Stupid question thread?

[Sucatraps]

Is there a ‘stupid questions asked by narrowboat-newbies’ discussion thread? I feel like I could contribute a lot of dumb questions… e.g.  How do you attach stuff to the walls of a metal tube? It’s not like you can just bang a nail in…

 

[I’m only asking because following a) being reversed into as a pedestrian in a car park and b) a car accident a few years ago I have a back issue, ironically made worse by my previous orthopaedic mattress and now I tend to only get a decent sleep where I can walk comfortably the next day if I sleep in a hammock and want to know how I might  hook it up.]

[blackrose]

You can screw things like light fittings or picture frames into the wooden lining on the inside of a narrow boat, but if you want to hang something like a hammock that needs to support significant weight you'd probably need to attach it to the steel shell itself. Maybe eye bolts welded to the inside. You'd need to remove some lining and insulation first and then reinsulate and repair the lining. 

 

Some boats might have substantial wooden lining that could take the weight with a rope around a beam, etc, without having to go back to attach the hammock to the steel, but there's a good chance you'd just rip the wood off the wall or ceiling.

[robtheplod]

There isn't a specific stupid question thread... presumably as there are lots of pitfalls.... what if a normal question is subsequently classed as stupid or visa-versa?    The answer to your question is obviously blu tac anyway!

[Tony Brooks]

^^^^^^^ this, apart from the blu tac, but then it seems modern DIY and some professional fit outs do glue the lining battens to the cabin sides.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

I've also considered a hammock. Not installed one, but I do like them. If it was me, I'd use the boat steel shell, rather than the lining, then insulate around, as @blackrose describes. I'd also insulate the eye bolt, or hook with plastic, or rubber tube. Anything to avoid a cold bridge forming to the outside. This would help prevent condensation dripping, or running off hook/eye.

[Tonka]

My boat has hammock hooks built in because the first owner was in the Royal Navy.

[Tony Brooks]

Sight change of tack re stupid questions.

 

I find a certain number of posters, often new posters, post a perfectly sensible question, and then, when asked questions to help get them a sensible answer either ignore the questions, just repeat the question in different words, or get annoyed. I am sure that they do not realise that questions, often involving faults, need diagnostic test results and they are the only ones who can provide the results of those tests. That sort of conduct turns the sensible question onto a stupid one. I think we all accept that the questioner may not understand what they are asked or need more guidance on doing the tests so hope they will come back and ask about it, but many don't.

 

 

 

 

 

[MtB]

I'd agree with Blackrose. Hammock fixings need to be seriously strong and capable of withstanding a load much more than the weight of a person due to the geometry of a hammock. So in my view they need to be either bolted or welded to the steel structure of the shell not the internal decorative wooden lining. 

 

Or buy a self-contained, free-stnding hammock and frame such as this:

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BEJOY-Hammock-Adjustable-Heavy-Duty-Outdoor/dp/B08YRQM3SS/ref=sr_1_23?

[Tonka]

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

My boat has hammock hooks built in because the first owner was in the Royal Navy.

I am not sure how they are built in. All I can see are 4 eye bolts protruding into the lounge through the lining. There were obviously bolted in after the lining was put in place so I assume there is a nut welded onto a frame or the roof. Or the frame is tapped. Have never noticed condensation drips from them. According to the plans for the boat there was supposed to be a bar to help you get into and out of the hammocks. No sign of fixings for that so don't think that got fitted

[Nightwatch]

Not experience a ‘mick’ myself, but know many that have in the past. I would say nearly all of then said the sleep in a mick is so much better than a conventional bed.

[Sucatraps]

3 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:

hope they will come back and ask about it, but many don't.

Thank you! I was recommended this forum via a YouTube video, and already I’m really impressed by the quick replies and the positive responses… I feel like I’m already being welcomed and nobody seems elitist or high and mighty/ condescending and that is a huge win for me! I will be sticking around.  I’m yet to buy my boat, but I tend to research to the nth degree anything that I am really serious about and I am almost 100% positive that I will be joining you all afloat…

[blackrose]

2 minutes ago, Sucatraps said:

... and nobody seems elitist or high and mighty/ condescending...

 

Give it time... 🤣

[robtheplod]

57 minutes ago, Sucatraps said:

Thank you! I was recommended this forum via a YouTube video, and already I’m really impressed by the quick replies and the positive responses… I feel like I’m already being welcomed and nobody seems elitist or high and mighty/ condescending and that is a huge win for me! I will be sticking around.  I’m yet to buy my boat, but I tend to research to the nth degree anything that I am really serious about and I am almost 100% positive that I will be joining you all afloat…

bugger, come on people we need to up our game!!! 

[Machpoint005]

The only stupid question is the one you don't ask when you need to know something.

 

 

Back in the days when drawings were on A0 sheets, not CAD/CAM computers, every sheet bore the legend, in capitals, IF IN DOUBT ASK.

 

 

[mrsmelly]

3 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

Not experience a ‘mick’ myself, but know many that have in the past. I would say nearly all of then said the sleep in a mick is so much better than a conventional bed.

I am surprised you didn't sleep in one during basic training? We all did as recently as 1973. There were still a couple of ships using them back then. We all in training had to sleep in them over a weekend at Pier Cellars. Iirc tho you joined as a " boy " about 1969 so therefore would have been a Ganges rating?

Edited September 4 by mrsmelly

[Jerra]

My late mate joined as a "boy sailor" somewhere around 65 and he had plenty of experience of hammocks

[Mac of Cygnet]

4 hours ago, Sucatraps said:

Thank you! I was recommended this forum via a YouTube video, and already I’m really impressed by the quick replies and the positive responses… I feel like I’m already being welcomed and nobody seems elitist or high and mighty/ condescending and that is a huge win for me! …

 

Thank you for that!  Perhaps this will serve as an antidote to the various oversensitive moaning Minnies who have recently castigated the forum because they didn't get the answers they wanted or expected or because their threads went off track.

 

Edited to add that for light things like posters or pictures I used double sided foam sticky tape - more durable than Blu-tack.

Edited September 4 by Mac of Cygnet

[Nightwatch]

6 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

I am surprised you didn't sleep in one during basic training? We all did as recently as 1973. There were still a couple of ships using them back then. We all in training had to sleep in them over a weekend at Pier Cellars. Iirc tho you joined as a " boy " about 1969 so therefore would have been a Ganges rating?

Pleased to say I was a fortnight too old for Ganges. No experience of hammocks. In my branch you weren’t allowed to ruff it. Pity really I think I could have got on with a Mick.

[Jerra]

12 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Pleased to say I was a fortnight too old for Ganges. No experience of hammocks. In my branch you weren’t allowed to ruff it. Pity really I think I could have got on with a Mick.

My mate considered hammocks better than many of the naval sleeping provision he came across later.

[MtB]

I'm dead curious now. What do naval ratings sleep in on a ship nowadays if not a mick?

 

Single bedroom suites with en-suite bathrooms? 

 

 

 

[mrsmelly]

11 minutes ago, MtB said:

I'm dead curious now. What do naval ratings sleep in on a ship nowadays if not a mick?

 

Single bedroom suites with en-suite bathrooms? 

 

 

 

Bunks, have done for years, generaly three high on Frigates I served on. 

[Nightwatch]

8 minutes ago, MtB said:

I'm dead curious now. What do naval ratings sleep in on a ship nowadays if not a mick?

 

Single bedroom suites with en-suite bathrooms? 

 

 

 

Almost Mike. On the new ‘white elephant’ so called aircraft carries the accommodation is so different nowadays to what it was not so long ago. Senior rates, Chiefs and POs are possible two to a cabin. Ratings up to six I am led to believe. I slept in a three tier bunk arrangement. The largest mess deck was some forty odd blokes. The best mess I had was just six of us. Brilliant. Don’t forget we worked seven days a week at sea.

[MtB]

1 minute ago, mrsmelly said:

Bunks, have done for years, generaly three high on Frigates I served on. 

 

Of course, i should have guessed.

 

I remember as a brat seeing the micks in HMS Victory and thinking 'how practical'...

 

1 minute ago, Nightwatch said:

The best mess I had was just six of us. Brilliant. Don’t forget we worked seven days a week at sea.

 

Eh??!!

 

You don't get to go home at weekends??!!

 

 

[peterboat]

16 minutes ago, MtB said:

I'm dead curious now. What do naval ratings sleep in on a ship nowadays if not a mick?

 

Single bedroom suites with en-suite bathrooms? 

 

 

 

Subs are I believe still red hot bunks! Last nuclear sub I went onboard was in the 90s and that was the case then.

[Nightwatch]

Sometimes. One of the ships I was on was what was called Portland Squadron. Sail Monday morning from Portsmouth. Zoom down to Portland where ships all went through Flag Officer Sea training. Fost. Or work up. Six weeks of pretending to go to war. Thursday War on…….Thursdays. Our task was to be the enemy. After the’war’ we would zoom back to Portsmouth for the weekend. Blooming awful routine. Hubby comes home and puts family life in turmoil and buggers off back to sea on Monday morning. 

6 minutes ago, peterboat said:

Subs are I believe still red hot bunks! Last nuclear sub I went onboard was in the 90s and that was the case then.

Still are. Not for me. Twelve plus weeks under the surface not knowing where you are is not natural to me. There are those that love the life though.

Edited September 4 by Nightwatch