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Why does a boat need more maintenance than a house?


blackrose

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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.

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9 minutes 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.

Its simply that you are filling your water tank with hard water, get up to Manchester and get a tank full of good soft Lakeland water. Bet you are on the southern chalk.

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But to take just that example, we've never had to touch our shower mixer, but living in a house, it scaled up every 6 months or so. 

 

I do get your general point though. Could be to do with more variable conditions on a boat (humidity, temp etc)? Vibration and general movement?

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24 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Its simply that you are filling your water tank with hard water, get up to Manchester and get a tank full of good soft Lakeland water. Bet you are on the southern chalk.

Yes it's hard water, but I've always lived in hard water areas, even when I was living on land

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1 hour ago, blackrose said:

Yes it's hard water, but I've always lived in hard water areas, even when I was living on land

Bristan shower mixers are at the cheap end of the market so don't expect miracles. Having said that we have one at home in a soft water area and it works fine although the taps tend to tighten up after a couple of years.

Edited by PhilR
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Houses don't have engines, lift pumps, batteries, leaky water tanks and diesel bugs. These were our biggest problems when we lived aboard ?

Much as I miss our boat life in a house is so much simpler.

I'd still take the boating life any day though if my health allowed.

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A house is far from maintenance free .

Despite buying a newly built house in 1990 we have replace two bathrooms , one kitchen, all windows  and external doors - front door replaced twice , , gutters and fascias replaced , decorated  several times but is never ending  , garden needs constant work and wife is presently looking to spend a substantial sum on the garden.  I wouldn't like to work out what we have spent over the years.

By comparison the boat maintenance costs are cheap.

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26 minutes ago, MartynG said:

A house is far from maintenance free .

Despite buying a newly built house in 1990 we have replace two bathrooms , one kitchen, all windows  and external doors - front door replaced twice , , gutters and fascias replaced , decorated  several times but is never ending  , garden needs constant work and wife is presently looking to spend a substantial sum on the garden.  I wouldn't like to work out what we have spent over the years.

By comparison the boat maintenance costs are cheap.

Ours was newly built in 94 and we have done similar.

 

UPVC soffits and gutters replaced. New kitchen, new boiler, new bathrooms and toilets, new back door, replaced flooring, installed a stove to replace an aging gas fire, decorated multiple times, new rear patio, new roof on shed, new fencing, just replaced the smoke alarms, replaced leaky radiators, multiple boiler services and now flu sweeps etc etc. 

 

The siren on the house alarm has just started to blow the fuse in the panel so that needs sorting and our UPVC windows are just about on their last legs.

 

The total cost I suspect would come close to paying for a new boat!! (well possibly not but you get the drift)

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Its a bit like why will a beer can that is less than 0.05mm thick take 50 years to rot away but a narrowboat made from 10 and 8 mm steel needs cosseting so it doesn't rot in 20 years

 

Not a lot like. Beer cans are made of aluminium. 

 

 

42 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Ours was newly built in 94 and we have done similar.

 

Ours was newly built in 1912. It still needs maintenance.

 

Must dash - I have a ceiling to paint.

 

 

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17 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.

A couple of thoughts:

about limescale, that must be due to the hard water in your tank, as far as I know nothing else causes it.

secondly, houses versus boats isn’t really comparing like with like. Our house is anything up to 600 years old, well at least the cellar is, boats tend not to last that long. Houses need steady maintenance throughout their lives but so do boats except that as they aren’t designed for centuries of existence they need more concentrated bouts of maintenance?

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10 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Ours was newly built in 94 and we have done similar.

 

UPVC soffits and gutters replaced. New kitchen, new boiler, new bathrooms and toilets, new back door, replaced flooring, installed a stove to replace an aging gas fire, decorated multiple times, new rear patio, new roof on shed, new fencing, just replaced the smoke alarms, replaced leaky radiators, multiple boiler services and now flu sweeps etc etc. 

 

The siren on the house alarm has just started to blow the fuse in the panel so that needs sorting and our UPVC windows are just about on their last legs.

 

The total cost I suspect would come close to paying for a new boat!! (well possibly not but you get the drift)

Your house must be badly built or have you succumbed to door to door sales people?

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8 minutes ago, PhilR said:

Your house must be badly built or have you succumbed to door to door sales people?

What utter nonsense,

 

Its 26 years old. Most people will have renewed decor, kitchens, boilers and bathrooms in that time.

 

Its also considered a good idea to get your boiler serviced annually and have your flue swept the same.

 

The 'no cold calling' sticker on our front door should dismiss your second question as utter nonsense too.

 

Now scuttle off and do the reading I suggested earlier.

Edited by The Happy Nomad
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Just now, The Happy Nomad said:

What utter nonsense,

 

Its 26 years old. Most people will have renewed kitchens and bathrooms in that time.

 

The 'no cold calling' sticker on our front door should dismiss your second question as utter nonsense too.

 

Now scuttle off and do the reading I suggested earlier.

Our gas fired boiler is 44 years old. I'm not sure where to scuttle off to.

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Just now, PhilR said:

Our gas fired boiler is 44 years old. I'm not sure where to scuttle off to.

Bully for you.

 

The heat exchanger in our potteron rusted through three years ago so we replaced it with a combi and have saved a fortune in running costs.

 

But what has that got to do with how the houuse is built?

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Just now, The Happy Nomad said:

Bully for you.

 

The heat exchanger in our potteron rusted through three years ago so we replaced it with a combi and have saved a fortune in running costs.

 

But what has that got to do with how the houuse is built?

Probably nothing and apologies if I have offended you. You mentioned replacing uPVC soffits, gutters and windows. It is a shame that they didn't last as long as timber ones might have.  

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Just now, PhilR said:

Probably nothing and apologies if I have offended you. You mentioned replacing uPVC soffits, gutters and windows. It is a shame that they didn't last as long as timber ones might have.  

You havent 'offended' me. It would take a less mind numbingly stupid and more blunt comment to do that, so you try that if you like, see if it works.

 

Timber gutters?

Really.? Where can I buy those? They are normally plastic or metal.

 

Anyway I said the windows are on their last legs after 26 years, they are not replaced yet, they will need replacing soon though. Oh and there is nothing wrong with frames its just a few of the DG units have blown.

 

You have obviously staggered home from a local pub at the new closing time full of ale and desperate for a row which you wont get here my friend.

 

So as I said scuttle off and read up on why some  countries have rejected names with colonial connotations.

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12 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

You have obviously staggered home from a local pub at the new closing time full of ale and desperate for a row which you wont get here my friend.

? No, I had spent the day staining 46 year old bargeboards and facias. That is my excuse for being in a bad mood.

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55 minutes ago, PhilR said:

? No, I had spent the day staining 46 year old bargeboards and facias. That is my excuse for being in a bad mood.

Do what we did on our 26 year old house - replace them with maintenance-free UPVC. Also, like other posters, we have replaced our windows, doors front and back, kitchen, bathroom x 2.5, boiler, several rads, and lounge gas fire. And spent thousands on decorating, fancy floors etc. 

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3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Do what we did on our 26 year old house - replace them with maintenance-free UPVC. Also, like other posters, we have replaced our windows, doors front and back, kitchen, bathroom x 2.5, boiler, several rads, and lounge gas fire. And spent thousands on decorating, fancy floors etc. 

I've just checked our lottery ticket. Sadly, it looks like I will be painting/staining for a few more years ... and keeping the 45 year old boiler.   

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