flat hose

[Guest]

I cannot find any flat hose! I tried B&Q and Focus, but they do not have any. Last time I looked (years ago) there was plenty, but not for potable supplies. Any ideas for a supplier please?
regards Spits

 

[airbubble]

Buy any length of cheap round one: lay it out on the pavement and walk over the entire length on a warm day and rewind. Does not work after a pub visit on sunday a'noon.

Christ who wants flat hose ? Think of all the trouble manufacturer's go through to ensure it stays round and open !

 

[steve_cronin]

Cassette Hoses...

...were on sale at our local caravan shop (my favourite chandler!) last weekend when I looked.

Steve Cronin

 

[bedouin]

I don't know where you can buy it on the highstreet - but a number of mail-order chandlers stock it (including Compass who can be accessed through this site) also marine superstore, mailspeed marine &c.

I seem to remember seeing a non-marine supplier a couple of weeks ago (i.e. cheaper) but I can't remember where!

 

[Guest]

I want some as well ...

Used to look at the flat cassette hose and think .... thats a good idea for packing away on the boat etc. Couldn't make my mind up to pay - then when finally decided to have some o'that .... no longer on the shelf !!!

So if its at Caravan shop - I'll have to look harder !! But definitely on my shopping list. To be honest the local caravan shop is a favorite of mine !!!

 

[ccscott49]

Its totally crap, thats why you cant find it anymore, difficult to join, the cassettes are never long enough, it gets damaged easily, kinks and is generally a pain in the arse, I know I've tried, looks a great idea, but....... IMHO, FWIW etc etc.... Buy a normal garden variety, very cheap and get all the nifty joining thingies and fittings to join them and attach to brit and european taps and spray heads and all that guff!

 

[andy_wilson]

It was all the rage a few years ago, and now we have given up a marina berth to go cruising, I can't find one either.......

Except Darthaven Marina Chandlery have them in stock for £36.00 - abit beyond my percieved value of the item.

Can anyone say how much rinsing out is needed to get rid of the trapped water in the flat hose before the next fill-up is acceptable to drink?

Will keep looking.

PS My camping supplier doesn't have these either.

 

[JeremyF]

The old ones from Black and Decker were a nightmare; they had to be fully wound out, and then would kink at the slightest opportunity.

Saw a great one a couple of weeks ago on an adjacent boat - a wind-up hose that didnt require the lot to be wound out, and didnt seem to kink. He bought it in Cherbourg. Does anyone know of a vendor here?

Jeremy Flynn
Dawn Chorus

 

[bryantee]

They work great .until you want to Rewind. Then unless every bit of water is out ,The reel binds up and you have to reroll.I have a 10 M and 25 M but roll rage took over and the 25m is now about 21m but it rolls up fairly easy now.Only advantage is the cassette clips up under the chart table instead off a coil in a locker.

 

[steve_cronin]

The last one I had...

was equipped with two rollers that squezed the majority of the trapped water our whilst re-winding.

One must expect however the need to trade off the inconvenience of having to lay it out on the pontoon against the very small space it takes up when stowed - the state you are going to own it in for the longest time after all! As to how much water you need to run through before the water is sweet, I would have thought it will be much less in the case of a cassette than a conventional hose which will hold a couple of litres of stale water in a length of 60ft unless one is meticulous in draining it to the last drop every time.

Steve Cronin

 

[smb]

I suffered the same frustrations but, unusually for me, remained calm and thought about it. The end result was attaching the mid point of the hose through the main halyard shackle, hoisting until the ends were clear of the deck and then going for a pint while the miracle of gravity worked its wonders.

 

[roger]

There are twoe sorts of flat hose:-
a. Goes round when water fills it - good flow rate but a pain to drain.
b. Stays flat has a very miserable flow rate but ok to coil up.
Taky your choice.
I have the stays flat type and only use it when unavoidable

 

[robp]

Bought a green (non potable) one at B&Q last year. Seems to work no probs. Saw two kinds of blue potable ones in Peters' @ Chichester Marina on Saturday. £26 for 20M I think.

 

[charles_reed]

I've had an original Homebase cassette hose on my boat since 1995.
It's been used occasionally in the UK, frequently in France and regularly in Spain and Portugal.
So far I've had to replace the outlet end fitting twice - that's reasonably easy, there is a double pvc flat membrane inside a woven nylon outer.
The original cost me £6.99 for a 30m cassette hose.

Year-before-last, I bought 2 x 30m Hozelock cassette hoses, again from Homebase (or B&Q), the price was up to £9.99.

Rewinding is simple, providing you open both ends and then lay them flat before rolling them into the cassette. Having done that about 200 times I have difficulty in understanding how anyone can be so kack-handed as to get into a tangle - however son 1 showed me how to make a right c**k of it in Vila Réal last summer.
It boils down to a mixture of lack of understanding of simple physics (what else can you expect from a Philosophy graduate) and impatience (which is down to immaturity).

The last time I was in the garden section of a shed (B&Q in Portswood on Saturday) there were several cassette hoses on the shelf.

 

[VMALLOWS]

It seems to have been missed that there are (or were) two quite different types of flat hose.. There is the 'squashed flat' pvc hose which saves a little space but is quite hard to manage........this is what's commonly available today. I have a hose from about 1990 (15m on a 9" cassette) which is a soft rubber inner within a fabric outer. It is extremely flexible and easy to rewind, expelling all the water. It is still going strong. Does anyone know if its still available?

 

[Trevethan]

I have been thgrough about 4 cassette hoses since April. Bought locally for about £20 for 15 metres. Takes up no space at all. Its bright yellow with a PVC inner hose. Problem is it keeps bursting.

Usually is bursts because the inner hose kinks and refuses to unravel. Though once of them just let go for no reason while I was filling a tank.

Went and bought cheap regular hose from B&Q for the half price for twice the length.

 

[ccscott49]

See my post, I'm with you!

 

[Outrageous]

I bought one of the Hoselock versions this spring from B&Q (Hedge End). Yes, you do have to get all the water out to fit it back in the casette - but a bit of patience has meant that it is in great nick and is probably the only tidy bit of my cockpit locker. One of my crew discovered a great way to 'rid excess water' was to lay it out on the dock and run along the entire length...effective, but maybe not life lengthening!