Mike the Boilerman

What an elegant yet obvious observation. But only obvious now you've said it1 A valuable addition to forum knowledge I suggest, which will be repeated in future whenever this subject crops up. To summarise this new 'rule of thumb': "For each 1mm of steel baseplate overplating added, the boat will sit approximately 8mm deeper in the water".

Because I don't have the data allowance to go trawling about looking at TV clips. Why not just post the frigging link!

I'd suggest starting off by doing a degree in naval architecture. If that's a bit too much trouble then measure and copy one of Alan's middle Northwichs. (Or are there 'better in astern' historics to copy?)

How will you know it is safe? The manufacturer is the final arbiter so will you consult them? Or just declare it safe yourself like that bloke did whose wife and child died as a result of his DIY genny exhaust extension?

Nige it is really quite difficult to take you seriously when you make claims you can't back up wth a link. Telling people to google your claims then ridiculing them when they say there are no results really doesn't cut it. Please post a link to your story if you want to be believed.

'Ampage' would be ok, but still clumsy. "Amps is" grates so badly because it is grammatically wrong on two levels.

Let's hope you both choose generators whose manufactures approve DIY exhaust extensions.

Sorry but I can't help but correct this erroneous use of the word "amps".

When the fire brigade attend a boat conflagration, I'm reasonably sure they won't seek out the gas bottles and just turn them off. They will find them, turn them off, rip them out by whatever means necessary and carry them to safety a hundred yards away or more. So people chaining them in by whatever means are just making their job harder.

Most gas lockers already have two in them...

Pizza

How many do you think is there?

Ok, some here seem capable of making this incredibly complicated when it isn't. If you add an 8mm baseplate you'll need to remove the exact same weight of ballast as the steel you're adding, to keep the same displacement and waterline. Mild steel weighs 8 tonnes per cubic metre near as dammit, so a new 8mm baseplate will weigh approx 2.5 tonnes. So you'll need to remove 2.5 tonnes of ballast. Engineering bricks are usually around 3kg each (weigh one of yours to check), so that means taking out 833 bricks. Do you actually have than many under there?

What's the hurry? Isn't boating supposed to be like this? Slow and relaxing? <tongue-in-cheek-smiley>

£5 to moor smack in the middle of one of the best honeypot sites in the whole system strikes me as pretty good value. Had there not been a charge it would have been properly full up and you would not have found a space.