Recent content by cp99

Firstly, this is a local problem and not a Hydrovane fault. A solution needs to be found on your boat – the Hydrovane is perfectly fit for the purpose – they steer 18-ton boats faultlessly on circumnavigations, which is more than can be said for Aries / Monitor / Windpilot units...

Anyone know where I can get a replacement? Will try ASAP etc. but is there a UK specialist in these diesels? (approx. 15 years old, 16 hp, raw-water cooled twin.) Thanks.

Someone asked about making bread in a pressure cooker, in the recent cooking thread. As usual there are a thousand ways of doing any one thing but try this: use your usual oven bread recipe, only in the pressure cooker; BUT:- 1. Don't lock the lid with a pressure setting, most agree that the...

for AJW I was in the same situation and my email address was basically unusable. Then I installed SpamNet, and it blocks about 98% of them. It's an add-on for MS Outlook (the Office version of Outlook Express) and won't work otherwise. They charge by the month for it now they have a monster...

If you gave me ten thousand pounds and another windvane I wouldn't change my Hydrovane. It's steered my five ton cruiser-racer and 10 ton steel boat. It steers at half a knot of boatspeed, to 15 knots (max experienced so far). It has built-in capability for tillerpilot steering when motoring...

A Service Agent´s Advice Can I repeat the advice given to me by a commercial agent when doing research for my purchase? 1. Don´t buy on price, unless you´re skint and very optimistic. Remember, liferaft manufacture is a fantastic business to be in, as customers with complaints can´t come back...

Have got one. Superb little genny. Quiet as a mouse, uses a teacupful of juice per day (slight hyperbole), no messing around with 2-stroke mix. Seems to use no oil whatsoever. My experience is that it runs a 720 watt angle grinder OK, but will trip out if the grinder jams and stalls out - so it...

Couldn´t recommend a diesel cooker unless you won´t be spending much time in hot places, since they take a while to warm up and will heat the entire boat - a nightmare in a hot country, unless you switch to a barbecue and maybe a camping cooker in the cockpit while there. Can thoroughly...

Re: the ideal long-term cruiser... Ready for the million and ninth opinion? OK. What about insurance? Most end up uninsured. This is a factor because if you get a steel boat, it´s a load off your mind since they will obviously survive incidents which will finish any other type of boat. There...

Best nav app: like the best car, you´ll get a lot of opinions. But for what it´s worth, I´ve used all the UK and US apps, a dozen or more, and the best by a long chalk IMO is NavMaster with ARCS charts. That´ll cost you, of course, about 3 or 4 hundred for the app and a hundred or so for each...

Ass? Why would you want to kiss a donkey; unless of course you are an American and therefore can´t spell our good old-fashioned anglo-saxon four letter words.

Whoops! I meant ST 80´s are naff, in the last post, not ST 60's, which are OK (I´ve got some and they are A1). I´m scalextric with numbers.

Get a Hydrovane. Any number of advantages. Never heard of any Hydrovane owner complaining.

Don´t buy Ray/Autohelm ST 60´s. Multitude of problems with them, all the UK stockists hate them because of the number of returns. Given a choice (I know it´s not an instrument system but...), buy Garmin. Their service back-up is to US standards, not the awful UK standard. If it fails, they give...

I have first-hand knowledge and will discuss by PM, if you wish to contact me.