Mowjo

Has anyone here fitted their own heating and if so is it an easy job, here's the problem my son in laws boat was fitted with heating, but we think it was removed just before he bought the boat, all the heater hose is still there and looks new, it also looks like the live and neutral feed are still in place, plus the exhaust outlet, some fuel lines and tank fittings, he wants to replace it with a new unit, the idea is fit new copper fuel lines as I'm not sure if the existing have been cut, and re-fit the heater unit where it was before, looking at my Eber book it looks pretty straight forward as everything looks like it on a loom, and you just need to connect a live and neutral to the heater fuse box, trouble is it looks too simple to me, anyone got any advice please,, Frank,,,,,

Alan! it does make you wonder how we all lived to tell the tale with lethal Electrics and Deadly Gas, I actually had a real Aunt that gassed herself by putting her head in the oven, and how Mum never blew herself up I'll never know? she had a habit of turning the oven on then going to get the flint lighter to light it, we did have a few good bangs, singed eyebrows and hair but apart from the Chicks no fatalities, Frank,,,

Been on this site a while now and never seen anyone mention this site, It gives advise on Electrics, Engine Maintenance, plus other stuff, I've used this site for years and it's been of great help,, http://www.tb-training.co.uk

The Mowjo guide to keeping warm, 1.....Instruct the maid to get into your bed. 2.....If the above fails! set fire to the Footman.

Alan! I hope you saved all those Green Shield Stamps, my Dad used to collect Kennsitas Coupons as well but I think that was a bit later, on the subject of electrickery, we we the first in our street to have it, Dad had some dodgy deal going on with the Polish electrician, one light pendant in each room, no sockets, Old Alf Safety would have had a fit with everything being plugged into one light pendant, it looked like a Brown wire spiders web, radiogram, Mums new fangled lectric iron, plus half a dozen other things, boy we all lived dangerously back then, it's a wonder any of us survived to tell the tale, I don't know how old Javosky did it but we didn't have a meter, I remember Dad robbing the Gas meter, he had a pal on the leccie board, that got him some lead seals and wire so he could seal it so no-one knew about it, he used to jam the counter somehow, then unjam it a few days before the meter reader was due, I don't think I look back with rose tinted glasses, mum and dad did the best they could the same as everyone did back then, it was survival, by todays standard where I came from were slums but in my own way I was happy because I didn't know different, I don't ever remember having anything new even for birthday or Christmas (Violins Please) best one was my first two wheeled Bike, I'm sure Dad stole it from somewhere because he sure painted it a different colour quickly, I still tell Judi, it's the reason I have to have things even if I never use them, it was all those years of having nothing (more Violins please),, Frank,,,,,

We have been mentioning gas here and there Maurice, but now John has joined Monty Pythons Flying Circus and Lori lives in Narnia this thread could go anywhere, Frank,,,

Lori! if your bedroom was anything like mine damp was the least of your problems, mine was like an Icebox even in the summer and the windows dripping with condensation, I had a little gas fire in my room but It was cold even with that on, Mum always used to put housebricks in the oven then wrap them in old towel to put in the beds, times I burnt myself or bashed my toes on those, I had so many blankets on my bed I couldn't move once I got in bed, best thing ever was when one of Dads dodgy mates got him a load of those red hospital blankets, those kept us all toastie ,,,, Frank,,,

Andy there are loads of Wild Moorings along the Ant, over the years I think I've moored at all of them, the only advice I'd give is enter them slowly or get as close as you can and pull the boat in, there are lots of hidden roots and tree trunks but if the bank looks well used those are usually pretty safe, there are also some what I call cuts like the one on the Island when you leave Broadsedge, it's the cut through where you go to Sutton Staith, there's a nice cut out in the reeds, if you go in slowly nose first it's a nice spot and the fishing is quite good too, Frank,,,,

Good news Alan! you can still buy them on Amazon and Fleabay,, Lori! are they the same ones that you bought two ozs of from the jar, if it's the one's I'm thinking of, if you sucked one then breathed on the wall, you could strip the paint off, and Bath in a cupboard?? that wasn't Sheffield that was Narnia, Frank,,,,

Alan! my Dads side of the family did come from Yorkshire, and Mums side were Bargees, being born in London whenever I met a relative I never understood a word they said, did I mention? that we were so poor that in the Winter when it was really cold, we used to give Grandad a Trebor mint to suck, then all sit around him to keep warm! Frank,,,

Blimey John a communal bog, I feel quite posh compared to you now, at least we had our own outside one, plus the usual guzzunders for the night, Sundays were fun because that was Bath night, on went the copper to heat the bath water plus kettles to top it up, out came the tin bath, Dad first, then Mum, older brother, me, and last younger brother, I swear he came out dirtier than when he went in, makes me laugh now all these people relaxing in their baths by candle light with all those scented candles, we had the luxury of bathing by gas light and the smell of Carbolic soap! what more could anyone need??,,, And John! I bet you used to climb those old gas lamps and swing from the crossbars, broke my arm three times doing that,, Frank,,,

I'm Glad I didn't live near you then JTF, My Old Dad would have probably poached all the Pheasants and nicked the silver,

God you lot are showing your age, so here's a typical Saturday morning in the life of a 9 year old Mow! go to the Butchers early to get a whole Shoulder of lamb for Sunday 11 shillings and a few Breast of Lamb thrown in for free, never knew why but the meat was always cheaper if you got there as they opened, back home and Black lead the Range, Yup! I always ended up looking like one of the Black and White minstrels, next job tear up last Sundays News of the World into little squares and thread it on string for the outside toilet, Dad once nicked some Izal toilet paper from work, it made good tracing paper but paper cuts to the bum wasn't my idea of progress, next job tear up more paper into strips to make spills to light the gas lights and the posh oven in the scullery, in comes Dad and gives me my shilling pocket money and an extra sixpence to get three mantles while I'm out , off I go, do I but an airfix model or not, go round one of my many Aunties do a bit of shopping for her, funny how every woman was my Auntie back then! get an extra threepence of her, next job round the back of the rag and bone yard, while he was out the front talking I'd steal a couple of bags of old rags from over the fence, take them round the front and sell them back to him, most times threepence but on a good day sixpence, the saga of the bottles and the off licence is a whole different story, back to the corner shop with my 1s. 6d, four penneth of Brandy balls and eight Blackjacks and my Airfix Plane, on a good day if made extra from the rags I'd even buy a couple of Woodbines, but that was ok today I'd nicked one of Mums, so there's me sitting on top of a ten feet high wall, smoking my Woodbine, eating my Brandy balls, Yup! I'm the King of Devonshire Road, go home Dad says where's the Mantles, sorry Dad I forgot! Whack around the back of the head, off I go to get them, get three mantles from the Hardwear store, time for a bit more play and finish the rest of my Woodbine off, go home give Dad the mantles, Whack around the head again, Yup! same as every Saturday I'd managed to break one, Dad goes off to change a broken mantle, I get my own back for the Whacks around the head, I steal two of his Capstan full strength, can this day get any better, I hide the ciggies and settle down the make my model Airplane, how come I always ended up with loads of bits left over?? next I hear Dad shouting at Mum, you stupid cow you've killed them! nine years old I have to investigate this one! out I go to the scullery, there's Dad standing with a wooden tomato box full of dead chicks, now my Dad used to breed Chickens and Rabbits in the back yard to feed us and sell to the neighbours and what he used to do was put chicken wire around the bottom of the gas cooker, remember those one on legs? and then put the newly hatched Chicks in a box and put them under the cooker on a very low gas to keep them warm and the Chicken wire stopped them escaping, well Dad had been busy cleaning out the Rabbits so asked Mum to put them under the oven, she did it ok! and even put some extra cardboard around it as it was chilly the problem was she turned the gas on low but forgot to light it, Oh Yes! she had gassed the poor chicks, Nine years old I thought it hysterical, Dad didn't, Whack around the head, could this day get any better, , funny looking back we had nothing, but we didn't know it because nor did anyone else in our old working class street, but I honestly can't remember not having fun,,,,, every time I buy a mantle for my tilly lamp I get taking back to those days,,,,

Hi Jon! I remember being told it was an Isolation Hospital I just wondered who owns it now and if it's used, as I said we were first around 1984 and it still looks exactly the same, shame I can't say the same for Hunset Mill, You mention wanna be boat builders Kevin who was moored next to us in the new dyke, (the one Mike didn't ask permission to dig out) decided he wanted an extra toilet that he had found in the yard fitted in his big ole wooden boat plus a few small repairs, well ole Kev had short arms and long pockets so he asked some so called boat builder that was on the yard how much to plumb it in, price agreed off Kev goes home, next weekend Kev comes back, spouting what a great job, how cheap and that he was the only one in the yard with two toilets, a few weeks later there's a knock on the side of my boat, Kev had a big hole in the side of his boat and the Mrs used to pass cups of tea out of our window to him, he calls me and says he has a bad smell in his boat, I told him a rat had probably got in and died or something as we had loads of big rats running around the yard, next day he tells me it's getting worse so I decided to try and help him find it, as I got to the back door a smell hit me that you could cut with a knife, I knew right away what the smell was so told him to pull the floor up, as he did there it was, a bilge full of raw sewage I ran off and left him to it, after pumping it out for at least half hour, yup! back then you could pump it into the Broads, several can of Jeyes later, I went back in to see what had caused it, it wasn't hard to find, the floor was still up and the nice new white plastic domestic pipe gave me a clue, as it was in several bits, the guy who had plumbed it in had used 1 3/4 domestic waste pipe, trouble was it was solvent weld pipe but he hadn't used any glue at all, just pushed them together, so when Kev had pumped the Bog he had blown the pipes apart and it was pumping straight into the bilge, I reckon there must have been at least four weekends worth of sewage under his floor, it took me ages to stop laughing, plus I had to go all around the yard and tell everyone what Kev had done with his cheap job, someone gave him a ball of string and told him he could save money on mooring ropes by using it, I gave him a couple of tyres to use for fenders and a bucket to save on pump outs, the jokes went on for months and his new name was Stinky Kev, The so called boat builder was never seen again I just hope no-one ever had any gas work done by him,,, Frank,,,

Just had another thought John! the steps down into the cabin we added a couple of doors and turned that into storage as well,,, Frank,,,

Jill! looking at that picture again just reminded me of something, the boat next to it, I can't remember the guys name, but that planking he replaced was made from old pallets that were laying around the yard, he was working on it out of the water for at least six years and it was rotting faster than he could repair it, I think it ended up on one of Mike bonfires,, Frank,,,

Hi Jon! when we have been passed your Yard it looks even more full that when Mike had it, it was quite busy there back then, my brother John did a lot of re-paints and minor repairs for Mike but Peter Cutting and Brian Greenwood did the bigger stuff, I still see Brian, he's right near us at Broadsedge last I heard Peter was somewhere in Wroxham but I don't know if he's still around, it all went a bit quite there after Peter moved away, he had a good following because of the standard of his work, I think Brian stayed on for a few more years, we moved from Wayford around 1990 ish, I believe Janet carried on there for a while but I sort of lost track after that, Jon one thing that has always puzzled me! that Green tin House as you approach the yard, who actually owns that and is it used now? it looks no different to when Mike was there, I think it's caught in a time warp,,, Frank,,,

If they come out here's what I did on my last boat,, Tell a fib! that was on my Freeman23,,

The vent in that picture is just that, a Vent! on my daughters Elysian I cut a big hole where the vent is leaving a couple of inches all round, lined it with ply and put a door on the front, it's now a small storage space where she keeps all her pots and pans, I've done this on a few of my boats, you probably don't need to put a vent in the door, but it wouldn't do any harm,,, Frank,,

Jill! just as an add on the Blue boat on the right was originally called Broadsventure4 and was one of Richo's boats, I belonged to my friend Colin at the time of the photo, If I remember correctly it was called Prince or Princess when he bought it , I only know that because we had an old brochure in Mikes office with my Seamaster 25 Blue Mist and Colins boat in it,

Jill! my brother John was the manager at Wayford back then, and that was about the time I bought my first boat from him, a little Shetland called Tyke, I spent a couple of months doing it up and sold it back to Mike for £500 more than I paid him for it, I think I was the only person to ever do that! I spent half my life in the caravan with Mike and Janet, and if I wasn't there I was in Peter Cuttings shed getting advice, or in with Brian Greenwood drinking tea, I even lived on my boat in the Marina for a while when the wife and me split up, and worked at Trend Marine, Have some real fond memories of that place like our BBQ's and party's, It was a sad day when Mike got killed it was never the same after that, we all missed Mike strutting around like Arthur Daily puffing on his pipe, he used to make me laugh because when you talked to him about money he used to puff faster on his pipe,,, Frank,,, By the way Jill that picture must have been the tidy part of the yard, it was much worse than that every where else,,,

Simon! I don't know if any others do this? but as I mentioned I often moor on Barton, most of my boats have been between 25ft and 30ft but I always carry two mud weights, during the day if I'm fishing I put one at the Stern and the other at the Bow to keep it steady, if I moor overnight I put both at the Bow so I have a swinging mooring, the wind can suddenly come up on Barton and I found with the swinging mooring I don't tend to move position, Frank,,,

I've been Mud weighting outside the markers on Barton for thirty plus years with no problems, if anyone knows Barton, Marshman does! the only bit I can add is if you have extra eyes on the boat, watch the back of the boat and if you see the prop churning up mud back away, never been stuck but better safe than sorry,,, Frank,,,

You Beat me to it Baz! Judi spoke to Dave and he said the water levels are not any worse than after heavy rain, Frank,,,,,

Drifting off topic a bit! but I use this, THREE Huawei E5220 3G Mobile Broadband - 3 GB preloaded – Pay As You Go Mobile Wi-Fi, We use it on the move for our two Tablets and so far the only place we can't get a signal is when we moor near the Ferry pub at Horning, I sometimes use it for my lappy but you have to watch it for auto updates as it will eat you data allowance quite quickly, feel free to move this if it's in the wrong place,,, Frank,,,