gbclive

OK, thanks.

Care to share? You’re not wrong - they are like hens teeth?

Just a thought - have you added weight up high, say on top of the boat? This will tend to reduce the stability. To have the most stabilising effect, ballast needs to be as low as possible, preferably on the base plate. Another vote for this. Have you checked under the floor at various points to check it is dry? Any water would reduce stability.

Thanks Mike - sorry, I missed that part of the thread.

We left our boat temporally (?) at Furness Vale Marina a few weeks ago and hope to rescue it next week by heading back down the Macclesfield. With a draft of 31”, should I be concerned about CRT’s ability to maintain levels for a week or so once the stop planks at bridge 29 have been removed? Is Toddbrook the only supply? There has been talk of the feeder being damaged and of course there is a dwindling amount of water in the reservoir. Thanks.

Thanks - originally the panel trim was narrow and dark brown. Craig, who is the forman at RW Davis, suggested machining rebated oak capping trim to fit over the original and this was treated with Blackfriars Danish Oil. Obviously not a cheep job, but definitely helped transform the interior. Photo for comparison. Very much personal choice? The ceiling is gloss cream for good reflectivity and works well for us. However, the galley cupboards are eggshell cream (Insides gloss white). Sides above the gunwale are eggshell magnolia. T&G sides below gunwale are darkish eggshell maroon. The new floor was a darker hardwood treated with Rustins Floor Oil. Incidentally, cream rather than pure white is a traditional choice for classic lumpy water boats.

Could you please provide more info on why you purchased these fittings and for what purpose. ie what is their purpose on your boat, assuming they are for your boat? The better the information, the easier it will be for you to get some useful advice and perhaps some suggestions for some more suitable fittings. Photographs are often very useful to help explain things clearly.

Yep - about four years ago we decided to paint over the sides above gunwale level and ceiling which were both originally darkly scumbled and no issues have occurred so far Incidentally, very pleased with the much lighter cabin that resulted. Personally I feel that a contrasting colour is needed against large areas of magnolia / cream. In our case, a dark maroon for the T & G below the gunwale.

This might be not be relevant, but I have a version of the CAV BPE2B pump fitted to our 1948 Kelvin J2 The capacity of the oil sump is just a tad over 25ml, measured with a medical syringe during regular replacement - probably every 50H or so when the dipstick indicates higher than max due to dilution by fuel. Obviously a 3 cylinder pump could have a higher capacity, but even so, nearly half a litre seems very high by comparison, even with a lot of dilution. Perhaps yours is not a CAV BPE pump as quoted by the OP? Or maybe the installation in a Lister is radically different? The most likely explanation is that in my case, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing?

Thanks Nigel - I’ve just happen to have recently bought some Loctite 243 which is Medium Strength and oil tolerant, which I guess should suffice.

Thanks Nigel - my angst level has dropped considerably. I’ll bear that in mind in future - interesting historical context.

Thanks Mike, I can see what you mean - so probably a non-problem except for the slight chance of the machine screws working loose? I like non-problems? So now I can get on with my next post which will concern replacing the water pump hydraulic seal as the existing one is leaking progressively worse, after about four years use since the ram was machined, then chrome plated back to size and the packing replaced with a hydraulic seal. A tiddly job for the engineers here, but I am only just above “rank amateur” level, so appreciate some hand holding?

Thanks John, will do.

Thanks John, when you say “different threads”, do you mean that the threads of the two machine screws might be different from each other? If so, the photos are close up wide angle views, so unfortunately there is quite a bit of visual distortion.

Thanks Barry, that all makes sense. Re your question concerning sufficient clearance between the curved part of the rod and the M.screw to clear the flanks of the nut so it sits without cutting into the rod - I’m not certain, but perhaps not? Hopefully, comparison with other J engines.will shed some light on this.

Whilst planning my next job of replacing the modified water pump hydraulic seal on our J2, I photographed the whole water pump assembly, including the difficult to see components and discovered something odd about the top bearing of the water pump rod upper end. My parts list shows the rod cap with its thimble mini reservoir, should be secured with two bolts inserted from below, with two nuts above secured with locking wire. I discovered that mine only has two bolts inserted from above - that’s it, with the threaded end of the bolts visible protruding below and no obvious indication that nuts have ever been fitted. I tried a socket on the two bolts and thankfully they seem tight. The engine is a 1948 build and had a professional partial rebuild about 4 years ago and this included removal of the water pump for modification of the ram and seal. It’s done about 1,500 hours since then. What am I missing? Is this normal on some engines? I’ll attach some photos and would really appreciate your thoughts or explanations. Thanks.

I have similar Kidde CO alarms. I appreciate that on a boat, it is difficult, or even impossible sometimes to comply with all of the normal recommendations for domestic installations. So I also read the BSS advice for boat insulation’s, then settled on what I felt was the best set of practical compromises. I sense I placed more emphasis on avoiding dead spaces, but probably had to compromise in other respects. Incidentally, my Kidde manual includes the following advice: If wall-mounting, install at eye-level (approx1.5m), and at least 30cm from adjoining walls or ceiling. Do not wall-mount within 30cm of the ceiling, as this is a “dead air” space.

OK Martyn, I guess it depends on the individual location and construction. We have some shelves under cabinets, which are clearly dead space to some extent.

Just a thought - isn’t there a risk that a shelf might be an area of “dead air” and thus increase the response time?

Hi Mark. Nominal 480W, tilting + MPPT. As I think MtB succinctly commented recently, whatever you have, it will be often be too much in the summer and not enough in the winter? I find that any extra that you can manage buys you contentment on really dull days when the cloud is 30,000 feet thick, or when shadows conspire against you, or when the earth inconsiderately tilts its self away from the sun? Also, although tilting panels are aesthetically challenging and not really appropriate for your fine vessel, they do help to grab useful electrons (photons?) early morning and late evening, assuming you have moored on an appropriate heading and in an solar friendly location?

You’re probably not wrong? Thanks Tony - I meant that I would try the Pella for the diesel, not the 12v pump, which ISTR is not approved for fuel, only oil. But thanks for the heads up on issues using electric pumps for fuel tank sediments - a clear winner for manual suction over electric. So I’ll rescue the Pella from the loft, give it a clean and re-allocate it for fuel tank duties. Problem solved?

Thanks for the suggestion - I’m probably uniquely incompetent, but I did not get on with my highly recommended Pella pump for emptying the oil sump of our Kelvin. I ran out of hands to hold the container steady, hold the pump cylinder in place on top of its reservoir, then pump the pump whilst holding the suction pipe accurately in place (what a mess!). So for that job I now successfully use a Lidl 12V oil pump? As I have one, I’ll give it a try, but it will need to be either a “2 crew” or 1 octopus operation. Any other recommendations please?

Sorry for the slight highjack - I’d appreciate any recommendations for a suitable manual or 12v pump or siphon to remove any water found from a trad stern fuel tank. Also to take samples to visually inspect the fuel from the bottom of the tank, to supplement the water indicating paste that I have on order. Should I opt for a manual or electric solution? Most of the electric pumps I’ve seen for diesel are the submergible type which I’m guessing is less ideal than ones where just a long hose is inserted to various parts of the bottom of the tank? Thanks.

My instinct is that if it were to work at all, it would need much more frequent drenching than every half hour, as I think it would dry out quite quickly on a hot day. The soaked blankets kept wet sounds a little more plausible to me. But again relative humidity and wind speed would have a big influence on the outcome.

This video explains why portable or mobile units are very inefficient compared with proper plumbed in units. Just out of interest, what sort of solar setup are you planning?