Gord

Pleased to see my old boat on here! We've not owned her for a few years now, and she's undergone a few changes, including the metal nameplates and a rear cover. We had a few interesting comments about the colour scheme. One from a woman on a passing boat "Golden Eagle, that's a nice name for a boat – horrible colour though...", to a dad who approached us at a lock and said that his boy reckoned that our boat was named after a steam locomotive. I was impressed and well pleased! Below is a photograph during our ownership. All the best Gordon

me again, Just a couple more thoughts on fin rads. On some professional fit outs I have seen, fin rads are added hear and there in small (say 500mm) lengths, so they occupy the same space as a conventional radiator; now of course this is stupid, they are intended to go in great long lengths because they don't have the surface area in hight. I would say, if you could add one fin rad on top of another, to give the same vertical area, the output would be far greater than a conventional rad. That's all folks Gordon

Hiya, We have fin rads on our boat, with the before mentioned Aldi, they both work very well too. A few things to remember about both, first the Aldi; they get a lot of stick for using a lot of gas, indeed our can get through a 13kg bottle in three or so days when its cold, so thats a bout 26kg a week, but £40 (ouch). our stove burns 50kg of fuel a week, makes a lot of mess and needs looking after to keep it going, but despite using twice as much fuel as the Aldi, costs around £18 a week to run. We run the stove 24/7 in the winter and use the Aldi as back up, and to warm the boat through in the mornings. Now the Fin rads; We have fitted Rads from the Aquafax range, which have two copper pipes running through aluminium fins, with the Aldi in the middle of the boat the hot coolant flowing to the front and back down the top pipe, T'ing off for a towel radiator in the bathroom, and the calorifier, and using Aldi's own rubber U bends and corners (Some with bleed taps), returning the cold coolant along the bottom pipe. I have made cavities behind all the cupboards in the galley, and around the back steps, to keep any damp problems to a minimum. Because the fin rads work by the convection of air, you need to allow for this by making it as easy for the air to flow as possible, and because the Aldi has only a small, low consumption pump, it's a good idea to make the coolant flow as easly too, which is where the Aldi bends come in. In summer, we turn the heating off to the rear and front of the boat using Hep 2o gate valves, leaving just the calorifier and towel radiator connected, the Aldi soon heats these up and starts going on and off. With the valves open the Aldi will quite happily heat away, the Fin Rads managing to dump most of the heat, any heat which is returned to the boiler I think is from the Towel radiator and calorifier. I would say you do need a lot of fin rad to heat the boat, probably the length of the inside of the boat if you can manage it say 40' (behind cupboards and the like), also, fin rads do not store heat as they contain little water, so when the boiler is off, the heating quickly goes. I would not be without either the stove, or the Aldi boiler, and the Finrads do help keep the boat both warm and dry. I would not swap the Aldi for a diesel unit ever, why? well no noise, no fumes, low power consumption and good reliability. Well that's my point of view, hope it helps. Thanks Gordon

Hiya, Just a thought, if you are planning to change your cassette, there are other suppliers in the UK that charge the RRP of about £70 for one. You can do a search on Google to see if one is nearest to you. I got my spare cassettes from Anglo American Leisure in Hinckley. Conrad Anderson also seem to stock them for £70. Just in case you get ripped off paying double elsewhere. Gordon

Hi there, gosh, this started from an old post.... Try Anglo American Leisure, from Hinckley. Their prices are about half that of another company I could mention! Gordon

Talking about the vacuflush loo, we have had one and used it as live aboards for over a year now. It has been reliable, if a little temperamental; loo paper can sometimes get stuck under the loo valve (Easy to flush again and wipe off), and the cassette to dock seals can sometimes leak, requiring a little wiggle of the cassette to fix. The seals do need cleaning weekly as per instructions, and lubricated with silicone spray (Never oil based products). Fitting the system requires care, isolation valves for the water and an on/off switch are a good idea. You can buy the system at a good price from Anglo American Leisure, cassettes are about £70 (You will want two or three) Hope that helps Gordon