Engine room...
Posted by casper ghost, Jul 29 2010, 03:05 PM
Although it's so small that engine cupboard may be more suitable. I had to do some work to fit the ignition switch, battery switch etc before a chap arrives at the weekend to wire up the engine. The chap says it's very easy to do and was going to tell me how to do it but instead Im getting him to do it for me..
I put up a wall between the engine room and the back cabin and fitted a floor in the engine room. That was about it for today...
Welland Steam Rally
Posted by casper ghost, Jul 26 2010, 01:59 PM
Me and my daughter spent a wonderful weekend at the Welland Steam rally. My daughter exhibited her Penny farthing and some of her other old childs cycles. We camped in the tent for the 3 nights.
This is a great rally with loads to do and see. In the evening we watched the tractor pulling, which went on until 1:00 am.
My daughter had the camera most of the time so the pics show what she liked at the rally.
Here she is riding in the ring.
My favourite think at the show, i'd like my pedal car to look like this when it's finished.
This would power my boat ok...
This supersonic canon made a ridiculous bang which shook the ground, it also brought a Police helicoptor after they recieved a 999 call from someone who heard an explosion..
A nice Gardner engine..
A line of fairground engines.
Alternators..
Posted by casper ghost, Jul 21 2010, 05:53 PM
Me and my brother fitted the alternators to both Casper and Sleepy Hollow. Casper has a 70 amp and Sleepy Hollow a 100 amp. We had to make the brackets from scratch, though I used a Volvo part to help me. On Casper the belt will be driven by the 19.5" flywheel which will give a gearing of approx 6x. On Sleepy Hollow it will run from a pulley of 10" but onto a smaller pulley on the alternator giving a gearing of 4.5x. Lining up the pulleys is a bit tricky, using steel rules etc, but we feel we have got it right. On Sleepy Hollow there was not enough distance behind the engine to fit the alternator so we had to cut a small hole in the bulkhead and about 1" of the back of the alternator is now under the bed.
I did alot of tidying on Casper as I had brought with me a vacuum cleaner which we ran off the big genny. Casper is notw all tidy and clean. Apart from some wood on the floor...
The alternator on Casper's Ruston.
We made the battery boxes for both boats.
A right thunder storm just now. I couldn't catch the lightening but it does look stormy.
Sleepy Hollow's spray foam...
Posted by casper ghost, Jul 9 2010, 07:19 PM
The day did not start well, even before the chap had arrived a neighbour pointed out that to spray foam they would probably need to get close to the boat, but Sleepy Hollow is stuck partly beside a field with no road. The engine had no oil in so we couldn't cruise. We decided to wait and see.
The van arrived with all the equipment to do the job. We had been advised that we would need to provide our own power and thought that our diesel generator, which we use for welding, would be powerful enough, it wasn't...
My brother took a trip out to town in an attempt to hire a larger genny, but he had no luck. On his was back he called in at Viking Afloat and asked the new Manager there if we could moor there and use their hook up for a few hours, luckily they were very helpful and allowed us to do this, which is just as well as failing that we would have been stuck..
When my brother returned he found that I had pulled Sleepy Hollow about 100 yards backwards and tied it beside Casper. We now had further to pull it to get to Viking..
My neighbour then helped by agreeing to tow Sleepy Hollow to Viking for us. Once at Viking all went well and the job was done fairly quickly. The trip back to the mooring was not so much fun as we had to pull it by hand against the current and backwards..
On tow..
Moored at Viking Afloat.
I feel I must thank the new management at Viking Afloat for their help in this matter 
I would also wish to thank Andy and his Dad who did the spray foaming job, he normally does jobs where he can plug into a yards hook up but still travelled a long way to do our job. Luckily he was in good humour and did not seem atall phased by the whole thing. He agreed that I can put his contact number on here, so here it is 07967303224. We are pleased with the finished job, they even cleared up.
Six Ashes Vintage show...
Posted by casper ghost, Jul 4 2010, 03:41 PM
Just to divert the blog away from boating me and my daughter went to the Six Ashes Vintage Show. She took a small collection of old child's cycles to exhibit. It was a great day with fair weather. She has loads more old kids cycles and scooters but we couldn't get any more into the car! 
I was tempted by this Austin Allegro which was for sale at 495... It had only done 39000 miles so was probably on it's last legs! My daughter didn't like it, she (and I) prefer older classic cars. The Allegro was in better nick than my rusty car and 20 years older. 
Casper's first cruise with the Ruston...
Posted by casper ghost, Jul 3 2010, 06:58 PM
I made a frame to support the floor in the back cabin. It's 12" above the base plate so the prop shaft can run under it. There won't be alot of head room. My Brother came later that evening, he was keen to take Casper for a chug. We fitted the battery from my car and set off. We had a nice chug to Grindley Brook locks and back. Weather was lovely and sunny. The Ruston makes a lovely sound, especially at low revs which meant the boat wasn't going too quick. We didn't have anything major happen and the new controls were easy to use. The only niggle is a slight oil drip from the filter and I think the fuel return pipe is leaking a bit too. We then celebrated with a few beers and a not very nice curry, sitting outside in the sun.
This pic is really boring and only included as someone, no names, said they wanted to see it 
The next day we fitted a chimney roof collar on Sleepy Hollow and the side step. This is in preparation for spray foam being done next week. When I left my brother was fixing down the floor with self tappers.
Casper's engine controls...
Posted by casper ghost, Jun 30 2010, 07:12 PM
Today I made and fitted the traditional-ish engine controls for the Ruston. As the Ruston has a speed wheel I used a few old bicycle chains from a sprocket welded to the end of a steel tube on the ceiling with a nice brass speed wheel at the back. The gear change is not quite so traditional as I have a PRM hydraulic gearbox. I used one of the Morse cables from my Sabb controls and as it was long enough to reach the ceiling I just connected it to the end of a push/pull tube with an antique brass handle on the end. It looks fine but as you may expect it doesn't push/pull very far, but I won't let that worry me. The speed wheel works fine but if you fit the little brass knob onto it and try spinning it with that it won't turn, but it turns fine if you hold the wheel and turn it.. must be a bit sticky.
It means that Casper is now able to cruise again, at last.. I've started the engine a few times and tried each control several times, all seems fine, now just need to cruise somewhere to give it a good test, but not so far that I can't easily get a tow back
It was fiddley work today and as my boaty neighbour was here I didn't work too hard. It was too hot anyway..
As usual this was done on the cheap using mainly free bits so the total cost including the brass bits came to 12.00 pounds 
A busy few days...
Posted by casper ghost, Jun 27 2010, 08:54 AM
Fitted the water pipes for the Ruston which pass through a small calorifier. The pump is a 12 volt electric Bosch pump which are normally used in cars. The pump only cost me 1 pound and works fine. I've had the engine running in gear for 1/2 hour at cruising revs and the water was starting to get warm. The only problem I have is that one joint will not tighten in the right place, when it is tight it ends facing the wrong way and to make it face the right way requires loosening it off a bit. After the day the joint was damp. Not sure if it will 'take-up' or i'll have to change it. Another slight problem, I know I said there was only one, is that with the exhaust stack on some exhaust is managing to get into the boat through where it exits the roof so i'll have to look at sealing that.
I've made a speed control from an old boat roof hand rail, using old socket set uj's. A bicycle sprocket on the one end which will have a long bicycle chain on to turn the twist throttle on the Ruston. I've managed to get old chains from a cycle shop that were given to me.
I've painted the back cabin with primer, my 'planking' effect idea seems to have worked well as it does look like i've used planks.
For 2 days, work was delayed while me and my brother helped a chap black his boat, he's a nice chap and has helped us a bit. I was volunteered by my brother. It would have been alot of work for him to have done on his own.
We did a little bit on Sleepy Hollow, screwing the floor down directly to the bearers with large self tappers. We had to use the ones I had left over from when I did Casper's floor as the ones my brother's other half had bought didn't want to work and kept coming loose..
It was really too hot to work too hard.
Work on Casper and Sleepy Hollow...
Posted by casper ghost, Jun 21 2010, 09:29 PM
Me and my brother spent a few days on the boat in this glorious sunshine.
Sleepy Hollow
We fitted the floor into Sleepy Hollow using 10'x4'x5/8" plywood sheets. We will still lay solid wood floorboards on top of this at a later date. We had enough plywood left over to put up as the solid bulkhead between the engine room and the main cabin. It all went very well except our guess at the size of drill bit needed for the self tapping screws was wrong so we still have to fix the floor down.
Casper
Started the lining for the backcabin. We got 2 sheets of thin ply cut into 5" strips which we fitted up like planks, this meant adding more battens to the cabin sides to prevent the planks moving.
The dodgy prop shaft was welded solid using a length of pipe which had the same internal diameter as the prop shaft's external diameter. The pipe was cut in half down it's length, one half clamped on and welded then checked again for straightness and the other half welded on too. Casper now has a nice straight, strong prop shaft.
The little old Queenie stove has been put in but only sitting there. It has 3 cast iron legs, we have changed the back one for a mild steel leg so the stove can be welded down.
A mechanic came today to torque down the head bolts as I haven't got the tools, and I don't know what i'm doing, though that doesn't normally stop me..
Another day's work...
Posted by casper ghost, Jun 11 2010, 06:54 PM
Working alone on Casper, this time I finished off the ceiling, put up the last of the insulation and started some lining at the very back. I'm just using some old plywood which came out of the boat's bedroom, but when i'm finished it won't be visible. I've decided to remove my octagonal port liners, which I made when originally fitting the boat. I haven't yet worked out what to replace them with, what I need is a piece of 6mm ply with a neat circle cut out, but i'm thinking how to cut it out, last time I used a jigsaw and it wasn't very neat..
I've given up on my idea to surround the stove with paving slabs as everyone I told had a reason why I shouldn't do it. I've put down a slab for the base and hope to get some fire proof board for the surround.
I checked all my diesel pipes and still no leaks so hope that means it'll be ok.
on Alternators..