The Cat's Corner

[TheShipsCat]

34 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Your best bet might be to ask Debdale, or wherever you end up, if you can dispose of it in their bins.

Indeed.  Since I'm set up to pay them an eye watering amount for works and moorings, they might be willing to do me that bit of friendly.

 

More than half of the stuff is way beyond useful (I forced open one tin of ancient red primer, finding a pool of yellowed solvent surrounding a chunk of metamorphic rock).  As for history, photographs will do.  There's three useful tins apparently from the last repaint, and a blue anti-rust stuff that I filled a jar with  for touching up the cabin penetrations I'm planning. I'll keep the likely good stuff.  Just not the old n' ugly to become somebody else's problem.

Edited August 8 by TheShipsCat

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, TheShipsCat said:

As for history, photographs will do. 

 

Provided...

1) You don't forget you've taken them, and

2) You can still find them amongst the 85,000 other photos you know you have in your phone.

 

 

 

[TheShipsCat]

Has anybody used these Index Marine SE7 cable glands I got from Bumble Solar?

A bit contradictory.  Company states no drilling required, but there are three attachment screw holes.  It comes with a gasket, which would only work if the thing were screwed down.  I've a sense that a typical installation would be to bin the gasket and attach with a Sika-oid sealant, no screws, but anybody else?

[LadyG]

The company will advise. Is it Bimble Solar, perchance?

[TheShipsCat]

6 minutes ago, LadyG said:

The company will advise. Is it Bimble Solar, perchance?

Yes, converted to Bumble by my fone. 😠

[MtB]

28 minutes ago, TheShipsCat said:

Has anybody used these Index Marine SE7 cable glands I got from Bumble Solar?

A bit contradictory.  Company states no drilling required, but there are three attachment screw holes.  It comes with a gasket, which would only work if the thing were screwed down.  I've a sense that a typical installation would be to bin the gasket and attach with a Sika-oid sealant, no screws, but anybody else?

 

At a tangent and no help, but I find Bimble play fast and loose with their descriptions. 

 

I bought a solar panel from them six or seven years ago described as having 1m long leads attached. The panel I received had no leads on it so I moaned about it and they basically said tough, that's how they come now. No leads. After a bit more moaning they promised to amend the listing to say comes with connection box but no flyleads.

 

Fast forward three years, and I order the same panel again. Listing still says comes with fly leads. Guess what.....

 

 

 

[Jen-in-Wellies]

17 minutes ago, TheShipsCat said:

Yes, converted to Bumble by my fone. 😠

You need to set your spill chucker to British English!

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bimble

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, TheShipsCat said:

Has anybody used these Index Marine SE7 cable glands I got from Bumble Solar?

A bit contradictory.  Company states no drilling required, but there are three attachment screw holes.  It comes with a gasket, which would only work if the thing were screwed down.  I've a sense that a typical installation would be to bin the gasket and attach with a Sika-oid sealant, no screws, but anybody else?

Surely the whole point of this thing is to fit it where the cable passes from outside to inside the boat, in which case you are drilling a hole in the roof for the cable anyway. So why worry about extra holes for the fixing screws?

[MPR]

14 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

If you are sure none can be useful for touching scratches or the like on your paintwork I don’t see a problem on disposing in general rubbish bib. can’t see the cans would do well in the recycling bins.
 

 

I thought that oil based paints were classed as hazardous waste and should be disposed of accordingly.

[Stroudwater1]

1 minute ago, MPR said:

I thought that oil based paints were classed as hazardous waste and should be disposed of accordingly.

Hazadous? It’s probably white sprit based, and sounds like most of the sprit has flown.

 

Opinion will vary, but I cant see a problem with a couple of old cans in the bin. Perhaps as it’s going into an incinerator and not landfill it may burn quite well. Then being in tin cans it may be magnet fished out for recycling anyway . 

[LadyG]

29 minutes ago, MPR said:

I thought that oil based paints were classed as hazardous waste and should be disposed of accordingly.

Well , i think this refers to large volumes of new stuff, if its old, and solid, it wont explode or go on fire.

[Hudds Lad]

53 minutes ago, MPR said:

I thought that oil based paints were classed as hazardous waste and should be disposed of accordingly.

When i've taken old tins to our LA Waste Recycling, they ask if they are empty. If empty it's metal recycling skip, any paint in 'em and it's general waste skip.

Other LA's may of course vary.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, MPR said:

I thought that oil based paints were classed as hazardous waste and should be disposed of accordingly.

Our local council recycling centre wont take them but Gt Yarmouth would, I say would as I was clearing my late fathers garage out.
A cut and paste

 

In Suffolk, completely empty and dry metal paint tins can be recycled in the scrap metal skips at local recycling centres. Liquid paint is not accepted; small amounts of leftover water-based paint must be dried out using sand, sawdust, or cat litter, then placed in your household black bin, while usable paint can be donated locally.

[Rob-M]

Our recycling centre has a dedicated area for old paint tins that still contain paint.

[cuthound]

3 hours ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Hazadous? It’s probably white sprit based, and sounds like most of the sprit has flown.

 

Opinion will vary, but I cant see a problem with a couple of old cans in the bin. Perhaps as it’s going into an incinerator and not landfill it may burn quite well. Then being in tin cans it may be magnet fished out for recycling anyway . 

 

My recycling centre advises filling part used paint tins with sand or earth to absorb the surplus paint before disposing in the "unrecyclable" skip.

Edited August 8 by cuthound
To remove a full stop masquerading as a space.

[TheShipsCat]

Any convivial pubs to suggest in Rugby?

[TheShipsCat]

I'm considering casting about for occasional crew.  I've proved to myself that I'm a passible single hander, but that doesn't mean I want to be doing it all the time.  And I like meeting new people, usually.

 

I note that the Crew Swap thread hasn't been posted to since 2010.  Is there a reason for that?

[Lily Rose]

8 hours ago, TheShipsCat said:

I note that the Crew Swap thread hasn't been posted to since 2010.  Is there a reason for that?

Are you looking in the right place?

 

It’s certainly quiet but not that quiet. 
 

The top two topics are from earlier this year with one last posted to in July.

[TheShipsCat]

Does anybody know Coventry well?  I'm looking for wall decorations for my boat, preferably handmade.  Fiber art, sculpture, watercolors, what have you. Are there any craft markets or such here?  Seems like the kind of place.

On 12/08/2026 at 18:54, Lily Rose said:

Are you looking in the right place?

 

It’s certainly quiet but not that quiet. 
 

The top two topics are from earlier this year with one last posted to in July.

Indeed, I must have been looking at it wrongly.

Thanks, posted now.

[TheShipsCat]

And the next new plan: Make for a mooring before Watford bottom lock arriving Thursday Aug 27th.  Hope the flights to the summit last until the projected end of the month.  Basically spend most of September in Market Harborough so I can lay up in Debdale Wharf through the winter.

 

All of this assuming I can get out of Coventry, which I assume is getting shallower by the day.  Tough call.  I like it here.

[MtB]

4 hours ago, TheShipsCat said:

And the next new plan: Make for a mooring before Watford bottom lock arriving Thursday Aug 27th.  Hope the flights to the summit last until the projected end of the month.  Basically spend most of September in Market Harborough so I can lay up in Debdale Wharf through the winter.

 

All of this assuming I can get out of Coventry, which I assume is getting shallower by the day.  Tough call.  I like it here.

 

Thinking laterally, can you just stay there and go back home on your planned date, and get a professional boat mover to take the boat to Debdale once we get some rain? Or something along those lines?

 

 

[TheShipsCat]

33 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Thinking laterally, can you just stay there and go back home on your planned date, and get a professional boat mover to take the boat to Debdale once we get some rain? Or something along those lines?

 

 

That would be plan D.  Plans B and C also involve having someone else move my boat, but from locations closer to Debdale (Braunston or Welton or whatnot) , with lower cost.  D only happens if I get stuck here in Coventry.

 

Ultimately, I want to get to Debdale to personally winterize and secure my boat before she goes on hard standing if at all possible.  I've also got a series of works queued up that I'd like to not reschedule.  Market Harborough shouldn't be a bad place to hang out and work on the boat.  If I want to go elsewhere there's rail.

     

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, TheShipsCat said:

That would be plan D.  Plans B and C also involve having someone else move my boat, but from locations closer to Debdale (Braunston or Welton or whatnot) , with lower cost.  D only happens if I get stuck here in Coventry.

 

Ultimately, I want to get to Debdale to personally winterize and secure my boat before she goes on hard standing if at all possible.  I've also got a series of works queued up that I'd like to not reschedule.  Market Harborough shouldn't be a bad place to hang out and work on the boat.  If I want to go elsewhere there's rail.

     

 

I have to say, planned trips rarely work out as planned in my personal experience, and this trip is an excellent example! 

 

The canal system can generally spot a time-sensitive trip at a thousand paces and will do everything in its power mess with it, and with you.

 

Bear this in mind....

 

 

[TheShipsCat]

24 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I have to say, planned trips rarely work out as planned in my personal experience, and this trip is an excellent example! 

 

The canal system can generally spot a time-sensitive trip at a thousand paces and will do everything in its power mess with it, and with you.

 

Bear this in mind....

 

 

Much on my mind!  And just because I have a chain of three fallbacks doesn't mean that something else entirely will not happen.

 

I knew from the beginning that any plan is worth beans.  But hey, no plan at all means nothing happens.  Getting works done requires planning.  Just takes some letting go when reality strikes.

[MtB]

14 minutes ago, TheShipsCat said:

Much on my mind!  And just because I have a chain of three fallbacks doesn't mean that something else entirely will not happen.

 

I knew from the beginning that any plan is worth beans.  But hey, no plan at all means nothing happens.  Getting works done requires planning.  Just takes some letting go when reality strikes.

 

Doesn't it just! 

 

Once work is booked, just take the boat there and moor around the corner while you wait the six months. 

 

You know it makes sense!