Barge Maria

That's where my mind is going Richard, thanks. I am willing to put my hands up and admit that I have made a mistake here.

This is a bow thruster not a main engine folks. Yes it is only used for short bursts. No there is no significant voltage drop as the cable runs are very short and very thick.

Hi all I would value some guidance from those forumites that are familiar with battery technology I have just had fitted to my 106 year old Dutch barge an electric bowthruster, 24 volt, 20 hp. Yes, we are all getting older! After some help and guidance from Mr Tony Brooks of this parish the wiring and fusing is all in place, and the unit is up and running. It is a Duco unit for anyone interested, Dutch, good quality, but little by way of technical input for the installation.....luckily the boatyard new how to weld it in! Anyway, in my design for the batteries, I took the view that semi tractions would be the way to go in order to give capacity for long bursts of thrust (this i is running the risk of turning into a Carry On script....) so I bought 4 Yuasa batteries of 6 volts and 225 amp hours, wired in series. They are the same ubnits as our old friends the Trojan T105 but are a bit cheaper. Up and running and the thrust is good, but a bit weaker than I expected. Also noticeable is a distinct warming of the battery terminals after a 3 or 4 second burst. The current is between 500 and 600 amps based on the fusing suggested by both Duco and Tony B. Cables are not really warm, but batt terminal are. I am now thinking that I made a bit of a boo-boo and should have used truck starter batteries with a CCA of c.1000 and capacity of c.180 A/hrs or so, wired in series to give 24 volts. Would I be right in thinking that the semi tractions are not up to providing c.600 amps for such a purpose? I can easily change, and use the Yuasa batts for another purpose in the domestic battery bankl, but before I spend again I would value thoughts. Thanks for reading this far................... Tim

I use Vactan a lot on the barge and generally have no issues. You do need to wash off prior to application to remove salt residue from the rust. I am intrigued that you do not known what your product is called yet you know the suppliers. If you don't know what it's called how can you be sure you are using it properly? Summit not right here.

Pennie, a lot of the DIY sheds do this now so when you're moored it might be worth a walk or cycle. B & Q especially. Good luck. Tim

Nicely put!!!

I think you mean Tayna batteries, although they may have an employee called Tanya!!

Excellent. Thanks very much. I'll give them a call and explain what's happened. Appreciated mate.

Thanks Richard.I'll have a closer look and gently have a go. It happened yesterday but due to other matters I wasn't able to investigate as much as I wanted to, hence the posting today. It would be a shame to scrap it as its part of the original set and you can't get them now, natch!

In the course of cutting a hole in the dashboard of the barge to fit a new gizmo I have noticed that the needle has fallen off the engine temperature gauge. I think it was the vibration from the mulit-tool that caused it, sadly. The needle is still under the glass and I can see it. This VDO gauge is part of the original Scania engine panel and I would like to save it if possible. Does anyone have any experience of firms that would renovate older gauges like these? My (initial and rushed) Google searches seem to take me to places that want to sell me new dials, which are a different size so necessitate more bodgery! Or is it easy to get the glass off and re-glue the needle (it looks as though it was just delicately glued onto the spindle cup that connects to the mechanism). I'd be grateful for any ideas that people may have. Thanks in anticipation. Tim

BOAT is an acronym for "bring out another thousand"!

I concur Blackrose....we're not on opposite sides of this argument.

Surely we should all be as responsible as possible where pollutants are concerned? Notwithstanding there are fines if you are caught polluting waterways. I accept your point about the stern gland grease but this should be minimal, and there are alternative stern-tube designs nowadays.

One issue with auto-pumps is that oily, greasy water will be pumped out into the cut. You might consider wiring the pumps to be manually switched, but have a bilge water alarm to warn you of ingress. Alternatively you could fit a water.oil separator in the outlet pipe but they do costs a bit. Tim

Canal boating doesn't need to be a contact sport. That attitude pisses me off immensely. Then again, if a 1750 tonner hit me over here in Belgique I would be sunk!

Members of the DBA forum have reported good service from www.ledhut.co.uk/ I have no connection with them, but reviews on the DBA "Suppliers Guide" have been positive. Tim

er.... your definition of a twig is a bit different to mine Pennie!!!

We have 2 cats on the barge, one a 14 year old de-nutted Tom. He gets stressed sometimes and over grooms leading to bald patches. However, he has on occasion had fleas and this leads to the same symptoms although normally the noisy scratching alerts us to this. Interestingly, when we mentioned it to a Belgian vet at his annual MoT she said that vets no longer recommend Frontline as fleas had become resisitant. She gave (sold) us VectraFelis Advocat (I promise its not the sticky orange drink) and this did the job. I was cynical at first thinking I was being upsold to a more expensive item but in fact the prices are about the same as Frontline. If it is stress then it might be time to let the cat out a bit more, perhaps on a tether (although having tried it, bl--dy good luck with that!!) Good luck with it. Tim

Eh???

I very often find on long stretches of Belgian canal that I feel I'm going slightly uphill. Weird isn't it?

The only time you know insurance is good value is when you make a hassle free claim, not when you pay a cheap premium.

Sadly they seem to be a serial phoenix company, which should be banned under corporate law. It's a shame as in my experience the quality of their goods was high. Others may, however, have different experiences