[Euro Cruiser]

Sean, after posting the above, I remembered an event that occurred just last night that, tho' minor, perhaps gives a first hand flavor to some of what I was describing. The British crew 'next door' had their oven rust out on them and so they are looking for a new replacement. Sourcing products in Portugal is often a problem (the 21% VAT keeps buyers away, which tends to make the shelves fairly empty) but finding the oven was not the challenge for Ian & Rowena. Instead, it was needing to find an 'inspector' that could both hook up their stove AND be viewed as qualified back in the UK so they have insurance coverage. (They were agast to learn that I tossed out the old alcohol stove and did the LPG installation myself; unheard of, they exlaimed!) Moreover, UK (but not all of Continental Europe) practice is to put a 'bubbler' in the LPG line. This is to assure 'safety' as, if routinely inspected by the crew, it can reveal the presence of a leak from the bottle thru to the stove. OTOH we N Americans might view it as a safety inpediment since it creates 4 new joints, each of which can be a leak source. LPG hose is also a no-no for the hose run; UK officials want to see copper (so add in more connections in the name of safety).

Ian's dilemma, as he heads for Lagos and on to Morocco, is not so much to get a new stove working in his boat as making his UK officials - insurance adjuster and future surveyor - happy. This is just another small hurdle to jump, in Ian's mind, and I don't mean to make too much of it. OTOH it might strike a non-EU sailor as yet another unnecessary nuisance.

Jack