Recent content by Keith 66

The survey reckons about 1400 tons of munitions are left out of the original cargo of 9000 tons. If it went off it would be a big bang indeed but claims of tidal waves & destruction of the medway towns is just cobblers. Here is a link to a you tube video , Liberty ship John Burke carrying full...

Interesting indeed but with all the river traffic very rolly poly, we spent a night there once & nearly got rolled out our bunks all night long. The poxiest place to spend the night i have ever visited.

Bear in mind that Colloidal silica sold by West is considerably more expensive than Cabosil & is effectively the same stuff, as said brittle on its own so add choppies first.

Many outboards can be shoved into gear & started that way, modern ones tend to have interlocks so they cant be started in neutral. In the incident i witnessed & related earlier in this thread, The outboard concerned had a single lever throttle/gear lever control next to the steering wheel. On...

That video should be required viewing for anyone who uses an outboard. 28 years ago i witnessed a similar incident, we had just come back from the Nore race on the first of the tide & couldnt make our mooring. One of our crew jumped in & took a couple of lines to the mooring & we made fast. Club...

Top tip, If buying Gelcoat & Wax in Styrene make sure you dont mix the wax in syrene & catalyst containers up. Few years back bought 2.5 ltrs of white gel for doing lockers in our Sabre, Got wax in a plastic jar as well, Bloke says you will need catalyst too & gives me some in an identical pot...

Ok, so you have saved yourself a few quid by using a previous survey & purchased a boat, Your insurance company are ok with that survey. What happens a few months down the line when you find some structural fault missed out by that survey? And you try to make a claim? They wil laugh at you & you...

I started in the boat trade when i left college in 79, Since then i have seen legions of people think they are getting a good deal by using a survey a seller has had done for purchase or insurance. They think they are saving themselves the cost of getting a survey. And yet i have actually seen &...

You sound like you know what you are doing. Why get a fibreglass technician in? Is there actually such a trade? Any of us who have been in the trade for long enough can call ourselves that. So can a lot of monkeys. If you are bonding a plywood core against an original grp transom your main...

Last year at our club's cadet week all instructors & helpers were told they had to grind any pointed ends off their knives so they couldnt stab anyone!

Strange postscript to this, My Grandad was the Keeper! not long after this took place he took the ten elephants for a walk over to the field, on the way back he used the trackside phone & was given the all clear to cross the line. The circus elephants were trunk holding tails as circus elephants...

THe HSE are not in the business of telling people they cant do something unless there is a good reason. Woodworking machines like saws can be dangerous but if you are sensible & take the right precautions there should not be a problem. Preventing public access to areas can be done with barriers...

Well dont pour it down the drain for starters! Over the years i have noticed suppliers tend to give you far more catalyst than you will ever need. I doubt they would take it back for disposal. I have disposed of surplus by pouring onto the ground at our bonfire site, not a good idea to chuck it...

^^^^ Interesting, over the years i have seen quite a few forestay failures at our club, they always seem to happen at the top of the furler & less often at the bottom, this explains why. But a lot will be down to poor quality stainless steel made in the far east or wherever, cheap commercial...

Electrolytic corrosion is the result of two or more dissimilar metals in an electrolyte ie Salt water, the electrical current is created by the galvanic difference. Add electricity from shore systems, or boat electrics & things get worse.