Bloomsberry
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Posts posted by Bloomsberry
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An end mooring came available recently and as I was at the top of the waiting list managed to get it. However , the mooring is opposite some reeds where the marina cats like to hang out and the smell of cat pee is quite frequent. Keeping the windows shut on that side of the boat cures it but it's not a great situation.
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Its a four cylinder four stroke engine so you will get two power strokes per revolution. If you are sure you are accurate the 150 phuts a minute equates to 300 rpm and I doubt a BMC would idle at 300 rpm, let alone when in gear - even with the bulk ring added to the flywheel.
Best Google the forum for how to use a cheap cycle computer as a rev counter or just set it by ear so it sounds OK but does not hurtle along on idle.
Thanks for the reply , Tony.
I've got some old video footage taken 4 years ago and the idle speed then with the engine warmed up was 285 phuts/min which will equates to 570 rpm which sounds ok. Nothing has been altered to the engine since so don't think anything would have changed to effect this.
I assume the engine idles slowly when cold so maybe I need to let the engine run a bit longer and warm up a bit before setting off.
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I did mine simply by creating a wooden frame around it and using sikaflex to fix it to the hull. Passed the BSS inspection ok.
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A couple of questions
1) What is the correct idling speed for a BMC 1.5 ? The manual has this as between 500 - 600 rpm but wasn't sure if there is a different range for when it's installed in a narrowboat.
2) How can you tell the RPM of an engine from the exhaust sound.
The reason I ask is because my BMC 1.5 cut out when put into neutral yesterday before I set off, first time it has done this in 5 years. It started ok after it ran a while but I have always thought that the idling speed was too low anyway.From the exhaust sound when idling , it does 150 'phuts' a minute, does this equate to 150 rpm ? Would you recommend increasing this ?
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I use the deck stuff, the rough bits are to stop you slipping which is important.
The deck area gets walked on regularly so is going to get dirty anyway so I wouldn't waste too much time worrying about it's appearance.
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the 'adhesion' won't be proved or disproved for several years, when the underlying steel may or may not have rusted, blowing off the coating.
Ok, I think I'll scrap that plan then.
One alternative I thought of was to do small epoxy mixes which will give me reduced time between prep & application. Probably have to be careful to get an accurate mix though.
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How resistant is coal tar blacking to diesel on the water?
Maybe put a stripe of it at the waterline? (on bare metal as it's not supposed to go over bitumen)
If you're going to the bother of going back to bare metal then why not use epoxy, I assume epoxy is going to be more hard wearing than coal tar.
I've already got the epoxy for my 'experiment' (see post 8) so to get a bit of confidence with it I'm planning on mixing a small amount and applying this to some exposed metailic area of the boat, possibly in the engine room.
I'm planning on preparing 3 areas.
1) Wire brush
2) 40 grit flap disc in grinder
3) Tercoo Blaster
I'll be applying the expoxy to all 3 areas then see what the adhesion is like say a week later ?
Not sure how accurately this will reflect a real life situation although bare metal is bare metal so I wouldn't have thought it would vary that much.
I'll let you know how much success (or failure) each application has been.
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you'd never complete enough in one morning to make it worthwhile applying the epoxy.
International Paint Guide:
Existing coatings: Removal by abrasive blasting is most effective; hand and power tool cleaning methods are also possible but much more labour intensive and best suited to small areas.
Rust: Should ideally be removed by abrasive blasting prior to coating but the extent of removal required will depend on the coating system to be applied. Hand and power tool methods are also possible but again, are more labour intensive and best suited to small areas.
Maybe , but you wouldn't offer needle gunning as a prep method for a professional epoxy blacking if it gave failed results, the buisiness wouldn't last long if it did. Blasting might be the most ideal method but there may be other methods that give satisfactory results.
Personally I'd like to hear opinions from people who have actually tried alternative methods of preping prior to epoxy blacking and hear what success/failures they have.
I find it hard to believe I am the only boater who's prepared to use hand tools to prepare a hull prior to applying epoxy blacking.
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quote from Cirrus: Perago discs should NEVER be used in an angle grinder as the very high rotational speeds of this type of machine will cause severe vibration problems and the premature break up of the disk.
breaking up at angle grinder speed could cause you life-changing injuries.
It should be borne in mind that grit/sand blasting does not just clean the steel - it also produces a microscopically pitted surface profile that is ideal for bonding of paint.
Surface rust will appear within a few hours of blasting or of any other form of surface preparation unless you live in a desert with 0% humidity. High performance systems are compromised by surface rust. Blasting allows a complete hull (or a significant part of a hull) to be prepared and then primed within a few hours. Other forms of surface preparation do not.
I would agree that using an expensive epoxy-based system of steel not prepared by blasting is technically flawed. Whether or not the performance of the coating is affected is a matter of debate.
That's interesting, there is a boat yard I know of that epoxy's boats but prepares the steel by needle gunning.
I would have thought the finish on the metal afterwards would be similar to using the blaster ?
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That's a handy looking tool! Can't help wondering if it would be easier to use and more effective in a grinder than on the end of a drill though. I'd be interested to hear how you get on with it and how the two-pack goes.
It comes on a spindle so is designed to fit in a drill, I think the rotation speed is important as if it goes too fast it can wear/damage the tips ?
I'll let you know how I get on, I'd be interested to hear from other people who have tried other alternative methods to gritblasting and how successful they were.
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My view is if you don't do it properly you will be wasting both time and money unless you have a yard with blasting facilities to hand.. I could be wrong but I don't know anyone who has had success like that.
Ok, but do you know people who have tried and failed and what their method of getting to bare steel was ?
I saw a Tercoo Blaster advertised a while ago so bought one and tried it out.
Does a great job of getting back to bare steel although is a bit time consuming so to do the complete hull isn't really feasible. I'm only planning on doing the waterline and any corrosion spots below the waterline for now depending on how much time I have.
It's got one chance and I'd rather throw my money at attempting a more lasting blacking solution than wasting it on another bitumen job.
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My boat is in a marina
I've had it blacked with Bitumen 3 times in 5 years, twice by boatyards and once myself after a lot of prep.
Each time there was rust at the waterline within 12 months
My location in the marina is at the end of a jetty where diesel on the surface appears to get blown to, it's an end mooring so don't want to move from it.
The boat's coming out again in July and this time I'm planning on doing a DIY epoxy job & see how long that last for.
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I'm off work this morning and popping down to Mercia to check up on my boat & do a few odd jobs, I'll see if I can get any info then.
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Found this in the Burton Mail tonight but not much detail.
Anybody any more information? It happened at 8am this morning and boat was well alight when fire crews arrived apparently. My own boat is there but I have been away all weekend and haven't had chance to check up on it.
http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/Crews-fight-narrowboat-Mercia-Marina/story-29084834-detail/story.html
Edit - Just to add there were no reported injuries according to the report
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Whilst they will try and big themselves up, ultimately swans are vegetarian birds and will back off in the face of humans. We are a big potentially hostile predator, when all is said and done. It's been a long time, but I did help with some swan ringing once. At no point was my arm in danger of breaking
I still wouldn't chance it though, you may come up against some real nutcase who could do some damage.
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What were the measurements of the baseplate thicknesses, were there any to cause concern ?
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And if it does die in the roofspace and starts stinking the boat out , I assume the roof will have to be taken apart to try and find the thing.
Best try and eliminate it before this happens
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And with no grease comes increased wear on the stern tube leading to more leakage.
I'd try and get it replaces as soon as possible.
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Started my BMC 1.5 engine for the first time in about 3 months this week. It is quite old. I gave it 10 seconds of heating and maybe should have give it a bit more as it did turn over quite slowly and grunted a bit but managed to fire first time with a bit of smoke to start with.
I think asking a very cold engine that hasn't been started for a while to start without any resistance is a big ask so think giving it more heating than usual is a good idea.
I'm no expert but I believe engine oil is less viscous at low temperatures so would be a cause of more resistance. -
The BSS (Boat Safety Scheme) inspection is due for our old tub before the end of May and I'm reading through the regulations/guide. I was wondering if anyone here has amusing or interesting tales of woe or joy concerning their inspections that they'd like to share?
It was pointed out to us in Summer that our shower waste pipe just sticking out of a hole was a BSS fail so how on Earth did we get a certificate in Spring 2012 (!) and so we had a proper 'skin fitting' welded there pronto; the idea being that if the boat tilted canal water could enter the hole without a proper skin fitting.
I suspect that our fire extinguishers need re-filling/replacing and have already set down this path; I have read many conflicting opinions on these forums about fire extinguishers (eg. everything's fine if the needle is in the green field) but have come to the conclusion that, as the BSS guide states, if the manufacturer's expiry/replace-by date has gone, any label stuck on afterwards has to be less than 12 months old. So we're getting ours re-filled or renewed.
As far as I know our boat should pass the BSS - any changes we have made since we bought it have only been for the better, but I fear, as with a driving test, the examiner will point out a couple of things at the end. Our starter battery is not secured, so that's another thing I'll have to think about - it certainly hasn't gone anywhere and doesn't bother me (I can't see even with a big crash that it will fall off the shelf) but I suppose we have to get something done about it.
Any gems of advice otherwise? Any obvious things that we should bear in mind? Such as having the old certificate, and old bills to hand showing that eg. when gas pipe & regulator was replaced.
Fire extinguishers - I think as long as the gauge is within limits it should be ok, on my exam last year I was told to shake the contents frequently as the contents tend to compact together.
Batteries - My batteries weren't secured either so I fixed some wooden battens around the box containing it and that was deemed ok.
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-12.2 somewhere in Scotland, coldest temperature recorded in the UK this winter according to the BBC.
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And I bet the stove is quiet heavy too ( 45kg + ??? ). I had to cut mine in half to get the one out of my boat , but then again I'm hopeless at lifting heavy things.
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It's not clear whether the OP was in the lock entrance or in the lock chamber.
The original post does actually state the lock entrance , my mistake, I assumed they meant they were in the lock chamber itself.
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in Technical & Account Support
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Likely reasons
1) A large file - What is the file size of the photos ?
2) A slow upload speed - Check upload speed from taskmanager -> performance -> wifi