Doug Scullery

One of our kitchen cupboards in insulated (2 vertical sides, door and top, the back is obviously insulated anyway) with a hole cut in the floor just the right size to fit an old enameled breadbin which sits directly on the baseplate. Basically the breadbin is our "fridge" for milk/cheese/meat/beer and up against the side of the cupboard we have one of those wire veg racks. Works fantastically in all but the hottest weather, when the beer can be a bit warm and fresh milk is a no no. I'm surprised it's not more common, Phoebe already had it when we bought her but 2 friends have copied the design now (one was fitting his kitchen from scratch, the other modified one of his existing cupboards) who are equally happy with the results.

It's also worth considering Bristol Harbour (although I believe there's a long waiting list for moorings) or the River Avon between Bath and Bristol. It's fairly commutable but you do have to take into account bridge tolls.

What exactly is a "Design Firm" and how do they make money from coming up with ridiculous ideas (and poor Photoshop) like this? If I was hiring someone to some sort of design and I saw that this was the extent of their Photoshopping skills, they would be so fired.

I have been helping a friend look for a boat this year, she was looking for a 50-60ft NB in the 30-40K bracket (ended up with a 50ft for just under 30K), and was looking with virtually the same requirements for myself three and a half years ago (got a 55ft for just under 30K). My observation was basically that you don't seem to get anything much more for your money now than you did then, but the amount of choice this year was massive compared to when I was buying. My friend ended up with maybe 20 boats in her shortlist, wheras my shortlist was more like 3 or 4 boats. It's a buyers market out there at the moment, in my opinion. Happy shopping!

As others have said it totally depends on the engine. The smell has never been a problem for us (we have a modern trad stern NB with no door between the engine room and bedroom) but it has on two occasions alerted me to a fuel leak that needed fixing (same fault both times, bit of a design flaw on the engine, imho). If we had a cruiser or semi read I doubt I would have noticed it so quickly, and would have lost more diesel as a result.

Possibly, but I'm definitely going to investigate the stop solenoid first, my gut instinct says it's related. Would fuel pump failure sound spluttery and juddery like an engine running out of fuel/with air in the fuel lines or could it cause an abrupt stop, like pressing the stop button? This incident really reminded me of that. My anchor was stored ready to deploy, but at the front. Singlehanding downstream that did not do much to make me feel safer about approaching Kelston weir, very silly. In future it will most certainly be within easy reach. By weir guards, do you mean the kind of wooden barrier you see a few feet before weirs on the Thames? If so, no, none of them on the Avon.

I did almost this trip (Saul-Bath) when I first bought Phoebe, as someone mentioned upthread I left as a novice and arrived as a seasoned boater. It took me a little over 5 weeks in spring, although we dawdled a fair bit, a friend did the same trip in under 3 weeks during summer a couple of years ago. Enjoy it!

I was starting to think this, too, I don't mind lifting the engine boards to stop the engine manually, it's also a good chance to have a wee look about for leaks and whatnot. My only concern about that is in a situation where somebody goes in the water while cruising, is it strictly necessary to stop the engine asap or is knocking into neutral satisfactory?

That was the problem when I first bought the boat (in fact I routinely stopped the engine with the "Emergency Stop" for about six months until I got round to getting it fixed). Don't suppose you've got a link to the Maplins bargain have you?

Just had a look at all the wiring and there's nothing obviously wrong. Rick-n-Jo's stop solenoid theory sounds realistic to me, it would explain the sudden stopping and the equally sudden willingness to restart, but that happened over a space of no more that 2 minutes, would a continuously energized stop solenoid burn out that quickly? I feel fairly sure fuel supply wasn't the issue, as having failed to properly bleed the fuel lines after a service I have an idea of what that would sound like, juddery and spluttery, no?

Does the stop solenoid need to have power for the engine to continue running?

Anything I should be looking/listening for in particular?

At least that's something I can listen for, I know that my starter motor has a device (it's something like a bicycle freewheel, in my imagination, but I don't really know) which prevents bad things happening if you accidentally turn the key while the engine is running, although I imagine the motor could burn out if it was on continuously. It's the etc that concerns me. Should I be isolating my starter battery while the engine isn't running? edit to remove typo

This is quite a concern, obviously I know how to check oil and coolant levels, is there anything else I should be keeping an eye on? Without a temp gauge what would the first symptoms of overheating be? Thanks Brian. That definitely helps.

This is true, but knowing the options for mooring near Bath they may find they have quite a commute if they choose to go down that route, too. Blimey that's cheap! Mind you, I'd want to be very confident the hull and engine were sound before heading for tidal waters.

I had a rather scary experience yesterday, cruising downstream on the Avon from Bath and my engine (Barrus Shire 2200) just stopped dead, no strange sounds, vibrations, smells or exhaust fumes, just stopped. While drifting downstream I tried the ignition, I could hear the starter motor but the engine didn't start, I spent a few seconds straightening the boat up and trying to work out where my options were for drifting in to moor, tried the key again and it started again as if nothing had ever happened, and continued performing normally for the hour or so it took me to get home. Interestingly, the stop solenoid had stopped working (a fault that the boat had when I bought it, which I got fixed by an electrician) so I had to stop the engine with the "Emergency Stop" button on the engine itself rather than the "Stop" button on the instrument panel, probably related, I guess. I checked the oil and coolant levels (fine) and nothing looked, felt or smelled funny (annoyingly the engine temperature gauge stopped working a couple of weeks ago, a loose wire I assume, but it didn't feel any hotter than usual). Other than this the engine has never skipped a beat in the 3 and a half years I've owned it. So I have 3 questions: 1. What could cause this? (bearing in mind that my knowledge of engines is pretty much limited to the ability to do a basic oil and filters change) 2. Am I safe to run the engine for hot water and electricity before getting it looked at? 3. Does anybody know a good mechanic that would be willing to come out to Saltford? (preferably one that won't charge me too much, I'm pretty skint at the moment)

Bit of an exaggeration, my mooring costs £200 a month (and it is a cheap one, many round here pay in the region of £300-£400), that is ALOT of diesel!

Those updates seem to be mainly aimed at warning land based residents of flooding, I feel sure I've been told about updates from BW (back when BW existed) specifically aimed at boaters. Once the local houses are at risk of flooding I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to go anywhere anyway! I'm more concerned about the middle ground, where the river hasn't burst it's banks but the flow has been deemed (by some official body or other) too strong for boating.

On at least one occasion I've moved the boat on the River Avon (Bristol - Bath) only to discover that C&RT or BW or the Chinese Communist Party or whoever the hell it is that runs the waterways now have officially closed the river due to river levels, a big concern as I believe that invalidates my insurance. Cruising without insurance is something I do not fancy. Also on one occasion I have checked online and discovered no stoppages only to find out that a friend who gets updates (text? email?) from BW&RTY had received a message that morning to tell her that the river was closed due to torrents of raging floodwater or some such unnecessary exaggeration. My two questions are 1. Where do i sign up for these updates? and 2. Where do you check for stoppages (other than CWDF), is Waterscape still an official site even though BW don't exist any more? edit to add: This is a link to the only place I know to check http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/boating/stoppages also edited to remove the double negative. Doh!

I'm pretty sure I was one of the forum users who recommended Steve. He's a great guy, he surveyed Phoebe for us three years ago, and he's just surveyed a boat in Reading for a friend of mine. Can't recommend him strongly enough (no connection to him, btw).

She definitely wants the low top tube. Her current bike is an old GT Palomar which probably isn't a million miles away from the Rockhopper and Hardrock in terms of geometry, we've raised the stem a far as it goes and fitted riser bars for a more upright riding position but she still wants something with a more "sit up and beg" feel. That said, you do seem to get better componenty at a given price point with the more conventional mountain bikes. I would love to learn to weld, but methinks Roseys new bike might not be the right place to start!

She does very much want a Pashley, and they were one of the first brands we looked at, but sadly the cost, combined with the need for a greater range of gears knocked them off the list pretty quickly. I do see the argument for 700c wheels, but as someone who's used to mountain bikes I do find them a bit, kinda, sweepy feeling (if that makes sense) when steering, and as far as I'm aware Rosey has only ever ridden 26" bikes, I suspect would feel the same way, although she will be test riding a few now we're looking at other options. As for suspension, again, I am aware of the arguments against suspension, but comfort is the aim here, not efficiency. I completely agree about the hub gears, but for the ride that Rosey has to work the range on the 3 and 5 speed systems will be nowhere near enough and, unfortunately, unless someone can point me in the direction of one, I haven't seen any ladies comfort bikes with the 7 or 8 speed Nexus or Alfine systems (they seem to be reserved for the sportier hybrids), let alone the mighty 14 speed (is that the same Rohloff hub that was about in the late 90's by any chance? I always wanted to try on of those), although, imho, the manufacturers are missing a trick there, they certainly would be more suitable than derailleur gears for alot of riders that I don't think are aware of the option. You're preaching to the choir about steel frames, I've got a beautiful mid 90's Fuji StoutLite XC frame that I wouldn't swap for any alu frame in the world, but again, the manufacturers are calling the shots here, as far as the bikes I see for sale today go nice steel tubing seems to be reserved for very high end (as in well out of budget) road and mountain bikes, sadly. The dynamo hubs might be a possibility, I've seen some bikes by a company I've never heard of before called Corratec (anybody got any experience of them?) which while not as pretty as the Specialized, do seem to hit most of the requirements, and all feature hub dynamo's, which should be alot more common than they are.

That sounds awesome (also sounds like an awesome job!), thankyou.

We have considered it, and may go down that road if it really doesn't work out. The problem with that bike in particular is that it's too small (she's 5'9"), but also ideally she wants to take advantage of the Cycle Scheme (www.cyclescheme.co.uk) her employer offers (it really is a great deal, you pay no income tax on the cost of the bike). I fear it might come down to ebay, though.