John Orentas
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Posts posted by John Orentas
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We are going to be on rivers for the first time in this boat. The anchor we had went with the last boat. What type/size of anchor will we need (42ft Narrowboat)?
How long a length/what size of sinking chain?
By far the most important criteria is to get one that can be readily handled by yourself or your crew, no point in having, the best anchor in the world if you can't lift it.. When I first went on the Manchester Ship Canal they sent me a formula for anchors sizes, the result of the calculation for a 50ft boat was in the region of 200 kilo's, totally impractical, although from their point of view a 50ft boat is quite a substantial craft.
A good weight of chain is of equal importance and the rope should be about 4 times the maximum anticipated maximum depth of water..
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Good morning.
Has anyone tried one of these,(Springstarter.com)i have been reading the bumf on these and they sound quite good,but i expect i will be told otherwise,does anyone know how much they cost,quite a bit i expect as they dont give you a price.
Ill try not to get upset by any answers given,and please feel free to go off topic at any time.
Kind Regards.
Twinpot.
Good grief I didn't think anyone else has ever heard of the things.. They were at one time made by Lucas Marine when they existed, I think you will struggle to find one now..
For those that have never come across such a contraption, it is a unit that looks very similar and has the same mounting as a starter motor, many true marine engines had two starter positions and many authorities insisted on two independent methods of engine starting..
The idea is that you insert what looks like an old fashioned starting handle into the unit and literally 'wind it up' like a toy train, at the appointed time you press a button on the casing, the spring releases and it's energy spins the engine through a Bendix drive..
They were I think only ever intended as an emergency stand by.
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Hello all
I was hoping someone can tell me where I can get the same canvas material from that make up the front and back covers on boats I am looking for green. I need to cover some outdoor seats..
thanks
terry
I assume you want the traditional stuff:
Bolton Tarpaulin, Bolton. Tel.. 01204 380837.. They do two 'weights' and two colours.. They would make the finished thing for you at a reasonable cost.
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I don't really understand why there is so much talk on this forum about battery charging/monitoring systems. Our system is about as simple as you can get:
Fully agree with all of that, in many walks of life it is possible for some people to invent a problem that doesn't exist and then attain 'Hero status' by inventing a cure, and dare we say making a few bob at the same time..
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I planned to do this at one time, I found a Polycarbonate cubicle, B & Q I think that could readily be cut down to the required height.. I know they are not so common now but I would be surprised it there weren't any available.. Don't bother with boaty one unless you are very desperate, over priced and rubbishy.
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Following on from the SmartThingies discussion, I'm looking for suggstions from those who know, or even those who think they know :
Suggestions welcomed, no fighting please
Tim
I refer you to a previous post.
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I owned a boat for 30+ years and never once suffered a a flat battery but I never suffered fools either, those who say "Buy one of my Acme controllers and never worry about batteries again"..
Mr Lucas and Mr Bosch are not idiots, they manufacture alternators with all the necessary regulators and controllers built into them, and they work very well, when did your car battery ever discharge itself..
Don't go adding silly gizmo's into your electrical system and you won't have too much trouble..
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This issue has been raised a couple of times previously.. It comes down to what comprises a fail safe system, for example an incident happened on my marina, a young chap was rolling some Tarmac on one of the pathways when the machine dropped into a ditch and it fell on it's side, to stop the engine it was only necessary to switch of the battery supply and no harm was done, many road vehicle now have an 'inertia switch', it's sole purpose to cut off the electrical supply in the event of a prang.
On a boat things are very different, there must never be any systems that will arbitrarily switch off the engine, even if damage could possibly result, you may not consider it to be vital on a canal boat but with other craft a functioning engine is important to the point of being life saving.. The very last thing you want to happen is for the engine to splutter to a stop just because the electrics have been swamped and that's what would happen if a 'power to run' solenoid was used.
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I am laying ash planks on LION and want some advice on durable finishes, and types of materials people have tried and tested. I was thinking oiling the wood and then using some flexible lacquer. I'd appreciate any helpful comments. Thanks.
I don't believe you could do better than use a traditional wax finish, very simple to accomplish too, for an oak floor I would do the following.
1. Sand down to a even constant texture.
2. A light stain, this is optional but it is needed to give some contrast for the grain.
3. Seal using a mat or eggshell varnish**, probably 2 coats sanded down between coats and after the final one.
4. Wax polish using a brand of your choice but you don't need anything more than the traditional stuff.. Repeat at least twice a year.
** Thin the varnish down with white spirit to encourage it to soak into the timber.
With this method you should get a deep wax finish, but not shiny or glossy, a patina will build up.
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Anyhow, I was wondering, if you did have a mooring somewhere but went for a big continuous cruise and barely clapped eyes on it, are the rules the same for you as they would be a CCer with no mooring (ie: still only get 14 days on the towpath) and is there any stipulation that your boat has to be at its mooring for a set period or set amount of time?
Hi Malcs.
It was at one time quite common for people, often on retirement to move onto their boat and take off for a couple of years, often they would cover the entire system in that time, in my time I have met many of them.. It was recognised that to insist that they maintain an official mooring that they never used was unfair so they were given that special status of "Continuous Cruiser".
Many envious eyes were cast upon them, the clever people saw an opportunity to profit by the arrangement, while living on their boat they were the parasites of the canals, they exploited all the services that the average boater enjoyed but on a 365 day basis, many would hog all the best visitor moorings, close to shops, pubs, and transport links all for the reduced cost of a continuous cruiser.. Some minor rules were brought in to try to ensure some sort of fair play, limited mooring times and minimum distances..
Many of them post on this forum, imagining they have found a unique dodge or fraud if you prefer.
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Looks a little different to the normal type but generally called a "Variac".. A variable transformer produced as a test/ development device.. Powered from a mains typ. 230 vac the output is selected on the big dial..
Just a simple device for obtaining a low current selectable voltage, often permanently connected to a voltmeter for a more accurate reference.
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There is a long standing and very sensible tradition with marine engines that they do not 'fail safe' or shut themselves down for any reason at all.. If you were beam on to an on shore gale with rocks approaching about the last thing you would want is for the engine to decide to switch itself off..
True canal boat are rather different but any of us can think of a scenario similar to the above.. Some years ago there was a bit of a to-do when one of the engine manufacturers decided to marinise one of their electronically controlled jobs, then someone realised that if you loose electrical power the engine stops.. Not good.
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You contradict yourself John.
Why does one need a voltmeter if the static battery voltage is not an indicator of state of charge.
The voltmeter is used for other purposes, you need a ammeter to measure charge current.. There is not an instrument ever invented that will tell you the state of charge of a battery, that must be done to a large extent by calculation.. Even those big garage type resistance testers (now banned I believe) won't tell you much..
But to repeat, think in terms what has gone in and what has come out..
Or you could try Sara's hydrometer.
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Can we add a battery hydrometer to the toolkit?
Probably the best indication of condition and state of charge......
For some reason I have never had much luck with hydrometers, perhaps it is all that sloshing about with sulphuric acid, some people get on with them though, so why not.
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Short version:
How long will I have to run the engine to fully replenish a nearly depleted 600ah bank whilst also running the fridge, water pump and lights?
Long version
I'm not sure how long it should take to re-charge a almost completely depleted battery bank. I've read back through a bunch of alternator/charing/battery threads but they're all a bit over my head tbh.
Far better not to think in terms of charge and discharge of batteries, An alternator battery circuit is far better considered to be a case of balancing loads.. On average your alternator should produce more power than your boat system is using and by quite a large margin, in the region of 50% (give it a funny name if you like but I wouldn't bother)..
Similarly forget all this nonsense about full charge = 13 volts, flat = 11 volts, half charged = God knows what.. A static battery voltage bears very little relationship it's state of charge, it just tells you a very small amount about who made the battery.
A lot of this junk and pseudo science has blighted this and I am sure other forums for several years now, it is about time to have a major rethink..
Fix a permanent voltmeter and ammeter into your boat, buy an reasonable multimeter (not a Rolls Royce one) and perhaps a clamp meter, we will learn more about electrics in a week that we ever learnt from any self promoting characters we have come across.
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What's the life expectancy? I reckon when Ripple was a hire boat she probably did 5000 engine hours in six years (2000-2005) then nothing for most of 2006 from 06 to date I've probably added another 1000 hours. A car engine that had done those hours would probably heading for the 250,000 mile mark.
So how long before we start to get worried?
It is not quite a direct comparison Patrick, better to imagine your engine having purred down to London on the M1 from Manchester and back 600 times at 15 mph without gear changes, not exactly a hard life.. Boat engines rarely get any kind of abuse even accidentally so they can be expected to enjoy a long and happy life.
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I suspect the chap you are looking for is a member of this forum..
http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showuser=3243
He has recently moved to new premises in New Mills, Derbyshire.
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Wanting to fit a new bathroom on board -
Hi Rubble.
Make yourself a damned big 'Set square' and just make everything symmetrical with that.. If it was more than just a bathroom I would suggest making a template to give the correct dimensions around the hull, cabin sides and gunwale detail.
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Mac.
The majority of modern diesels are 'Continuously rated', that means they can be permanently operated at full power.. The only proviso I would make is to be sure that your cooling system, that usually means the skin tank is up to the job, I would normally say give it a good test but I think you have already done that..
Incidentally 11 HP is not all that small, 50 years ago it would have been considered enough to push along a pair of working boats and don't listen to all that twaddle about 'Torque', horsepower is horsepower.
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When I stopped there for fuel, I had the audacity to sound my horn to indicate my presence after I had waited at the pump for a few minutes.. Anyone would have thought that I was conducting a napalm attack, he came out like raging lunatic..
So don't try to get away without paying if you stop there, it could be a bloodbath.
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I was under the impression that this battle had been fought and won.. There were at one time marina's and other mooring places that would not allow moorers to bring people in to work their boats.. "If you need any work to be carried out on your boat, you must come and see me and I will find tradesman for you".
One particular boatyard in my area persisted with this attitude for many years, it didn't affect me but I thought the practise was obscene particularly as they put a mark-up on the costs, thankfully they eventually went into receivership.
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We've got a simple set up of two 110aH leisure batteries. One I bought secondhand at least four years ago; the other was new last April. When the system started losing power only a few hours after being fully re-charged by mains charger this week I suspected the older unit, took it out and found that it was instead the nine month old battery that had failed.
The battery charger put it up to 12.5 + volts in just a few minutes and switched off indicating it was fully charged yet after just a few minutes of water pump running utput was down to 10v. Replaced it with the older battery and all was well again.
Is there any excuse the battery supplier can come up with to avoid giving me a refund/replacement? (Personally I'd rather have the money if this is the standard of their batteries - it's a Shield marine and caravan leisure unit.)
Hello Starry.
I'm not convinced you weren't right the first time.. To be sure you must always separate the batteries and charge them individually.. Two batteries connected together in parallel will always behave in a similar way and will always initially show the same voltage.
I suggest your should charge them separately as you did before each for a few hours and leave them overnight, they should retain a voltage of approx 12.5.. I suspect one of them will have dropped back to less than 12 v, that will be your dud.
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I'm in the "don't do this" camp.
I'm not!
Give it a run for an hour or so, can't imagine you could overheat the engine this weather.. Things will start to dry out and that can't be a bad thing.
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As has already been hinted at, for anyone who is having problems the most effective modification that can be made is to take the heating circuit away from the starter switch.. On most boats the heaters will turn off as soon as the starter is engaged, far better if you modify the electrical circuit so that the 'heat' position has it's own dedicated switch or button so that the heaters can be left energised after the engine has reluctantly started..
I have done this 'mod' on several boats, it makes a big difference.. Keep the button pressed until the white smoke* disappears..
*Note, not smoke at all but unburned fuel.
Mooring on pilings
in General Boating
Posted · Edited by John Orentas
After 30 + years of narrowboating I finally cracked this problem during the final couple of years.. Mooring pins in the towpath are not good as they can damage the structure of the bank and can be a danger to walkers at night.. As the use of steel pilling is now close to universal some form of mooring to them is the obvious way to go, hooks can be OK but they are a bit vulnerable to being kicked off by vandals, simply falling off as mooring lines slacken, or just pinched.. Anyway I have never quite trusted them..
That leaves Goat Chains, I managed to keep the same pair for 20 years but deploying them when the grass was wet or in a doggy walkies area is not pleasant..
I devised a method which not only dispensed with the need to kneel on the ground but it does not even require bending down, it needs no more than a '2 ft stick with a hook on the end', I acquired a particularly short window pole some time ago.
Dangle one end of the chain behind the horizontal element of the pilling* using one hand, with the other, hook the hanging ring of the chain and pull it upward so the two rings are together.. "I have always favoured the use of old climbing rope for mooring lines", so create a loop in the line and push it through both rings and then take it back to your bollard or 'T' stud and pass it over.. Tie off in the usual way but note that you now have 4 lines, boat to bank..
*Sometimes to prevent jambing of the chain it is better to select a gap in the pilling that has a tie-rod passing through it..
Goat Chain:- 3-4 feet length of open linked chain, each end fitted with a ring 2-3 inch dia. ring fabricated from typ. 6mm dia m/s round bar.
Reading this you will say, Hmm bloody obvious I knew that.. But try it, it will change your life..