Bloomsberry
-
Posts
393 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Blogs
Store
Posts posted by Bloomsberry
-
-
Would an out of alignment prop shaft cause water to pass between the packing and the shaft ? Heard this can be tested by how easy the prop shaft is to turn by hand.
-
Update - Resolved , the problem turned out to be the dipstick itself.
The dipstick has a mechanism that expands a plastic taper that is used to hold it in place. It is expanded by turning the dipstick handle whilst holding the dipstick body still and there is a screw thread that pulls the plastic taper closer to the top of the dipstick forcing it to expand and lock it in place.
On my dipstick the taper was expanded but not enough to hold it in place so a turn on the handle has now locked it so shouldn't now pop out during running.
It does actually mention this in the manual which is a bit annoying, must remember to read the manual properly next time.
-
1
-
-
9 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:
Thinking about it a bit more: if you have a push in dipstick then its not likely to be waterproof so any pipe on the breather only needs to be higher than the dipstick. It will save you £30
Thanks Tony, that sounds like a better idea, I've got some plastic tubing that may fit so will give it a try.
-
Managed to remove the breather, it was a bit chewed so looks as if some else has had a go at it in the past.
Cleaned it down and tried to blow through it but couldn't.
I've read that some breathers only allow air to pass at a certain pressure, but the dipstick isn't locked in place so can't see this being the case for a 71C as any pressure would be possible to lift the dipstick which is what is happening
ASAP do a replacement breather for a 71C for £31 so I'm going to order one and see how it goes.
-
23 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:
The breather should vent the gearbox housing volume above the oil so if it is blocked the dipstick could blow out BUT all the 71Cs U have seen had a crude screw in plug with dip stick attached. I can't see how those would blow out, the oil seals would probably blow.. But that was years ago so it may have changed.
PS - the boxes I knew may have been 72Cs so maybe the 71C did have a push in dipstick that tended to blow out.
Thanks Tony, the breather doesn't look too difficult to remove so will have a go at it next time I'm on the boat.
-
Having problems with my Borg Warner Velvet drive (71C) with the dipstick blowing out during running. Thought I'd cracked it when I realised the oil level has to be checked when at temperature but did this and is still doing it. There is a breather located nearby, can't see in the manual if this is related to the dipstick cavity (?). Does anyone know if this could be the cause of the issue if this was blocked ?
-
14 hours ago, Sea Dog said:
Ah, I agree that sentiment, but I've just not taken it quite so far. That said, whilst I've not had a BSS inspector taking a such a close up look at my own waterline, I think there are some other boaters here who've been tempted to make that happen!
I've got my BSS next week and I've been spending lots of time cleaning the boat out and making it look presentable. TBH it has been way overdue so was a good opportunity to give it a good clean out, it's amazing how many things you find that have been lost for a long while.
Can't believe it's the same boat !
-
4 hours ago, watchfuleye said:
Hi
The '4mm' minimum thickness is a complete misnomer. Insurers do not stipulate any thickness, they just go on what the surveyor says, and there are no guidelines on steel thicknesses for narrowboats anywhere. The 4mm idea has just gained momentum when it has no foundation in truth. There's even a YouTube vid somewhere of a surveyor giving a guided tour of a "pre-purchase" survey of a conventional narrowboat, at a brokerage, 6mm sided, some pitting around 2.0mmm and he says overplate the lot - everything - even the swims where there's no pitting. Total nonsense. The better approach is sand blast all plating. Backfill deeper pits (those deeper than 2.0mm) and maybe reinforce aft shoulders etc with doubled plates if worn. Maybe dress and re-weld vertical seams where worn. Epoxy coat. Boat will last.
Sure, overplating has it's place when someone wants to rescue one that's gone too far, and Martin does a good job too, but this 4.0mm thing is total bollocks.
If you don't believe me call your insurer and ask them. Ask them what they consider is satisfactory for a minimum steel thickness for a steel boat. They don't know. Boats are all kinds of thicknesses for various reasons. Many 3mm Springers are still fine now if they have been cared for, and they don't fail surveys (or shouldn't be...)...
I totally agree, it is B******x. But if the boat is over a certain age, insurers insist on a 'Satisfactory' survey for fully comp insurance.
And so it is up to the surveyor to determine what minimum hull thickness is acceptable.
Maybe when booking a surveyor for an insurance survey you need to ascertain what the minimum hull thickness size is they are willing to accept, and if the answer is not less than 4mm then look for another surveyor ?
-
Interesting, so the decision to determine whether a boat is insurable or not is influenced by the original thickness of the hull and not the actual thickness eg 3.9mm is ok on a hull originally 4mm but not on a hull originally 6mm ?
-
4 minutes ago, Martin Kedian said:
I agree 6 mm is the correct thickness
the only time I would use less is on a boat like a small springer which sometimes is made in 4 mm to being with
a survey on a boat of this thickness allows it to be restored to its original thickness
So does this mean any slight corrosion on a Springer with 4mm plate would take the thickness below 4mm and hence rendering the vessel uninsurable ?
-
On 17/12/2018 at 22:36, Martin Kedian said:
The minimum thickness is 6 mm as this gives longevity most new boats are built in 6 mm this includes the base plate
some people over plate in 5 mm but I don’t think this is good practice
I've seen overplating using 4mm plate advertised which seems a bit short sighted with 4mm being what the surveyors consider as being the minimum thickness
-
Kitchen foil is excellent at deflecting heat although it wouldn't look too great
-
Thanks for the replies
My main concern was the possibility of there being water in the cavity between the overplate and the hull, which would cause corrosion on the unprotected surfaces which would slowley get worse over time.
As long as the cavity is dry then all is good (for now).
Also, having the ability to check if there's water between the hull and overplate in the future is a re-assurance and if this is done prior to docking for blacking then arrangements can be made to repair if there are any breachs.
-
A hull insurance survey on my overplated boat a few years ago revealed that some of the welds of the overplating were 'undercut' and needed re-welding. Surveyor wanted the cavity of the overplating pressurised after the work to test it's integrity. However, the boatyard doing the work recommended against this as it risked damaging the overplating. In the end the work was done without pressurising and opted for 3rd party insurance instead as the boat is quite old now anyway.
So I was wondering the best method of checking the integrity of the cavity which obviously means penetrating the overplating from either the outside or within the boat. In the end I decided to drill a small hole from the inside of the boat to the cavity whilst the boat was in the water which would show if there was a leak from the outside. I was ready to quickly tap the hole if water was present and plug up using a countersunk pin.
There are 6 main areas of overplating on the boat so located a point inside the boat for each , below the waterline and drilled a small hole in each. I put some tape on the drill to give me an idea when the drill had passed through the hull itself. I was half expecting there to be some breach in the welds but as it happened each cavity was completly dry with no water at all which I was relieved at. So I tapped each hole and put a countersunk pin in each that can be readily removed when testing the integrity again, probably prior to taking the boat out for blacking so any breach can be addressed also.
Has anyone else done this to their overplated boat ?
-
There is a rattling noise from the gearbox/driveplate area on my boat, I've had the noise for 2 years now.
Gearbox is a borg warner 71C and acts as the front engine mounts so taking it apart in situ is not an option, I think the engine will need removing.
I have parts replacement cover with RCR but they will only attend on a complete failure so have the choice of either sorting it out myself or waiting until failure and contacting RCR.
-
I've used interzone 954 and their data sheet just specifies a hard dry time of 18 hrs @15C and 8 hrs @23C
it doesn't mention any additional time to cure apart from this
For the record there were 24hrs between coats and immersion in water.
-
I read a book once that states the lifespan of a narrowboat engine is between 10 to 20 years.
I suppose it all depends on amount of usage and maintenance.
-
1 hour ago, Dr Bob said:
Be very carful with that statement. It CAN be used on splash zones and for TIDAL immersion within 30mins of application but not full immersion. This coating contains 15% solvent and this has to come out before full cure is achieved. It will in a tidal situation where the coating will be exposed when the tide goes out. The solvent cannot get out if under water. Don't paint the bottom of a boat and put it straight back in the water. Let it fully cure first.
Ok, thanks for that.
It does say ' continued cure under immersed conditions' which I assumed would be full immersion but it does state tidal which obviously isn't relevant to my situation.
It states 18 hours for hard dry at 15C so will stick to this next time. Thanks again.
-
My local chandlery only had one 2 pack epoxy in stock, interzone 954. Read up on it's performance and it was quite encouraging so decided to use it on my boat.
I did the preperation myself as the dock doesn't allow blasting, it was quite time consuming but got the important areas covered in the end ie. waterline, weld seams, badly pitted areas etc.
It's been on 2 years now and there are no visible signs of any failure. It's going back in the dock in July so I should have a better idea of it's performance and treat some of the areas that didn't get done last time.
No need to worry about drying times with 954, it cures underwater so a coat can even be put on prior to it going back in the water.
-
Up to date river levels can be checked here
https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/river-and-sea-levels
-
I used a recording of bird distress calls off youtube to get rid of noisy starlings on the roof of my house.
Not sure if you're neighbours will appreciate it though !
-
On 23/11/2017 at 21:48, ditchcrawler said:
When our boat was repainted I bought a load of small tins from ebay and decanted the paint into them, I found it kept really well http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250ml-500ml-1L-2-5L-5L-Empty-New-Lever-Lid-Tins-Paint-Tin-Metal-Paints-Varnish/222480559456?hash=item33ccdfed60:m:mNjgbNDkP8JvR62Lo8EGYug
I've done similar with jars from a pound shop and store them upside down. When opened the paint was as good as when the paint was transferred to them. But if you use them again and paint gets in the threads and the jars become impossible to open. I think tins are the best way to go as they can be prised open.
-
I did mine in interzone954 after a number of very dissappointing results using bitumen, it's evil stuff and even cures underwater.
The surface has to be prepared down to bare metal using a rotary blaster or similar, very time consuming.
In 3 days I only had time to do the waterline, weld seams and pitted areas .
It was done 16 months ago and is still intact with no trace of any failure.
It's coming out again next year to inspect it more closely and tidy up any dodgy areas and treat areas that weren't got to the last time.
-
Can you cancel though ? It's very short notice and I'd have thought you'd at least lose a deposit ?
SML Ballastic Black
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted
Is there another boat in the dock at the same time, as the washing of this will be splashing water on your boat too, so might have to wait until the washing of this has been completed.