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If all you want is a extra thiness of wood for insulation, why dont you simply screw 2/3 thin batterns to the hollow sections, and cut out all the time/effort making curved laminated batterns?

- You could even stick a bit of glue between then, and then screw them up. (even using a cordless electric drill for speed...)

Daniel

or just cut a 2" wide strip of ply and screw that to the steel frames, like Liverpool Boats.

 

.............. Daniel, we should have learnt by now that John likes to do everything the traditional craftsman boaty way, like machining up bits of brass to make things that you can buy at the chandlers for a few quid. OK for those with full workshops and tools, and lots of time on their hands, but we are busy guys, eh? .....

 

Interesting concept actually. For me time is at a premium, because I am home for only 10 days every 2 months, and I also have to spend some value time with the missis. But working abroad, 12/7, I have a comfortable disposable income. So I tend to go for time-efficient solutions. For example I buy flat-pack kitchen units that I easily modify to provide for all the cupboards and other fixed furniture. ............... but then I go and spoil it all by fixing everything with cadmium plated screws............. I can feel a song coming on. :)

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One recent morning I was woken up to a splash of freezing water falling from the ceiling onto the bed about 6 inches from my head! Condensation had frozen overnight in the mushroom vent above, and then thawed in the morning sun. I took off the brass cap of each vent and sprayed about half an inch of sprayfoam insulation into the top of eash mushroom vent. You can buy the stuff in cans for about £6. It works well. Avoid the sides of the vent cap - you don't need it here as any condensation should run down and out onto the roof, and also when you screw it back on you might shut off your "non-closable" vent. If you do put too much in you can always chop some out after it's fully cured. Make sure you can still see daylight from underneath and be carefull not to screw the caps down too low restricting airflow.

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One recent morning I was woken up to a splash of freezing water falling from the ceiling onto the bed about 6 inches from my head! Condensation had frozen overnight in the mushroom vent above, and then thawed in the morning sun. I took off the brass cap of each vent and sprayed about half an inch of sprayfoam insulation into the top of eash mushroom vent. You can buy the stuff in cans for about £6. It works well. Avoid the sides of the vent cap - you don't need it here as any condensation should run down and out onto the roof, and also when you screw it back on you might shut off your "non-closable" vent. If you do put too much in you can always chop some out after it's fully cured. Make sure you can still see daylight from underneath and be carefull not to screw the caps down too low restricting airflow.

 

 

It is not a good idea to be recommending this sort of thing. It is not really sufficient to have your vents 'non-closable', strictly speaking they should be fixed fully open, the ventilation calculations are based on that. Not enough that you can still see daylight through them, just think carefully before you do this sort of thing.

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Well I've never seen a fixed mushroom vent, they are all adjustable.

 

they are MEANT to be... I seem to have some on my boat... I look at the floor as I walk past and will rectify the situation when they get to the top of my to do list...

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they are MEANT to be... I seem to have some on my boat... I look at the floor as I walk past and will rectify the situation when they get to the top of my to do list...

 

 

When the safety scheme was introduced all ventilators were required to be fixed fully open, in the case of mushroom vents a locknut had to be fitted to the adjustment thread and locked solidly, the safety inspector would make checks on these items.

 

In recent years many of these regulations have been relaxed and made 'advisory'. We are now presumably to make our own judgements on safety.

Edited by John Orentas
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The recomendations in the boat safety scheme guide issued by BW and the EA gives a British Standard formula (5482-3) for calculating the size of ventilation apertures. Although it is recommended that ventilators are fixed open, the term "open" is not defined. Since all roof vents must have some sort of cover, its height abouve the actual aperture is open to interpretation. Other types of roof vent systems give much less direct open air access than do mushroom vents (even when caps are fully lowered). Some vents even have fans inside, which as far as i can make out are not considered obsturctions, so as far as I am concerned a little bit of foam inside a mushroom vent cap is not breaching the recommendations as long as the cap is fixed high enough to allow to free air flow.

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  • 5 weeks later...

If you are fitting out and can find a small space, why not fit one of those small safe's onboard. Ideal for locking valuables away when leaving the boat in an unknown area, whilst they are probably not true criminal proof they will protect your wallet from opportunists.

You can get one these days for less than £20 (like you get in a hotel room) and you can build it into the wardrobe or under the bed.

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If you are fitting out and can find a small space, why not fit one of those small safe's onboard. Ideal for locking valuables away when leaving the boat in an unknown area, whilst they are probably not true criminal proof they will protect your wallet from opportunists.

You can get one these days for less than £20 (like you get in a hotel room) and you can build it into the wardrobe or under the bed.

or weld in a strong box to the base plate.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Blackrose,

when my BSS examiner went through his report, he pointed out that, 'because of the fan in the bathroom mushroom vent' it did not have the same 'ventilation' value as the other vents.

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Blackrose,

when my BSS examiner went through his report, he pointed out that, 'because of the fan in the bathroom mushroom vent' it did not have the same 'ventilation' value as the other vents.

I had that problem a few years ago. Two of my vents have fans inside - the bathroom one has a 12 volt fan that comes on with the light, and the bedroom one is solar-powered with a rechargeable battery and never ever stops. The examiner refused to concede that either of these could contribute ANYTHING to the ventilation and told me to make some more holes in the roof. I found it was easier and cheaper to find another examiner.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had that problem a few years ago. Two of my vents have fans inside - the bathroom one has a 12 volt fan that comes on with the light, and the bedroom one is solar-powered with a rechargeable battery and never ever stops. The examiner refused to concede that either of these could contribute ANYTHING to the ventilation and told me to make some more holes in the roof. I found it was easier and cheaper to find another examiner.

 

I've just double-checked version 2 of the regs. Ventilation remains advisory.

 

So your examiner could NOT refuse you a certification because of the ventilation.

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I've just double-checked version 2 of the regs. Ventilation remains advisory.

 

So your examiner could NOT refuse you a certification because of the ventilation.

Not now, he couldn't. But at that time it was mandatory.

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"Has anyone seen low votage units yet, the led's do run on low voltage d/c so a 12 volt fitting is relatively easy to produce."

 

John Squeers

 

http://www.selectronic.fr/ have tricolour navigation lights (white all round in a red, green, white sectored housing for the top of sailing yachts masts ) as well as fore and aft navigation and interior cabin lamps, made of sets of LED's. The tricolour appeared on the market a few years ago at around 250 quid (350 euros) and selectronic sell them, postal, for about thirty five quid (45 euros).

I use two cabin lamps when under way which each contain four LED's, they use 0.005 amps (5 milliamps) per unit and do not flicker like flourescent tubes. They are a funny cold blue but intense enough for reading. They were 25 quid each (35 euros) but that was four years ago and LED 12 volt lighting is everywhere now, in cars,, cycle lamps, torches, etc. People (shopkeepers) don't realise the price is plunging and availability is spreading widely, so they still try to sell old stock at extortionate prices - an LED torch, with an array of twenty, so nice and bright, with rechargeable battery, but a price of 110 quid (150 euros). I am sure I heard RS Electronics, or Maplin were selling 12 Volt LED's.. If so, then string 'em around everything, they use little power and last ten or twenty years.

Me, I love 'em.

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If I'm going to live on board I want some boaty character along with most of the mod cons.

 

I'm some boaty character, wanna hire me? I tell tales of running aground in crocodile infested waters and play a really bad saxophone, no, not BAD as in GOOD, I mean really bad. :lol:

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I'm some boaty character, wanna hire me? I tell tales of running aground in crocodile infested waters and play a really bad saxophone, no, not BAD as in GOOD, I mean really bad. :lol:

cheeky .................... send us your CV (with a photo) B)

 

PS I'm partly deaf so the saxophone may not be an obstacle B)

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OFF TOPIC DISCUSSIONS

 

Hey chaps this section was set up with a view to it being a reference section for good ideas that people think may be worthwhile passing on to the membership. Looking back there have been lots of good postings but lately they seem to be getting drowned out by general banter.

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  • 4 weeks later...

As it croped up else where, i took some photos of our table and the saloon layout and the table it is based around.

- I think it works great, the tables wonderfull, with all the chair fitting inside it as well.

- Very addaptable for anywhere between one and 7 people. (upto 10 has been known, with some standing or sitting in the 'kitchen')

 

imgp2000ne7.jpg

 

imgp1999ph4.jpg

 

imgp2002rm3.jpg

 

 

Daniel

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  • 1 month later...

Apart from having rounded leaves that (butterfly) table is very similar to the one I have bought for 'ELEMIAH'. HOWEVER, THAT IS NOT THE REASON for this post.

 

All you red wine drinkers might like to consider this: after careful study of temperatures around the boat over the winter months my partner and I found that the area between the Squirrel chimney and front windows was ideal for raising the temp of red wine to 'room temp'. We are having a 4-bottle wine rack installed there, if you are passing (or we are) please feel free to ask for a demonstration and 'taste test'.

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  • 2 months later...

If you're fitting out, and planning the galley, and using a kitchen sink with a single drainer, assuming most boats tend to sit lower in the water at the blunt end - put it in the right way around, with the draining board towards the pointy end! 'cos for some reason, water seems to run off better downhill.

 

You can probably guess from that tip (hopefully useful to someone else who's overlooking the bleedin' obvious) that I haven't :)

 

It's all Lynn's fault of course :cheers: “I want the sink under the window”, and the draining board the other way would waste too much workspace, and I never even considered gravity.

 

Turning the sink is not an option, without ripping out the galley, switching cupboards and drawer units around and re-plumbing. Any suggestions?

 

edit: Hold the suggestions until I've checked out the local caravan suppliers, they have little plug'oles. If I can get a small caravan waste I can drill the end of the draining board and run a small diameter pipe to the unused overflow connection. Sorted :D

Edited by Moley
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If you're fitting out, and planning the galley, and using a kitchen sink with a single drainer, assuming most boats tend to sit lower in the water at the blunt end - put it in the right way around, with the draining board towards the pointy end! 'cos for some reason, water seems to run off better downhill.

 

You can probably guess from that tip (hopefully useful to someone else who's overlooking the bleedin' obvious) that I haven't :)

 

It's all Lynn's fault of course :cheers: “I want the sink under the window”, and the draining board the other way would waste too much workspace, and I never even considered gravity.

 

Turning the sink is not an option, without ripping out the galley, switching cupboards and drawer units around and re-plumbing. Any suggestions?

 

what about an adaptor: i.e. a wooden drainer that is angled towards the sink but rests on the drainer when waashing up, but has a collapsable leg so it can sit over the bowl when not?

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If you're fitting out, and planning the galley, and using a kitchen sink with a single drainer, assuming most boats tend to sit lower in the water at the blunt end - put it in the right way around, with the draining board towards the pointy end! 'cos for some reason, water seems to run off better downhill.

 

 

 

All you can do is try to pack one end up a bit and/or recess the other end down a bit, shouldn't need much. I have a similar problem the sink being against a bulkhead with the natural list of the boat the wrong way, we just live with it.

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All you red wine drinkers might like to consider this: after careful study of temperatures around the boat over the winter months my partner and I found that the area between the Squirrel chimney and front windows was ideal for raising the temp of red wine to 'room temp'. We are having a 4-bottle wine rack installed there, if you are passing (or we are) please feel free to ask for a demonstration and 'taste test'.

 

So what constitutes 'room temp'. Obviously it wouldn't apply here because it's bloody freezing in my place.

 

If you're fitting out, and planning the galley, and using a kitchen sink with a single drainer, assuming most boats tend to sit lower in the water at the blunt end - put it in the right way around, with the draining board towards the pointy end! 'cos for some reason, water seems to run off better downhill.

 

Funny you should bring that up, Moley. I had a conversation with Gary some weeks ago and raised that very point.

Edited by Maffi
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