Damo

Thanks for the advice. It is an old boat so I think I will fit the slab directly on the floor. I will keep a close eye on it all for the first few hours of stove use and then fix some appropriate fire-retardant material underneath it if necessary. Cheers Damo

Hi all, I know there are hundreds of posts about installing solid fuel stoves - I think I've read most of them - and I've learned a great deal but I have one point that I could do with some clarification on. I am mounting the stove (a Boatman) on a granite slab but what should I mount the slab itself on? Is it okay to fix the slab directly to the floorboards or should it be mounted on some insulating material like fire cement, cement particle board or heat resistant silicone? And if so, is there a preference out of those? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Damo

LOL - your answer did make me laugh! And, yes, I can see that there are differing opinions on the method to use - I've gone with the weed hatch tape option but thanks all for the advice!

Well, that did seem reasonable logic to me but I thought I'd put the question out there just in case a seasoned boater (unlike myself) responded with "Oh my god! You should never use weed hatch tape because..."

Hi, I feel sure this must have been covered somewhere but after fighting with the Search function I've come up with nothing! I've just wire brushed, vactan'd, and blacked our fresh water tank and need to renew the seal for the lid. What method do you recommend? It looks as if the previous occupant used a silicon-type bathroom sealant but I also noticed that our local chandlers have rolls of weed-hatch tape. The latter struck me as a tidier option for future lid removal but will it keep the rainwater out effectively? Thanks Damo

We did, but I can see how it's not clear from the post. Thanks Richard, I guess all I was hoping for was confirmation that if the surveyor said it was fine, it was fine! No need for a second opinion etc. so I am reassured! I realise that it sounded like I was asking the impossible Ah, right, that's exactly what I hoped. I didn't know it was acceptable to spot-weld pits, I thought the whole area needed over-plating. I have a lot to learn... the first of which is not to over-react and panic every time I read about hull problems

Hi, We recently purchased our first boat, built in 1983 by an unknown builder. I have been browsing this forum for some months and following the advice given here we had a full survey carried out. The surveyor took hull thickness readings at various points and the original 6mm plate seemed to be largely in very good condition. He then measured the worst of the pitting that he could identify and subtracted this from the ultrasound readings. The worst occurrence of pitting was on the underside and resulted in a thickness of 3.8mm. The surveyor told us that this was fine and that insurance companies weren't concerned until the thickness was less than 50% of the original. Based on the age of the boat, and the current rate of corrosion, he felt that we had many years ahead of us before we had to be concerned by this. I am not in any way wishing to cast doubt on the credibility of our surveyor (he came highly recommended by another surveyor) but from what I have read on this forum a lot of people seem to have a much more pessimistic view about hull thicknesses and insurance and I am starting to become a little worried that we may not have purchased very wisely despite our best efforts to do things "properly". I am sorry for the long-winded post and I'm not even sure what I am asking really... maybe just hoping for some reassurance that we haven't made a huge mistake and bought a boat that will very soon require thousands of pounds of work or be uninsurable and unsellable! Lastly, since the worst affected area was on the underside and nobody seems to recommend blacking that is there anything we can do to arrest the problem as much as possible? Thanks for any advice.

No problem. Didn't know about the For Sale section - I may pop it in there (if I can find somewhere to store it in the meantime!).

At Saul Junction on the Glos/Sharpness. It all seems ok and in working order (although I'm no expert) but a portable is just more convenient for us, plus the tank extends under one of our beds and we want to make some changes. PM if you're interested.

You can have mine for nothing - dump through toilet, tank and all! I am swapping it out for a PortaPotti tomorrow. You'll have to be quick though... I don't think the marina will appreciate it hanging around for too long so I'll be off to the tip in the afternoon

Excellent - I'll take a look. Thanks!

That's perfect! Thanks for your advice

Yes, sorry let me explain it a little better. It is probably not really a boatman's cabin since I believe that boatman's cabins are normally full-height rooms behind the engine room. We have a trad stern which opens onto a very small cabin which is directly above the engine. Since the floor of this room is only partially laid (and therefore only partially convering the engine) it is very noisy when I'm standing in there and cruising along. I intend to finish flooring this cabin to completely cover the engine but wondered if there is a particular method used for this type of job to keep the engine noise escaping through the floor panels to a minimum? Hope that makes a bit more sense Yes, that sounds similar. The engine room has been partially decked above the engine (a BMC 1.5) to create a small cabin area.

Well, mainly because when we are running along I can't hear a word anyone else is saying to me. Accepting the fact that at the moment the engine is partly exposed, we seem to be the noisiest boat on the waterway! I'd like the engine noise to limited as much as possible to create a more pleasant cruising experience.

Can anyone offer advice on how to sound proof our boatman's cabin. The engine sits directly beneath the cabin and the floor has only been partially laid. I am intending to lay a completely new floor made up of a series of ply panels to allow easy removal for engine/weed hatch access but don't know what the best approach to sound proofing is? Thanks for your advice!