Recent content by Steve_Bentley

Re: Time hasn\'t proved to be on your side on that one me old son....... For what it's worth I'm with Steve on this- in my case all the timber on the conservatory was soaked as much as possible with Dulux preservative primer (it's blue/green colour to prove i'm not making this up!), with the...

Thanks everyone! Thanks everyone for taking time to reply with some good suggestions. As I'm writing the hair dryer is blasting away (might use the heat gun later)! I'm not using Dulux again as I agree it seems to trap the water behind rather than sealing it out. I've seen some Sadolin paint...

Hmmm, hadn't though of wood hardener- worth a look, thanks!

Well, my theory is that the epoxy/whatever would seal all those gaps-n-cracks where the damp is getting in. Unfortunately one of the posts seems to be soaking up the water like a sponge. Shame we've had such a wet summer. International do a waterproof aluminium primer (non-marine range) I'm...

Okay, non-boaty, but I'm someone out there can help! I have a softwood framed conservatory which cost a fortune to build and I want to preserve it at almost any cost. Anway, two areas keep getting rot and as they're structural (posts) I can't afford to keep chopping out wood and replacing...

Innovation?- Must Hang... I had a 1979 Mustang for a while (in the States for 6m break), where they quite evidently don’t have MOT’s. By the end of the trip (13,000 miles in a big circle) it was on it’s second engine after the original 2.3 V6 blew up 1,500 miles in. The first engine had two...

[ QUOTE ] ...Call me naive but I imagine that if someone has been law abiding all their life, ... they would be unlikely to suddenly get involved in something like this straight off. [/ QUOTE ] Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said something to the effect that you should save up something scandalous...

Thanks everyone- plenty to think about now, and your personal experiences are a valuable resource better than any magazine or book (or indeed perhaps from the training places themselves?). Taking onboard the advice of going at her own pace, I might take her to watch a lesson or two to see how...

Some really excellent replies so far! It's started me thinking in lots of different directions so over the next few weeks I'll give these some further serious consideration and maybe visit a few different places. All your replies are very much appreciated! Any further comments welcome!

Probably been asked before sometime, but... It’s some way off yet as my eldest has only turned 5, but what are the forum’s opinions on a good age to start to learn sailing? I’m based at Hove so Hove Lagoon is an obvious place to start, and a sailing friend thinks they start at age 6, but I...

Here are some old links, some for wood and some powerboats, but might have something useful for you. http://www.amateurboatbuilding.com/ http://dixdesign.com/radply.htm http://home.clara.net/gmatkin/design.htm http://forums.iboats.com/index.php http://www.classicmarine.co.uk/links.htm...

Thanks for everyone's comments. Ironically, just when I thought I had a quiet time on the office all hell broke loose and I didn't get time to respond yesterday! I think there's an unwritten law that predicts that.... My 3rd question was inspired by an earlier thought: I've seen some very...

Several musings… Q1. If there were no wind (or your vessel wasn’t blown about by the wind) and you started on the Thames at St Katharine’s dock, mid-stream, after a week where would the tide leave you? Back where you started, downstream as tributaries are feeding the river upstream of you, or...

Several thoughts of no particular relevance: 1) I saw a friend start a bbq with a tiny amount of petrol and a blowtorch which resulted in such an explosion and scaring everyone around I had to conclude he was a total idiot. 2) a friend showed me some photos over xmas taken from a military...

Experience We fished someone out of the drink earlier this year (before Easter although I forget the exact weekend- I bet the 'victim' didn't though!) so I thought I'd share the experience. The poor chap in question fell off the boat in front during a race (ironically in the process of...