Why does my boat need more maintenance than a house?

[blackrose]

I've never owned a house or flat but used to live in them more than 20 years ago, so I do appreciate that they need maintenance too, but why is it that boats seem to need so much more?

 

For example, I have a Bristan domestic shower mixer which seems to require descaling every 6 months to a year. It stops delivering hot water and I have to take the whole lot off the wall and dunk the insides in a bowl of vinegar for a few hours before reassembling and then it's fine. I've never done this in a house and never heard of anyone else having to do it - at least certainly not as frequently as me.

 

So why does bringing a standard domestic item onto a boat suddenly mean it needs servicing every year? That's just one example but I'm sure there are lots of others.

[OldGoat]

22 hours ago, blackrose said:

I've never owned a house or flat but used to live in them more than 20 years ago, so I do appreciate that they need maintenance too, but why is it that boats seem to need so much more?

 

For example, I have a Bristan domestic shower mixer which seems to require descaling every 6 months to a year. It stops delivering hot water and I have to take the whole lot off the wall and dunk the insides in a bowl of vinegar for a few hours before reassembling and then it's fine. I've never done this in a house and never heard of anyone else having to do it - at least certainly not as frequently as me.

 

So why does bringing a standard domestic item onto a boat suddenly mean it needs servicing every year? That's just one example but I'm sure there are lots of others.

I have an answer for you young Mike,

it's because (not unreasonably) canal boaters avoid the overpriced stuff - aimed at salty water boater (who mostly might get by with overpriced  so called marine stuff) and think - as it's ** expensive it must be the bees-mid-length- joints.

 

You're posh shower mixer is designed to run  off 'mains water' and at a constant pressure. On a boat if you have water supply pressure at 30 psi all the joints would pop regularly / or the other components would fail - as they're not-reall-designed- for that pressure.

Pulling the age bit - I'm happy to mix and mend and compromise when I know that a domestic bit will  not quite work on a NB. Some bit's do and some don't. No absolutes. Experimentation is fun (often).

 

I and to a lesser extent, your goodself have learnt to mix and match - but newer boater expect everything to be peachy from day one.

 

It ain't going to happen - the marhket's too small.

 

Nurse, nurse, I've.......

 

[mark99]

Houses have had 700 years refinement and built from inert materials largely, they don't sit on an agressive medium or need to be 100% watertight; even vegetable framed houses are quite refined and don't get surrounded by water. I live on 200 foot chalk on the North Downs. My shower would do same thing except I put in a water softener system cost over £1k capital plus the consumables. As the other poster states most boaters don't spend anything on prevention.

Edited September 26, 2020 by mark99

[dave moore]

There is never nothing to do on a boat. While it broke my heart to sell our, 2 years ago, health issues meant that she was largely lying idle. I still miss Ressie but not the endless looking after. The new owner is meticulous, for which I’m grateful.