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Showing results for tags 'advice please'.
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I am soon going for a trip on a hire boat which will be the first trip for a good number of years. I am of pensionable age (☺️) but still active. I have various crew volunteers over the time I am on the boat and I am hoping to cruise the Huddersfield and Leeds and Liverpool. Has anyone got any advice for someone who is going for a jolly many years after leaving life on the canals?
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I need to put some antifreeze in my engine as there's hardly any in it. I want to completely drain and the fill with the correct mix. Being a complete dummy with things like this but wishing to learn, I'd be grateful for any help/advice. What is the capacity of the system in litres? What mix should I have - I think it's 65% water & 35% antifreeze? I plan to drain it by removing the bottom hose - is this acceptable? Do I need to bleed the skin tank? Is there a particular antifreeze which is best? Any help would be gratefully received.
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Advice please.-------- I want to paint the inside of my combined Gas/bow locker. The floor is very rusty due to the constant inflow of water through the gas vent holes at each side of the locker at it's lowest point. These holes are quite close to the water line and whenever the boat is moving a small amount of water is always present on the locker floor. The gas bottles stand on rubber mats clear of the floor. What is the best paint to use for this job please? I wondered about using blacking?
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I've just lifted up the matting from the cratch floor for its periodic clean and have noticed that it is badly in need of remedial work. There are quite a few patches of rust. In some places the rust has lifted/bubbled up but appears to be being held together by a resin or rubbery looking deck paint that the previous owner must have applied. When I 'puncture' one of these with a screwdriver a few prods each side and it just lifts away, turning a small patch into a much larger one. I have chipped away at each one and used the wire brush electric drill attachment to remove loose rust until I've reached a solid part again. Ideally I'd like to strip the lot off back to bare metal but I have neither the equipment nor the time or will to do this, besides which, 80% of the floor is in good nick. So I know it isn't going to be a perfect job, I just want to arrest the rusting and protect it for a few years at least. Obviously my first job is to treat the rust which I plan to do with Vactan. If I then apply a primer and then top coat (I use Damboline) will that be okay or should I look to use a thicker resin type paint which would help fill in the pitted areas that I've removed the rust from and therefore make it an even surface all over? The stuff that's down seems to have a kind of rubbery substance in it. The floor is generally protected from the elements because of the cratch cover but it does get wet sometimes and I'm a bit concerned that if I just paint over these patches rather than fill them, water will get trapped in there and speed up the erosion of those parts. I'd be grateful for any advice please.
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Hiya, I'll be making my first ever visit to the non tidal Thames this year & on checking out the requirements for my boat's equipment, it seems that having an anchor is not one of them, although it is "advisory". Now, I'm not one who will slavishly fit everything on my boat whether its needed or not, I tend to stick to what I must do or have. That doesn't mean I will absolutely rule anything out, I will make a choice based on how I feel about the particular "advisory" & if it seems a good idea & I'll get the use, then I'll follow it. Having an "advisory" anchor for a cruising situation that might not become a regular in my boating calendar would seem to fall outside my criteria, however, not enough for me to rule it out completely. So, my question to all of you, no matter your non tidal Thames experience, is this: Just how important do you think is it to have an anchor on the non tidal Thames? Also, in case I do decide to get one for my 65' x 11' narrowboat style widebeam, what type of anchor should I be looking at and how much chain & warp would it need? To help a bit further, I will not fit anything I or the missus can't easily lift to chuck over the side, so anything 20Kg or more is out. I only have shackle eyes welded on the front of the footwell coming, so it will be stored in the footwell under a cratch & cover and only human power is available to raise & lower the thing. I'm very much looking forward to your views, tips & suggestions so thanks in anticipation.