Bubblebuster
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Posts posted by Bubblebuster
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22 minutes ago, blackrose said:
Different toilet systems suit different people. But before you go to all the trouble of converting, how sure are you that you're sold on pump out toilets? Have you actually lived with one before?
The unfortunate truth is that all boat toilets leave a lot to be desired and there is no perfect solution. Think hard before you change.
F'sure pump are the only thing I have ever experienced in the past and the only cassettes I have seen truth be told is on/in my brothers motor home.
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36 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
All good stuff guys, guess I'll stay with cassettes and see how it goes.
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42 minutes ago, booke23 said:
I briefly considered this when I bought my boat (It came with a compost toilet). The first thing I would say is live with your current toilet for a few months. You might find it turns out ok (I did, but still didn't like the compost toilet and replaced it with a cassette).
I could have installed a modern macerator pump out reasonably easily....after all the tank can go anywhere that's convenient. However what eventually put be off it was water usage (Cassettes use much less water), and more importantly the cost......a top of the line Thetford cassette toilet with ceramic bowl is around £500 (£350 for the perfectly good entry model with plastic bowl) and is easy to install yourself, whereas the pump out toilet was going to cost the best part of £2000 in parts alone, never mind installation costs.
Don't believe sensationalist youtube videos where people are heaving when emptying the cassette. In practice I find emptying the cassette a non event. Use decent blue, and the smells are not bad at all. Add a spare cassette or two and you can go for a while between visiting elsan points.
Sounds better that what I have seen on youtube so thanks, will take your advice and see how it goes.
What's the worst that can happen!
1 minute ago, Loddon said:Last three of my boats had pump out.
Boat 1 Tank rusted around where the toilet was and it became loose, removed it and got a porta potti
Boat 2 Tank was way too small only lasted a couple of weeks, replaced with a cassette
Boat 3 Tank top rusted through from the inside, replaced with a cassette.
Can you see a pattern here?
Been dealing with cassettes for 30 years, I find it quite therapeutic emptying the cassette
😃
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1 minute ago, IanD said:
Maybe easier, but I don't think you need to take a boat out of the water to fit a pumpout toilet/tank, you're not cutting any holes in the hull below the waterline.
For sure the earlier you make the change the easier and cheaper it will be...
What you probably won't get is mimpartial opinions on the subject on CWDF, most people seem to be strongly for or against pumpouts (or cassettes)... 😉
Interesting, thanks. 🙂
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Probably not actually as I can see the savings, but having seen a read about how unpleasant it can be to tip out your waste and not infrequently, I have begun to wonder.
Guess I need to talk more to those with cassettes.
57 minutes ago, IanD said:How much easier it is on a new build depends on how far the fit out has got -- bare shell no problem, fully fitted just as bad as an existing boat...
Point taken, but surely it's going to be cheaper to do any work before the boat goes into the water rather than afterwards?
No lifting out and putting back in for starters.
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Thanks Peter.
Guess a visit first (without any boat of course) would be the order of the day,
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Not sold on cassette loos (or compost come to that truth be told) - so how difficult or possible is it to convert from cassette to pump out as I guess having the latter involves having a poo storage tank fitted . Big job on an existing boat, but easier on a new build even if it's not in the original build spec?
Not the most pleasant of subjects, but we've all got to do it. 😊
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Well further checking and it looks like that in 2020 at least the entrance to Lydney was silted up and a map shows the section from the marina is not navigable so...
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2 minutes ago, David Mack said:
I got a mailshot about equity release from Aviva the other day. It had photographs of happy older people with text like "John and Mary's house is worth £250,000 and they released £50,000 to go on a world cruise and extend their house" and "Susan, 72, released £20,000 to help her grandchildren through university". Then in the small print at the bottom it said all examples were fictitious and the pictures were posed by models!
😆
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Equity release? Not in this lifetime - it's akin to giving half the value of your house away!
Terrible idea and only for the desperate.
Renting our house out also not on the cards as we've experienced too many horror stories to go down that road.
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Thanks for all of the above guys, and all taken on board.
Not new to baby boomer adventure having sold up once before and moved to France for a few years. Restored an old fermette, travelled around most of the country as work allowed and then returned to blighty on the back of that recession a few years back.
Aware of confirmation bias with this as well but, gonna give it a go I reckon... along with steady she goes.
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Thanks guys, and to be honest my advice might well be the same but at the end of the day a house is only bricks and mortar and if the DWP don't get there first should (Gods forbid) we need to go into care, the kids will inherit what's left. The boat will value and we'll still have a bit of dosh in the bank so...
We've been in what was meant (after a lot of restoration) to be our forever home for some ten since early retirement and all we are doing now apart from twiddling our thumbs is stagnating until the end.
Daft if we do, daft if we don't. 🤠
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Inspired by others and with at least some experience from many holidays afloat, we have decided to sell up, take the plunge in our retirement and live full time on a narrow-boat.
Lots to consider and a fair bit of homework to do, but from the sale of our modest home we should be able to buy a near as damn it new boat specific to requirements, along with some rainy day money in the bank. So from those who have done it, first thoughts on emptying out a home of so many treasured and memorable possessions from over the years (which normally would be disposed off by the children after we have gone) but what we are now going to have to do ourselves.
It's going to be a wrench with giveaways, selling, and 'passing down the line' in order to drastically downsize.... but someones gotta do it! 🙂
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On 22/04/2022 at 13:12, blackrose said:
I wasn't required to show any evidence of fuel polishing or a sound engine when one of the Gloucester pilots boarded my boat at Portishead for the trip up to Sharpness. All he did was check my anchors.
Anchors of course! Never thought about that if crossing over a river, as for fuel polishing never heard of that either - Googled, YouTubed and now better informed so many thanks for the heads up. Seems that it mainly affects boats of around 15 year old.
1 hour ago, Onewheeler said:I've done the crossing to Lydney. Go out from Sharpness about 30 minutes before high water, the tide will take you upstream a bit but the Lydney side reverses early and you'll have a gentle ride down to the harbour entrance. Coming back leave a bit before high water and go straight across. Don't do it on a very high tide or in a high wind.
Good to know, cheers.
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Also I expect the insurance company would require it.
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Ah right, thanks.
All interesting stuff and pays to stay safe. As an ex 'fishing boater' some of the things I've seen coming off the slip at Mumbles near Swansea would make your hair curl.
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Yes I had read about that weir.
Presumably you would need a pilot especially if you were a first timer, to cross from Lydney to Sharpness.... or not?
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So what's the story for crossing the Severn from Lydney and then up to Gloucester... or down to Avonmouth.
As a first timer (and no disrespect intended to the experienced) but I guess you'd need to either be foolish or have a pilot on board take charge. Have watched a couple of videos and it looks mighty scary!
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2 hours ago, Donkey said:
..a few years ago we "borrowed" a boat for a week of a friend who was a resident / permanently moored at the "Herons Nest" marina near Llangatock / Crickhowell...
Thanks for that, a bit of optimism at last!
The Mrs went for a walk along the canal path to there this morning and thought as much so I'll check it out next week as we are back home to west Wales t'morrrow for a few days.
Cheers.
2 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:What about the other 5 months of the year?
Well they charge slower of course (still daylight during the say in winter last time I looked 🙂) and maybe not enough, so fair point. There again, there are mains plug in points available?
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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:
It is ~30 miles end to end.
10 hours (not a particularly long day in the Summer) at 3mph and there you have it.
If you only intend to move (say)1 mile a day (one month end to end) then how will you be keeping your batteries charged ?
It is oft suggested that 'on average' you will need to run your engine 4 hours per day and 8 hours at weekends to keep your batteries fully charged. If you are going to sit with the engine running for 4 hours you may as well be moving so that is over 1/3rd of the canal done, and then you need to do the same the next day and the next day, and the ...........
Solar? 😉
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55 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
Seems a bit pointless having a residential boat on the Mon & Brec when you can travel end to end in a day.
Pretty sure you'd soon be fed up of it - why not consider a caravan, at least you can go to new places with it.
End to end in a day? Not sure about that.
We are house sitting for one of our daughters who lives near the canal and having walked only part of it...
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53 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:
Residential moorings required then? Bit different than just continuous cruising and stopping overnight.
Don't know the canal. Ask C&RT, better from the horses mouth.
Thanks for your reply Tracy.
Not full time no, planned to potter up and down and 'park' wherever, just considering where we might leave the boat for more that a couple of days or weeks. Is it not better to have some sort of home base?
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Are there mooring available on the Monmouth and Brecon Canal?
Thinking seriously about spending our retirement on a narrowboat having spent many past summers on hire boats with the family - so they are nothing new to us. 😉
It might be that we'll have to buy a narrowboat with a mooring of course, or go on a waiting list.
Any advice appreciated.
Cheers.
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Next door SA38 here, so might well do.
Cheers. 🍺
3 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:Only 70? Get on with it before it is terminally too late. I am 70, ahem, plus by many years. Still enjoy boating, no house. Long winter holidays abroad in the sun when allowed.
There a folk who will help if you need a bit of muscle.
Why not buy a cheap, old, but sound boat and have the best of both worlds? Don't deny your wife her bucket list. You can always sell it, probably at a profit, if you find it is too much for you. You are a spring chicken compared with quite a lot of boaters, many who cope single handed.
Better on a canal with a bit of traffic though, it can get lonely in a cul-de-sac.
Now that's cheered me up! 😃
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From cassette to pump out.
in Boat Equipment
Posted
Indeed. 👍