tosher

This bit of kit works fine for me as well. May be worth a mention that the Vetus manual states that the max length of usage for a 55kg bow thruster (12volt at 375amps or 24volt at 205amps) is -- 4 minutes continuously or maximum of 4 minutes per hour.

Thanks for that, the Izusu engine manual says that if a calorifier is NOT fitted then both the take off and return pipes on the engine should be blanked off and not connected directly together so I assumed that blanking just the supply off for engine warm up would be OK.

Slightly off topic but has something happened to Chris-W, I doubt he could resist responding to a thread like this. Hope he's OK.

That is correct, the pipes to the calorifier are taken off and returned before the thermostat. A 12v solenoid valve of the correct bore, fitted in the calorifier supply and controlled from a switch on the engine panel labled "Fast Warm UP" may be the answer?

If I start my Izusu 42 from cold with cold water in the calorifier and drive away immediately it takes at least 20 minutes, maybe longer, for the temperature gauge to reach normal operating temperature of about 85 deg. If however I close the water valves from the engine to the calorifier, the engine is up to temperature in less than half the time, about 8 or 10 minutes. If I then open these valves the engine temperature falls back to about 75 deg and slowly returns to normal as the calorifier warms up which takes about a further 15 minutes. So on a completely cold boat the engine warm up period can be reduced by approx 50% by isolating the domestic hot water system until the engine is hot. Is that a good practice to adopt???

Does the thrust from the hydraulic bow thruster vary with engine speed or is it constant from tickover to full revs? If you have to increase engine speed to increase thrust then this will also increase the main prop speed and hence boat speed. If this is the case then to increase thrust without increasing boat speed would mean selecting neutral first then reselecting a gear to drive the boat, then reselecting neutral again to power up the thruster -------- If the thrust is constant at all engine speeds (as in an electric one) then control would be much easier. tosher

This advice was given to me by Rylards, they say Premium Protection adheres better to the hull/old coating. I did as they suggested just over a year ago but the boat has not been out of the water since so can't comment on it's effectiveness. tosher.

Here is the question that many people will be thinking --- How do you download the latest software? tosher.

I travel all over so can call in most places. tosher

Which type of bow & stern fenders are the most robust and last the longest? The traditional ones constructed from 100% rope or the more recent ones which have some sort of rubber core. Can anyone recommend a good maker or a good place to buy them? Thanks.

I had exactly the same trouble a couple of weeks ago on my Vetus which is 2 years old. No wear on brushes but sticking in boxes and freeing off solved the problem. tosher.

A quick call to HMI Plant, the main UK dealer for Izusu enginines would end the confusion. They are very helpfull with queeries from boaters. tosher.

Many thanks for your replies, just the information I was looking for. Very helpful. Cheers.

I am fitting a shore power socket in the cratch area at the front of my boat. Could any one tell me if there is a minimum height above the well deck or water level at which it should be sited to conform with the lates regs ????. Many thanks.

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Would you share your experiences of using a bow thruster with us all, must be pretty bad to make such a damning statement.

Thanks Chris -- a man of your word. Excellent guide, like others I will tackle my first service with confidence. After 2 years light use it's never been touched and never missed a beat but who knows what I might find insde? Quite looking forward to doing the job now. Cheers again Chris. --- tosher

The next time you do it Chris I'm sure many of us Webasto owners would really appreciate a few pictures, I certainly would. Thanks

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- We all pay for sewage disposal in our liecence fees so why sould cassette owners empty thier sewage without an additional charge when pump out owners have to pay extra in marina's. It's just the same stuff both are emptying and each human being produces roughly the same amount. It seems unfair to me that all boaters are paying for a facility that only some of them can use. If BW cannot provide sufficient self pump out stations then they should reduce the liecence fee for boats with pump out tanks. (or charge for cassette emptying to level the playing field?) tosher

My boat has a PRM 150 which works very well and is smooth to operate and I am very happy with it but here is a tale about the robustness of Hurth gearboxes that might help you decide. - For many years I drove a rich mans yacht around the Med for a living. It was a sail boat and had a Perkins auxilliary engine coupled to a Hurth gearbox that after 15 years service reverse gear became very difficult to engage, which made stopping a bit of a hit & miss affair. It was decided to have a complete new engine/gearbox installed and so an engineer from Perkins visited the boat to measure up etc. During his inspection of the old installation he found that the Hurth gearbox linkage was in fact connected up with forward and reverse the wrong way round and that the folding prop had been reversed to to compensate and make the boats direction of travel agree with the direction of the gear lever. So for the previous 15 years when we had been travelling forward the gearbox was actually in reverse, I commented to the engineer that I understood there was a time restriction on using manual gearboxes in reverse because of thrust bearing loadings, yes there is he said there is---15 to 30 MINUTES! Neadles to say we stuck with Hurth for the gearbox. tosher.

I fitted a "Smartgauge" a couple of weeks ago and all seems to be working well with sensible readings being displayed. I bought it direct from Gibbo who was very helpful with the questions I had regarding it's suitability for my system and advice on fitting. I feel much happier now I have an accurate measurement of the status of my services batteries and can modify my charging regime to suit. tosher

Had the same problem, cured axactly as described above. I now make it a yearly routine job. tosher

Sorry to be slightly off topic so hope this is allowed -- Does any one now where red diesel can be bought in this neck of the woods??? Iwant to fill up all my containers while it is cheap. Purely for heating and battery charging of course. Cheers. tosher