Strettonman

I unfortunately left a slightly bent ignition key in the key box and my better half tried to use it to start the engine (see photo). It worked fine but because of the slight bent at the shoulder of the key it is now stuck in the barrel. I’ve been reluctant to force it as it may snap off on the barrel and I will then be unable to start the engine. I’ve tried WD40 with no joy. any ideas?

Great advice - thanks.

Got a fairly small boat (40ft) so not much roof space and I am looking to buy a couple of solar panels. While eventually I might get an inverter I am currently all 12v and I plan to live aboard 2 or 3 evenings a week to save commuting plus the odd weekend cruising. I was told you pay about £1 per watt then add on controllers, cables, mountings etc but I see on Amazon and eBay 100w complete kits for about £100 and single panels for less the £70. can anyone give me any guidance on makes and models for all the bits or is it a case of ‘you gets what you pays for’ with solar panels. I’m thinking to start with I go for 200-250w. I currently don’t have any battery monitoring at all so is it important to have this with the panel or is it better a fork out for something that monitors everything ?

I’ve just built the walls for my barhroom and plan to use wetwall panels for the shower cubicle. what should I treat the inside walls with prior to sticking on the acrylic panels ? I was contemplating getting a big Tin of marine varnish but will this impact on the effectiveness of the panel adhesive ? any ideas or advice ? cheers

Thanks all, just ordered the gulper. Not worth the risk to save £50. Thanks for the advice cheers

I’ve just stripped out an old bath and fitting a shower. The old waste pump seemed to be a bulge pump in a chamber roughly the height of the bath. This seems a petty basic set up and looking online there seems to be diaphragm pumps with run dry capability. Are these the ‘modern’ solution ? also, some seem to be available for about £30 but the whale gulper 220 is more like £90. What is the difference and is it worth paying the extra ? any recommendations ?

Thanks everyone. I will leave it as it is. My wife has just reminded me that the previous owner had just replaced the pump before we bought it and it hadnt been used in anger since so maybe the rapid cut in and cut out after turning the tap in and off is not a good reference. With little previous experience of boats I’m never sure what is ‘normal’ and what isn’t. Cheers

I’ve just started revamping my water system and have a question regarding how long it should take for the pump to kick in and cut off. Before I started hacking it about the pump would kick in within a couple of seconds of opening the cold water bathroom tap and cut off 2 or 3 seconds after closing the tap. The tap was about 20ft from the pump and the accumulator was just next to the pump (mounted horizontally if that is relevant). Ive been rejigging the pipework with the accumulator now about 10ft from the pump and mounted vertically. It now takes 10-15 seconds before the pump starts ans it runs on for about 30 seconds after closing the tap. Is this just the accumulator doing the job it’s designed for or is it suggesting something has gone wrong with it ? Ive not been on loads of boats but I can’t remember any araying on for 30+ seconds. Btw, water flow is good and consistent whether the pump is running or not. pump is 2.9bar and rated at 11 ltr/m. Accumulator is probably about 5 ltrs.

Thanks - Morris is the stuff used before so I will stick with it.

I’ve just started boating and the boat came with a pot of K99 grease for the stern gland so I have just been using the same. I’ve been looking online to replenish my stock and noticed K99 is water resistant but others are water proof so it started me thinking whether i should use something else. The gland does drip quite a lot and the boat yard say it’s not the packing but it needs a new prop shaft. I want to delay this as long as possible so if there is a better grease I’d be prepared to try it. Any my ideas ?

I’m in the process of wire brushing and degreasing my bilge/engine bay before repainting and wondered what paint people might recommend. Some have said specific bilge paint is a waste of money and I’ve always sworn by hammerite whenever painting metal that gets exposed to the elements. Any thoughts ?

ok - thanks

Thanks everyone - sorry for radio silence but phone threw a woddler and only just got it back. I will I’ll go for a EV downstream of the calorifier. I gather it should be 10% of volume so I need a 5ltr EV. Surecal website come up at over £60 but on eBay you can get EVs for central heating systems for less than £20. Is there something special about boat EVs ? Also, is there any real benefit in including a pressure gauge ? the calorifier in going to be on the swim next to the engine so if I can fit it in is there any reason why the EV shouldn’t also be out there - same me storage space in the cabin.

I’m about to sort the water system and I’ve had different advice for accumulators. Do I need one soon after the water pump AND another on the hot feed from the calorifier ? Seems overkill but I gather the calorifier is only guaranteed if you have one on the hot feed but would be over 40ft away from the pump with a mixer valve in between. If two are needed I presume it is important for them to be the same rating.

Nice idea - thanks.

Thanks

I’m just about to fit a twin coil calorifier but initially I will only be pulimbing in one of the coils to the engine cooling system as I am still to install the back boiler stove for the second coil. I was wondering what I should do with the second coil for the time being. Will it cause any damage if I just leave the second coil empty or do I need to rig something up to keep it full of water ? If so, should I just leave one end open (and pointing upwards) to allow for expansion and contraction - this will also suffer from evaporation. The alternative would be to put a piece of hose in line. Any thoughts ?

Also I can’t find a standard twin coil with 22mm for the stove feed. I gather this is best for gravity systems to minimise flow restrictions. It’s only a 40ft boat so do I made do with 15mm coils or do I need to shell out on a custom built calorifier ?

I am now questioning copper over stainless steel coils. Price difference is less than 10% but assumed copper was the norm and only fitted stainless steel if you had a gas boiler with aluminium heat exchanger. I am starting off with heating from engine and stove as we are not planning to live aboard. If in the future we get hooked and take off for a year we might switch the stove coil to a boiler. I guess for future proofing paying £50 now to go for SS might be worth it as long as there are no downsides. The ‘cracking’ issue is unclear whether SS is better or worse but are there other issues I should take into account ?

I was planning go for copper coils and buy new. I was also going to fit an expansion tank as well. I presume stainless steel lasts longer but I gather there are a few issues. Any thoughts ?

I am just about to hit the ‘buy’ button for a 55ltr twin coil surecal calorifier and just thought I should double check it’s all it’s cracked up to be. The reviews seem pretty good but what’s the opinion of the forum members ?

Sorry Richard. Got my messages mixed up. That’s great. Just to confirm - I should be able to pick off the flow to the calorifier from either of these points by the rocker box and then tee into the return hose for the return from the calorifier. When i I put it like this it all sounds so easy ?. Fingers crossed. Cheers

Thanks. I need to get back to the boat this weekend to see if I can find the connections you refer to but here is a photo from above. Boater sam - do you think the hot flow take off is the bolt bottom left (just above yellow hose) ? That is the one someone Thought it might be but I thought being in the corner it was likely to be a head bolt. btw, I am well aware it needs a clean ?. Had to limp it back with a blowing exhaust so whole engine engine bay is having a deep clean - what fun !!!! The other alternative is the one top left under the hose in this picture (I cleaned it off to highlight it

My dad is a weed do I can’t compete ?. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I think I can sort the water level issue. Someone had suggested to me that I could use the water tap off points normally used to supply a cabin heater in a vehicle to feed the calorifier but I’ve tried looking at manuals online but haven’t managed to identify any ‘plugs’ in the engine block. Have I been given a bum steer here or does the 1.5 diesel BMC have these take off points and can they be used for the calorifier ? If so, where are they. Presumably they would allow flow before the engine thermostat opened so would start heating earlier.

Where can I get hold of a header tank extension for the BMC ? Does it just fit into the existing cap hole or is it a cap with a hose to a separate chamber that I can locate where I want ? Struggling to get google to find anything appropriate.