mbird

There's also French Marine in Rackheath. I;ve yet to go up there yet, but I'll bet they won't be the cheapest..... I note you say you have KAD42's in your boat Luke. I thought I had the same engines as you, but I have AD41's, but from the photo they look the same from what I can see. Anyone shed any light on what the differences are? With regard to the service kits etc, I am going to take the part numbers for the oil and secondary fuel filters to Panks in Norwich. I got Crosland primary fuel filters from there last week for £4.01p each! That's about £15 less than I expected as they are huge great things!

I did indeed! What I couldn't work out though, is how the lobes wouldn't still disintegrate?

Just to add to Davids post again (sorry David, but Lukes boat is exactly the same as mine ). DONT take of the lid with the engine running (I know it sounds obvious but you never know). Yes, you should check and clean them out regulary. When you unscrew the lid, there will be a flat black plastic disk underneath with a tab on to hel you geta grip on it. This can sometimes get a bit stuck to the o-ring below so just be a bit careful if trying to prise it off. No need to worry about water coming in, as David says, they are above the waterline. However, if you undo them just after stopping the engine, there may be a bit of back-pressure that pushes a drop of water out. Don't worry, it won't be much.

Bugger, Lakesailor to Ricko

Hi Luke Look at the state of those engines. Best you get in there with some cleaning products mate, as they make mine look positively spotless Just to expand on David's description, the raw water pump sucks water from the river/sea via the water intake on the front of your outdrives, pumps it up through the weed filter (the big black canister on top) and then through the heat exchanger where the water absorbs heat from the fresh water that circulates around the engine. It is finally injected into the exhaust pipe to come back out of the outdrive above the props. That reminds me though, I really must get a couple of spare impellers before we venture to far.

You'll be lucky Jonny, I've been looking for weeks!

That sunrise is wonderful Pete

You da man Ian It's a good job this isn't a club or we'd have to call you Commadore

The safety aspect of this is certainly worrying Andy, even though these items are not cheap, I think the cost is secondary. I would concur with Keith regarding the battery isolator. In our previous boat, I separated the battery banks so I had one battery dedicated to the engine, 2 for domestic and one for the inverter. That way, if the inverter flattened the battery (eg over-use of TV etc), the fridge and ligths were still okay. Each of the three banks had it's own battery isolator, and on leaving the boat I would turn off the inverter and engine banks.

I'll bring my camera too, but I'll have to either show SWMBO how to use the camera, or how to use the boat Which one I wonder .....

Sorted!

This is going to be an interesting thread We did a similar amount of refitting in our first boat, and I guarantee you'll have a huge sense of satisfaction afterwards I do wonder whether this thread would be better placed in the "restoration area" part of the forum, as it'll be a lot easier to keep track of. If you have no objections, I'll move it over.

Ian I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to put a post in Broads Chat about this to, or at least directing people here. I'm quite sure that a lot of people do not look at this area of the forum as a matter of course, so may be missing this completely.

That sounds like a plan Ian Is the "Haven Overspill" the dock on the other side of the harbour that used to be called the trawl dock or something like that?

Hi Strowager, That's one of the reasons I have resisted buying loads of lenses . I have a grand total of two, being a 17-85 Canon IS and a 70-300 Canon IS. Between them they cover the whole range of focal lengths I am likely to need at a reasonable quality. I would like much faster lenses from the Canon L series, but then you are talking megabucks, so until my photographic skills exceed the capability of the lenses, I'll stick with what I have. Changing lenses less often also means there is much less chance of needing the sensor cleaned due to dust ingress. The 20D was a right bargain by the sounds of it! It is the ancestor of my 50D body, and you are right, you can certainly feel the difference in the construction between the prosumer and consumer models. When I went from the 350D to the 50D, the size and weight of the body took a little getting used to!

Count us in Ian. Are you thinking of having 3 nights afloat do you think? I'm easy about itinery but then I guess the weather will have the biggest input on that at the time!

My sons share a Fuji S1000 camera. I don't know how those models compare, but I suspect from the price and model number they are slightly higher up the food chain. What I can tell you is that thier camera takes some nice shots. It is very small in the hands and light. At 10.0mp it takes nice detailed images, though these can seem a little washed out in certain conditions. It has user adjustable ISO, Shutter speed and Aperture so you can get a little creative, though obviously it is severely limited in the adjustment ranges compared to a DSLR. My one gripe with it is the eyepiece. When looking through the eyepiece you are not looking at a "through the lens" image like you would be on a DSLR, but at a very small LCD screen. Because of this, the image is unclear and of no real use other than checking composition; you certainly can't use it for checking fowus of DOF. The screen on the back of the camera is what most people would tend to use except in bright sunlight. If what you are after is a P&S then I am sure the Fuji's will fulfill that for not a lot of money (my sons camera was about £120 last year from Argos). However, if you want to get into the fiddly side of photography, then they'll be okay to learn the basics on but will quickly become limiting.

That is one good thing with the Imray digital charts, Martin, that they regularly release the correction updates to download onto the software at the same time the mariners notices are published. The electronic charts themselves don't get altered, but little warnings appear at the correct locations just as if they were the paper versions.

HI Wayne A lot of older boats undergo a face lift with paint if the gel coat becomes badly faded/damaged/crazed etc. Our old boat was painted after a lifetime in a hire fleet, and it certainly gives them a new lease of life. As to whether it affects value, I suppose that depends on the buyer. Original gel coat is often seen as desirable, but only up until it is no longer aesthetically pleasing. Far better to have a sound hull well painted than look a heap of crap in gel coat IMHO.

Only for the time being Ian. £60 was a lot easier to find than the several hundreds for a proper plotter. I figure with the laptop (assuming it survives the ride), the second-hand etrex, paper charts and a bearing compass, I should be able to find where I am and where I need to go. The plotter will be further down the list underneath a repaired canopy and heating!

Wells? .... When I'm really brave My Imray chart plotting software and digital charts turned up today too so I'm all GPS'd up!

I've just downloaded this to my laptop. It only covers as far North as Lowestoft, but does seem to be a mine of information.

Hi Ian I couldn't reach James yet, I'll try again shortly, but if he can fit you in feel free! The poor chap is so busy he's struggling for space at the moment, which is another reason for not lifting after all. I have been inundated with work over the past couple of weeks (not that I'm complaining!) so would also feel a bit too pressured to get Serenity in and out, and I don't want to screw anything up by rushing. edit to add: have now spoken to James to let him know

I agree entirely Andy. What a cesspit that place is. You really would think the council would try to put in a bit of effort, but the whole place is decaying beyond belief.

Thanks Adam, that's much appreciated. I think now, having slept on it and debated the pro's and con's, and seeing as how both outdrives were removed last July for new bellows etc, that we are not going to have the boat lifted after all this winter. I know there are definately a couple of chips out of the starboard props, but only bits about 10mm (one from one blade on each of the stbd props). The original reason for the lift was to replace the depth transducer, which testing has shown to be okay. I need to also check the operation of the trim tabs but I can do this with a boat hook to see if I am getting full movement etc. The final thing was the anodes, but again, I'm going to have a peer at them through the water and see what sort of condition they are in, and if they look okay I'll leave them till next Autumn when we will have a proper winter lift out. The money I would have spent on a lift can go towards the canopy repairs to at least try to stop some of the rain coming in!