kayDee

Thanks Denboy, will take some later when I get back and upload them... I do have this one but its not exactly a good close-up! Kay x

Thanks for everyone's additional help on this. As I said, they're not scratches actually into the metal and have not deformed the shape or anything, its just the slight difference in level with losing all those layers of paint. Will update when I've got some of those blocks and tried out a few ideas suggested on here! Kay x

Hi all... Over the weekend, I noticed that our fire seemed to be having problems 'staying in' so upon a closer inspection - I found that the entire grate had snapped in half and fallen into the ash box below. Fab! Anyway, does anyone know the best place to try and get another one from? I'm guessing they're not that easy to find as I don't know what make of stove we have. I've kept the two bits of broken grate though for reference. Shall I take a few photos? Any help REALLY appreciated as we REALLY miss not having it on! Kay x

I'll second that! That's a great site! Has a lock count too! Love it! Kay x

Thank you for everyone's help with this. I didn't know about the primer bit - we rubbed it down with sandpaper and then put some grey undercoat on it. I guess that will have to be sanded off and repainted with the correct zinc primer now - our fault for rushing it. We just wanted to give it some sort of protection from the weather before we had chance to put the top paint on it. I will get some of those blocks, as using sandpaper on its own is horrid - it just breaks up in your hand all the time - not good! So thanks for your help - will get some blocks and primer and do a good job of it this time - I might even get you some photos! Kay x

Thanks for that. We've not gouged into the metal or anything like that - its just that with the paint flaking off around the scratch, the surface isn't level anymore due to about 3 layers of paint flaking off around it. The indentation is only slight but I'LL notice it and it will bug me. I want to be able to do the job properly and have it nice and flat again when we repaint that particular bit. I hope I'm making sense... I rarely do! Kay x

Hi all... We have a few bashes on our boat at around piling level where we're caught the side when mooring up. Some of these little bashes have taken the paint off down to the metal. If we want to repaint these, do we need to fill them first? There are a few layers of paint on our boat so if we painted straight on, there would be an obvious indentation in the layers of paint. Does that make sense? I just wondered if we needed to sand it all down, fill it with filler to level it up and then paint it? Sorry, I've no idea how to get the surface level ! Any help appreciated... Kay x Edited to say: This is the actual boat paint we're talking about here - not the blacking... Kay x

That's pretty cool but it could be used for some rather dodgy snooping! Like anything, someone will always find a 'bad' way to make use of it! Kay x

Thanks Steve and Allan for the extra info - will make a note of those part number for future ref... Kay x

Thank you for the additional info people. I really thought that using electricity would be more expensive than running the engine! Now I know that 1kW is 1 unit and that costs approx 12p, I can work out a lot more - thank you for that. Kay x

(slightly) That's something I was going to ask on the forum actually. Ours is a 1kW element too. How long does it take to heat yours up CW? I tried ours once for an hour and the first bit of water that came out was REALLY hot. I was really pleased, until I started to run a bath and it got colder and colder and then back to ice cold again within about 30 seconds! I've not tried it since, I was worried about how much it will cost us on the electric bill ! I tend to run the engine now for about an hour and a half to get a full hot tank. Do people think this is more cost effective than running a 1kW immersion? Kay x

Thank you for everyone's help on this. I'm just glad it won't damage anything. I've learned now to flick the inverter off before starting the engine up and then flick it back on again afterwards. Thanks all ! Kay x

Hi all... Sometimes, when we're connected to shore power (or the generator) - we still use the engine to heat the water in the calorifier. Now, after starting the engine, sometimes the rev counter will fluctuate back and forth between 0 rpm and about 2000 rpm every second or so and the ALT light will flash on and off in time with the rev counter. Any idea what this could be? If I then turn off the inverter, the problem goes away. I can then usually switch the inverter back on again AFTER the engine has been started and it will be fine. Its only just started doing this - never noticed it before. Has anyone else seen anything like it? I'm guessing that when its being silly and going back and forth like that - its NOT charging the start battery? I've not metered the battery to find that out but if the ALT light is flashing away like it is, there is something wrong? We have... Sterling Combi/Charger/Inverter 1500W Sterling 4 Stage Alternator Booster Not sure which alternator but it is only a year old (awww... cute) Thanks for any help! Kay x Edited to add: Oh, and my OIL light is lit very very very very very dimly all the time when the engine is running. You can only see it with the stern / engine room lights off. Could this be a bad connection or something? Kay x

Crumbs, looks like I'll be beating up quite a few forum members now! I'm not naturally violent or anything! YOU GOT THAT OR WHAT????? I guess that's stopped the argument anyway? Scary Kay strikes again! Haha! Like CW says though... Life is far too short... Evil Kay (Notice there are no kisses? - I'm pure evil now!) x (Okay, perhaps not that evil then...)

Agreed! I'll come and bang your heads together if you're not careful you know. I'm 6'1" - I'm a big girl ! Watch out you guys! Kay x

Quick update! We were clearing out some of the previous owner's stuff from under a board in the stern when we spotted another board underneath it all with a little hole in it so you could lift it out... Guess what was underneath... ? ? ? ? ? ? That's right! A hedgehog! ? ? ? ? ? That's a lie actually, we found a skin tank! So, the mystery is now solved... Kay x

Mmmm..... Might be a bit suspicious of a seriously clean engine bay Mary! Ours is clean but its not amazingly clean. I'm not saying it may have a problem but just bear it in mind. It might well be that he likes to have a meticulously clean engine bay but just giving my opinion. Good luck with it! Ours has a PRM too... Kay x

Sure is CW! Just need a damn heater plug relay now. We're fed up with lifting the engine panels off to stick a big jump lead crocodile clip over the contacts on the relay - its quite a scary spark you get of it! Eeeeek! Kay x

Mary, you'll be able to join our MC42 fan club! How exciting is that! We love our Perkins. We don't yet have a name for it... I don't think you can top Dorothy though! We're thinking of repositioning ours into the lounge so it can watch TV with us and be part of the family! I'll get my coat, the white van is here to collect me! Arggggggghhhhh! :lol: Kay x

Hi Mary Yes, the MC42 is water cooled and is around 42hp I think, hence it's name. They're fab engines though! Kay x Edited to say: It pushes our 60' okay!

Sadly, like my computer, neither of us would pass for 'posh'... Sob... Kay x

Haha, oh I know, £10 is pretty steep but I just wanted to see what they're service was like. I'm going to take their £99 for 12 months offer - that's 1Mb with no caps... apparently. There is still a fair usage policy so that basically means it is capped... Oh well... Kay x I sincerely hope not, its an old Dell Dimension 8300! Kay x

Thanks for that Denboy, and your other post too. Much appreciated. They seem a decent service - I connected to them for £10 for 5 days and got a pretty good connection that didn't drop out once. So, I'm quite pleased I'll get a decent service. Kay x

Yep, I see what you mean. I've even thought of setting up a server running terminal services and have that particular machine connected to the hot spot via a wireless NIC and then connect the laptops to the terminal services server via RDP and use a session on the server. The terminal services server will act as a NAT router to any connected RDP clients and hopefully solve my problem! The ISP will only 'see' the MAC address of my server as the server itself will do any NAT routing for the clients. Means having my desktop PC (currently retired) setting up and running all the time to keep the connection up. I don't fancy paying out £90 for their router when I might be able to do it cheaper myself! Thanks for everyone's help though... I will update you when I've worked something out! Yep, I think I'll do that! Kay x