nb Innisfree

Advantage of a steel flue is it's ability to withstand a good hammering to dislodge any build up of internal deposits. Best done just before first light up in the autumn when the deposlts have dried out and hardened and are rigid and easily broken up. Much more effective than using a brush.

On second thoughts after looking at PaulD's picture 8" wide might be a bit on the narrow side, maybe 6"x3" angle giving 12" oa width?

Personally I would use 100mmx50mm, that would make a total width of 200mm+ rudder thickness, 50mm providing enough surface area for a rigid fixing, I think 12mm is too thick, 6mm is ideal IMO. Also remember to cut the leadings edges back at axsuitable angle to maintain prop clearance. Maybe angle thecwing down a bit at the front give a slight downward load to the rudder?

When the wind was blowing along the boat the fumes from our chimney used to curl down into a vent and register silently on our alarm as low level CO. We cured it by fitting a taller 30" chimney.No prob when wind blew across the boat. There doesn't have to be any smoke present with CO and our experience suggested to me that many boaters without detectors are unwittingly being exposed to CO on a regular basis. ETA: We only use smokeless fuel but it's dangerous to assume that no smoke means no CO.

If and when I get around to it I will extend our rudder forward section with steel angle top and bottom of the rudder, bolted either side and acting as sandwich to support the forward extension section. These angles will also act as 'wings and possibly direct the propeller thrust more efficientky. I will use large section angle, maybe 4" wide on the horizontal plane, also easily removed if it proves unsuccessful. Be an interesting experiment. Will also act as a double step up when I fall in while examining the prop wake.

We have an identical rudder to the OP and we also have less than ideal turning when winding, ok once the boat is rotating but sluggish initially, hopeless in reverse but fine in forward. I do wonder if having such a large gap between prop and rudder is part of the problem of initial response, on reflection and looking at pics of the rudder we and the OP have probably got less than 20% ahead of the pivot, adding to that will, I am sure, improve things as it has done with the OP. I will probably increase it as much as possible, easier to reduce it later on with an angle grinder rather than trying to add it on.

Nothing in my post contradicts that.

Don't know about gels but last time we replaced our bank with AGMs (8x120ah) and despite some neglect early on which resulted in a considerable loss of capacity they are still hanging in there 5 yrs later. These days we sometimes leave the boat for several months at a time with the batts fully charged and isolated, SoC after this is still 98%+.

When we fitted a different prop I had to put some extra packing washers in so cut some from various thicknesses of polypropelyne with a hole saw (3mm 6mm and 8mm IIRCC) did the job a treat and no worries about corrosion.

Interesting as that looks exactly the same setup as ours which is a Bellaires shell, built by Peter Bellaires and/or his son who used to build for Floating homes. I have often toyed with doing your mod and now I feel more confident it will be beneficial. Ours is identical and is 25/75 ratio which could do with the mod mentioned which would bring it to about one third/two thirds ratio.

I don't think it's the CO issue that stops people fitting LPG appliances but the possibility of a build up of an undetected gas leak resulting in a big bang.

Mind you if my old gal ever did lose it she would be a match for a bloke, Seriously, I pushed her a bit too far once when we were playfighting (young and foolish) took an effort to calm her down, some sort of survival thing buried deep. Scary!

If he threw anything at my missus, he'd get a bunch of fives straight back in his kisser.

10:6:4 fuselage, 3mm wings and 10mm rudder, all in carbon steel heated to straw and quenched in oil, you can't be too careful.

One way of looking at it I suppose. Maybe but as 4g is taken up and inevitably becomes overcrowded I suspect things will end up just the same until 5g appears. There's never a permanent solution.

Wouldn't the lock need emptying? It was full with boat almost totally submerged.

Mind you they were just another business from the outset, I never saw them as cuddly but as a straightforward attempt by O2 to break away from the standard offerings of PAYG.

I came acroos a boat moored up and off shoreline with a jump lead from boat to mooring ring, his 18 month old boat had serious bottom plate pitting and he had been told this would prevent it.

I was told by a lock keeper that the stop plank grooves were too tall to permit planks to be slotted in with their hoist (due to the bridge getting in the way?) if they were shorter it would allow access. Or something along those linesm