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Posts posted by Jak
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26 minutes ago, sueb said:
I did!!!
Yeh. True. Sorry about that! Honestly not sure if it would have helped. But sounds like it might. We discussed this at Wyvern and did wonder. The matress definatley was not interfering with the navigation as was stuffed right up the back of my boat!
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As usual I have a naff, but workable solution. A small cheapo Halfords car battery solar panel. Sits on my hatch and wired directly to the starter battery. So low power that’s fine. I’ve had the setup for years. Never boiled the starter battery and it’s always charged 😊
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If I had RCR membership I definitely would have called them. I don’t. Time to look into it again. So far I’ve managed to fix anything myself 😀
Very grateful to Wyvern, who have always been helpful and friendly. And probably could have charged me much more than they did! Recovery, dry-dock, repair…-
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9 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:
CRT are responsible for what is in the canal. Get them to come and sort it.
Its too late for that now. But seriously. You think if I had called CRT they would have taken responsibility and come out to sort it? Noticed no one else suggested that?
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Its’ well stuck. Wyvern pulled a huge load of springs and stuff out. But no joy. We are docking the boat in the morning as it seems to be the best bet!
Thanks guys.
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Thanks all. Wyvern shipping are sending a boat down to tow me to their yard. Yup. Screwfix do have them in stock too.
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9 minutes ago, dave moore said:
I had one once, luckily only a couple of hundred yards from the boatyard mooring. We craned the stern out of the water by the slipway and I set to work with bolt crops. 20 mins later and it was gone, I fear you may not be so lucky. Might Wyvern Shipping be able to help? Just a thought.
Thanks Dave. I called Wyvern and am waiting for a call back. Homebase doesnt do bolt cutters would you belive?!
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I dont have bolt cutters, but can see I need them. My wire cutters are not man enough.
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It was bound to happen one day. And today is the day. Matress!! Its totally wrapped round the prop. Springs, material, siezed solid. Ive pulled out a handful of wire and material but its still wrapped solid. I just cant shift it.
If I ever needed some help its now. The chance of someone being in Leighton Buzzard this afternoon is remote. So any tips gratefully recieved!
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Why would you want to put an old BMC diesel into a new shell? A modern engine a much better option. Nothing wrong with the old BMC, but its hardly a historic narrowboat engine. Just old…
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Makes sense. Ive got 2 switched lights in the bathroom and BSS never said anything!
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Hi. We have similar caravan 12v LED lighting units and they work well. I replaced all our old lighting with them a couple of years ago.
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Seems like a lot of money for a project boat though.
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This really is very frustrating. That heater in mtb’s link is £110, battery ignition and probably perfect for my simple needs. It looks like sonething like this is perfectly acceptable provided its fitted correctly. @MtB fancy a trip over to Leigton Buzzard with your plumbing and gas kit?
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Reply from the marine heating specialist. They had already said that they will not fit open flue water heaters and are referring to the current Morco range of room sealed systems.
QuoteThank you for your enquiry.The LPG instant water heaters are not suitable for narrowboats, as they are now all rated at around 20kw, which would require a 47kg propane bottle to achieve the required offtake rate.Diesel water heaters need radiators, or alternatively a heat dump, as they cannot cope with the short cycle on calorifier only.Let me know if that is of interest.So that’s a complete blank. And the gas safe LPG man I know said he does not fit open flue heaters either.-
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This is all really interesting. I can see that you can buy referbished open flue heaters and I’m not residential, so perhaps for a simple older boat thats the way to go. I am just reading too many reports of problems with the various expensive diesel heaters and really do not need any rads, just more convenient hot water.
I have a boat gas safe contact (connected up a new cooker a couple of months back) so will run it by him and see what he says. I’m hardly a “competant person” so shouldn’t take the risk of trying it DIY…
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Thanks for this rusty. I’d not thought about the need for another coil. And yes, do want to keep the engine heating which is a great system when cruising. An instant hot water system like yours or Arthur’s sounds ideal. But I am not clear on whether an open flue set-up can be retrofitted or whether I’d need a ”room sealed” set-up now…
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Hi all. I’ve been mulling over this for a long time, and was going back to the back catalogue of posts again. But still not sure of the answer. At least I am now clear what the question is! I’ve a simple boat. Originally 12v only with a Squirrel stove and no rads. Happy with the heating as only a 47 foot boat and stove is close to the middle of the boat. No rads required. I added a simple 240v system with inverter and a few sockets. This also works well with 300w solar and my alternator to fill in the gaps in winter.
What doesn’t work for me is hot water. At the moment is calorifier only and I need to run the engine daily for hot water, which is inconvenient and sub-optimal as I see it. Options?- I read a lot about boaters with diesel water heaters and understand I might use one to heat the calorifier tank. Sounded like a good option. Not hard to fit from the look of the kits I’ve seen, though appears to need a separate exhuast and some posters were critical about reliability and cost of maintenance. But I like the idea of running on a timer for an hour or so a day and looks like they run on 12v..
- Paloma / Morco open flue. Lots of boats my age (1989) have these fitted for instant hot water to taps and shower. Some say they eat gas. And its not at all clear if they can be fitted by a boat safe gas engineer now. Or not clear to me anyway! There are more advanced heaters without open flue, but I have power limitations and have read these need the sort of 240v I would not want to give.
So whats’ the practical and realistically priced solution to supplement or replace the engine / calorifier set-up which just sucks!
Thanks once more for your experience and advice 👍
Jak.
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Haven Knox-Johnston £187. Policy looks good, though I’ve never needed to claim so far. And no need for a survey for a few more years on my 1989 boat.
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Ouch. Not cheap though. You might want to practice a bit and see? There’s a lot of more essential kit for that sort of money. And always a few surprise maintenace jobs. I lit my Squirrel last week and a big plate I didnt know I had fell out and landed on my foot…
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I would also cut the bottom off the doors an glue on new wood. I’ve done this very successfully on our rear doors. Then make sure the bottom of the door wood is properly sealed to prevent this happening again. Having just spent a lot of money on some bespoke replacement doors, I wish I’d done more preventive maintenance!
Good luck,Jak.
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We have Virgin mobile unlimited data. The SIM is in a little Huawei mobile router. It connects to a small stubbie mag mount ariel attached to the roof. Virigin uses O2. Only got a deal on it as a Virgin cable home customer. Its a good setup. Amazed how much difference the tiny aeriel makes. We gave up on a telly ariel years ago as we can stream tv live as well as Amazon, Netflix, etc. Using a firestick or internet telly.
its a really good and cheap set-up 👍👍 unlimited data makes so much difference. Never need to worry.
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Ffffs. Who would have known. No more tea for me then 😵💫
Charging start battery from MPPT
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted
Lol. Please refer to my totally workable stater battery / solar suggestion above. Simple, cheap, totally fit for purpose. Just saying?!