Bobbybass

Having had my arm down to the bottom of my pumpout tank on a few occasions.....that doesn't totally fit with what I saw from my macerator ? If it is sewerage...have you considered someone parked near the bank in a RV or camper van ?..just a thought.

Cut some plywood into narrow strips....like this....then steam them.

Well....I think you've all done quite well. Most of the replies...stayed on my original topic..but now we're on to Smart gauges, I was waiting for Brexit to appear....

This is indeed..tricky. I consider myself I (after potential mishaps)..reasonably astute...but as you have asked.. what's the alternative..? Having viewed the colander boat this weekend....I was aware that the overplate looked good quality and would do you for a few years cruising...but was also conscious that further down the line..the overplating would not be new..and would be considered a risk..so leading to low resale value. I'm curious about this latest trend of brokers advertising "recent survey...recent hiull survey"..? The costs of your own survey..maybe in the region of £700 plus..make a ready surveyed boat an attractive proposition...but (like my sister)...how much can you trust it..? In my..;Thames' cruiser' episode.....I had a definite feeling that although the surveyor was supposedly from hundreds of miles away..he wouldn't have liked to have completely written off the boat for fear of loosing future work at the marina. I also had this feeling with my previous narrowboat.. It's indeed a problem.....the old buyer beware scenario...which is really tough for first time buyers...

I don't know if this is general or just a few things that happened around me. It concerns buying boats and having surveys and committing your hard earned cash to the outcome. Around 11 years ago I bought my first narrowboat. A 60 foot Reeves hull that was (at that time ) 10 years old. I paid over £700 to have it surveyed at Braunston with "one of the most highly recommended surveyors in the area"...tsk tsk... He picked out a few items..that were recitified.. and gave it a clean bill of health. 2 weeks later it nearly sank. The bolts holding the stern tube to the cross member were missing (never found them in the bilge)...and during mooring up the tube unscrewed and fell into the boat leaving a large gap around the prop shaft... By the way..the surveyed bilge pump didn't work... 2 years later I had it re-blacked to find that the 10mm base plate was corroded by 6mm over a substantial part of the plate. Approaching the "famed" surveyor... he said that the survey was "on the day...sorry about that". 20 months ago I nearly purchased a fibreglass cruiser on the Thames. £700 for lift and survey... Another highly recommended surveyor (funny how brokers don't like to make surveyor recommendations.. and then do?)..pointed out a few things as 'minor'..and it was a sheer stroke of luck (actually..I surprised the broker by turning up unannounced and demanding the file )...that I uncovered paperwork that the boat had been in a hard collision (insurance recovery)..with the stern and had an emergency lift as water was pouring in. The stern..transom....seriously cracked....had allowed water to soak into the interior and the plywood was sodden..meaning that its strength would always be unknown. The surveyor countered this by stating that it should never be used on the sea !. I walked away £700 lighter. A few weeks later...I discovered that the same surveyor had previously surveyed that boat..twice...so already knew it inside and out. Very lucrative !! Last September....my sister...and her now late husband (probably due to the stress)...went looking for a narrowboat. There seems to be a trend now..that many brokers advertise.."with recent survey".....so you are reassured. They went ahead and purchased it. In the first week they called RCR 3 times....who examined the boat and said it was totally botched..and should never have passed survey !!. Now to me... My wife and myself 'thought' we would go back to a narrowboat. I have just returned from a long drive to view a boat. The couple have owned it for 2 years...and I'm sure they were very genuine....I have no qualms about that. I saw the invoice for their purchase...£28,750. They then spent £12,000 on over plating !!!. The overplating job looked great with very high quality welding, but overplating rotten base plate with 6mm of steel would mean a resale value in 5 years time.. of 2 bags of crisps and a can of coke ! I asled (as you would )...why did you buy such a bad hull that required so much remedial work...?... Can you guess...? Of course......the answer was that the boat came with a recent...reassuring......,wonderful survey.....so they didn't need to pay to get their own !. A year later they took it for blacking to discover that the baseplate..thought to be 8mm...was down to 2mm or less..and they had basically bought a 10 ton colander !!. Serious corrosion...base...and sides...They took it up with the surveyor...but of course the small print said (as in most surveys)...This survey must only ever be seen by the person that commissioned it and must never be shown to a third party. Standard surveyor cop out... I'm wondering if this latest trend..actually involves surveyors at all..or whether you can just buy copies of surveys from China.... These are facts.......not embellished.... In the words of Hill Street Blues.."Be careful out there".... By the way...does anybody want to buy my genuine Elvis Presley signed record..?..I have a certificate of authenticity..

Currently viewing : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/47ft-5-berth-very-nicely-presented-Narrowboat/232656622830?_trkparms=pageci%3A7174c1a8-0cae-11e8-9843-74dbd1808fc1|parentrq%3A74a49b1c1610a9c510cff199fffbfcf0|iid%3A1&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236 Comments..?....Thanks.....

I've been building a full size 737 simulator in my loft...for the past 3 years..

Hi all. As you may see from my profile, I have been on this site for some years and previously lived aboard a boat for 6 years. Now....we are planning to buy another narrowboat to use for 4 week 'stints'. Although I have had experience of this, my past two boats have been purchased from a broker. I now have 'my eye' on a boat on Ebay. The owners claim to have carried out a great deal of works on this and they seem knowledgeable about it. I have no reason to doubt that they are genuine, however I could well hand over £34k to 2 people who may simply have borrowed a boat for a few weeks.. (hopefully not) My question is...what advice do you have for me on this transaction to protect myself the best possible way. (I do not mean survey etc.)....I mean...what is there in the way of checking or contract that will put my mind at ease..?. I guess that I should know the answer to this by now....but I'm asking for any ideas...as I don't. Thanks all !

Yup...stops thermosyphoning. If you have a nice tank of hot water...you don't want it keeping your engine toasty :-)

Could be lots of things...but if there's a large motor start capacitor..may be worth changing that. They can get a bit leaky to earth if left discharged for a time. They can work initially...then start to fail.

I'm a reasonably qualified boat person..having lived onboard a narrowboat in the past. I also own a cruiser type boat. I was thinking of buying another boat..when a friend discovered they had a bad family situation..and they have to get rid of theirs in a hurry. They are asking around £35k. It's a GT boat..built in Staffordshire in 1991...so she's 26 years old. Because of circumstances..she has not been blacked for 3 years. It was re-engined 13 years ago...so may have done quite a bit of cruising. I like the layout..and the fitout...but ordinarily would not touch a boat of this age without a hull survey. His own insurer will cover it until 30 years...but I'm thinking of my possible ownership when it hits 30. My 'gut feeling' is that there will be corrosion that will soon need attending to...and ordinarily..I would insist on the hull survey. What I'm asking here..is really opinions. Are there people here who have owned a boat of this age or more..who feel that I'm overreacting? There is a certain amount of hurry here...and I can't decide whether to just take the risk and jump ? My experience of boat mechanicals..is enough for me to test drive it for a few hours and decided from that point of view..but the hull..? Opinions....?...thanks...

Errr.....? That was 4 years ago........

Total sod...! All of my front assembly came loose..! My neighbours brand new engine was written off after 100 hours...and he threatened legal action for Beta. They eventually agreed to fund a replacement short engine and fitting....but their engineer said that they had tried ...pins...nuts...and even welding the front nut...to no avail.. When my engine failed...I had it investigated by an engineer. The taper on the end pulley was not at the same angle as the taper on the crank shaft. That meant that when you tighten up that large nut...the pulley is not squarley gripped....but sits on a shoulder. Yes...its is tight...but then that shoulder wears into the crankshaft and it all waggles. This is not helped by the fact that on my engine....the alternators including the Travelpower...were all on one side and thus the belts all pulled like hell in one direction. I obtained a new double aluminium pulley from Beta...had one of the pullies machine off...and then bolted that onto the iron pulley. I then made a completely different 'saddle' for the Travelpower to sit on. I angle grinded off the end of the engine cradle....and fitted the Travelpower much lower down... This was a real 'faff'...but I actually found that having the Travelpower at a different angle to the alternators...the engine was better balanced.. My advice...? Every months...tighten that huge nut (was it 43mm..?) on the end of the alternator pulley... Second advice...? If you cut the end off the engine cradle with an angle grinder...remove the batteries to the dock side. It took me 20 pots of bicarbonate of soda...to neutralise the acid ! PS....if you have an oil leak...you can remove the pullies..prise out the old seal and fit a new one. The oil leak..is usually when the pullies are running 'eccentric'...so tightening up that big nut...fitting a new seal.. may cure it...in fact it will cure it. Removing the engine...as you say...and machining the crankshaft...will be a waste of life and will NOT cure it.

My engineer...used to just let it flow into the bilge...and then hand pump it into a container...rather than try and catch it.

It looks like the model that B&Q did a safety recall on last year...? Dehumidifiers......they have a freezer and a heater...and you need to keep doors and windows closed as they 'drop' the humidity around them... I used to hire them out...both domestic and industrial. Turn them on...they go into a 'cycle'. The freezer turns on...and the fan draws air across the cooled elements...with the water in the air...then turning to ice. After a period (usually around 2 hours)..the freezer turns off...and a heater is turned on. The water thaws and flows into the tank. After a while...this repeats. Not all that magic really.