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davidandheather

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Posts posted by davidandheather

  1. Hurricane Heater

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted

    They are all toys.

     

    Sorry I know that doesn't help you. I know someone else whose Hurricane packed up. I think he got someone in and got it going again but none of these type of diesel heater are reliable. Why do we bother with them? :huh:

     

    Crap our Hurricane has been working for 5 years with no problems

  2. Batteries at the sharp end

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted

    Out of interest, run the bow thruster a few times to gve a realistic discharge then measure the voltage at the bow thruster batteries when they are on charge.

     

    Chris

    HI

    I gave the bow thruster a good discharge a then tested the volts at the battery end while charging i was getting 14.05 volts the cable size is 90mm2 over 60 foot

    David

  4. Batteries at the sharp end

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted · Edited by davidandheather

    Seems the only option to me - ( front batteries / very thick cables to charge )

     

    What size ( mm2) cables are they ( or diameter if you can't remember) ?

     

    Nick

    I did not build the boat we had it done for us so not sure of the size but they were very big from what i can remember, they looked like big armor cables i will have a look at the weekend.

    David

  5. Batteries at the sharp end

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted

    Yes but...

     

    if the batteries are at the back near the alternator, and the bow thruster is at the, err... bow (!), I assume it takes quite a current ( 100 amps ?) so you would have to run even bigger cables to it to minimise the volt drop, wouldn't you ? :lol:

     

    Whats the optimum answer for those with a bow thruster ?

     

    Nick

    Our bow thruster batteries are at the front of the boat and are charged by the 45 amp starter alternator via very thick cables.

    We have never yet had a problem using this system in 4 years not that we use the bow thruster much.

    David

  7. Living aboard - monthly cost

    in New to Boating?

    Posted

    From a previous posting I did a fag packet estimate of the monthly cost of living aboard, taking into account the following

     

    mooring fees

    licence

    insurance

    heating & cooking

    diesel

    repainting every 2 years

    saving for maintenance

     

    I came up with about 600 English pounds, not including food or beer (which would double that).

     

    Is this way off the mark?

     

    Does anyone have an idea of their annual costs?

    Hi

    Bet thats not far of the mark depending on your mooring costs

    David

  8. Boat Builders - Good bad or Ugly?

    in New to Boating?

    Posted

    This has been done to death on several occaisions.

    Put "tug stle narrow boat" into the search option and have a look at the thread started by davidandheather.

    That was a very informative thread which flushed out some good opinions from some acknowledged experts (and others).

    It will occupy you for hours. Happy reading and welcome.

    And we still not got a tug never will at this rate just keep the one we got

    David

  11. water filter

    in Living Afloat

    Posted · Edited by davidandheather

    Found this on the web http://www.leptospirosis.org/

    Filtration - does not work!

     

    Leptospira are incredibly small - they can pass through the pores in water filters, even those that claim to remove bacteria. They will pass easily through filters with a pore size of more than 0.2 micron, including membrane and charcoal types. High-pressure laboratory filters with a pore size of less than 0.1 micron will block them, but the typical hand-held water filters used by hikers, pool filters and the fitted cannisters used in some domestic kitchen applicanes are useless at removing leptospires - they are often used to separate leptospires from other bacteria when preparing samples for research, as the leptospires pass through but other bacteria don't!

     

    UV sterilisers

     

    These are also very effective against leptospira (and most other pathogens), and can be bought on all scales. Permanent systems for processing flowing water in a domestic house are available, but can be expensive and use electricity. Portable devices for camping and backpacking are also available, resembling a small flashlight or pen, and these can be used to sterilise a single cup of water - but need batteries. The advantage of using UV is that there are no chemicals involved, and the electricity required is less than for boiling the same volume. It does require the sample to be transparent though, so can't be used on things like milk

    Cheers David

  12. Where To Buy Coal ?

    in General Boating

    Posted

    As we are in the Midlands but in a marina we dont get to see coal boats (and TBH think it would annoy the marina owner if we brought from them..Shame oh for a bit of bank!)

    We too have problems finding coal suppliers...think your best bet is in Rugby from Crick.....sometimes the farm shop next to the marina sells it but unless anyone tells me otherwise fraid its a drive out!!

     

    Cheers

     

    Gareth

     

    (and if anyone knows of anywhere around Market Harborough...

    The garden shop near the marina in Crick always have house coal and some boiler nuts. if you go to the garage in

    Welford they have a good range, maybe expensive phunicite at 11 quid a bag

    David

  19. Thetford Cassette Toilet "Tank Full" Light Not Working.

    in Boat Building & Maintenance

    Posted

    Our Thetford CS-200 loo seems to have stopped displaying a red light when the cassette is near full.

     

    No disasters yet, but I'd like to avoid one. :lol:

     

    The manual does not say how it works, but I suspect some kind of magnet on a float inside the removable cassette, which activates a reed switch inside the toilet base.

     

    There is power to the loo, as the electric flush works fine.

     

    Best guess is the magnetically (?) operated switch has failed, or a bulb has. (I don't think it's a problem with the cassette, as we have two, and neither seems to produce a "full" warning.)

     

    Has anyone experienced this, and how was it fixed, please.

     

    (Suggestions that we need a dipstick for the loo, as we currently have for diesel and water tanks have so far been ignored! :lol:)

    Hi Ours has done the same this weekend and i can not see how it works

    David

  21. Sterling Battery Charger Problems

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted · Edited by davidandheather

    Yes, after they went onto float (still putting 6 amps in), I just switchd both of them off and back on again. I guess this is the right time to do it?

     

    So can someone with a Victron (or other charger without adaptive charging) tell us what sort of charge is taking place when their charger goes onto float?

     

    If you're on shore power I suppose it doesn't really matter if you've got adaptive charging or not since the charger stays on and you've got as much time as you want to charge - the issue really only arises when you're running the charger from a generator.

    Hi our Mastervolt charges at around 1 amp in float seems to cut in and out not a clue if its adaptive or not

    David

    Banter at Crick this year?

    in Banters and Social Events

    Posted · Edited by davidandheather

    Well we are already at Crick waiting for the show and 'Banter' to start!

     

    crick085.jpg

     

    NB 'Alnwick' is tied up near Bridge No. 13, in the same spot as we have occupied for the last two years. Because of our deep draught we usually start out tying up some three or four feet from the edge of the canal but by placing weights on the mooring lines, every time a boat passes the mud and silt on the bottom is gently re-distributed so that we gradually edge in closer to the bank.

     

    When we first moored here in 2006, we thought that being near a bridge with limited visibility, would encourage passing boats to slow right down - we were wrong! Only competent steerers pass us slowly the others seem quite content to bounce off the bridge, bounce off us or cause our mooring pins to be pulled out of the ground. The weights on the mooring lines seem to help by reducing the shock on the pins so, hopefully, we shall not have to re-position them quite so often this year!

     

    Jane and I look forward to meeting those of you who come to Crick this year.

    Hi

    I did wonder what the weights were for when we passed your boat on Sunday afternoon without hitting the bridge or you . You were sitting on the bridge taking the world in

    Cheers David

  23. Battery choice...

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted

    Hi

    The height issue is a + point for me as they are in a locker on the stern in a semi trad

    My 90amp alternator has no problems charging them up as you take no more out of them than ordinary batteries normally around 120 amps a night they are fully charged after a couple of hours running the engine.

    Cheers David

  24. Battery choice...

    in Boat Equipment

    Posted · Edited by davidandheather

    Hi we have Fiamm 2 volt wet traction batteries total amps 800 now in there 3rd year been ok so far.

    Only thing i can say is you need to keep them topped up as the use a fair amount of water as they should according to the spec sheet. Also they take up less floor space than a load of car type batteries on the down side they are dam expensive but should have a lot longer life if looked after properly

    You pays yer cash and takes your choice i know what i would buy

    David

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