Mowjo

Captain Dread! a bit off topic but we passed your boat a few times over the last few days at Stalham Staithe, we are moored in Broadsedge, I have to say your boat looks well looked after, perhaps some people should take a look at yours before they comment on liveaboards, if they were all like yours I think they may change their minds, I won't comment on the other one that was moored near you as they may be friends of yours, lets just say chalk and cheese, if I see you there again I'll stop and say hi, Frank,,,

Think I'll still be in the Marina lain, Next job is try and shorten the Pullpit rais, luckily the are Ali and rivited together, fill and Gelcoat the two million screw holes in the deck and roof, re-paint the coachlines on the topside, give all a good polish then it's out the water for a hull clean and give it a proper polish to get rid of the oxidization, give it a good coat of polish and do the anti-fouling, so I can't see me going anywhere before the start of June, Frank,, While I think about it! I mentioned the silicone sealant they had used everywhere, I found out how to remove it, get some no-nonsense silicone remover from Screwfix, not cheap at £3.99 for a 100 ml bottle but it goes a long way and realy does the job, just get as much silicone as you can first, paint the remover on and leave for 15 minutes, then use a plastic scraper to get the rest off, mine even came off using a bit of course rag, I've tried a few removers in the past costing a lot more with limited success, but this one did the job first time,,,

Like others! I won't donate for something I already pay for but I think these donation post are aimed more at the hirers, I moored at Wroham most weekends last season and can honestly say I didn't see one person donate anything, Dogs found them quite handy though so perhaps Dog owners should pay something for the convenience, I hate to think what the cost was for installing them as they seem to be popping up everywhere now, I have no problem donating at Parish moorings and even put a bit extra in the box, but what next from BA toll barriers on the entrance and exits to rivers, if they want to spend money on something usefull then traffic lights at Wroxham and Ludham bridges would be fine by me, even though I always sound my very loud hooter, I've lost count of the near misses at those two bridges, and those pilots at Wroxham seen to have their own river rules, like flat out and get out of my way I'm coming through like it or not, luckily my new old boat won't go under Wroxham so I won't have to suffer them any more, Frank,,,,,

As promised a few more pictures, first the curtains! yup! I made them myself, as for the cheap curtain track, it's just 15mm dowel rod help in place with black 15mm pipe clips, two coats of danish oil on the dowel and black pipe clips from E/bay, curtain rings from B&Q, the only thing you need to watch is fixing the pipe clips, mine were ok as the boat has a double skin but on my last boat I fitted them using small well sealed stainless nuts and bolts, nut on the inside, and you need bolts cut to fit or the dowel won't sit in the pipe clip, Next the Dash! the dash was the same nasty colour as the side panels, I masked it off and spayed it black with special vinyl paint, as used multi purpose spay paint on the throttle control, before I started I decided I'd recover all the side panels as they were damaged and nasty, Front bunk area all finished now, walls all carpeted, and new trim all round, I hate Duvets on a boat so just ordered a couple of extra width sleeping bags, Since taking this one of the cupboard, the two speeps have been carpeted and there's new vinyl on the floor, I still have the toilet door and the seat trim to strip and varnish and have decided to hang the door so it opens the other way and onto the step, The cupboard has all the electrics in it and I fitted a folding TV bracket in there so the TV stores away, even have room in there to hang a couple of coats, Galley area, mostly done, not happy with the cupboard and drawer colour so they will be stripped off stained and re-varnished, A basic start on the Panels, the front ones were tatty and needed too much work, so I decided to cover them to match the side panels, luckily when I ordered the vinyl for the Cushions I went mad and ordered far too much, and that was where the idea of re-covering the side and front panels came from, I have finished them now but forgot the picture so next time I'll get one, I,m over the moon at how well they turned out as it's about the only job I've never done before, forgot to mention I put new vinyl on the cockpit floor as well, Ahhh! the new cockpit roof, the old one was manky cream vinyl, so I decided to add a varnished wood one, and added black car door trim around the roof hatch, I still have to replace the perspex roof light yet, Last one! on the left my cup of tea, bottom middle my new cockpit flooring, middle back, my new storage box/seat/bed, had to make a new one as if you look at the dividing bar across the middle of the floor, from there back the floor was all one section and someone in the past had built the seat/box over it, meaning if you needed to get to the greasers or rudders you couldn't, so it's now in two sections and I can get to everything, I'll add some more finished pictures next week, It's a shame I forgot to get more before pictures but this boat has been a brain buster for me and I completely forgot them, so far this has been the most taxing boat I've done, mainly due to bad workmanship by the original builder, If I'd had know It would have been easier to rip it all out and start again rather than try to put it right, if you look closely at picture six, just above the piece of ply with the three holes in you can just see a nail, this is how the builders have fixed the bulkheads in all over the boat, in places where you would see them they glassed over the nails leaving large lumps which were all hidden by the vinyl wall coverings, anyway thats all for now folks,,,,, Frank,,,,

Timbo! you can try a company called Chums they do everything for the weird shaped, but be warned if you do use them you'll be getting snail mail from them every couple of months, I used them for a pair of Dessert Boots about five years ago and I still get snail mail from them, Frank,,,

Whenever my Grandson Hires I do all the daily checks for him, he hasn't hired from Clive yet! but as I've picked up the boat with him I do know he was told nothing about checking anything, I can only presume like Clive they try to make their hire fleet Idiot proof, the bad news for Clive is he has hired one of his Posh ones this year, hopefully the loos will be emptied unlike the year before last when a well known company in Horning sent him out with two full Loos, luckily I noticed before they got too far and made him take it back to be emptied, I keep trying to get them to Hire from Richo's as I know they look after their customers, but I'll be watching because every time they make something Idiot Proof a new breed of Idiots come along to prove them wrong, Frank,,,

Steve! go to your local Screwfix and get some self amagamating tape, it's also good to keep onboard for emergency pipe leaks/splits, you can even wrap cables with it for water tight joints, all you do is stretch it a bit while you wrap it and it forms a sort of solid rubber seal, I never go anywhere without it,, http://www.screwfix.com/p/self-amalgamating-rubber-tape-black-19mm-x-10m/87717?kpid=87717&cm_mmc=Google-_-Product%20Listing%20Ads-_-Sales%20Tracking-_-sales%20tracking%20url&kpid=87717&cm_mmc=Google-_-Shopping%20-%20Sealants%20and%20Adhesives-_-Shopping%20-%20Sealants%20and%20Adhesives&gclid=CL6l5cqR-MQCFQnMtAodGy0AWA Frank,,,

Funny you mention that Andy, the oil/water separator I picked up yesterday came with a removal tool, just messing with it I had a hard job undoing it by hand, I havn't checked yet but I think the spanner thing may also fit the filter basket, if not I'll go with Strowagers Idea as I have a few of those straps knocking around,, just out of interest I always use a few dabs of silicone grease on plastic threads and so far have never had anything seize,, Frank,,,

It's coming along now Steve but for some reason it's been slow going on this one, normaly I plan something and with a few minor changes it works, but I'm finding with Kali I need several plans/ideas before i get something workable, a simple thing like the cockpit ceiling, nothing to fix the new one to so I ended up with three or four plans, then a couple of days to work out which one was easiest and worked best, when I did it only took me three hours to cut and fix the new one, so in all four or five days planing for a few hours work, it may be because I normally gut a boat and start again, but with Kali I was trying to put bad workmanship right, then ripping it out and starting again, at least I know what I've done is done right now so if I ever sell her the new owners will have no worries, I'm just glad I can do it all myself or I'd end up with a bill costing more than the boat is worth, as Judi keeps pointing out, I must be doing something right as every boat we've sold we made a very good profit on,, Frank,,,

It's a Kitchen then Griff! the boat hasn't moved since I started work on it, once I actually go out on it, I'll re-name it a Galley, you'll be wanting me to use Port and Starboard next instead of Left and Right, I wont go into the pointy and blunt ends yet, strange thing is while working on her it's left and right, yet when I'm out and about it becomes Port and Starboard, Thirty years and I still call the bow the pointy bit, it's just the way I roll innit man! Frank,,,

Thanks for that Clive! I was actually thinking that way myself, I was thinking of using a tee above the ball valve using the side one for the basket filter and adding a lenght of pipe in the straight up bit with a cap on so it's above the waterline, so if it does get blocked I can poke it through, a bit like the Norfolk strainer set up,, Frank,,,,

A bit of an update! I've been so busy I forgot about this post until Judi mentioned this weekend that I havn't taken many pictures on this project, so I guess from here in most of the pictures will be the after ones, the main cabin is all but finished now as is the toilet, just the flooring to go down, strip, varnish and re-hang the toilet door, plus I'm not happy with the colour of the kitchen (Galley if Griff is reading this) cupboard door and drawers so I'm stripping them and doing them again as soon as I get time, I've just replaced all the roof lining in the cockpit but I still have more to do so there should be some before and after pics, I changed the colour of the dashboard vinyl using a black vinyl spray paint which turned out quite nice, I had to cut the cockpit floor and build a new locker as some clever person built the old one over the floor meaning you couldn't get under the rear section where the stern gland and prop are so I don't think that has seen any grease in a while, i'll also post some pictures of the new curtains I made and the set up, because so far everyone that has seen the way I've hung them has said what a great Idea, and it's cheap, even had compliments on the curtains, so far these have been my best ones yet, I've even lined them with themal blackout material, amazing what you can learn via Youtube, hopefully I'll have loads of pictures for you next week, things are going a lot faster now we can actually stay on the boat and all the inside should be finished in a week or two, then it's the dreaded outside, topside clean and fill all the mastic filled holes with gelcoat filler, little bit of paint, new names and a good polish, the haul out and do the hull, also should have my new canopy the end of this week, I'll get a picture but it will be coming off and the old one re-fitted until it goes back in the water, thats all for now folks,,, Frank,,,

Thanks folks great info as usual, I was a little worried that with the scoop and new strainer it might restrict the water flow a bit but it seems it's ok! The weird thing is I been in the bilge a hundred times since getting the new/old boat and only realised there was no water strainer last weekend when showing someone my wonderfull bilge pump set up, it seems it was fitted to dodge the BSC, I couldn't work out why the pump had it's own 12v plug and socket, when I traced the hose to the skin fitting, about 12" from the skin fitting there was a quick connect hose fitting, making the whole thing removable for the BSC, I'm now fitting a permanent bilge pump and oil/water water strainer in the engine bay and a second pump behind the engine bulkhead just in case I get any leaks from the prop end, Frank,,, PS, thanks for the offer Andy but I picked a Vetus strainer up while I was at ASAP today before I saw your post,

Just had a look in the Bilge on the Birchwood and I don't seem to have a raw water strainer just a seacock, I' m presuming I just have a water intake scoop, my question is can I just add add one of those plastic Vetus raw water strainers inline, or do I have to change the scoop to a straight through fitting, the boat is coming out for a bit of attention and I have to change the seacock anyway, but do I actually need to add another strainer or are the scoop type good enough? I just worry about little bits of crud getting through to the engine, Frank,,,,,

Maurice! if memory serves me right those speed cameras were paid for by EU funding, but after installation they found out they couldn't afford to maintain them, so they have never actually been working apart from when they tested them on instalation, the stretch of road you mention is one of my bug bears, the speed limits are all over the place, you get 60, 50, 40, and 30 all within a few hundred yards in some bits, near some houses it's 40mph and 100 yards down the road outside the next houses it's 30 mph, I use that road a lot and have had a few near misses with people overtaking on bends, or others doing 60 mph then slammimng on their brakes as they see the 40mph sign, I'm no slow driver if it's clear and the road conditions are Ok! but that is one stretch of road I'd like to see an overall 40mph limit and 20mph near schools,, Frank,,,,

Twas good to meet you and Debs Steve, glad you got your jobs done, it's suprising the difference a few battens can make the the look of it, your white vent cover still bugs me though, but having said that I have a thing about brass fittings as well, I managed to get all my trim cut and stained, now I have three days of varnishing and curtains to make, the joys of owning a boat Ehh! like I said to you, there's nothing like when someone says to you thats a nice job! and you say "I did that!" when you clean the boat, mask off the waterline or you run the risk of dragging the anti foul up onto your hull and it can stain the GRP, I found that out the hard way, Frank,,,,

Both gone to Steve,, Frank,,,

Having met Mr J.C a few years back this comes as no supprise, he was one of the rudest most obnoxious and arrogant people I have ever met and suffers with "I'm the centre of the Earth syndrome" I quite like the program as they all work well together, but unless he has mellowed over the years as a person he stinks, he wasn't as well known back then so he may even be worse now, at the time my son in law and myself were what I jokingly call Carpet fitters to the Stars, I can honestly say he the one person I wouldn't want to meet again,,, Frank,,,,

OK! one gone!

2 x Folding Side mounting Seat Frames, in pretty good condition, £25 each or £40 for the pair, both still have the seats on them, they are well used but anyone a bit handy could recover them, or use them as they are if you don't mind two slightly different colours I think the colours called sand, Free to a good or bad home! Plough Anchor, not sure of the weight but it's off my 25ft Birchwood. If anyone is interested you can message me or I will be at Broadsedge Marina every weekend for a while,, Frank,,,

Have to agree with the above! for general usage the Aldi or Lidl ones are really good, I use mine a lot along with one of the best tools I have my Aldi Mini plunge saw, for anyone that has a Multi tool and wants good quality replacement blades, this company take some beating, they are cheap, do blades for most makes and they outlast my Expensive Bosch ones by miles,,http://www.sharkblades.co.uk/ Frank,,,,

If anyone is in need of the edges of their carpets binding/whipping Rugz & Matz in Stalham High Street do it, Geoff will do your own carpet or supply it, his prices are quite reasonable, Geoff or Moira Rugz & Matz Stalham High Street 01692 580896 E/mail Mail@rugzandmatz.co.uk

Mark! don't worry I check everything twice just in case I miss something, I'll be sticking with what I know and do the whole hull, something I can't work out is the BA are promoting doing just the waterline in their Greener boating, but surely if you do get a build up of crud, algie and other stuff because you havn't done a full antifoul, you'd be more likely to transfer nasties around the Broads, Frank,,,,

Clive! if I just sprinkle a tub of salt around the boat will that count??? Anti foul is a bit of an odd one as we never see if it really does anything worthwhile or the cost, I have always done my boats every three years and apart from it being a bit grubby, there never seems to be much build up of anything apart from the algie ring around the waterline and a bit of fading, but as Clive says! the fact I use my boats al year round may help, I'll probably end up doing the whole hull, I know my new/old boat hasn't been done in a few years so I'll have a good look at it when it comes out, but for now I need to watch Youtube videos on how to polish the hull, I had a nice pro random orbital polisher bought for me a few years ago and I've never used it because all my boats since had been painted by previous owners, so something else I have to learn about,, Frank,,,

Time is no problem, I can normally do one coat in a couple of hours, the boat is coming out so I can polish the hull anyway, cost isn't the problem either, two coats around the waterline will take more than 1 ltr so buy the time I buy two tins I may as well get the 2.5 ltr and do the whole thing, it was this bit about greener boating that got me thinking, http://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/398625/Greener_and_cleaner.pdf I know there are going to be some EU changes to the anti fouling we can use in the next year or two, so thats going to mean the cost of the stuff will go up, if it isn't dear enough already International Paints and Withams are changing their Antifouling to comply with EU regulations, so I pressume everyone else will have to, I was just wondering if apart from half the work there were any benifits to just doing the waterline,, Sue! you do all the fiddly bits with a brush, and the rest with a long handled roller, NOT! your hair, Frank,,,,