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I'm gonna be sinking soon.

rusty69
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pete harrison Veteran

pete harrison

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, David Mack said:

If this is the counter plate you could remove enough ballast from the back of the boat so that the counter is just above water level. That way no water will come in while the boat is static. It will soon pull down when you are under way, so it shouldn't draw in air while you are moving.

This would also be my suggestion as I have always set my motor's with the counter an inch or two out of the water.

When we cleared out the remaining day boats from Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd., Coombeswood several of their boats were kept afloat using a piece of rubber sandwiched between a nut, bolt and a pair of washers - and several of Alfred Matty and Sons Ltd. day boats were the same when they were cleared out in 1982. I have since used this method of temporary repair numerous times, and even loaded several times with this repair in place.

Holes in boats are not a big deal providing you can get at them :captain: 

Edited by pete harrison
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Neil2 Veteran

Neil2

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6 hours ago, pete harrison said:

This would also be my suggestion as I have always set my motor's with the counter an inch or two out of the water.

When we cleared out the remaining day boats from Stewarts and Lloyds Ltd., Coombeswood several of their boats were kept afloat using a piece of rubber sandwiched between a nut, bolt and a pair of washers - and several of Alfred Matty and Sons Ltd. day boats were the same when they were cleared out in 1982. I have since used this method of temporary repair numerous times, and even loaded several times with this repair in place.

Holes in boats are not a big deal providing you can get at them :captain: 

And on a typical narrowboat the place most likely to be perforated is the least accessible ie the baseplate.

Whether this is a case of severe pitting or not, if I had an old boat say 25-30 years or older and especially if the baseplate was 6mm I'd get it grit blasted which is the only way you will ever know exactly what is going on.   

People have such confidence in steel thickness tests which are of little real value except to give the owner of an old boat a false sense of security.

And no surveyor examining a boat covered in layers of blacking  is ever going to give it boat a completely unqualified clean bill of health.  Scraping a way a tiny percentage of the hull to bare metal will tell you very little though it might produce a few warning signs.   

When I had our boat hull blasted the guys who did it told a story about the owner who booked his boat in for grit blasting with every confidence nothing could go wrong as the boat had been regularly blacked.  I'm told that in truth there was very little holding the thing together and the poor guy ended up with a write off (though I believe someone did eventually take it on and successfully restored it).   It's a horror story but illustrates the length to which steel boats can deteriorate without actually sinking. Having said that I have heard several accounts now of boats on marinas ending up on the bottom as a result of hull perforation.  

In the context of long term boat ownership the cost of grit blasting a hull isn't that great and I'm astonished at the number of owners I meet who have spent many thousands on a back to metal cabin repaint without even considering doing the same to the part actually immersed in water.  And usually because a surveyor had assured them the hull was sound.   

 

 

 

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rusty69 Veteran II

rusty69

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39 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

In the context of long term boat ownership the cost of grit blasting a hull isn't that great and I'm astonished at the number of owners I meet who have spent many thousands on a back to metal cabin repaint without even considering doing the same to the part actually immersed in water.  And usually because a surveyor had assured them the hull was sound.   

In our case, I suppose there may be little point having it grit blasted, as the surveyor may condemn it before that.The question is ,if he doesn't, do you then go to the expense of having it done? Can you remember how much it cost you,and what size boat?

Thanks

 

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koukouvagia Influencer

koukouvagiaDonate to Canal World

Posted
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54 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

People have such confidence in steel thickness tests which are of little real value except to give the owner of an old boat a false sense of security.

And no surveyor examining a boat covered in layers of blacking  is ever going to give it boat a completely unqualified clean bill of health.  Scraping a way a tiny percentage of the hull to bare metal will tell you very little though it might produce a few warning signs.   

 

Couldn't agree more.  See post #50

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Neil2 Veteran

Neil2

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6 hours ago, rusty69 said:

In our case, I suppose there may be little point having it grit blasted, as the surveyor may condemn it before that.The question is ,if he doesn't, do you then go to the expense of having it done? Can you remember how much it cost you,and what size boat?

Thanks

 

If the surveyor identifies areas of concern he would probably advise grit blasting to reveal the true extent of the deterioration so you're back to square one.  If it's really bad ie there are clear areas of perforation or near perforation he'll probably advise you to have the entire hull or the base overplated when it might just need patching or spot welding/filling.   In that event it's a tough call but I'd say if any part of the hull is perforated or pitted down to 2mm thickness or less you might as well assume overplating/replating is necessary.  Grit blasting is about £25 a square metre I think, but you have to add on the costs of lifting and preparation and of course whatever the outcome you are committed to more expense even if it's just reblacking.       

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rusty69 Veteran II

rusty69

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1 hour ago, Neil2 said:

If the surveyor identifies areas of concern he would probably advise grit blasting to reveal the true extent of the deterioration so you're back to square one.  If it's really bad ie there are clear areas of perforation or near perforation he'll probably advise you to have the entire hull or the base overplated when it might just need patching or spot welding/filling.   In that event it's a tough call but I'd say if any part of the hull is perforated or pitted down to 2mm thickness or less you might as well assume overplating/replating is necessary.  Grit blasting is about £25 a square metre I think, but you have to add on the costs of lifting and preparation and of course whatever the outcome you are committed to more expense even if it's just reblacking.       

Hes a good surveyor, so hopefully will advise us accordingly. We will go from there. 

The worse bit is that after the initial panic, The area has remained dry. 

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rusty69 Veteran II

rusty69

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26 minutes ago, cereal tiller said:

It was caused by the Antipodean Cat!

If it was him, i'll grab im by the antipodes, and swing im round my head. 

Edited by rusty69
For all you serious cat owners, this is meant in jest
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zenataomm Veteran

zenataommDonate to Canal World

Posted
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22 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Can i come and swing my cat on your cat? 

Don't you mean swing your boat on their boat?

I went down to the local office of RSPCA last week, honestly you couldn't swing a cat.

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MtB Veteran II

MtBDonate to Canal World

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On 08/07/2017 at 21:33, zenataomm said:

Don't you mean swing your boat on their boat?

I went down to the local office of RSPCA last week, honestly you couldn't swing a cat.

 

Alan has one of them catermerangue boats I believe, hence the comment.

Jokes never really work when someone has to explain them!

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