Ex- Member

I'm beginning to sympathise with your boiling pee remark LOL How did that happen, I gave myself a Greenie, it was meant for you LOL

How strange I've hired hundreds of vehicles over the past 30 years or so from numerous companies. Not once have I been asked how many insurance claims I have made to hire a vehicle or provide any insurance details or history. What a strange hire company that must have been.

And multiple such claims will certainly affect your premium. The insurers' argument is that people who aren't at fault, but have more accidents still represent more of a risk. Claiming (or even just notifying them) in the event of such an occurence, marks you out as one of these unlucky folk. Would like to see some evidence of this, it's never happened to me. A no claims discount is simply that, a percentage discount applied to the full premium offered. An insurance premium can go up in price for many reasons and usually do go up for those loyal customers who stupidly and blindly continue insuring with the same company year on year and are usually charged premium for doing so. More times than not my renewal is cheaper than the previous year using a different company, and that's not down to NCD as I'm at maximum anyway. I have insured my personal vehicle with numerous different companies over the past 12 years, only on one occasion using the same company for a second years insurance. That's complete and utter nonsense IMO I would dearly love to see some evidence of this.

We work from the boat running our removals & storage business's but like Starcoaster don't have an office on board. Almost everything we need relating to the businesses fits into a smallish cabinet with a printer on top. It's just then the laptops that we use mostly but for both business and leisure. It's surprising how little stuff you actually need.

I was a bit too LOL Absolutely In fact for anyone living aboard and off grid it really is a no brainer unless you cruise enough hours per day to meet your leccy requirements. I'm just arranging to service the engine even though we've only ran the engine for a total of 176 hours since coming on the water a year ago.but it hasn't been serviced for a year so thought I would do so regardless of hours run, although looking at the engine oil it's still as clear as the day I last serviced it, and engine is running like a dream.

I'm not sure about fans, many boaters use porthole bungs We use 2 inch thick foam upholstered in faux leather. We use these as black outs and they offer great insulation in winter. There's an e-bay seller who makes these to order and you can choose your choice of material/colour. We ordered from this seller, very good quality & price. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Porthole-Bung-Narrowboat-Canalboat-17-20-Round-Window-Blind-Curtain-Screen-/390713694165?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Curtains_Blinds_CurtainFixtures_Accessories_EH&hash=item5af859d7d5

That's not that efficient compared to our Bosche although It does have a freezer box for which that rating is probably good. If you're running an inverter anyway IMO an economic 240v unit would be my preference. You can't rely on energy ratings given for 12v fridges either and they don't compare to ratings for 240v units, also cabling etc and of course the high cost of 12v units in the first place.

Hi NT It's this model here. I quickly got this link from Google, I was looking some time ago and you can pick them up new for under £250. We bought ours 7/8 years ago now and never had a problem and we paid just under £200 for it. Do check there isn't a newer model available though, might even be more efficient than 117KWH per year. http://www.rgbdirect.co.uk/ProductDetails.asp?SKUNumber=108929

But not with regard to making a claim which was the point in question.

which will in the end cost you more than one hundred pounds so like I said originally on such a small claim go for a cash settlement if you can i Well you clearly aren't as you're talking nonsense. Postcode is totally irrelevant, Insurance policies are in the name of people or companies, not postcodes. Only if you claim from your own insurance company. As already stated, you cannot be penalised by your insurance company by claiming from a 3rd party.

No Mike The hirer is in effect an agent of the hire company. Much in the same way as any of my lorry drivers aren't responsible for settling the claim of any accident they have in one of our vehicles, I am as the business owner owning the vehicle, and there for the insured and are ultimately liable for any claim. The hire company are required to be insured. No hirer takes out separate insurance to hire a boat, the hirer pays a deposit which can be claimed by the hire company for any damage they cause either to the hirers boat or any boat damaged by the hirer. It's a legal requirement for any hire company to have at minimum 3rd party insurance as well as liability insurance any business requires.

Complete and utter nonsense. The claim is against the hire company. I've been through this and so have some other members. That's why hire companies take a £500+ deposit for hirers. If the hirer was liable, why would they need to do that? Again you are completely wrong.

Insurance details are irrelevant, if you make a claim against someone for what ever reason, you just need to know who they are and where they live or where their business address is to claim of them for damage. Weather they contact their insurance company is entirely up to them, it doesn't mean you can't claim for damages.

The likelihood is should the hire company accept liability that with a claim as small as £100 they may well deduct this from the hirers deposit and settle in cash without requiring their insurance to cover it as they will have an excess that usually equates to the required deposit from a hirer. I believe £500 is a common deposit. This is where a witness is essential it's a bit like an accident on a B road and ends up knock for knock. However I wouldn't let a hire company get away with fobbing me off, just the threat of A county court summons will usually have the hire company paying up on a small claim. If they don't and you have a witness then simply proceed with a claim.

Not if you're claiming from a 3rd party.

Cellulose thinners will do it, I removed it all from our mushroom vents recently, use some old rag it does tend to clog a bit.

Of course they would! In Cuckoo land that is

In hot weather I always found T Cut too thick and clog leaving speckles that are difficult to remove, so always apply it with a damp cloth, ig goes much further too.

Cheers Paul, I could get these for nowt as a local D/G company is happy for people to remove stuff from their disposal area. Possibly a set of hinges for a larger size window will also be an option. They're especially good as they'll probable hold the panel open at any angle like a friction hinge so reduce the need for a stay. From the photo it looks like yours are doing exactly that.

What hinges are those, they look like DG hinges, also are those panels 100w I'm wondering if those hinges would take the weight of a 250w panel.

In reality there's no such thing as a TV licence in as much as it doesn't licence the TV set. The licence is to cover the address property that the tv signal is received at and allows such equipment to be used at that address. I question that choosing just any address to obtain a "TV licence" could in some circumstances be Illegal as you are declaring false information if you suggest there's receiving equipment at an address where actually there isn't. So IMO choosing an address with no such equipment actually there could be deemed as falsifying information to obtain a licence. When I brought this up with TV licencing they simply couldn't answer this question even from a supervisor. In addition they admitted that if I couldn't produce an address they couldn't licence my use of a TV. At the end of the day a licence can't be issued without an address. And if that address doesn't have receiving equipment then are you actually covered to watch TV elsewhere?

Hi Leeco We have 2 x 250w panels in our array. The panels are set into some very rigid framing and marine plywood. The array including the swivel base weighs 96 kilos. The array is also held down with 4 heavy duty straps on each corner which we attach if on the move or in windy weather. Through the bad storms we had several months ago the straps held out well and we had no problems. A couple of weeks after the storms receded we went out for the day and didn't bother to strap the panels down. Sods law a freak storm occurred the same day. When we returned to the boat the array was missing. Luckily we had left the 2 rubber straps attached on the side the panels were tilted. The wind must have completely lifted the array up in the air and flipped it over. One of the straps snapped but fortunately the other held so the array was half in the canal and half out leaning against the boat side. We dragged it around to the tow path side and hauled it out. I was amazed that something weighing 96 could take off in such a manner. If the rubber strap hadn't held out the panels would either be laying flat in the canal or in the middle of a field somewhere. I have to say your array looks much less secure than ours and lighter so could be at risk even with light winds of 30/40 mph. Personally I would rig something to make them more secure.

There's a multitude of different rubber feet available. We've decided to now do away with our larger swivel tilt array and make up 2 roof boxes which will also swivel & tilt. I quite like these with a steel insert. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170808474160 These also will give a good grippy footprint. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321177659543

I've used them on the boat, they're quite gentle but any polishing by machine needs care to be taken, it's the compound you use that can cause problems, I only used finer liquid compounds, this one is particularly good medium compound. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MARINE-MAGIC-MEDIUM-CUT-COMPOUND-473ML-BOAT-AND-YACHT-RESTORATION-RESTORER-/120918885549?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_BoatEquipment_Accessories_SM&hash=item1c2753c4ad Use quality wool polishing pads.

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