moiuk
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Posts posted by moiuk
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Just now, mrsmelly said:
Looks like a centaflex type coupling?
What's it's purpose? And is it supposed to have a crack/space in it as shown in the photo?
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Can anybody help me understand what this circular ring is attached to my prop shaft?
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Just now, Tony Brooks said:
As Collingwood are a volume builder then if that is their standard practice I would expect a surveyor who knows canal boats to be aware to it by now and at least warn of the possibility. Very poor expertise in my view but undoubtedly fire proofed by get out clauses.
I would have to agree, and yes unlikely to be any comeback due to fire proof clauses.
I guess that widebeams are not as common, and the number of collingwoods each surveyor would look at is also small. Add to that I haven't fed back to him my findings, its not really that unexpected to me.
Hopefully anybody reading this will have something to check for now if they are either buying a Collingwood or responsible for the survey..
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So - just to close this topic off with my findings.
I have spoken to another Collingwood owner an they have the same issue (supposed to be 1,000l tank, but actually around a third of that).
The most probable conclusion is that with the Bow Thruster option fitted they reduce the water tank down to 1/3rd of the spec'd size to make room for it, but don't update the spec sheet.
Would have loved this to have been picked up by the surveyor, but alas it was not...
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19 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:
CO is the main threat, the silent odourless killer. Not to panic you but this is a serious life risk.
But the heater itself is unsuitable for a boat, it will shut down too soon as the battery voltage falls. I believe it is possible to have it reprogrammed so that it will shut down at a lower battery voltage.
The truck one is designed this way so that it cannot flatten the truck battery, preventing the engine starting. With a boat it needs to shut down later as it is on the cabin battery not the engine battery.
Collingwood should be ashamed or shot for fitting this unit, suppose its cheaper and they don't care what happens to you once they have your money.
Thanks.
I have my second CO monitor now at the back end of the boat, so that should catch any issues. It's one with a PPM display rather than just a 'run' alarm, so I can monitor it if anything wrong starts to develop.
I am less concerned about the battery voltage as I use Lithium (LFP) batteries so the voltage stays pretty static, and never does the large drops.
Yes - not great of collingwood. They have built a fantastic boat, but the finer details that are coming out are unnecessary shortcuts.
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36 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:
Stop using it, replace it with a proper marine kit. It will kill you. Had this on 3 occasions now, the truck kit is not suitable for a boat or any other enclosed installation. Complain vociferously to whoever sold/fitted this incorrect heater, you may save someone else from being killed in ignorance.
Thanks, the unit was installed by the manufacturer I believe, in this case Collingwood. I'll get a webasto engineer to take a look at it ASAP.
Fortunately, the engine bay where it is installed is well vented and then bulkhead is mostly well sealed from them living area, although I will move the co sensor closer to check it in the meantime.
41 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:Stop using it, replace it with a proper marine kit. It will kill you. Had this on 3 occasions now, the truck kit is not suitable for a boat or any other enclosed installation. Complain vociferously to whoever sold/fitted this incorrect heater, you may save someone else from being killed in ignorance.
Is the main risk CO? Or are their other dangers?
28 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:I did ask in post #2 if he had purchased it - no answer.
Over the years we have had a number of people purchasing the 'automotive' version on ebay and then finding our it wasn't suitable (or even safe), unfortunately some unscrupulous ebay sellers say "Truck, Bus or Boat" not mentioning the need for modifications or a marine installation kit.
This is one area where you should think "why is this brand new Webasto £300 cheaper than the other one" It really is a case of paying the correct price to get the correct item.
Second-hand (ebay) ones from Turkey are even worse - a nice 'refurbished' Webasto for £200 - yeh !!!!!
It is a case of you only know what you know, and, don't know what you don't know - Its always better to ask for help rather than kill yourself or your family.
Edit to add :
Why is this one £999 (or offers)
When this one is £1935
http://www.espar.co.uk/EsparPlymouthProducts_MarineWaterHeaters.htm
Is a 'marine kit' really £1000 extra, or are there some other differences, or is someone 'ripping of their customers', or, is it indicative of EU pricing support ?
Thanks Alan, it came with the boat we bought. Slowly discovering all the shortcuts and issues that didn't get picked up by the full survey..
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4 hours ago, Chewbacka said:
If you only run the boiler for short periods then it may not have time to boil off all the condensation (which is why automotive exhausts have a drain hole).
Generally been running it fo 30-40 minutes to heat the water up. Is that too short?
4 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:You (probably) have an automotive and not a marine Webasto.
Did you buy it ? (there are loads on ebay and are several £100's cheaper than marine versions lots of folk have been 'caught out')
The automotive version has a condensation drain hole which will (on a vehicle) allow the exhaust gases and the exhaust condensation to drip out below the vehicle.
On a boat, this version could be deadly as it allows the Carbon Monoxide to enter the cabin. Hopefully you have working CO alarms.
If it is the Automotive version - DO NOT USE and get the marine exhaust system purchased and fitted ASAP.
Here it is. The leak is from the middle of the bottom of the silencer. How can you tell if its the marine version or the automotive? Its a ThermoPro 90.
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Today for the first time I have noticed a constant drip of water from the bottom of the webasto exhaust silencer. It has created quite a puddle.
Any ideas of what this could be? Is it an issue?
Seems a bit odd to have water in their, pretty sure no water has got in via the outlet, and there is a large Swan neck installed so even if some had, it woukd not have reached the silencer.
Thoughts?
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17 minutes ago, Flyboy said:
To be clear you do not have a flowmeter, you have an MCS sensor which works on the pressure head of the water. These are very accurate unless wrongly calibrated. I suggest sort out the plumbing and calibrate the sensor.
Hi,
I do actually have a flowmeter, which is a separate piece of kit from the MCS water gauge. It goes in line with my hose when filling the tank and has a digital display showing the water flow in litres.
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I'll do a test next time I fill up, which will be on Monday.
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2 hours ago, PhilR said:
I wondered the same. It would appear logical.
I will call them when they are back. I can't see how they can fit a 1,000 l tank when the bow thruster is installed.
The spec sheet I have could be a clerical error, but if it is for me, then how many others too ?
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9 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:
You meant 14.2 VOLTS? You could take that up to 14.8v with open lead acid batteries or 14.4 with sealed LA or gel batteries,
The volt drop will get less and less as the current falls as the batteries charge, don't fret. Ohm's law Volts =Amps * resistance.
14.2volts, yes. OK have increased it. I am juggling the solar between the BT and the main lesuire batteries, so the quicker the better for the BT batteries as I still need my main bank to be fully charged by the time the sun goes down.
A few long days of lots of sun, so i will relax and let it do its job.
Thanks.
10 minutes ago, nicknorman said:Yes I would think it is down to the voltage drop in the cables. 14.2v is a bit low anyway, so I would increase to 14.6v, at least while it’s attached to the BT batteries.
Great. I use a different profile for the main bank as they are wet deep cycle, and the BT batteries are sealed lead-acid. I'll set it to 14.6, and keep and eye on the voltage on the BT batteries, and reduce it down when it gets above 14V.
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On 05/08/2020 at 18:17, Tracy D'arth said:
You could pick up on the cables going to the bow batteries at the stern, the positive will be on the relay, the negative will be common to all the batteries.
Hi,
Just switch it over. The solar controller has gone directly into absorbtion mode, with only 10/20 amps flowing to the BT batteries. The volatage at the solar charger is showing 14.2 amps (my absorbtion set voltage), the voltage on the BT batteries is showing as 13.2. Is this due to the long length of wire and the votage drop? Could I get more into it by setting a higher absorbtion voltage on the solar controller to compensate for the voltage drop?
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4 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
In that case the top of the but need to be higher than the main tank filler and vent or the tops will leak when you top the tank up.
Good point. I have it placed in the bow deck, so that the whole butt is above the filler point. I will manually fill it with a hose and it will flow down into the filler of the main tank.
3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:Perhaps this is why the last owner sold it?
haha. We get on well with the previous owners, and it is more likely that nobody noticed as the boat lived in a marina for its 6 years of its life so far. We are the first to use it for unconnected living, and all the related issues are coming out now...
4 hours ago, Cheese said:Perhaps speak to the previous owner?
yes I will ask this specific question, although they only had the boat for 1 year. Hopefully they are still in touch with the original owners as that might solve the mystery..
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is it possible that collingwood installed 2/3 tanks, and my main tank is the only one connected? Would this be normal?
It seems that with the bow thruster and tubes in place there was never enough room for a 1,000 l tank. Where do other widebeams with bow thrusters put a 1,000 l tank ?
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2 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:
Are you sure the tank is full? Water overflowing the filler hole will not be an indication of full if there is an issue with the vent line as discussed earlier.
I'm pretty sure it is full, yes. It was overflowin, and then I ran a load of water off through the taps and could see the water level going down via the filler point. If its not actually full, then the water level is at the top and going down at a steady rate whe used.
34 minutes ago, Richardcn said:External water tanks which will be subjected to warming to unhealthy levels in summer (let alone the bugs that might enter if not completely sealed) seem like a risky choice to me.
You are right of course. I have seem other widebeams in London have them at the front which gave me the idea, but the more I think about it the less keen I am to be drinking it.....
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10 minutes ago, Richardcn said:
If the tank dimensions are correct but only 345 litres go in then is it possible that the tank has baffles fitted and that either the other sections are unvented (and thus airlocked) or the interconnections between the 3? sections were missed out at build? 345 litres is darned close to a third of what it should be!
It is very difficult to get an accurate measure of the dimensions as it is sealed into the bow deck. However, the bow thruster tube does seem to take up half of the bow space. If it is 2 m x 35cm x 55cm then that woukd be about the 380litre size tank and be about right. There is certainly not enough space for the 2m x 1m x 50cm that is needed for the specified 1,000 litre tank.
One remote possibility is that the original tank was removed to install the bow thruster? And a smaller tank fit into its place... but the logistics of removing that size of tank after production would seem to be a big job, and the bow deck doesn't show Ny signs of being modified.
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1 minute ago, Cheshire cat said:
Dare we question the accuracy of the flow meter?
Definitely worth questioning, but has given the same reading twice and we are running out of water in 3/4 days which would be around 300 litres.
19 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:Are these "butts" fully sealed
no. They have good fitting lid, but i would not describe them as fully sealed. Unlikely to get flying junk or spiders in them, but not sealed.
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17 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
But, when you measured it, it came out to have a volume of 1 cubic metre, so, 1000 litres.
It seems a very strange error for Collingwood to have made, give them a call and see what they say.
I tried to call them today, but they are shutdown for 2 weeks.
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So an update..
The tank was empty again today, so I checked through the filler hole and indeed it was empty. I filled it using a flowmeter and it reported the same volume of 345litres as it did the last time to fill it to the top. So it looks as though the most obvious answer is the correct one, the tank is smaller than specified on collingwoods delivery spec sheet (which states it is a 910 litre tank)... very difficult to come to terms with as the first thing I checked when buying the boat was that it had a large water tank, and now it appears it's smaller than the tank i had on my narrowboat.. 345l seems far to small to install on a large widebeam, so difficult to believe, but the facts seem to be stronger than my disbelief..
So now, I am planning on installing additional tanks wherever there is space to get the capacity up for 7 days off grid living which we need. I have 2 x 100 litre water butts in the bow deck, and am planning on buying 2 x 210litre plastic water tanks that will fit under the bed. The water butts will simply top up (manually) the main tank when needed, but will be an issue in winter when it freezes, and also I have concerns about using butts for drinking water over the long term.
The under bed tanks I intend to have at the same level as the main tank, and join the outlets all together before the water pump, and have the air vents run out to above the height of the main tank vent. Hopefully this will give me one extended larger tank, with a single fill point.
Any thoughts/comments/obvious flaws to my plan?
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7 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:
Disconnect the panel from the controller or cover the panels before removing the controller to battery cable. Or the controller may die.
Thanks.
Yes I have an isoloation switch between the panels and the charge controller which I will ensure is off before moving the cables.
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3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:
You could pick up on the cables going to the bow batteries at the stern, the positive will be on the relay, the negative will be common to all the batteries.
Yes I think I will do this.
Easiest thing with the wiring in place is to move the solar charge controller positive from the lesuire batteries to the BT side of the relay. I'll limit the current on the charge controller down to 30amps (its a 100amp charge controller) as its the wrong side of the fuse where I will be attaching it and the cables are quite small (Between 10mm-15mm).
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3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:
How about taking your battery charger to the bow and connecting it to your BT Battery, use a 230v extension lead to get power from the generator to the battery charger.
It may need a few wires disconnecting / reconnecting but it sounds like the only (simplest) way to get your BT battery charged.
Battery charger is mounted in the stern, a sterling invertor/charger multi. But you might be on to something if I use a standard car battery charger perhaps.
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Just now, Alan de Enfield said:
That sounds strange, is it not just a 'generator' and it produces 230v, you plug your battery charger into the socket and it charges the battery ?
Yes it is, and it charges the leisure batteries just fine. Just haven't checked that it is split to also charge the starter battery, and even then the relay will stop the BT batteries from charging unless the alternator is running.
Prop shaft - what is this attached on it?
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted
Thank you everybody 😊