move things around in my narrowboat and I'm also skilled already with a lot of recent experience making fit-out for campers + ex-engineer. TD is right, it will break you if your ideas are based on house DIY - if so assume you know nothing.

Dark interiors are like dark furniture, not in vogue, so sadly you're probably right about painting it white. It's funny that people can't see past that and if they really wanted to, paint it themselves. It's a travesty but that's fashion for you.

We had a severe mains pressure burst pipe in the loft when we were away from home. By the time we got back 2/3 of the house was wrecked, ceilings down, plaster falling off walls (it was an 1850's double fronted house). We got that 2/3 of the house renovated for nothing and a new kitchen. The deal was that I got 3 quotes which I did. The insurance company then tried to foster some cheapo company on me but I resisted successfully to use a company that I'd been recommended by friends. The company that did the job openly told me they'd over-priced and "did I want anything extra doing?". I got all the downstairs floors floor sanded and varnished, Skirtings and doors stripped and varnished and an extra window installed in the bathroom c/w nice appropriate brickwork. I think we did pretty well out of it. Counter that on agreed value car insurance it was explained to me that the agreed price was the MAX they would pay out rather than a guaranteed sum. Tricky Dickies eh?

Maybe when you get all the bits off you'll find a part number.

Not going right to the bottom? Not trying to be rude, but really you need to get a more even coverage... did you even prep it because it sure doesn't look like it?

Could be in my case - we might have overdone the white spirit on the last coat, but the previous 2 coats were fine with owatrol and some white spirit.

It would be ok with pork substituted for the fish.

I've wondered if I could plumb my webasto for direct hot water as I don't use it for heating. There must be a way and it's pretty darn quick. Possibly rather uncontrollable though and a bit slow to start up and stop. OK, yes, that was a stupid idea.

Apple crumble - what could be easier? Chuck it in with the fish pie. Add cream. I don't even bother putting my fish pie in the fridge, it's fine for a couple of days even in this weather.

Tatties on, eggs in steamer above, veg in steamer above that. I don't peel potatoes. Roux is... a la-di-da con to make chefs seem like they're doing something clever. Try this - just lob all the white sauce ingredients in a pan cold, heat it up and stir - same result! But actually as soon as the tats veg and eggs are on the heat I slice onion and add to melted butter, turn it right down with a lid on and sweat it. Them bung raw fish in to pie dish and have a 5 minute break. By then the onion is "see through", add the flour and milk (or cream and water - it's all the same to me) + salt and pepper and make the onion sauce. While that's gently heating up the eggs are done so peel those, chop and add to the fish. Keep stirring that sauce. By then the veg is cooked enough and tats can be turned off. Add veg. Now the sauce is done, add that, drain and mash the tats and add that, bung in oven for 40 minutes, gas mk 5. I found pre-cooking the fish ruins the fish, it only takes a few minutes to cook fish? Cheese can be added to the sauce or the mash if that's your bag. It's nothing flash, but it is quick and homely and I like the way I can keep going and everything is ready to add one thing at a time as it pre-cooks just enough. 30 mins would probably do it but I like the mash a bit browned on top. Pastry I make my own, it's time consuming but it's cheaper. Same for cakes, quiche, whatever - always tastier if you make these things from scratch.

Thanks for that - no it was high summer, the steel was warm but hadn't had the sun on it. It was definitely not damp and that was the 3rd coat of gloss - yep the other two underneath had no stripes! Damn, we wish we hadn't done that last coat! We were doing a coat every day to get the chemical bond. We would run a fine DA lightly over it to knock off any high spots, then tack rag the dust off so no white spirit or water used to clean it. He also sells a similar paint additive plus all these paints can be thinned to a degree depending on conditions. So... you're off the track there I think. https://www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk/products/additives/

We could see the stripes immediately and tried all kinds of rollering technique in case the paint wasn't being spread evenly. At first I was going up down them spreading so we tried putting on horizontally and spreading, then diagonally, then totally random mixture but it made no difference. Obviously also considered the laying off side to side pressure might also be the cause or overlapping the laying off. It was a very annoying day as we kind of felt we had to keep going!

I phoned International who were very helpful but had no advice to offer and claimed they'd never seen it before. I sent them photos. 4" squares? Blimey. Roof was fine - same process and materials, different colour. I don't think we're too bad at this malarky. We go like the clappers to keep the wet edge, probably did 50ft of roof in under 2 hours I wasn't timing it. It might have been as little as an hour.

You can't see the roller tracks on mine, I went in all directions, overlapping previous and son laid it off. I'm sure it's the laying off. Can't speak for Craig. Yes! About 18" at a time, totally random directions, the stripes are much narrower. Funny thing is it only happened in this session, the other half of this side done on a different day, same people doing the same thing with the same paint - no stripes. Pics were taken soon after - the brush marks all but flattened out over the next week or three as it dried properly.

I would love to know the answer. I did exactly the same as your process but outdoors in the shade with International Toplac paint. Got to be the laying off? No problem getting it shiny, my camera took a lot of confusing to stop it focussing on the reflection of next door's boat/the pontoon.

There's your problem right there - cook better and you'd probably be happy eating it for 2-3 days which in turn makes it worth the time. I love fish pie - you know the sort with fish, eggs, veg in white onion sauce and mash on top. It takes me 20 minutes of prep time to make one that lasts me 3 days, so what's that? 7 minutes / meal.

4 on a boat, I think your kids may end up hating you. lol Boats are small, even widebeams. The idea of 4 on a 57ft narrowboat sounds like a nightmare to me. Storage is a major consideration, you will have to have almost no possessions. People have done it though. I think you'll need to park permanently in a marina on a residential mooring for access to schools. There is a lot of competition and it won't be cheap. You are however at an advantage if you work from home on a laptop. All in all, if I was in your position I'd be looking for a house but it wouldn't be in Bath - lovely as Bath is it's expensive. TBH you'll end up either with a huge mortgage or living oop north with... a smaller mortgage - just get yourself on Rightmove and look - 3 bed house is expensive almost anywhere and it's disappointing what £300k gets you, never mind £110k.

I believe there is an appeal process so if you disagree you do have recourse. The last inspector I had was a retired technical author who trained up for precisely the reasons you say - he was incensed at being told to cut ruddy great vents in his doors among other things and after talking to his neighbours found it was very common for inspectors not to have a proper understanding of the rules. I have a theory that some inspectors fear that it looks like they haven't done their job if they don't find something to fail.

Ah, well I have my eye on a particular mooring. It's one of three - 2 never change hands but the other does. If I had any idea what the page for bidding was called I might be able to do what you say, but I'm thinking it's taken down after rather than the link simply disappearing though you never know! Just checked one under way and it's a popup window with address "...MooringListing/BidHistory/1234" with no ref to the mooring site. 1234 being my random number for illustration. Trying a few previous numbers a few come up but only close numbers so I think they do disappear when the bidding is over.

Wayback is too random for this kind of thing but thanks for the suggestion.

So there isn't a way then? Can't do as you suggest - some are towpath, some are offside with elec bollards, water and parking, they vary widely.

Where there are no vacancies, is it possible to find out how much the mooring cost last time around? No point watching one I wouldn't want to pay for.