Independence - Updates | Maintenance & Care

[ChrisB]

6 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Brick acid/patio cleaner and a pressure cleaner, job done!

Away from the river as Patio Magic, Wet and Forget etc are powerful biocides and are therefore Marine Polutants.

[LondonRascal]

I've read that CIF does wonders, others say terrible as a mild abrasive. Seems Fairy Power Spray might also be a contender - I would rather not go too extreme on vinyl - especially as they are not in that grotty a state.

[finny]

I was recommended harpic toilet cleaner for a stubborn stain on my gel coat ............sounds crazy but it worked 

 

finny

[diesel falcon]

For vinyl and even spot cleaning of carpets and upholstery.,you need an orange oil cleaner,made from citrus oil! will degrease aswell,and won,t scratch it,

here,s an example......http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/engine-and-exterior/exterior-degreasers/chemical-guys-orange-degreaser/prod_191.html

we had a similar cleaner last season called Dirty Bike these cleaners can do a hell of a lot of different tasks,from fenders to engine!

[JawsOrca]

3 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

Warning - I am about to ask for some advice

Does anyone have any opinions on cleaners to clean an inflatable RIB tubes with? I am considering having it 'professionally valeted' and brought back to a sparkle (especially gel coat and seating) but before I go down that route want to give it a go with some of my own elbow grease.

Use the right products Robin: https://www.force4.co.uk/starbrite-rib-inflatable-boat-cleaner-protector.html?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=CjwKCAiA8bnUBRA-EiwAc0hZk_FRRvkFl9ZkddP05wx0rH_xpKPDiX_T--Qrina697O9qsVXyYXJBRoCnfQQAvD_BwE

For Fabrics: https://shop.trimnet.co.uk/collections/cleaning-and-proofing-products

[quo vadis]

I'm sure Baily and Stone could help

[socrates]

4 minutes ago, quo vadis said:

I'm sure Baily and Stone could help

Kim and Aggie?

[socrates]

Seriously, would it not be wise to consider the environmental factors when deciding your choice of cleaning product? With respect to the experts on cleaning, perhaps elbow grease and some eco product might be your safest option. Lemmon juice and diluted vinegar are often the products of choice for the celebrity cleaning people.  

[quo vadis]

23 minutes ago, socrates said:

Seriously, would it not be wise to consider the environmental factors when deciding your choice of cleaning product? With respect to the experts on cleaning, perhaps elbow grease and some eco product might be your safest option. Lemmon juice and diluted vinegar are often the products of choice for the celebrity cleaning people.  

Exactly Socrates look on their web site it states a mild solution of vinegar, chlorine bleach and soap and I can tell you it works, Baily and Stone know their stuff

[diesel falcon]

Citrus oil is water soluable and made from orange peel a by product of juicing fruit, so is eco friendly I suppose, but the great thing is you don,t normally need a lot of the elbow grease!

[quo vadis]

19 minutes ago, diesel falcon said:

Citrus oil is water soluable and made from orange peel a by product of juicing fruit, so is eco friendly I suppose, but the great thing is you don,t normally need a lot of the elbow grease!

That’s good cause you ain’t got none 

[diesel falcon]

2 minutes ago, quo vadis said:

That’s good cause you ain’t got none 

very true at the moment!

[Wyndham]

Thought I would post this here being as it is Robins archive.

Yesterday I was in Brundall with some time to spare so walked round to Robins boat to say hello and introduce myself. Always wanted to meet him having watched all the blogs and learnt so much from them.

Well I tell you, a nicer person you couldn't hope to meet. Despite me just wanting to say hello he welcomed me aboard and then gave a guided tour of Indy. Just a real genuine welcoming person, and I thank you.

Something else, his blogs just don't do justice to the size and internal quality of the vessel. It just has such a luxurious and warm feel that can't be described. You know some hire boats look better in the pictures, his boat is the opposite.

[LondonRascal]

Thanks for the kind comments above, good to meet you as well and sorry the boat was in a state of disarray when you came along.

As a general update, I have had my BSS Examination by Tim Waters. Now I know there are often threads about who best to get along and many names and numbers are shared but one that does tend to come up a lot of the time is Tim's and so I got in touch with him and on Saturday he attended. I was none too sure what would be entailed and how long such an examination may go on for, but he was very polite and explained the form and what he would need to see and so I took him around the boat and he would explain as we went if there was an issue with something and what steps may be taken to address this - often there being more than one.

Well all things considered I have come off well. I attach below a copy of the findings that I need to have sorted, and I am having Norfolk Yacht Agency's Service Centre carry these out for me.

Once the above are dealt with I can then have my certificate and get my full Broads Authority Toll and registration numbers to stick on and finally have made it to a fully fledged 'Broads Cruiser' and might go for a cruise along the Yare and back to base lol.

I can also thoroughly recommend NYA - they have been very professional and helpful and far more communicative than Mount Batten Boathouse. In Plymouth it was a case of asking for them to do some work, they agreeing to and that was that - you heard nothing back, no emails responded to or letting you know they have been on the boat etc it was a call or email with an invoice and you knew the work had been done. To be fair, they would send photos or videos to evidence it, but with NYA everything is explained and what they will do and when and tiny things like the Shaun taking his shoes off when came on the boat - I am not bothered if people do or do not but he so doing showed me he gives a damn about other peoples possessions.

I get the feeling that with NYA you are pretty much sorted - they have a lot of capabilities and work closely with other third parties and in such instances would act as a sort of 'project management' so I suspect they will be tasked in due course to sort other items out, improve and upgrade Independence further.

I have some more footage I have filmed, and sorry things have stalled in so far as videos - but I have just been super busy with the boat, home life, work life and little time to spend in front of the computer with video clips.

[Brundall1037]

56 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

I can also thoroughly recommend NYA - they have been very professional and helpful and far more communicative than Mount Batten Boathouse. In Plymouth it was a case of asking for them to do some work, they agreeing to and that was that - you heard nothing back, no emails responded to or letting you know they have been on the boat etc it was a call or email with an invoice and you knew the work had been done. To be fair, they would send photos or videos to evidence it, but with NYA everything is explained and what they will do and when and tiny things like the Shaun taking his shoes off when came on the boat - I am not bothered if people do or do not but he so doing showed me he gives a damn about other peoples possessions.

I get the feeling that with NYA you are pretty much sorted - they have a lot of capabilities and work closely with other third parties and in such instances would act as a sort of 'project management' so I suspect they will be tasked in due course to sort other items out, improve and upgrade Independence further.

 

I'll second that, they did some work for us over winter and found Shaun very helpful and communicative

[Stuart]

Hi Rob,

They may have changed the system between 2002 and 2004 but the fuel tank sight tubes on my vessel do have self-closing valves as shown in the attached picture. The large button at the base of the tube is pressed to update the level and is spring loaded so it closes automatically. Do yours look anything like that?

All the best,

Stuart

[Guest]

NYA are superb , all my dealings with them have been extremely pleasant and they sure go the extra yard as I found out when I bought my first boat through them , their  MD James is one of the nicest folk you could come across and that echoes for all the staff iv ever met , same goes for Tim Waters too .

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Stuart said:

Hi Rob,

They may have changed the system between 2002 and 2004 but the fuel tank sight tubes on my vessel do have self-closing valves as shown in the attached picture. The large button at the base of the tube is pressed to update the level and is spring loaded so it closes automatically. Do yours look anything like that?

All the best,

Stuart

That type of valve would no doubt pass as its normally closed , its valves that can be left open that fail , anything that would close automatically or is normally closed and requires manual input to open would to me pass with the exception of a 1/4 turn valve etc because they can obviously be left open .

[LondonRascal]

The real pain about the sight lines are one of the tanks has a self closing valve - the port tank. That would be the really easy to get at one, just my luck. In fact the centre tank is also easy to get to in order to fit one, but the damn starboard tank will be the biggest issue as it will mean removing the new heater exhaust, and air ducting runs to get access to the area

Previously it was hard enough but you could lean over the top of the generator so it was doable. What is frustrating is I asked for all of the lines to be changed in Plymouth as I was not happy with them (having yellowed and become harder I was worried about once splitting), but at the time I did not know about the requirements of the BSS and I guess Mount Batten Boathouse did not either (or if they had, did not alert me to them) for when they had changed these lines all for new one they could have put closing valves on them then. Ahh well, that's life.

 

 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

The real pain about the sight lines are one of the tanks has a self closing valve - the port tank. That would be the really easy to get at one, just my luck. In fact the centre tank is also easy to get to in order to fit one, but the damn starboard tank will be the biggest issue as it will mean removing the new heater exhaust, and air ducting runs to get access to the area

Previously it was hard enough but you could lean over the top of the generator so it was doable. What is frustrating is I asked for all of the lines to be changed in Plymouth as I was not happy with them (having yellowed and become harder I was worried about once splitting), but at the time I did not know about the requirements of the BSS and I guess Mount Batten Boathouse did not either (or if they had, did not alert me to them) for when they had changed these lines all for new one they could have put closing valves on them then. Ahh well, that's life.

 

 

Thing is Robin they knew surely where you were taking the boat too but that said the BSS regs are basically a click away on the internet , armed with that knowledge you can then instruct them to act accordingly as the rules are way different form salt water ports , got to admit it would have been far easier in Plymouth than with full fuel tanks in brundall .

All of that said I'm amazed they weren't fitted In build , OK different regulations but who needs to potentially add fuel to a fire at sea ? 

[LondonRascal]

Quote

I'm amazed they weren't fitted In build

The boat manual talks of them - and there is indeed one fitted, it seems like they ran out of them in the factory fitted one to the port tank and left the other two and nobody gave any thought about it until now.

Hindsight may be a wonderful thing, but I did not think to look into the BSS requirements in Plymouth and indeed have not since the boat has been in Norfolk - I might have if was going to do the works myself but since I am not and now have a list from Tim of what needs sorting it makes it much easier.

 

[ExSurveyor]

NYA are excellent,  you won't go far wrong with them.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

The boat manual talks of them - and there is indeed one fitted, it seems like they ran out of them in the factory fitted one to the port tank and left the other two and nobody gave any thought about it until now.

Hindsight may be a wonderful thing, but I did not think to look into the BSS requirements in Plymouth and indeed have not since the boat has been in Norfolk - I might have if was going to do the works myself but since I am not and now have a list from Tim of what needs sorting it makes it much easier.

 

Only 2 words to say to that. And that's "survey " and " research " many times this has been mentioned on here ! 

Actually 3 words " knowledge " being the 3rd .

[LondonRascal]

Quote

Only 2 words to say to that. And that's "survey " and " research " many times this has been mentioned on here ! 

Actually 3 words " knowledge " being the 3rd

Survey, Research and Knowledge. Yes, these are three words a sensible boat buyer should certainly consider heeding but that is because most people who buy boats are trying to mitigate as many problems (and costs) as they can at the point of purchase. I was not worried about that so it did not matter to me at the time and that is why I did not do that.

I have some issues - they are pretty small ones as they go, and from Monday the process of them being dealt with begins. The key in all of this so far as I am concerned was finding what they were, and getting someone to put them right - both have been accomplished.

If I had taken more time or care into what the BSS was likely to have required me to have had changed, I would not have bothered to have such items addressed prior to leaving Plymouth because they had no bearing on the boat at the time - they only would come into play in Norfolk like the fuel filter bowls for example or the sight gauges having an auto close valve on them, the boat has spent 16 odd years with what it has just fine but now it is on an inland river these things need to be changed. I was more concerned with getting things like a new water pump, heating, spare parts for the engine, new fuel filters and seals and so sorted then which were more pressing.

 

 

[ChrisB]

I had sight tubes with the push buttons on my two 28 second kerosene tanks when I lived in The Chilterns. Very easy to forget to push the button thinking all is OK only to remember, the oil flies down the tubes and you find you are nearly empty with the mercury reading -4C and a foot of snow stopping any tanker getting up to you. You soon learn though. Lesson learned the sight tubes are only accurate for a few minutes after you push the button.