Mowjo

Jill! I went with Vodaphone, the only place I couldn't get a connection was at Horning opposite the Pub, it was a bit slow most of the time but it got there in the end, I found it better if I sat in the cockpit, the higher I was the better the connection,, Frank,,,

So It's the new Clive Floating Passion Wagon,,,

As I told you Ultraflex is a inferior copy of the Teleflex system, we had the same problem with their domestic system and it was one of the reasons we wouldn't touch the stuff, the bad fit between the inner and outer cables allowed all sorts of crap to be drawn inside the cable causing it to sieze up solid without warning, not a problem on a window, you just can't open the thing, but on a steering system I hate to think what could happen if that siezed up,,

Oh! and if AJB reads this I never speed, I was just making conversation

Brian could you please pass that on to the hire company's, turn around days on the Ant are like being on the M25 on a bad day, if they don't get you on the way back they get you on the way out which is worse. Because most are new to the boat they think it steers like car so the bum is swinging all over the place, they chuck them out around 2pm and they have to reach Coltishall in case the pub burns down, Seriously though I agree with you about speed and wash, I use a handheld GPS for speed, but if conditions are right I do go a bit faster than is legal, but I always watch my wash more than my speed and any more than a ripple off the stern I slow down even if I'm under the limit,, now I have to learn it all agian on the new boat,,, Frank,,

I thought that Jimbo! I may go for the larger one because I want to try and fit a third battery, so I have one for starting and two domestic, the new boat has an Engel fridge, so what with the little telly and lights I don't think one 110amp battery will be enough,, Regards Frank,,,

I need to change the Alternator on my boat, because the one on it is the first type that Thornycroft fitted when they phased out dynamo's, the guy at Thornycroft recommends fitting a 36Amp one as that what the pulley system was designed to take, and he's says it's more than man enough for two 110Amp battery's, but all the sites I've checked say that it should have more Amps, one even says you need a 50Amp one just to charge a 85Amp battery, anyone have any input on this, or know where I can find more info,, Regards Frank,,

Yes and if your not carefull and do what I did you can blow your windscreen out, I was working on a no smoking site and without thinking left my tobacco tin with the lighter inside the tin,, when I came back a few hours later my windscreen was all cracked, there was tobacco and bits of lighter everywhere and a great big hump in the lid of the tin, the heat from the sun had exploded the lighter in the tin,, Frank,,

Oooh! I forgot I've got a question as well, my latest boat has an Engel fridge on as well,, now I know they don't use a lot of juice, and the label inside the door recommends setting the thermo at No3, what I need to know is, when you moor up do you switch the fridge off or leave it running all night, I have a 110amp domestic battery on a seperate circuit, but with the little telly, lights, waterpumps etc I can't see the battery lasting very long with the fridge left on, so how do you use your fridge??

Dave, if I'm right you can't run it through a charger, it has to be 12v or 230v and to run it on 230v you have to unplug the 12v lead, I have an information sticker on the inside of the fridge door I'll try and get a piccie of it and post it here tomorrow evening, I think on the new models it auto switch over from 12v to 230v but as mine is about six years old I pressume it's the same set up as yours,, Frank,,,

Thanks Folks! Problem solved, screwdriver either side and it just popped out with the barrel, only problem now is I got the wrong replacement switch, it's a four postion one on the boat, stop, aux, heat and heat start, I bought a new four position one thinking it was the same but the four terminals on the back of the new one are different so I'm stuck with the old one for now,, Frank,,,

Right I need to change the ignition switch on my boat, But I can't get the Bleeping thing off,,it's four position and has a little wing type thing that the key sits in, I managed to loosen the locking ring, but I just can't work out how to get the winged thing off, it dosn't have any little grub screws of any visible mean of staying on, so unless I can get it off I can't change the switch, any Ideas anyone,,,

Thanks Clive thats very kind of you, hopefully I'll only need a couple of hours to let the Diesel tank settle down before I fire her up, I want to let the wife have a look at your set up, if your around tomorrow i'll go into it a bit more, Once again thanks for the offer,,, Frank,,

Yippeee! Launch day Baz, should be arriving at Richo's around 2pm, have to sort out a temp mooring till David get back but I'm hoping to stay in the new bit, Dunno why you want to get rid of the stripe it's part of the 27 look, it would look nice done in wood but it would be a bugger to shape it, and as yours is Burgandy now what other colour could you do it? Frank,,

Oi! Baz why do you want to remove it? it won't come up white you know, the blue pigment in the paint will stain the Gel coat, so you'll have to paint it anyway, so why don't you just rub it down then paint it whatever colour you want,, Frank,,,

Simon! last year when I spoke to someone at Jabsco about fitting one of their toilets and a holding tanks, I was advised to use the cheapest toilet paper I could, as it breaks down and disolves better, so now I only buy budget own brand stuff, a lot of the newer toilets are the twist lock type to stop back syphoning if yours is more than a few years old, you may want to fit an anti syphon loop in the toilet discharge pipe if it dosn't already have one, as for the Seacocks the only time I ever turned them off was when I was away from the boat, a site you may find usefull, flip through it has loads of info, http://www.tek-tanks.com/sanitation/layouts.html

Oooh I forgot Hugh Crane,, Rod they are a very large cleaning Product suppliers, they have a website but It dosn't give a lot about marine stuff, Frank,,

Right most of you have probably read I'm inline for a new boat, the offers in and as I like the boat so much I'm prepared to pay the full price if I have to, you may also have read this would be my first diesel boat, Yah! I'll be a real stinky, anyway back to the plot, I went into the bilges to look at the engine, nice and clean, starts well and no smoking, seems it's been looked after, but! I did notice that even though the engine bay was dry, there was quite a bit of black staining in the engine bay, had a little rub in it and it's an oily residue that I presume is diesel, whats the most effective way of cleaning this off, as I'm very fussy in my bilges I like them clean and shiny and I intend to paint them, I used Gunk on one of my petrol boats, but I seem to remember reading that bio washing powder is just as good,, Frank,,,

Jill! Baz uses that when he cleans his bilges out,,

Trev! I've seen Baz in action with a drill, so I reckon 3300 litres would be about right for him,,

Thanks folks at least I have a couple of options now,,,

Right folks, I need some help, do any of you know an insurance company that dosn't need a survey on a boat over 30 years old, I'm looking at another boat and my present insurers want a full out of the water survey done, because the boat is over 23ft and over 30 years old,, the reason I don't want the survey is because I know the boat, know the owner and know the boat is sound,, Frank,,,

Jonny! I didn't realise you had never done it before, so on that note I'd advise you to have a word with Clive and let the professionals do it, if you mess it up it'll cost you a lot more to get ot put right, and believe me it's easy to mess it up, you only have to look at some of the boats on the Broads and even in some hire yards, I havn't seen Clives work but I've heard he's good, and don't forget a bad paint job can knock a couple of thousand off the value of your boat, I was in the trade for years and it took quite a bit of research to find Permoglaze was the paint to use, after comparing some so called marine paints and finding very little difference apart from marine being twice the price, I spoke to one of Permoglazes senior reps, and in his words,, "your not always getting what you pay for" when pressed he said that some companys who make the paint, just re-lable their trade paint as marine, but it's exactly the same paint, the only ones being different were trade and DIY, DIY having less pigment in them,, that was about twenty years ago and paints have changed, but after my experiance with Permoglaze I'd certainly use it on a boat again,,

Hi Jonny! When I had the Seamaster the whole boat was re-painted using normal trade Permoglaze undercoat and gloss, you can get it from most trade decorating outlets, don't use the domestic one that you get in places like B&Q it's not the same, trade paints have a lot more pigment in them, I was in the trade at the time and was recomended Permoglaze by a paint rep, it's made for coastal enviroments and stands up well to salt and sun, my boat had been painted for seven years when I sold it and apart from a few scratches it was as good as the day I painted it,, Now listen carefully,, don't paint your boat on a hot day it'll dry too quick and you'll see every brush mark, a nice dry overcast day is what you need, ease the paint a bit by adding a small amount of white spirit, don't use it straight it's too thick, put it on with a small 4" gloss roller, and lay it off very lightly with a semi dry brush, I always use foam brushes for laying off now I think they are called Jenny brushes, no matter how good your paint looks at the end if you havn't done the preparation it won't last more than a season, I always say a proper paint job is 90% preparation and 10 % painting, wash it down, rub it down, fill the holes, rub it down, re-fill the holes you misssed, rub it down, wash the whole lot down a couple of times with white spirit, and if the cloth your washing down with is clean your ready to start painting, it's a lot of work to do it properly but when it's your pride and joy it's worth it trust me,, I forgot to mention undercoat it and rub it down again,,, This is the place I buy my foam brushes and rollers from,,,nice and cheap,,, http://www.flints.co.uk/acatalog/Jenny_ ... llers.html

Looking at that it seems T-mobile and Orange have the best coverage on the Broads, and as I'm getting a Dongle soon for my notebook, I'd be interested to know what network is actualy the best one for on the Broads,,