BroadAmbition

'B.A' Has been out since the 23rd, and will be into the New Year. They are currently at Malthouse Broad, no doubt expecting to get frozen in once again on any given morning Anyroadup, I wish you all the best time afloat and for the New Year all those of you lucky enough to be on the rivers Griff

So, reaching for my phone was not an option as it was well out of reach, what was in reach was my tilers sponge and bucket (Not to be confused with the common car washing type sponge) so I was able to mop up one handed. Both the lady and gent were out of the house, the teenage girly was downstairs somewhere though, after a few times of me hollering she appeared, 'Did you call'? Yes, ring your Mum, Dad, grandparents even farther Christmas etc and just tell someone we have a situation here, oh and pass me my phone will you? The both of us are now on the phone, me to 'My' plumber who suggested I first contact the clients plumber and if no good to ring him back. Fitting one of those compression blank end stops was out of the question, even if I had one in the van I could not get to it (Finger still on end of pipe in the wall) besides the pipe had separated from a soldered 10mm elbow joint and compression fittings as we all know will only fit to straight pipe, not onto another fitting. Lady of the house was now only 10 mins away but the message came back to me that 'Her' plumber would not be able to make it. What a predicament, nowt to do but sit there and have a bit of a giggle to mysen. So, on ringing my plumber back he said if it was a soldered joint (It was) to try pushing the pipe back into the elbow. I went for it and it worked, now only a slow drip was on view - this after dashing to van for my LED floodlamp. By now my plumber was on his way. I turned the water off and commenced draining down the central heating system. To shorten down the story, the leak / fitting was repaired, I finished tiling and eventually got home for about 2130. I expected a late one, but not that late. Friday I was done and sorted for about 1100. The home owners we so lucky as that joint could have separated at anytime, so just as well it happened whilst I was there Griff

Thursday 21st, first day of a two day job wall tiling full to the shower area, the remainder of the en-suite half tiled right around, 15m2 in total. The tiles were fairly large and (disappointingly) porcelain. Friday 22nd was to be my last working day before re-commencing on 03rd Jan. So I get cracked on, so well that as the day progressed I started thinking to mysen, I'll forego having a break/lunch, work late and get the lot tiled today, meaning on the Friday I would be in for an early finish as only had the grouting to do. At around 1830 I only have 1:65m2 to complete, a small section behind the door where the radiator is to be fixed in place. there are a pair of 10mm pipes with radiator valves sticking out of the stud wall, as I was marking up a tile around the second pipe I had one of 'Those' moments. You know the ones, where eyes are telling brain information that is unequivocal, (Good posh large word for a 'Griff' is that) is right there in front of you but you still don't quite believe what you are seeing. What had occurred was, due to poor workmanship when the house was initially built (Persimmon - No surprise there then) the damn pipe fell off / out of the stud wall followed by a jet of hot water! Once brain had accepted what eyes were seeing and after what seemed like an age, my cat like reactions sprang into action, kneel down search blindly into stud wall then stick starboard forefinger onto the end of the open pipe to stop a flood appearing downstairs in the lounge. B*gger me it was hot! Now what to do? Griff

Come on guys lets keep it friendly, each to their own I say. Hmmmmmm, yes I too did wonder why the above statement was posted as well My 'Wondering' came to mind before I saw 'K.F's post too Griff

The Q:- or a Nimbus 2000 I had no idea what a Nimbus 2000 was, I did mean to google it but forgot. However I'm actually on a full day off from tiling duties today so I'm assisting Commander-in-Chief Home (Cincnavhome) with various tasks, I sat down for five minutes with a shoreside coffee (Negative Rum injection) the TV is showing one of the Harry Potter films, and there it was in a shop window - a 'Nimbus 2000' Fancy that eh? So as a result I now know what a Nimbus 2000 is. Just goes to show, everyday is a school day Griff

All done and sorted. The last two nights I have popped round, cut back, tak ragged the applied the finishing oil, final application last night so she can commence using it this morning. That was a close call, if she had the accident two days later than she did I would have never got it repaired before Christmas. Said daughter has sent me a rather nice email, makes it all worth while:- I honestly don’t know where I would be without you Dad and I panic for the day you’re not here (selfish I know) but who can I call at the drop of a hat in an emergency knowing it will get fixed? Thank you so much safe to say I think I definitely owe you one or maybe two. Xx Griff

Back of an envelope calculation on the leak: the aircraft carrier is 70,600 tonnes displacement according to wikipedia. Tthe leak is said to be 200 litres/hour of sea water according to the BBC. 1 tonne is 1000 litres of water. So the leak is 1 tonne every 5 hours. Wwhich equates to the entire displacement of the vessel in 353000 hours = 14708 days = about 40 years. For £1 you can buy a 10 litre bucket in Halfords (possibly mil-spec ones are more expensive). You'd need 20 buckets/hour, or one every 5 minutes, to empty the unwanted water the aircraft carrier has a crew of 679. I think they can survive for a little while longer, even if the officers don't get their feet wet. Quite brilliant - Tks for sharing that. Oh and BTW - Someone has far tooooooooooooo much time on their hands! Griff

What a proper Bobby Dazzler Griff

Ok, it's nearly here, so, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to one and all forumites, their families, mates, grannies and dogs from 'B.A' her crew and their families / friends There, that should cover it Griff P.S - A quick toast to wives and girlfriends, and may the two never meet!

Limber holes - Hundreds of em on 'B.A' each rib has a gap under it where it meets and goes over the hog, Every two years, every single one is checked for debris / blockages - none to date which means water can flow from fwd and aft freely down to the lowest points where the pumps are situated, these themselves I have 'Let' into the top of the hog in a kind of sump with a cross over channel. After we had steam cleaned the whole of the inside of the hull it was allowed to thoroughly dry out (Well she was in the shed for over five years) the whole lot was treated to 2 x coats of 5 star cuprinol, then two coats of aluminium fire resistant paint which of course is silver in colour. Goodness me that stuff is expensive, but then again, one usually gets what one pays for Griff

We have a method in hand to deal with the issue of the balance pipe / valves, More to follow Griff

Robin, once you have emptied the fuel out of the tanks, is there a detergent type product that will break up that sludge, that could be sprayed or poured into the tanks to clean them out.. I can see that once you have them empty, the next task is to empty the centre tank and then remove the pipework and balance valves to clean them out. The fuel and tanks have been cleaned out so no further work on this required Griff

1. Small amount controlled by bilge pumps 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. Four 5. No Griff

I would sooner any excess domestic water, hot or cold or rain water ended up in the bilge not through a skin fitting. Exiting through a skin fitting - that means another hole through hull and I like to keep those to a minimum. Fitting a dedicated pump in the well deck would be bonkers seeing as there is already four of em throughout. However if the well deck was higher than the river level then a simple drain to skin fitting would be an option if somewhat unsightly, and I would insist on fitting a non return valve in the pipe If an item on the hot/cold domestic side failed and it went into the bilge setting off the bilge pumps, at least I would know, if it drained over the side I'd be blissfully ignorant - for a while. If our pressure relief valve fails then the fixed hose directs it down to the bilge next to one of the bilge pumps, certainly not spraying everywhere no matter what the pressure. If we lost both full domestic tanks into the bilge, then 'B.A's list would remain exactly the same as it is now - zero. Neither would the fresh water overtop the engine drip drip tray either, not that would be an issue if it did as the drip tray is always clean / contamination free. The only issue there would be that I would have to manually remove the water from the the drip tray and dry it out. Another point, the more low level through hull skin fittings there are, should the boat spring a proper leak and star slowly going down, that is just more through hull holes for yet more water to start coming in and speed up the sinking process Griff

Now we have had some sort of broom arrived (it’s wrapped) hopefully MrsG won’t try flying off on it Griff

Apply the sealer to bare timber only. This will dry to a matt finish. More tomorrow Griff

Hit the whole area again with the DA this time with 240g, hoover off, wipe off with white spirit Griff

After belt sander on 60g followed up with DA on 80g Griff

This after the scrub and 1st attempt with DA using 80g Griff

Well, that photo that arrived onto my phone this forenoon totally changed my day, tomorrow, Thursday and Friday too. I'm at present contracted to remove / replace yet another en-suite floor at our local Holiday Inn Express. I've lost count now just how many of these I have done, they take me two days start to finish. Day one, I'm normally home on an early finish for about 1600, Day two is a later finish at around 2000. Not today however, I worked on without stopping, getting home for 1845, by 1900 I'm at daughters, by 2200 I finally got home for my tea! I wanted to post a few pictures but our internet speed is particular slow this evening so they will have to wait. The good news is that I have saved the day but not yet completed. Daughter washed / scrubbed the whole area earlier with copious amount of hot water / flash using green nylon pad. I got set to with the D.A on 80g - No chance, I would have been there for a week. Out came the belt sander with 60g belts, six of the damn things later - At one point I was seriously considering a power planer - followed by the DA on 80g then 240g, then cut back the whole top with 24og. Hoovered off, wiped down with whit spirit, then applied with a brush sealer to the now bare area only. Tomorrow evening it will be de-nib, tak-rag coat 1 of top oil. Repeat same on Thursday both to repaired area only. Friday will be final coat to whole worktop and that will just have to do. Griff

Thought I saw a bloke with a saucepan full of sawdust lurking round the back of the ship when I watched the news this lunchtime. More like buoyant iron filings Finding a leak on a shaft on a new ship I would say it good news as it will be sorted under warranty I assume now they know there is a problem, they will at the same time carefully inspect t'other shaft for any signs of a similar problem Griff

Which of cause it shouldn't do ! 'B.A's well deck - rainwater drains into the bilge for the pumps to pick it up (There are four bilge pumps in all) if it didn't I would need a separate pump just for the well deck as it is lower than the top of the river. The wheelhouse sides by their very (Old) design also have rainwater into the bilge. The hot water safety pressure relief valve also goes into the bilge too. Not that it has ever done so, only a mug full or so when I test it now and again Griff

Already thought of that. Superstructure prevents use of the crane it’ll have to be Yorkshire muscle Griff

MrsG uses the same system only ours goes OUTSIDE Griff

A while back now I stripped all the worktops in daughters kitchen and utility, sanded, prepped, sealed then top oiled. Made a good job of it too even if I say so myself. Last night she cleaned her oven, the system where one puts items with cleaning fluid on them in a polythene bag overnight. This morning discovered the bag had leaked. One badly damaged worktop. Daughter in tears ( and she is a brand new Mum - not good) partner annoyed. Can you sort it befor Christmas Day Dad? now I really do need a 30 Hr day and an 8 day week. First free day maybe this Saturday, clay shoot Sunday forenoon - AAARRGGGHHH Griff