Jump to content

CygnusV

Member
  • Posts

    139
  • Joined

  • Last visited

1 Follower

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://www.stuhaynes.com

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Doncaster
  • Occupation
    retired
  • Boat Name
    Cygnus
  • Boat Location
    Doncaster

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

CygnusV's Achievements

Collaborator

Collaborator (5/12)

2

Reputation

  1. Sorry I  have literally just seen your post! Do you still need help? Stu

  2. Hi, can anyone recommend a decent Webasto repairer? Heater lies between Doncaster and Goole. Many thanks
  3. No, but a boat that I think has got potential has been seized and if it were to be sold I might well be interested if the legal owner has given it up.
  4. Does anyone know where (in Yorkshire ) CaRT store boats seized under the section 8 ruling?
  5. A couple or 3 years ago I went through agonies with our very excellent Johnson 5.2GPH water pump. This was a period when we went through maybe 4 replacements under guarantee in a year. Every time it was the pressure switch at fault. I had confidence in the pump but not the switch. Even after all the replacements, I was offered a refund from Helen at Stanilands but chose to find a solution because the pump was so good. I did find a brilliant electronic cure for the 'back emf' causing the problem, and also found the brilliant Square D Pumptrol 30-50 pressure switch. As live aboards our pumps work hard. Just today, after a lot of use, the first set of contacts on our Square D has started to stick. No problem, moved 2 wires to the spare contact set inside the original unit and after perhaps 3 years of abuse it's off again. I no longer have a spare set of contacts in the Square D, so want to buy a spare unit. I can't find a UK supplier with stock. I should have kept details of the original UK supplier but didn't. Has anyone reading this bought one recently? If so I'd appreciate the suppliers details. If no-one here knows, I can buy one in the States easily, but would much rather buy a replacement here. TIA, Stu
  6. Thanks for all the replies, very helpful I did not premix the antifreeze, I put most of the antifreeze in first (retaining enough for the header tank) and then filled with water. I properly bled all the air out at the high points. As Mike the boilerman suspects both pipes go into the bottom of the rail and these pipes are lower than the back boiler. I'm using a Johnson pump connected via a PWM and a thermistor on the hot outlet. I did this to quieten the pump but also to reduce the water flow. I found the clear water in the towel rail quite by accident, and have taken the same action as dor in reply #11. I'm removing water from the rail via the top bleed screw and you can easily feel the rad getting hotter with each 1/2 pint removed. All liquid removed returned via the header tank so as not to dilute the mix.
  7. After 15 years we finally fitted central heating! Wow!.. except... we have a curious situation with one towel rail. OK, description:- Boatman stove. Retro fitted back boiler from Harworth heating One gravity radiator in bow bedroom One (nice) towel rail in loo/shower 5 feet of bare copper 22mm in wheelhouse, wardrobe and behind bunk 10 litre Eber plastic tank as header tank. Total capacity ot the system is probably about 25 litres incl the header. 5 litres of Bluecol added All working fine, except.. The towel rail is the lowest radiator onboard, on the same level as our drain cock towards the stern. It was warm enough when we fired the system up, and then wasn't. Over a week or so I bled air away to the point where there wasn'y any left anywhere. Left it alone for 10 days and still no action from this towel rail / rad. I thought there might be more air (there wasn't) trapped, so bled out a full pint of liquid from this rad... and then it dawned on me that the water was clear, not blue. Seeing this I continued to bleed the rad, the more I took out, the higher the heat got in the rad. When the heat got to the top I thought I'd cracked it. It seemed that there might be a liquid density problem. It worked for a little while and then the problem returned. I've just repeated the water (not air ) bleeding excercise and everything in the towel rail is happy again Do you think that there is trapped water somewhere, or is the antifreeze seperating somehow? I'm a bit stumpted
  8. I've played around with making my own bread for ages now, but was never that impressed however I made it. My mushroom shaped loaves tasted okay, but the crust could break your teeth if you toasted it. This was especially true with my sourdough bread. I decided to treat myself at Christmas to a Pullman loaf tin and have made white, wholemeal, various seeded and sourdough breads with it since getting it. These are all sandwich loaves and they've all been excellent! Really nice sandwich bread that also makes toast perfectly, crispy crunch crust but no dental damage. We've actually stopped buying commercial bread and now make all our own. I bought the Pullman tin from bakerybits.co.uk (no connection) I got the smaller one they offer as we only have a small oven. The tin itself is very good quality and (I hope) should last for years. The tin has a sliding lid which acts as an oven in its own right. The following basic white bread recipe works really well for me and I'm well impressed with the result. I also bought a non electronic stick in thermometer which I found helpful and a proper teaspoon / tablespoon measure. Recipe. 450 grammes Allinson strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting. 270 grammes (ml's) water 25 grammes butter 1 tsp sugar (not essential but I found it speeds thing up in none sourdough bread) 1 tsp salt 2 tsp's Allinson dried yeast You'll need to adjust quantities for the larger tin they supply. Warm your mixing bowl by swilling hot water around.it. Empty the bowl and add 270 grammes of water heated to around 30 - 40 degrees (no hotter) centigrade. Measure the water temperature when in the bowl ensuring that the temperature remains between 30 and 40 centigrade. Add the sugar and the yeast. Stir well to dissolve. Add the salt to the measured bread flour and add to the mixing bowl. Mix with a wooden or plastic spoon to combine. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the bowl. Transfer the raw dough to a floured surface and knead for 2 minutes only. Dust the bowl and place the roughly kneaded dough back in there. Allow the dough to stand for 15 minutes covered with clingfilm. While covered stick the thermometer into the dough to make sure its temperature is around 30 degrees. After 15 minutes is up, transfer the dough back to your floured surface and knead for 8 minutes. Place back in the bowl and allow to rise for between 30 and 45 minutes. I keep the area warm and after 30 minutes the dough trying to get out of the bowl. Butter the Pullman tin, including the lid and place in a warm spot. After this first rising remove the dough and knock it back down. Place it in the Pullman tin and use your knuckles to press the dough evenly across the bottom of the tin. Cover the tin with the clingfilm from your mixing bowl and place the tin in a warm place. The dough will rise fairly quickly so keep an eye on it. When it has risen about 3/4 of the way up the tin preheat your oven to 200C. As the dough gets almost to the top of the tin remove the clingfilm and slide the lid closed. When the oven is ready slide the tin in for 25 minutes by which time the bread should be ready. Check with your thermometer that the internal temperature in the centre of the loaf is over 93 degrees. In our oven, after 25 minutes the bread hits around 98 - 100 degrees. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. It should taste great and the toast will be excellent! We usually allow the loaf to cool, slice, have a slice apiece with butter and freeze the rest. Just for information, make sure your yeast is in date. Allinsons will store for a year or more - until you open it. Once opened it should be kept in a fridge and used within 4 months.
  9. We've had our Boatman for 12 years, and initially had problems keeping it alight all night. Although we improved it experimenting with different fuels, it wasn't until we'd had it for a couple of years that we realised what the real problem was. This may sound a bit silly, but I didn't realise how VITAL it is that the chimney seal at the top of the stove should be 100% leak free. Instead of drawing air from the bottom of the stove, through the fuel, air was being drawn in at the joint between the chimney reducing the essential draw. I cured this problem by knocking half inch fire proof rope 'wetted' with chimney sealer into the joint. Using certain fuel 'nuggets' we can easily get 16 hours heat. When it's very cold we tend to use a mix of fuels that always contains either pet-coke or anthracite, neither of which was any good until I sealed the chimney. We too found the ash tray no good so ditched it. One small criticism is the lack of a suitable back boiler. I ought to speak to Eddie to see if he's made one available yet. If I'd thought about it at the time I would have bought the version with the boiler already fitted. I'm not prepared to replace our existing stove for the sake of the back boiler. I may have to have one made. All in all I think the Boatman stove is a good bit of kit that would be made so much better if the small gripes mentioned and the aftermarket back boiler question was addressed. It still gets my thumbs up.
  10. 3 weeks ago 60/40 at Burton Waters was 99p per litre. I was quite surprised that they also sell (very expensive) petrol
  11. I don't know how old our 3 way ( chest type ) fridge is but it still works very well. The only problem is the door seal which needs replacing. Anyone know if these seals are still available?
  12. Currently two boats under construction at Stanilands, one is a large private self build that's going well. The other is bigger still and housed in one of the blue sheds. I've been told that this 2nd boat is being built by a commercial concern that has relocated to Stanilands. After Bob French's sad passing it'll be great to see the yard's boat building past being continued into the future. Good luck to all concerned
  13. Thank you all who have given safe and accurate advice about this trip. This forums advice is mostly excellent in giving a snapshot of others experience and nuggets of pure gold at times. As we are new to the Ouse, and given the problem at Ocean lock, we've decided to defer Ripon until next season and get more river experience first. I'm saving this thread so that I can refer to it before we make the trip.
  14. Hi Naughty Cal I actually did a search to see if this had been previously mentioned, but was obviously looking for the wrong keyword. I only found out about this problem yesterday and was very concerned because of our plans for an extended cruise next month. These plans include returning to base via Ocean lock. As total newbies to the Ouse it is a concern for us.
  15. Thanks Larshall, I did search, but as many '3' users know right now, the internet on board is iffy, at best, at present. We're doing the Ouse for the first time, Naburn to Ocean Lock back end of July or early August and wanted to arrive at Ocean lock at the best time to be there. Just looking for advice.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.