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Hi everyone. I have a plywood Mayfly sailing dinghy which is in need of a caring owner. I have started cladding the hull in glass fibre, but just don't have time to progress the job. There is a little rotten wood on the inside keel just forward of the transom, and the whole boat could be...

Does anyone know of a resin or paint where the sticky component can be applied to a surface and then have the hardener sprayed on top? I'm sceptical that there is such a product, simply because of the difficulties of mixing the two components properly in the correct proportions. Thanks in...

I bought my boat because she is a "jack of all trades", not a brilliant sailer. In fact, when talking about her to my non-sailing wife and friends, because she's so forgiving and adaptable I've taken to calling her a landrover of the sea... Shame I tried to go cross-country when I brought her...

This morning I put a post on a thread on this forum where someone was looking for an inflatable sailing dinghy, and as I'd seen one on eBay I added a link to the URL of the relevant page... I'm sure most of you know what's coming next... This afternoon I received a notification email from...

My boat has an old starter key switch with 4 positions and I suspect that I may have burnt out the heater plugs by misusing it. I've assumed that the positions going clockwise are "Off" - "Electrics on" - "Heater plugs on" - then spring loaded to "Start", from which position the key returns to...

Hi Everyone, I'm afraid I'm at work at present so can't access the manufacturers website, so I'll try to get advice here. My boat is fitted with a Quick Windlass, 700W, horizontal motor in the chain locker, vertical drum and gypsy on deck, my anchor is 20kg. The first time I tried using the...

Back in February, after lots of research I bought a Hidea 5hp motor and was initially delighted, however after about 1/2 an hour run, the next time I went to use it I found no fuel in its tank and a severe reluctance to start and run and when it did start it didn't pump water but did leak oil...

I know that many forumites complain about the sometime excessive mark-ups on stuff in chandlers, but most of us accept that a reasonable profit is allowed. However, I have just seen a plastic bucket with a bit of rope attached to the handle advertised for sale in one of the well known on-line...

Well she breezed through her pre-purchase survey, so I'm about to send off the cheque to finalise the purchase of my first yacht, a 32 ft MacWester Wight, so soon I'll be a very inexperienced yacht owner! Anyway, the reason I'm asking for help is that she's in the Moray Firth and I've got to...

Does anyone know why small leisure boat engines are normally fitted with engine driven sea water cooling? I'm actually a marine engineer, so well experienced with big sea water cooled heat exchangers, but I'm actually pretty baffled by the marine leisure engine industry's dependance on somewhat...

I'm looking for advice about Macwester Wights as I'm seriously considering buying one, so would appreciate any advice, either on thread or via PM's. I've already got a thread running about fibreglass staining which refers to the boat I've looked at. Any information or advice gratefully received...

Hi everyone, I'm seeking advice from more experienced boat owners. I'm currently considering buying my first yacht and have found one that could be just what I want, but I have found a couple of things I'm not sure should make me run away from this particular boat. She's a 40+ year old glass...

I've just bought a new 2.6m slatted bottom inflatable dinghy, I haven't actually seen it yet as I'm at work, but from the figures given I'm assuming it's got quite big tubes as its rated capacity is 450 kg. Unfortunately, the website blurb doesn't give a maximum Hp/weight for the outboard, so...

Behind my house in SW Scotland is a tidal estuary with a few small boats in various states of disrepair moored on the banks. I believe that this is tecnically un-navigable as it's upstream of a fairly low road bridge, but I could probably get a boat there reasonably easily if I lowered the mast...

Just a quick mention for Allabroad Sail Academy in Gibraltar. I did my RYA competent crew (sailing) course with them a week ago and had an absolutely brilliant time. The weather was perfect, if a little bit too calm towards the end of the week, the instructor was very helpful, the boat was well...

Does anyone have any recommendations for good RYA approved schools offering these courses? I would obviously prefer it to be a tidal course, but good reports about Meditteranean schools may outweigh that, also I would prefer it to be abroad to, hopefully, get better weather. Any advice...

How old does a boat have to before it is regarded as a classic boat? Is the designation only applied to boats of a certain age? If so, where is the line drawn between being a classic and, for example a boat that was originally built many years ago but has been restored from the keel up? Surely...

Hi to all Northern France and Holland based and South, South-East, and East Coast UK based forumites. I'm due to fly home from sunny Saudi on Saturday morning, but it looks as though the brief flash of hope of flights to Northern Europe being restarted will die a death as the next ash cloud...

As a marine engineer I have only worked on steel hulled vessels, and as a novice sailor I only have experience of a plywood dinghy (Admittedly patched with glass-fibre!), but I've just seen another thread about the "dreaded osmosis"... So can anyone explain what the consequences of leaving...

Hi, does anyone know where I can download a free pdf of the spares manual for these engines? We have one on our rescue boat but no documentation arrived from ashore, could be a bit awkward when I send in a requisition for spares... I'd like to build up a stock of spares onboard for when the...