MtB

And I'd assert in most cases of over-plating, it would have stayed afloat for another 10 or 20 years without the over-plating being done...

This is what strikes me as the tricky bit. It only takes one pinhole gap in the dozens of yards of welding for the space between the old hull and the new overplating to become permanently flooded, and corrosion to take hold in the gap. And there is no way I can think of to test and prove all the new, thinner overplating is actually watertight.

That sounds like a Very Good Idea.

I'm faintly bemused. I can see the point of remote control for a single hander on the bank wanting to bring the boat into a lock, but when else is remote control of BT and throttle useful?

And usually a newbie. One who mistakenly equates overplating with the hull having been returned to "as new" condition.

We've had that one in this thread already, see post 27! Here's your THWACK!!!!

Hving used Vactan myself many times an seen how is soaks into rust and loses its violet colour as the chemical conversion happens, I'm wondering if the 'fish eyes' are actually the rust spots getting converted. A second coat of Vactan might not do it as the rust spots have now been sealed by the first coat. I still have an idea the Vactan instructions say only to use it on rusty steel though. P.S. I don't think I've ever seen "pinkish bits" in any of my Vactan though. A quick check on the Vactan website says I'm wrong, and they don't say to 'only use it on rusty steel'. An interesting old thread about it here: https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/104614-the-misuse-of-rust-converters-the-vactan-myth/

It quite possible that with about two tonnes of extra steel welded onto a 40ft boat, they are selling now because they've figured out ballasting it might well turn out to be a problem once fitted out. I just did, but your post stopped my two posts getting invisibly joined by the software!!!

STOP right there. Walk away. No, run away

Surely Vactan is for use on rust, not on clean well-prepared steel. Its a rust converter.

How very well said. What a shame I can only award one greenie.

Didn't someone earlier in th thread point out that water pumped up Napton into the Oxford summit gets 50% wasted/lost, as half goes back down Napton flight but the other half gets lost down Claydon where there are no back-pumps. So it eventually goes all the way down via the bywashes into the canalised section of the river Cherwell at Enslow, never to return.

You think his mummy allows him alcohol in his bedroom?!

Ah you nearly had me there…!

Looks a nice eough boat to me. especially if its 40ft not 36ft. 'Fully priced' at £18k I'd say though. On the other hand they are probably expecting offers of £15k-ish which would seem very fair.

Hi Dan!

It appears to have grown by 4ft since the description was written! From the advert text: 36 foot boat bought as project 3 years ago needs work to bring up to date inside and out main jobs paint outside and new bathroom needed bmc engine on private mooring on trent and mersey canal Mind you it looks 40ft at least in the pic.

Nope. Gas Safe is an organisation mandated by government which businesses and self employed people may join in order to comply with provision 3.(3) of the GSIUR: "Without prejudice to the generality of paragraphs (1) and (2) above and subject to paragraph (4) below, no employer shall allow any of his employees to carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting or service pipework and no self-employed person shall carry out any such work, unless the employer or self-employed person, as the case may be, is a member of a class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive for the purposes of this paragraph." It's the business that becomes a member of GSR (currently the class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive), not the individual.

But you also stated ".............you are a member of a trade organisation" This is the bit you don't seem to understand. You DON'T need to be "a member of a trade organisation" to be competent.

This is to misunderstand. Very common in the general public. One only needs to be a member of 'that' trade organisation to charge money for your gas work. One can prove one's competence to perform the work one is carrying out by taking and passing the relevant ACS exams. The courts are mandated to accept current ACS passes as proof of competence. There may be other ways to convince a court of one's competence too but if you're in court accused of causing a 'gas incident', that might be an uphill struggle! Having relevant ACS exam pass certificates WILL be accepted as concrete proof of competence. Nothing to do with membership of GSR.

Me too. And for Alan to assert you must be an idiot if you can't work out the reason for a regulation by thinking about it, seems quite insulting in the case of some of the regulations.

All boats in seaworthy condition are insurable, survey or not. Its just that an old boat with no survey is limited to 3rd party risks. But for fully comprehensive insurance over 25 years old (30 with CraftInsure), you'll need a survey.

And here lies endless scope for uncertainty. Does a 30 year old 10mm baseplate with 4mm pits "need" overplating? If yes, why? How about an 8mm baseplate with 2mm pits? Will either of these boats sink if a surveyor's advice to overplate is ignored? If yes, when? What does "need" mean anyway? It's nothing more than a matter of opinion but people seem to want shades of grey turned into black or white by a 'professional opinion'.

Not sure that will be good enough. a 'dangerously strong' neodymium magnet will give a better result.