boaterphil

Comastic is very good, my boat is a colecraft it came when new with comastic 3 yrs ago it came out of the water after 3 years the comastic was still on under the waterline cleaned it well down and applied another 3 coats after 3 years there are no signs of it coming off, DO NOT overcoat this on to black tar varnish it does not work, Comastic is not cheap £40 for 5 litres that does one coat on a 60 footer, I do not paint my base plate, but it is worth every penny in my opinion.

Gaz, Many thanks for your reply,

Hi, The boat behind me just said to me your the one who got stuck at Salters, my 5 minutes of fame, I would like to point out to all that this was my decision to go out and rightly pointed out I got stuck on the third attempt. Yes it was a long night, I thought I had planned well in advance having telephoned Paul 6 weeks ago regarding tide times, the cruisers that did get through one of which I work at the same place I informed him at the same time 6 weeks ago, he had been sat there since saturday lunchtime we had planned our trip to arrive at Salters at lunctime on Monday and moor at Denver for the night, I rang Dan at Denver he opened the gate for us, we came up with the tide and Mike very kindly let us through at 7.55am, thankyou very much to both of them. We have been making this crossing for 20 years, and it is not always easy, we had a reason for being in "pole" position in 2010 my partners mother was very ill only to die the following week so I apologise if you were thinking I was queue jumping which I was not, I have learnt over the years it is not always best to be first, the year before, we had planned to come through the following day from Denver we rang Dan he had finished locking he said there is plenty of water, come down and I will let you through to Salters no buffeting onto the tyres the tide was not ebbing fanastic if only every trip was that easy. Paul, Mike and Dan are all front line staff, these guys do not manage the budgets for Middle level Commisioners or the EA, the powers that be assure me the silt will be cleared this week or at the latest next week.

I used comastic after three years still as good as new and when I took the boat out last time the comastic was still on below the waterline from the previous time 2/3 years, I have only used comastic, it does does like going over the cheap black bituemn just seen a boat done at a boat yard 8 months ago rusting through, cheap black bituemn. Not cheap my last lot £40 a gallon, that does one coat on a 60 foot boat.

I have brass mushroom vents, domed ones on my roof I am thinking of having the top half chromed, has had anyone had any experience in this area as regards to cost will also have my tiller bar done at the same time.

Hi, many thanks for the replies, I have just been to the boat this morning, checked the pump/ Impeller it has a cross{positive} marked so will attach the live terminal to that side, so hopefully its going the impeller is going the right way and I will fit an inline switch to isolate the tank thermostat, that is my easiest option, its annoying to frind the pump has been on when I return after been away for a few days, or the other option is to leave the fuse off at all times, many thanks.

I have two questions regarding my Alde bolier, the first is is there a right way to connect the wires to the circulation pump, there are two terminals on top of the pump, the second is the there is a thermostat on the side of the calorifier, this seems to turn on the circulation pump when the boat heating is not on, so I have to disconect the boiler via the fuse to make sure the pump does not come on.The boiler is an alde comfort balanced flue.

My BMC1.8 when new smoked Iwas told new injectors were needed another engineer said check the tappets from cold which he did, it never smoked again. My neighbour a great person engine has smoked for years I told him the same he has checked and his tappets are ok. but he has chnaged the cam belt which was out by 1 tooth? and he feels that was his problem, the smoke was terrible, I will keep you updated.

My well deck was painted with gloss, I then put 2 coats of red oxide over it which is pretty good at being non slip but now have a large rubber mat with holes which is great and also protects the paint from chipping.

one wire comes from the centre of the alternator to the relay that is what i had the same wire comes from another connection spade fitting and goes to the negative on the service battery ,i had it to the positive hence why the relay was warm that dragged the service batteries down and also kept the relay on between the BT and cranking battery , which is the best neg. to attach to, cranking or service, i think it should be the service??

Hi, Problem solved after calling my local Parkinsons electrics, I had mistakenly put the thin wire from the relay which on investigation connects to one of the alternatorsvia the relay I had wired it to the positive hence it was energised all the time and therefore drawing current I have now put the wire to the negative on the cranking batteryas now I believe it was oriigally connected and I think I had a new set of batteries and had to turn them around, now I have a cool relay, many thanks for your help and interest.

The relay has a wire to a positive on one of the service batteries can i move this to the positive on the cranking battery, will the relay still work properly.someone had suggested I may have a short because the relay is warm also I have not got the bow thruster battery connected and still the relay is warm, the relay is warm when the engine is not running, also when i put my multi- meter on the service batt or cranking batt when the engine is running it shows 14 volts so it is charging, but when i do the same to the bow thruster when fully connected it only reads 12.5 volts.

H i can any one help I have two battery banks cranking and service the cranking battery has a lucas relay connecting to a bow thruster but the relay is conctantly warm, any ideas is this right or should it be cool replaced the relay and it is still warm.

I have a Honda EX650 generator I have great difficulty in getting it to start 35 pulls when it DOES start it works fine, any advice regarding fuel additives, carb cleaning, I had not used it for a long time thats when the problem started, it gets very little use only when we are away and then only for a fews hours over the whole holiday, any advice please.

I use foil tape wrapped roud the chimney collar to help seal the gap and to amke a tighter fit, although I do not usually my boat during the winter. I also sit a piece of chimney flue inside the the chimney, which is stainless steel and has last for 11 years has no rust although I have replaced the coolley hat.