Theo

Theodora's Kestrel alternator controller has a black button on the side. What is it for? Nick

I would concur with this but theodora's BMC 1.5 has not got any power to the glow plugs so I have not tried the glow plugs on/ tickover option. Nick

Theodora has Raw Water cooling. This arrangement has an intake for canal water which then goes to a heat interchanger to cool the water flowing around the engine. The reason for this complication is that you would not want dirty canal water flowing through the engine castings. This water is in a closed cycle and can be treated with antifreeze/inhibitor just like the water in a car radiator. Some narrowboats have a similar arrangement even though they have a skin tank. I have read that this is pointless and would tend to agree. There could be a theoretical advantage in this arrangment in that you have a smaller mass of water in the engine circulation which can quickly rise to the correct working temperature but I still think that you will get a close approximation to this with a single circuit and a decent thermostat. all the best Nick

The term "coolant" here means heat transfer fluid. But you could always use a refrigereation unit to make the radiators cold. Trouble is I would have cold feet and a hot head. Now that reminds me... Nick

Why is the weed hatch in the deck ridiculous? I have found access to it very difficult and it seemed like quite a good idea. Nick

Could you let me into the secret? Wots a dynostart?

As I mentioned in one of my early posts before Christmas, the temperature of liquid fresh water at atmospheric pressure cannot be significantly lower than zero Celsius. This means that if your engine space is not insulated below the water line it is highly unlikely to freeze unless there is lots of ice on the cut. In Theodora I am likely to be losing a lot of heat through the rather badly fitting board covering the engine space. Losing it to the air, that is. The air, of course, can be as cold as you like. This lost heat will mean that there has to be heat flowing into the engine space from the surrounding cut and will be conducting through the steel hull. All this theory did not stop me getting panicked last night and driving 35mins at 2100 to check that the old girl is OK. She was, and when I measured the temperature I found that even the air temperature was only just on zero. I have left a max/min thermometer in the engine space just to check. Theodora is a little more difficult to protect than more modern boats. She has a raw water cooling system and the only way that I have discovered to protect that is to open up the mud box, poor in a pint or two of antifreeze and then run the engine to pump it through the system. The difficult thing is to know how long to run the engine. Tomorrow when we go down to start really working on her I will take some fluorescein powder, mix up a strong solution and time how long it takes for the colour to appear in the water coming from the exhaust pipe. Nick

Got it, thanks all. Nick

I feel rather foolish! Of course you won't! Nick

One of the items associated with the Mikuni is what looks like a battery powered thermostat and time switch. It is not wired in at the moment but I would like to recommission it. If anyone has a set of instructions that they could scan and email to me I would be most grateful. TIA Nick

I find the flicker (50Hz or 25Hz or even 100hz? Someone will tell me.) rather trying. You don't get that with incandescents because the filament can't cool down quickly enough, but I haven't been on a boat which is fitted with them so modern ones might be better than the gangway illuminators in our local cinema. How do you find the type of light that you get with them? Nick

If yo are really concerend about the GI problem why not use photovoltaics? See Tom and Sophie's thread. Nick

There is very low head on the inlet to the pump (measured in inces in the usual way of things). When I changed mine I got SWMBO to put her thumb over the end of the pipe while I did whatever was necessary. No isolator required. When we needed to leave the boat befre the job was complete I tied the end of the pipe up at a level where the water did not flow out. Nick

Or you could get two and connect them in parallel and add the readings. Nick

Sounds a great ideea but I am not biting at this bait just yet! I hope someone else does, though. Nick

Might I gently hint that you need to have a long fuse in this forum? When someone annoys you, just leave the computer and go and have a nice cup of coffee and a cuddle with your nearest and dearest. When you come back it will not seem half as bad!. Much love Nick

No plans, yet, Supermalc. Theodora needs a lot of work before we do any serious cruising. I retire in July and then we will make plans for an uberlength cruise (A year or so) and then I am sure that we will be down your way. Nick

How big are your solar panels? Have you got them tilted towards the sun? I am finding myself very interested in some. Nick

As far as I can see, the main advantage of the crumpet (pikelet) is the fact that they absorb huse quantities of melted butter. Upon biting into the pikelet, the melted butter squeezes out and runs down your chin. If it does not then there is not enough butter on it. Nick Just a thought. You don't suppose that we've all been had and that Andy was pulling out collective leg? He might be a really nice chap but doesn't know about smiley emoticons. Nick

The confusion is between Harry Corbett, a Mancunian, who used to do Sooty, and Harry H Corbett who was the Bargee and Harold Steptoe. Nick

had a look behind theodora's stove to check. There is 1 1/2" of air spce behind the ply to which the tiles are attached. Seems ok. N

I think that I will go away and shoot myself. I really should know better! N