mbird

We bought a cool box to stick in the lazarette before Whitsun. I managed to run a cable from the main panel where there was a spare Aux fused switch. They do draw a fair bit of current, but they are a bit noisy so you will probably need to turn them off at night anyway. We had no problems with battery drain even being without shore power for 3 days and only doing short cruises before we got to Southwold! One thing to bear in mind is that the cool boxes ain't fridges! They only cool to about 15-20 degrees below ambient temperature, and ours sat at about 8-10 degrees. Fine for beer, but not for perishables.

Thanks Adam, I'll certainly give them a go if fixing the seals doesn't work, or try Trickett Marine for a pattern one if not

That's good news Wayne. We found 6" of water under the starboard engine when we returned from Whitsun. I already thought I had a slight raw water leak from the pump anyway due to rusty drip marks on the belts, but it seemed to have suddenly got worse. I stripped the pump off last weekend and Brundall Marine Services fitted a new pair of seals for my for less than a tenner. Unfortunatley the pump is quite worn and the shaft is a bit grooved where the seals touch, so this may not work, but I'd rather spend a tenner to start with than nearly £400 on a new pump!

Hi Keith. No problem, just make sure you put them in the For Sale area. When you type a post, scroll down and you will see two tabs marked options and upload attachment. Click the upload one, browse to your photos and click the "add the file" button. You can add multiple pictures to one post just by repeating the process. One word of warning, photos must be less that 1600 pixels wide.

I've never made a secret of that fact Wayne

Thanks for the link Carol. One set duly ordered for her indoors!

Sea Jem looks great doesn't she Good to see a shot of the Salty Bottom demolition derby too

A very personal question Ian!! I think it's probably about 1", but terminates through the hull in one of those little chrome doofers that are used for fuel filler vent too.

I've seen the way beer bubbles when fermenting I really don't fancy adding yeast to my "home brew"

Our holding tank is right under my bed! The pipe from the toilet goes down into the bilge to a 3 way valve to enable you to discharge to sea or the tank; it then travels uphill to the tank. We've got no real smells except for the normal bilge aroma which a Neutradol freshener seems to sort. The vent is another matter though, particularly when the tanks hasn't been used for a few days.

PM sent to Annie to let her know what a tight wad you are

Uh-oh Jonathan, that doesn't sound good

That sounds good Ian. I think all those attending the trip should at least have an understanding of the possible routes etc and intended destinations, and the planning itself will be great experience for the likes of your's truely!

Most hire boats with 240V inverters have a minimum of 1000W units. Just beware that a 600W set of hair straighteners will totally flatten the batteries in about 15 minutes! I would suggest only using them when the boat is going along. Also, your yard will probably tell you you need to run your engines for at least 4 hours a day to charge the batteries. If using the inverter, this should be increased to 6 hours a day, or you will forever be calling out your yard to replace your flat batteries, which will spoil your holiday.

Hi Gav I've had a similar problem with my port engine since we've had the boat. Even at full throttle it doesn't get above 70 degrees, whereas the starboard lump runs at 90. I have changed the thermastats in the port engine with no effect. I have now found the raw water pump in the starboard engine is a bit worn, having just had the seals replaced, but I can't see that being much of an issue. My gut feeling is simply a sender or a gauge problem. If yours has suddenly dropped I would first suspect thermostats and then an electrical issue.

Would it be worth getting our heads together with some charts, tide tables, almanac and a beer or two at some point Ian?

That would make sense as its in a much more obvious location. Didn't that shop change hands last year I think? If it is the same owners, then opening up in Brundall will be a good move I should think, given the number of boats in the marinas there.

That was Brundall Angling Centre, Andy which has been closed for a couple of years now.

I'd love to have an input in this, but with my overwhelming lack of experience I can't add anything to the discussion. I don't want you to think I am leaving all up to you Ian! I'm getting quite excited about this trip already though!!!!

Hi All I don't know if anyone has spotted them, but there is a new tacle shop open in Wroxham right next to the bridge, and it's sister shop has opened in Brundall next to the Fish & Chip shop. A tackle shop was certainly needed in Brundall so I hope it becomes a success!

No, we did none of that David, just stopped and dabbled for a few minutes.

Lovely pics Col. I've not yet managed to get that close for a decent photo

Hi Dave I'd go for auto inflating jackets everytime, and we had ours on our Bath Tub which we now use on the new boat too whether on the rivers or out at sea. They have plastic buckles but no harness attachments and so are perfectly suitable on the rivers. Norfolk marine sell them for anything from £50 up. They are not bulky at all and so do not hinder movement, which can be as dangerous as not wearing one at all.

Brill stuff Annie. I know where to look for crew now

If you have Microsoft Office installed John, this comes with a programme called Microsoft Picture Manager in which you can resize a whole batch of pics at once.