[British Waterways By-Laws]

What do the bye-laws say about mooring on water points?

[Cutlass bearings and shaft seals]

I has a catastrophic failure of a trad stern gland... it rattled loose of the wooden stern post, the bolts fell out and the stern tube ended up spinning at what looked like about half the speed of the prop. it started leaking then I'll tell you!

 

 

However in Smelly mode (sorry Jon this is SWMBO's ID, I just couldn't be botherd logging back in) I've got a packless (Vetus) and I've been worried about exactly this, I didn't know how they were built until now but it's been at the back of my mind since we bought the boat

 

 

As I mentioned earlier on in this topic, since our errr... involvement with loads of steel and a mattress our gland has become a lot more flexible, in that the prop shaft drops a bit whne unfastened from the R&D coupling and the whole assembly seems a like the rubber's got a lot more give in it.

 

Tony, if you're out there need I be worried and is there anything I can do about it without a dry dock? Some socks and a can of expanding foam worked on the last boat, but I don't think they'll help this time! Also where do we put the silicone grease?

[Cutlass bearings and shaft seals]

If Vetus are to be believed, then all shafts will be of this type soon, as greaser type units are gradually being banned throughout Europe (according to my email from Vetus). It is believed that the UK will eventually follow suit. My Vetus sterngear is close to 1000 hrs of canal only use.

 

I think most of us scouser owners would be interested to read that email, any chance of posting it?

 

On a different note, my vetus gland has had a right battering on the BCN mostly and no probs at all, although it's gone a bit wobbly since the playtent/mattress debacle...

[Isuzu calrifier connections]

well, I've got mynew boat (RAAAY!) however the book doesn't tell me which way round the calorifier connections go.

 

If any of you scouse boaters out there have nicely marked pipe work, telling you which one's out and which one's in can you have a look for me? (The engine's an Isuzu 35)

 

Otherwise, does anyone know if there's a way of telling other than taking the cap off and seeing which one spits water out when I turn it over...

 

Cheers

[INSTALLATION OF A CALORIFIER]

try this, as I'm sure various people will tell you, it gives the expansion ratio's and the such like.

 

http://www.tb-training.co.uk/17Bdomwat.html

 

As a simple guide, put a non return valve on the flow in to the tank (unless there's a thermo syphoning feed from a burner or similar), otherwise the heat will syphon out, make sure there's a pressure release valve on the hot water out, vented somewhere where the water won't get into the bilge, and think carefully about whether the hot water from yoru engine has got an easier route to get back to the engine than runnign through the calorifier, if so rectify it.

 

I got some handy hints from the narrowboat builders book Messr Booth talks in terms in which you can understand why it went wrong.

 

Sorry it's a bit simplified, but "step by step" from me would involve "get an old boat and cock it up several times until eventually it works, for reasons that you can't quite fathom... buy new boat, buy lots of books, fit calorifier, cross fingers"

 

Good luck

[electrical Suppliers]

t'only swine is that they're nto accepting craedit card orders for less than 20 quid, and the only thing I can think of that I might need is too much cable...

 

Above was written by smelly..

[electrical Suppliers]

Yeah, Farnells site if very good. They might be a little overpriced, but largely its worth it for easy of use and swift dellivery times.

 

Also, for more electronicy stuff, rapids quite good too. (linky)

Daniel

 

t'only swine is that they're nto accepting craedit card orders for less than 20 quid, and the only thing I can think of that I might need is too much cable...

[Worcs and Brum]

Nope I'll be heading into Brum so will go straight past, and I don't mind chocolate at all, (I might need to tether Sue to the mast past that bit!)

 

!!!