MarkH2159

I didnt realise this boat steering thingy was so dangerous. Not sure whether to remove my seat or the tiller itself now ? Could get one of them there tractor seats fixed up high I suppose.

Such doom and gloom in reply to a simple question. I would do exactly as you have suggested, find a picture or a boat with exactly what you want then either buy the wood, Iroko or other, and make it yourself or have a carpenter/joiner/boatbuilder do it to your specs. As you say, sitting on the steel rail or the wooden seat both have their 'dangers' but at least one is more comfortable than the other.

Like I said... "Avoid going to Vetus for anything unless you like throwing money away" Put thicker oil in it, hot grease or whatever works until you can get the bow out of the water, then have a mechanic look at it. Vetus never sold spares for the bottom gearbox, only complete replacement units. Waste of time asking them.

No. It depends on settings but most do not encrypt to SD Card by default.

Yes you can take the motor off, it will reveal the flexible drive key leading to the sealed bottom end. The leak is not in the motor, it is in the underwater drive unit. Therefore boat or at least bow out of water.

I do not understand what you want to do? Do you wish to transfer pictures etc from the phone internal memory to another storage medium? This is dead easy unless it is an iPhone of course. iPhones do not have SD cards. Android phones will plug into a laptop and you can read internal storage and transfer to hard drive or other storage medium.

Well mine and several others I have seen do have them, the OP has one. My bowthruster is 22 years old so maybe the newer units do not have them?

You are facing a failed bearing seal which is a complex repair but not out of the ability of anyone with reasonable mechanical knowledge. To do the seal the thruster unit will need to be lifted out and for this the boat or at least the bow needs to be out of the water to prevent risk of flooding. I have seen one being done at the canal side, but the guy had run the boat up one of the 'farm type' little slipways you often find in the middle of nowhere. Empty water tank, wife and dog on the stern with him, gave enough trim to safely run it up the beach. Looking at the Vetus Parts catalogue I cannot see a seperate seal, it is likely they want to sell the entire unit. https://www.vetus.com/en/spare-parts.html However, with the unit removed and dismantled the defective seal may well be a standard type available elsewhere. Avoid going to Vetus for anything unless you like throwing money away. Vetus Electric Bowthrusters have a small oil reservoir, actually an old style car brake fluid pot. This gravity feeds gear oil down to the lower bearing via a small pipe.

Save even more and go to Tescos ?

Wouldnt know if it has been turned around? All I do know is that heading south the upper bridge landing is on the starboard side as is the operating gear as is the lower landing, you do not cross the bridge at all.

I worked in the Bulk Lube Oil business several years ago. I can assure you there are a thousand times more container and label makers than there are oil types. So long as it is the correct grade to the required standard, the name does not matter. Halfords do not make oil but they sell quite a lot of it.

Obviously I appreciate that fact in respect of averages over time however it is not what you said. "In the UK you will get max just over 50% of your panels rated output on a good day....." So, with the sun still relatively low in the sky and me already getting 66% can I assume that it was indeed a 'good day' or will there be even better ones? Your figure of "just over 50%" is proven too conservative unless of course you are counting a day as 24 hours, in which case the hours of darkness might mess with the averages somewhat.

Thanks for the explanation, but not the rudeness or incorrrect statement part. Not all Lift and Swing Bridges are like that at all. In fact just a bit further up the canal you will find Mill Lift Bridge No. 205 that has bridge landings and operating gear on the same side and the towpath does not change over. I did not miss the bollard either, possibly being a "proper boater" might have helped, same as I didnt miss the boat moored just below the bridge using the upper water point, but it was stilll a PITA anyway. As for 'not being up to it', seeing as you have absolutely no idea what I am up to or not, how can you suggest I get a house - I currently have one under construction, one for sale, one rented, one in Thailand and one in Philippines, what next? By the way, the post was about the bridge operating set up, not abusing fellow boaters who may have a slightly different opinion to your own.

Your estimate of 50% max is way too conservative, many of us get way more than that. I have 3 x 180w panels in parallel to give a theoretical 540 watts. My panels are laid flat so with the sun at its current declination of 12 degrees north I did not expect too much in the way of efficiency. However I have been surprised to recently see a figure of 29.8 amps going to my batteries which were at 75% charge status, So I reckon I am already getting 66% of maximum theoretical solar power and the sun still has a lot further to go up. Quite pleased to be totally solar whilst moored at this time of year, even with the washing machine, tv, microwave and other electrical items in regular use.

I came through this bridge a couple of weeks ago and did not have any problem with its operation, other than the fact that the access to the 'operating' side is blocked by a Tooleys barge and the 'official' bridge landing is on the wrong side Being single handed made it a PITA to walk back down and around the lock when going north. Hydraulics were easy to operate and everything worked well.

Having recently passed through part of the non tidal thames i can confirm that this is indeed the type of tap connector they have fitted. It would appear to severely restrict the flow and also sprays (aka wastes) water with any type of regular hose fitted to it. 7m is a bit of guesswork as a 5m one with a kink might be even worse. Removing or tampering with the fitting could amount to criminal damage, but.... @Tony Brooks I can also confirm that the use of a short section of 19mm ID hose and Jubilee clip solves the issue, as does the innertube idea too.

I do not survey boats, but over the years I have done many ships and other vessels of all types and sizes including Oil Rigs etc. As always the scope of the survey is fixed by the certifying authority, however there is an allowance for the discretion of the surveyor. I am not talking about anything that presents a danger to life or safety of operations, but more like extra equipment that does not need to be aboard as a part of the vessel certification requirements. It is a bit like a car, an example is...fog or auxiliary lights do not have to be fitted but if they are then they must be working correctly. Now...was this post originally about auxiliary power options??

Not exactly. I did say 'easier' that is all. As for the survey or MOT relevance, I believe it is for permanently 'fitted' equipment and systems. A portable/suitcase generator is not part of the boats permanently fitted equipment. As a Marine Surveyor I have often advised that if possible certain equipment be removed from the vessel to avoid complications. Whether the operator puts it back on after I have gone is another matter.

Exactly.. A small amount (10 ltrs) of Petrol stored in my Gas Locker works for me and I would imagine many others. Although when undergoing a BSS Survey it is easier to put the Generator and everything else in the car or onto another boat.

Correct. I made the passage last week from Oxford to the K&A via Isis Lock where it states that you have to buy your EA licence from the next manned lock. For my 56 ft it is £49.50 for the one day licence which expires at mdnight next day so you can get more than 24 hrs out of it. The OP would need a week licence which is indeed £70. As for the 'next manned lock' - we never saw one ?

Regardless of 2012 Octavias being compared to a 2009 A8, the comparison between Vetus pricing and other parts is very different. Audi do not take off the shelf parts from other manufacturers, paint and sell them at highly inflated prices, whereas it appears that Vetus do. The carbon brushes in my experience is just one example, the Albright relay unit is another. As previously stated Vetus are only assemblers, using other manufacturers parts. Audi are manufacturers.

Correct, but then neither does the similarly sized Honda at 4x the price, it does give higher noise figures though. https://www.honda.co.uk/industrial/products/generators/inverter/specifications.html All I know is this one works well, fits in the space I have and I found it invaluable during the past two months. I did always use it with respect to others but most of the time I was moored alone in the middle of nowhere.

Certainly, it is a standard Vetus 50 KGF unit, with the motor type being listed as SP50125 or something like that, sorry I am not sure. It is a 12v 3 KW unit. The brushes are Bosch BX33 type and size is 9 x 20 x 27.5 mm (according to Vetus) there are 4 of them. There was another post years ago in this forum where someone found replacement brushes of a slightly different size 9 x 20 x 28.5 mm but they fitted perfectly and being 1 mm longer made no difference. I bought exactly the same set of 4 brushes here... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carbon-brushes-Starter-Bosch-9x20x28/dp/B00Y0QI9NA

Did I say 'silent'...? It is really quiet when compared to some, but at 59 dB it would still be a nuisance to some so that is why I use it 'carefully' just like the locks.