Best buys

[LadyG]

What are your the best boating buys, 1) under a fiver

2) under £50

3) under £500

Answers on a postcard please...

1) Battery operated fly swat £2.99

2) North Face waterproof jacket from charity shop £10

3) A modern single mattress constructed with ventilated base A single means i can rotate it in the confines of the boat and It is very comfortable. Mattressesonline (Skipton Bed and Sofa Coy) £300, the guys removed my old double fitted the new one, costs included delivery and disposal, all drama free.

 

Apologies for puting this in build blogs, i suppose it should be in general boating, but its not boat specific either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2 by LadyG

[Hudds Lad]

1) Tough one, not much under a fiver these days. Perhaps the offcut of 9mm ply i made a new two-tier cutlery drawer divider from?

2) Long handled tent peg puller, no more wet knees or kneeling in ant nests/dog eggs when sorting chains out - £7.20. And the balance on beer  

3) Hampton sofa bed from Sofa Bed Barn, but it was just over £500

[LadyG]

4 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

I use my short boathook to capture the chain rings, perfect for that job

[Hudds Lad]

1 minute ago, LadyG said:

I use my short boathook to capture the chain rings, perfect for that job

I'd also add the reacher grabber stick thing that J bought for under £15 i think. It's been used to grab various things out of the cut, including my hat that blew off on a windy corner, J's croc that she managed to kick off whilst trying to get ants off her foot, and a walking pole a nice lady had dropped in.

We seem to have trouble with ants, no idea what we've done to them to provoke this level of revenge??

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

My Narrowboat, bought off Ebay just after lockdown, £4.99 collection only, no returns. I didn’t even have a Survey great boating buy👍👍 

 Mind you I’ve had to spend £60K of Mum&Dads money on it over the last two years on full Overplating, engine rebuild, 2x 100w Solar set up, complete internal repaint with high quality White paint and artificial plastic grass on roof/deck.
 Great deal at £4.99 as I’ve put it up for sale at £100K with “Continuous Moored” mooring in Central London, Facebook me at  “@NewbieLondonKid@Mum@Dad.Com”

for a bargain and new way of life👍👍👍👍

[DShK]

1) Bottle of white spirit. Great for drying the skin on my hands out.

2) Head Torch, invaluable on the towpath at night, makes tunnels less spooky, and great for doing work in dark nooks and crannies.

3) Counter top dishwasher. Doesn't use too much power, doesn't need to be plumbed in. Biggest QoL improvement I made on my boat beyond upgrading the power system!

Edited May 2 by DShK

[TheBiscuits]

2 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

We seem to have trouble with ants, no idea what we've done to them to provoke this level of revenge??

 

Last time I had that trouble I'd knocked a mooring pin through their nest so they all came swarming up the mooring line.

 

Took ages to get rid of them.

 

It was lot less dramatic than when I did exactly the same thing to a wasp nest though!

 

"Run away! Run away!"

[Hudds Lad]

30 minutes ago, DShK said:

3) Counter top dishwasher. Doesn't use too much power, doesn't need to be plumbed in. Biggest QoL improvement I made on my boat beyond upgrading the power system!

We are very limited on counter space so no room, keep trying to persuade she who holds the purse strings that we should remove the washing machine and replace with a dishwasher. She agrees to the removal, but wants a cupboard instead   

3 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Last time I had that trouble I'd knocked a mooring pin through their nest so they all came swarming up the mooring line.

 

Took ages to get rid of them.

 

It was lot less dramatic than when I did exactly the same thing to a wasp nest though!

 

"Run away! Run away!"

 Started knocking a pin into the bank once, by the second hit i realised there were more wasps than there should be, luckily grabbed pin and hammer away before they swarmed out. Explained why nobody was moored in that particular lovely spot.

 

Also managed to moor up with the hatch on the towpath side on a lovely sunny day, hatch wide open to let air in, turned out to be flying ant day and guess what we were right next to  

[DShK]

20 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

We are very limited on counter space so no room, keep trying to persuade she who holds the purse strings that we should remove the washing machine and replace with a dishwasher. She agrees to the removal, but wants a cupboard instead   

Agree to the cupboard, then store the dishwasher in it 😉 Compromise!

[Hudds Lad]

8 minutes ago, DShK said:

Agree to the cupboard, then store the dishwasher in it 😉 Compromise!

Oooooo, sneaky, i like it  

[MrsM]

I have a phobia about ants since childhood. Returned home very thirsty after a long trip one hot summer and took a swig from an open coke can, which I presumed was full as it was heavy. It was in fact full of ants which had invaded our kitchen. Ended up with a mouth and face full of angry, coke-flavoured ants - felt some crawling down my throat. V traumatic.

1) Kids' bouncy inflatable ball x 2 - hung in nets between bank and boat when we were in very anty places. Combined with mooring chains dusted with any powder this seemed to keep the boat ant free.

2) Shears for trimming undergrowth when we were in anty places.

3) Ship-shape bedding dry mat anti-condensation mattress underlay. Kept our new mattress good as new. 

[andyberg]

 

Posted 8 hours ago (edited)

What are your the best boating buys?
 

1) under a fiver…. 4 x 565ml Carlsberg Extra

2) under £50…..10 x 4 x 565ml Carlsberg Extra

3) under £500…Pallet of 4 x 565 Carlsberg Extra

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

1 hour ago, andyberg said:

 

 

Posted 8 hours ago (edited)

What are your the best boating buys?
 

1) under a fiver…. 4 x 565ml Carlsberg Extra

2) under £50…..10 x 4 x 565ml Carlsberg Extra

3) under £500…Pallet of 4 x 565 Carlsberg Extra

I take it, it was somewhere between drinking “best buy” 2&3, you thought it would be a good idea to buy a new bespoke Narrowboat🍻🍻😂

[BilgePump]

Under a fiver? Probably a bottle of meths. Get to cook warm food and clear up Sikaflex mess with it. And in-keeping with a previous post, you can always have a swig of it when out of beer.

Under fifty quid? First things to mind are a decent Seagull outboard for dead on fifty, or an Aldi inflatable canoe with paddle (£40) plus 12v pump (£5) and foot pump (£3.50) equals less than fifty.

Under £500? A 20' yacht in good nick with excellent sails and a great 8hp Yamaha engine. eBay auction for £497, although that was over ten years ago; often wish I'd not got rid of that boat.

[robtheplod]

1) under a fiver

one of those floaty keyring thingys.

 

2) under £50

extra usb sockets dotted about the boat

 

3) under £500

Victron SmartShunt - changed my life....!