tjg1677

PS thanks for the heads up re george at Ludham bridge, I think I may just give him a try. trev

hello everyone, apologies first, I had typed out a reply yesterday and for some reason it has not posted. Thanks for all the input. |I appreciate the no pulpit rail school of thought but the lowliner is just downright dangerous without one, largely due to the steep rake of the front cabin windows, thus not giving anywhere to hang on to because the distance is too great from the bow when stood right forward by the mudweight. It is also to fall through the front cabin windows should one stumble or trip, the rake may give the boat nice lines but is a totally unthought out shambles when it comes to safety. I do have the recessed grab rails, which frankly are a total design cock up as the recesses fill up with water when it rains and there are no drains - just like the lifebouy moulding aft, it is just a very expensive bird bath, but I digress. I am now thinking along the lines of a horizontal orientated rail that runs from either side of the fwd cabin tops and forms a bow like arrangement extending out parallel to the deck by about 18 inches, at least it will give something to hold on to and the mountings can be bolted through the existing recessed rail thus avoiding drilling through the cabin roof. Am even considering fitting a grab line between the same points, will have a similar effect but will look a bit of a dog though. call this work in progress...lol thanks again all trev

on my narrowboat I actually did the setup that LR suggests. I got a cheap beko fridge from comet ( think it was about 90 quid ) and ran it off an inverter via my domestic bank of batteries ( 3 x 100 ah ) it worked perfectly. If you also couple in a 100w solar panel, you are laughing all the way to a nice cold tin of beer - bliss !! trev

Hello to all you good people out there. Need some help please. A pulpit rail is on the must have list prior to next season, as my boat affords little in the way of anything to grab hold of When forrard working ropes , mudweight etc. Q1.who is are the best people to approach for this sort of thing. Q2. Highly unlikely this i know but does anyone know of a second hand one that would fit an alpha lowliner 42? Lastly, having never needed to do this before ( on a narrowboat everything is steel so i just made my own ) would anybody like to hazard an educated guess as to cost. Many thanks in advance Trev

Yes, definitely vodaphone, the others tend to be very hit and miss that i have tried, although not tried O2. Trev

Are you thinking of using this to remotely monitor the boat Richard? If so, please please do tell us how you get on with it. Thanks Trev

A great idea is that.....

Hello all, Went down last weekend to winterise giddy kipper and just in time too, the temp on fri night in horning briefly droppe,d to minus one and the quay heading be came very icy. This is what i did in the end: Two x forty watt thermostatic tube heaters fwd and aft in the engine room. For info calculated that on full 24 hour cycle they will cost about 12 quid per month to run. Calorifier and water pump also in engine room, so hopefully protected too. Water system drained down, shower trays and pumps flushed through with antifreeze , ditto the jabsco toilets, all bedding and cushions sealed in vacuum bags, engine oil changed, all doors left open, all cupboards and drawers left open, all hopper windows left on night latch allowing ventilation and a crystal type de humidifier left in every cabin, the galley and two in the saloon. Am hoping that does the trick and that we get a very early spring or at least have a mild winter to get some post Christmas boating in. Thanks again to everyone for their advice and input, much appreciated. Trev

Hello ginbottle and a belated but very warm welcome. I used my pension pot to buy my boat so i know what you mean. I have only been a member here a few months and yet to have the privilege of meeting the others but they are a fantastic bunch, very friendly and helpful with just a twist of humour thrown in. Trev

Forum band, now i really like that idea very much, how many players can we rustle up?

Just bought one of them off e bay, it is brilliant, has 2 heat settings of 750 and 1500 watts and oscilates too, highly recommend one! It was only 23 quid Trev

Now that is cool and shows imagination. I wonder if my 75kg force BT would do that.....errrrmmmm perhaps not lol.

you are most welcome sir trev

Check this out, argos, eighty watts and thermostatic....thirty quid. http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3956625

Bu**er, thanks for pointing that one out griff, I had a sneaky feeling there was a flaw in there somewhere...............

That is beautiful. There was an old saying in the merchant Navy: mackerel skies and mares tails, makes a sailor shorten sails. Meaning that a storm was moving in, usually this was true as well at sea.

the answer is simple, put a lock in, it worked for the canals over 200 years ago, given modern technology and techniques it would be a piece of pi........sorry easy to do! All you would need is a prefabricated concrete caisson sunk into place just like they are doing on the thameslink project to keep the stations from flooding, extend 45 feet either side of the bridge, a set of gates at each end and a decent pump - viola!! done!

Thanks everyone for their advice and input on this. It seems that different people do it different ways - hence my confusion. I rather like the idea of a tubular heater or two however I have been told that a lot of boats at Ferry Marina have them and as they are all set to roughly the same temperature, they all tend to cut in together and cause an overload on the local grid and tripping the power supply completely, now whether this is locally at the posts or at the FM consumer unit I dont know but there is always that risk of no power and a sub zero night. So looks like I am back to doing it the old fashioned way by manually protecting everything according the excellent advice received. Shame really as I really wanted to use her over the winter. Thanks again all, much appreciated Trev

And i thought it was just the canals where the friendly rivalry took place between the tupperwares and rustbuckets. In a wide lock if a narrowboat had a grp boat alongside, the grp one was referred to as a fender all good light hearted joshing. I , as many will know have a marmite boat, in my opinion it is a combination of the best of both worlds, personally i wanted a bathtub when looking to purchase but settled fot the one i got coz it has a flybridge, darned difficult getting up there but great once esconsed., all good stuff but i do still miss the front door of a bathtub.. and finally, the original point of this thread, hear hear griff, that is recognition long overdue, one of robins reviews saved me a lot of time and money, so good on yer robin, keep em coming and i will gladly buy you a drink when we eventually meet and you would be welcome to crew onboard GK anytime. mate Trev.

Hello everyone, Got a question to ask, it is my first season of NB boat ownership and if have read much conflicting advice regarding prepping the boat for winter. Amongst some of the many items I have seen the following: Fill raw water system with anti freeze Ditto shower trays and drain pumps Ditto toilets Drain calorifier Drain fresh water system........... the list goes on. I am hoping to get some use out of GK over the winter months and would love to hear what you all do to your boats please. Thanks in advance Trev

Congrats from me too, also to griff and his good lady.

Paid

one here as well please Trev

Did you try to get the genie out, judging by the size of it, the genie would be a big bu+++r and could grant you some big wishes .

Couldn't agree more with most of what has been said here. When I bought and insured my boat I checked that my insurance covered me for night cruising, apparently there are some that don't, so it is definitely worth checking your policies. I was moored up at Potter last saturday, it was blowing a gale and made for very interesting nay scary viewing. A hire boat came past about 8pm with all cabin lights on and at some speed, weaving all over the place. They shot past me ( I was moored just downriver of the ladder by the pilot station ), I then heard lots of engine revving, evidently the skipper had seen a large intermittent contact on his night vision, commonly known as PH bridge. I didnt get out in time to see what happened but after much shouting and engine noise, it shot back past in the opposite direction. Don't know who it was other than it was a bathtub and am assuming it was hire as there were no navlights evident. It does provoke the thought - what could have happened given the fact it was pitch black and pretty darned windy, makes you shudder !! trev