cheesegas
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Posts posted by cheesegas
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7 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:
The 1/2" and 3/4" pipe threads are the only ones where BSP and NPT have identical pitches (14tpi).
My screw thread book gives the BSP/NPT pipe diameters for 1/2" as 0.8250"/ 0.840" and for 3/4" as 1.0410"/ 1.050".
BSP/ NPT thread flank angles are 55°/ 60°. BSP threads have rounded crests and roots, those of NPT are flat. If the fit is tight, using a die/tap on/in the larger/smaller thread should provide a solution.
I agree that the threads are similar enough to fit, but as mentioned above, the way it seals is different to both a tapered and parallel threaded pipe connection. I've got a spare Shurflo hose tail somewhere, I'll dig it out and get a photo - the tail fits into the pump without sealing on the threads or a face, it kind of clicks in between plastic flanges.
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19 minutes ago, jonathanA said:
Whilst cheesegas is correct these pumps do have npt threads, In my experience bsp fittings are a good fit and don't leak. Although some care is needed and you need to check the mating faces are compatible. I use flexible connector hoses and speedfit connectors all readily available from screwfix.
It's hard to tell what the gate valve is fitted to but it's worth trying to do away with it. If all else fails I'd leave the gate valve and fit something better after it (but close) and just ignore the gate valve.
The Shureflo pump is a weird one - the fittings don't seal on the thread and they don't seal on a mating face either, which is why I'd recommend using only the Shureflo fittings. Hard to describe but there's two concentric raised rings on the fitting, and the male bit on the pump fits snugly between the rings to form the seal. My boat had someone put a BSP tap tail on the pump with a lot of PTFE tape which leaked constantly until I swapped it out for the Shureflo part.
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9 minutes ago, Stehughesie said:
Thanks mate, appreciate the help.
Yeah, pump is shureflow and it has 2 parts that screw on to either side of the pump. I assume they are the 1/2" NPT? These have flanges on for a hose pipe to slide on.
So attach these parts, get 12mm food safe hose and jubilee clip on. Bit I'm stuck on is the 1/2 hose rail to 3/4 bsp female adaptor at tank? Not sure what these are...
Sorry to be a nuisance
Perfect, don't attach anything directly to the pump except those Shurflo 1/2" to NPT hose tails.
The thread on the valve will most likely be BSP tapered, so you'll need something like this to go from 3/4" BSP-T female to 12mm male hose barb.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225312832551
BSP taper threads seal on the thread itself rather than a washer, so you'll need to wrap a couple turns of PTFE tape on the threads.
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Is it a Shurflo pump? Use the 1/2" female to hose tails which it comes with - the thread isn't a 1/2" BSP or BSPT thread, it's 1/2" NPT which means nothing down the plumber's merchant will fit. BSP will kind of go on but may leak.
Once you've fitted the 1/2" NPT to 1/2" hose tail to the pump, you can then fit a 1/2" hose tail to 3/4" BSP female adaptor to the water tank outlet. Join the two with a short length of 12mm food safe hose and stainless jubilee clips. This has the side effect of isolating the pump's vibrations and making it quieter too.
I'd recommend changing the gate valve for a quarter turn ball valve though, the gate valves have a habit of seizing or leaking when shut.
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Can't remember where but some kids on a 1st floor balcony threw a couple of eggs at me, which hit the boat whilst I was mooring. However, when I was their age I was a dab hand at egging, so I quickly dispatched a dozen eggs back at them through the open doors and then swiftly moved on.
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3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:
But lots don't
Of course. I was just saying it's more common on newer boats than older boats. Still pretty uncommon compared to the 'standard' shear mountings and flexible Centaflex etc coupling though.
Surprisingly, the best setups I've seen were on old oil rig lifeboats; hefty thrust bearing bolted to an aluminum stringer glassed in securely, then a good 1-2' drive shaft with CV joints at either end. The Pythondrive setups prioritise distance from gland to engine and have a tiny 3-4" drive shaft.
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7 hours ago, john.k said:
How does mounting the engine on a bed of jelly affect the propshaft ?...........You are going to need a flexible shaft drive with universals or the various kinds of rubber /polymer flexible joints ,and a remote thrust bearing as well.
Yep, it’s quite common, more so on newer boats and lifeboats. There’s a few off the shelf systems you can buy, the most common is probably Pythondrive. You get a thrust bearing which bolts to the hull and takes the lateral force from the propeller, and a short shaft with car type CV joints on either end to connect the engine to the propshaft.
The engine is then free to move in more axes (perpendicular to the propshaft) and the mounts can be softer as they dont need to take any thrust forces.
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Just now, Tracy D'arth said:
There is a question of whether you need a air filter at all.
Harmonic balancing an engine is an interesting subject. Have you tried adding weight to the sump rather than the top of the engine? Most engines are very top heavy with reference to the crank center, it is one reason for using aluminium cylinder heads.
I'd rather have one, if only because it's under a cruiser stern and lifting the boards above the engine always results in a bit of grit etc falling into the engine bay. The intake end of the manifold is also perfectly positioned to suck in belt dust from the alternator
It's a full cast iron block and head so yeah, probably quite top heavy. I haven't tried adding weight to a point lower than the mounts but I'm not sure how feasible it is to get weights down there because clearance is quite tight.
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Just now, IanD said:
If the problem now is just the air filter resonance at 1000rpm, adding some mass to it (bolt on a lump of steel?) could help -- an extra 20% (of the air filter mass) will bring the resonance down to 910rpm which could still be a problem, adding 40% will bring it down to 850rpm which should be fine. Your suggestion of a lighter air filter assembly will move the resonance up the rev range which might be an even bigger problem when you're cruising...
To be honest the replacement is so small, made completely of rubber and mounts directly onto the intake I can't see it resonating at all. Should be delivered today so I'll fit it and see how it goes.
The existing filter assembly has a thick steel bracket that bolts to the manifold into blind threaded holes, then the canister is bolted to that with a short flexible hose to join it to the intake. One of the bolts sheared flush with the manifold and my stud extractor can't get it out so I think it's easier to scrap the whole assembly!
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7 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:
How can you tell? Do tell, I generally find it so hard to discriminate between one boater and another.
Not that there's owt wrong with running a genny at 7pm, apart from it being annoying to anyone nearby.
I do generally chat with fellow boaters on the towpath - and of course there’s nothing wrong with running a genny on the towpath at 7pm. As mentioned in a previous thread, I’ve been on the receiving end of snobbery from brass polishers with a house and a home mooring for their boat so I’m a little biased, admittedly.
It does however become obvious over time; those with a little 150w panel to keep the starter battery happy and shiny paintwork are more likely to run a genny than someone with 1000w of solar on the roof. I spend a couple months of the year on the upper Thames and I try not to moor near those without solar as there’s a good chance they’ve moored up around lunchtime and by evening their batteries are failing so the genny is turned on. Nothing wrong with that, I just want a nice peaceful getaway with no genny/engine drone.
I have had a couple of aggressive encounters with people running their engine into the night so I nowadays choose to not engage with them…
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23 hours ago, matty40s said:
If CCers are forced to pay lots more, how on earth are they going to afford their foreign holidays....
As a CC’r I look forward to the promised foreign holiday paid for with all the money I’ve been saving? Any idea where the form to claim is?
(side note; it’s mainly non-CC’rs I see in summer with a genny/engine running at 7pm because they haven’t got enough solar to run all the landline creature comforts they’re used to having whilst hooked up to shore power in the marina…)
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17 minutes ago, Bee said:
I wonder if its possible to fit a couple of shock absorbers to it? I'm thinking maybe from a scrap washing machine or something? Might be possible to take one each side from a handy nut on the engine to a bracket on the side of the boat, Of course there will not be any handy brackets or bolts 'cos that's the way it goes but it might just work.
It does seem to be a high frequency, low displacement vibration so this might work, but as you say, there's no suitable strong mounting points nearby without welding something on!
3 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:Long story short, the affected engine model had a concrete weight bolted onto it at the 'right spot', a few cars recalled for a retrofit and all new vehicles going down the line were fitted with the weight.
Sorted !
The chap at R&D actually suggested a weight above the mount that's most lightly loaded - I've tried this with both my own 80kg mass and varying cast iron ballast weights on top of the gearbox but movement is in the wrong axes. Appears to be the reaction force spinning the block in the other direction to the crank each time a cylinder fires, so the weight would need to be high up to have an effect... It's got a fairly hefty cast alu camshaft cover but I don't think its bolts would hold up to a weight on top!
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Another update...
Got the mounts fitted, as the studs are captive and very long I had to chop an inch off to get them in without having to lift the whole engine at once. Did it by lifting the back and then the front with a bit of scaff across the gunnels. Took a while to get it aligned!
Started the engine, idle set to 1000rpm warm which means it idles at 900rpm for a while until it warms up. Good points is that the resonance off idle has gone and it's much much quieter as the vibrations aren't being transferred to the hull! In gear or out of gear there's no resonance off idle now.
However...as the mounts are softer, the engine does vibrate a lot more throughout the rev range, whereas previously it would only noticeably move around the resonance RPM band. These vibrations are being isolated by the mounts, but the engine visibly moves a lot more. There's a new resonance almost at redline which think I can live with. Movement appears to be parallel with the crank so it's not bouncing up and down and it's not enough to rattle the propshaft around in the stern tube. I'm not sure of the effect this has on the lifespan of the Centaflex coupling and gearbox output shaft bearing though!
The vibrations were enough to shear two of the four M8 bolts (again!) holding the air filter assembly to the intake manifold within a few minutes, but this is a recurring problem I was having. It seems that the assembly, which is quite a heavy steel affair, has a resonance at 1000rpm, so at idle whilst the engine barely moves, it's waggling around like a mad thing.
The intake hose and filter bracket gets in the way of changing the alternator belt and the filter elements are expensive so I'm going to bin it and replace with a pleated cotton K&N style filter mounted directly on the intake I think.
Partial success!
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Non-blue and blue Isuzus have a BSPT thread for the oil and temperature sender. It's easiest to fit a combined sender/switch as Tony said, KUS do one for about £30 which is pretty reasonable. It is however only available in UNF, metric and NPT threads so you will need an adaptor.
As far as I know, no Isuzus use NPT threads as they're more of a US thing. It's common for there to be a BSPT to NPT thread adaptor in there which allows fitting of a more common NPT threaded sender. Be careful though as NPT and BSPT threads are similar and an NPT male thread will appear to fit in a BSPT hole but it'll leak and might damage it...
Ebay is a good source for all sorts of adaptors to go from BSPT to various other threads, be patient whilst searching as there's so many options on there!
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7 hours ago, matty40s said:
The little pamphlet would have given CRT the first points in the battles with the Lee Anderson, JonathanGulis types who are coming to the waterways and saying after 6 months, .
"I didn't know, nobody told me, why should I?"
To be honest I've only heard of people not knowing the rules twice. Most people are fully aware of the rules and those who overstay are also aware and try to get around them; as someone who's worked on boats, I've been asked many many times 'what's a serious breakdown I can tell to the CRT so I can overstay here for a few weeks, I like it here'.
The info is out there and I think the vast majority of people have read it, or make a Facebook post etc about buying a boat and are pointed towards it.
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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:I don't think I should - the business news headlines from the IOD and Senior Business managers cite horrific stories about employing GenZ and the 'entitled generation'.
2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:Surely even the Gen Z have enough about them do do some investigation into what is required before handing over big chunks of money.
I think you've been suckered in by all the clickbait ariticles unfortunately - written to cause a fuss and sell clicks on ads but with very little grounding in reality. I wouldn't be surprised if the 'journalists' had gone out with an agenda and interviewed people until they find someone who matches it.
As someone who is a bit older than Gen Z, in my early 30s, I'm a freelancer working with what I think is supposed to be Gen Z (20-25) in the technical entertainment industry. Electrics, video signals, technical stuff which needs one to keep on top of the industry and carry on learning. Hours can be long too. Anyway, when I have my project manager hat on, I'm in charge of hiring other freelancers who can be of any age and usually recommended via word of mouth; it's how the industry works.
Gen Z tend to be the ones who are very much into the job for the love of it, and are constantly learning, constantly researching all the time and rarely ask daft questions. There's exceptions but few have an ego; they will be the ones staying late, first to help out and arriving early. Contrast this with someone 45-50 who is jaded, hasn't kept up with the industry for the past decade and despite knowing a fraction of what the 25 years olds do, still act like they're entitled to the same day rates. They'll much rather chase me around and ask a daft question than pull out their phone/laptop, download a manual, do some research and solve the problem.
Attitude is terrible too - turn up late, always find an excuse to avoid doing something even slightly physically demanding and if something unexpected needs doing, they'll have gone for a smoke break. My best crews have been 25-35 years old; I took 100 of them out to the middle east with me towards the end of last year for a very high profile event and we only had two bad apples.
That's not to say it's not the case in other industries, but I trust what I see rather than a clickbait article on the internet. Bear in mind too that I won't come into contact with the Gen Z failures...
There's a similar pattern elsewhere - I also do some boat electrics on the side (yes I have insurance etc!), mainly Victron programming and of course mainly in London as that's where the majority of the boats are. Younger folk tend to have bought a cheap boat which is a bit knackered and needs work, but are willing to learn and most have done a lot of research on forums/youtube etc to learn about the various systems. I know one girl who bought an ex lifeboat never having picked up a screwdriver, and a year in she's refitted the kitchen, fixed several plumbing issues and is working through the electrics with my help. I tend to see less older people, but the ones nearer 50 tend to be very stuck in their ways and will abjectly refuse to learn anything despite the info being out there, and feel entitled enough to constantly call me about the smallest thing rather than do some research first. They're the ones who get annoyed that I don't answer the phone when I'm busy...
I once met a nice couple in their 50s who had bought a very shiny boat second hand, and wanted me to go over the electrics. They'd moored up in Leighton Buzzard on the towpath for the first time and were shocked to hear they couldn't just stay there forever, they'd have to move! No research at all.
3 hours ago, matty40s said:Actually, CRT have more than a small part of blame in this.
I don't think so - the info is out there online, and it's very easily accessible now; a starter pack isn't going to assist. Any Google search terms vaguely around what you want to know returns good results. Admittedly younger generations are more likely to have done this research, so it might be of use to older folk who are less inclined to go online but even still I'd expect them to do research by talking to people at brokers etc who would hopefully point them somewhere useful.
Besides, I think the people who flaunt the rules by staying in one place for too long etc know perfectly well of the rules and choose to ignore them...a little pamphlet isn't going to make a difference.
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8 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:
I’ve imagined the meetings it to be exactly like that
It’s less angry ranting and more them trying to stop whatever the CRT is doing without rhyme or reason. Like disrupting the CRTs fundraising activities. Also hilariously they assign tasks to their own key members who simply don’t do them.
There’s definitely space for a reasonable organisation with some rational direction to support and manage liveaboard boaters in busy areas like London/Bristol. Running campaigns to encourage people to spread out along transport routes around the system, organise towpath litter picks,
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10 minutes ago, IanD said:
Doing what you do -- following the CC rule and staying in one place for a few days days and then moving on and continuing to do so around the system -- is exactly the situation for which the CC rule was introduced in the first place, and I very much doubt that anybody on CWDF objects to that, it's just as valid a way of using the canals as having a home mooring. In fact you could say it's a better use of the canals than boats which spend almost all their time as liveaboards not moving around (or holiday boats moored in marinas), but that's another argument... 😉
While only a relatively small number of boaters did this -- and mainly followed the rules -- there was no problem. The problem is that in recent years increasing numbers of boaters who don't want to move round the system (or pay for a home mooring) claim the CC exemption but then do their best to stay in one place and scream loudly (hello NBTA!) when there's any attempt to make them follow the rules and move on.
I'm sure that discouraging this behaviour is part of the reason for CART introducing the CC surcharge (again, to loud protests from the NBTA), though many would say the (rising to 25%) surcharge isn't really big enough to do this and it should be bigger. It's also this behaviour that is p*ssing off lots of other boaters who do either follow the rules or pay for a home mooring, but see others overstaying massively and getting pretty much what they're paying for but for free... 😞
Unfortunately "real CCers" like you are collateral damage here, you're suffering due to the behaviours of others, and I expect this is especially galling for those who have been CCing for many years since before this all became such a problem. But you shouldn't be blaming CART or boaters complaining about bad CC behaviour, you should be blaming the CMers who are the real culprits.
Totally - I agree that there’s a lot of people who just hover around the same area simply because it’s cheap, and don’t let anyone else have that spot. However, it’s not just scruffy boats who do that, plenty of new widebeams are at it as well for example! Walthamstow Marshes in London is notorious for that behaviour. I also echo your thoughts on the NBTA, I’ve joined their zoom meetings out of interest and it’s like a student politics club, only more angsty and with less direction and meaning.
I’ve got a lot of snootiness from shiny boaters over the past couple of years when I chat to them at locks etc and mention I don’t have a home mooring. ‘You’re one of them’…‘trying to avoid tax eh’ and so on. I did some of the Oxford loop last summer and it seemed especially bad - my boat is a little scruffy and could do with a repaint at some point as it’s fading, and I have a tarp on the roof covering the inevitable two bags of coal I didn’t use over winter! Unmistakably liveaboard, along with the solar panels.
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There's a weird mindset on here that anyone without a home mooring is a tax dodger and mooring up for two weeks at a time is a big no no and you're only in it for a cheap lifestyle as opposed to being a 'true boater' or whatever that means. I've tried living in a marina as that's what everyone bleats on about when you first mention getting a boat and I hated it. Like being double moored all the time and paying for the privilege, and then having to deal with gossip from neighbours you can't escape.
I quite like cruising to a new spot and then stopping for a week or two; some of those days might be commuting to work (my place of work changes almost daily) but most are spent exploring the new area, walking/cycling around to look at stuff which I might not otherwise be able to see and so on.
On 31/03/2024 at 10:42, MtB said:Indeed and its a curious thing. When I lived aboard I realised I no longer enjoyed my boating. The boat became just the place I went to cook/eat and sleep. Filling the water tank, emptying the bog and changing gas bottles became a tedious chore. Now I'm living on the bank, going to the boat has become a treat again.
I'm the opposite to this; everyone does things differently. Before living aboard I had a little GRP cruiser in a marina - it started to become a hassle going to the boat, getting it ready to cruise and so on just for a couple of days.
Living on the boat means I can take my entire home to a different place and have a different town to look around etc without having to think about getting the boat back to the marina and then getting home. I don't have a fixed place of work to commute to - as I'm freelance, it changes a lot and I do some from home too.
On 31/03/2024 at 06:42, magpie patrick said:To my mind, living on board holds one's cruising aspirations back.
Again...everyone is different and again I'm the opposite. Living on board for me means that I look forward to cruising, where I'll find somewhere new to live for a week or two and explore the area. I was briefly in a marina and because I was paying to be there, I felt I had to return there which limited where I cruised; plus, with shore power, the incentive to set the boat up for multiple days off grid wasn't there so if I moored up for a few days it was a hassle to keep batteries charged etc.
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19 minutes ago, Lady M said:
The ones based in the Paddington Arm have a small light on top of a tall stick like mast. It's still very difficult to see them in a tunnel if they get too close to you because they are so low on the water.
In peak times in summer they have staff at either end of the tunnel with 2 way radios, stopping and letting through GoBoats as needed, to avoid them coming head to head with anything else. They give priority to other traffic which is good.
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7 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:
I think that’s the ‘tunnel’ where I didn’t put me light on because I thought it were a long bridge hole,
and didn’t think it worth it,
I got shouted at by an on coming boat “haven’t you got a light?”
Just googled it, 249 metresHardly a fart’s length,
Well that’s a very very silly thing to do for something which takes all of 5 seconds to reach down and flick a switch. There’s a lot of crap towards the sides in there, getting stuck with a prop full of plastic because some daft person meant you had to pass two abreast isn’t much fun.
(and yes, I know there’s longer tunnels on the system…)
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They're fine on the canals in my opinion but in Kingston on the Thames they can be a bit of a hazard - where the river narrows by the water works, there's a lot going on...moored boats in marinas, big trip boats going in both directions and all the leisure craft.
I hit one a couple of years ago at Kingston, it was on the wrong side of the river but plenty of space still...then for some reason they started moving, ended up right in my path and stopped. Went hard left to avoid them and they moved again, perfectly into my path again! Full reverse wasn't enough, caught them broadside on but luckily no one on board was hurt, although their picnic was a mess.
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Just now, jonathanA said:
Yes I keep saying I will whip the cover off the who are we and see if it looks like there is any regulation on the input.
There will be some form of regulation and it’ll also have either a dedicated IC or a discrete circuit to derive various rails for TTL etc - 3.3v, 5v, 1.8v. It’s whether the regulators input can withstand over voltage or not, it seems to vary a lot from brand to brand.
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52 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:
R&D recommended different ratings front and back for my 2 cylinder LPWS2 with PRM 120 gearbox. ( Ididn’t use them as my problem I discovered was down to the engine bed flexing) . R&D were very prescriptive and did not fill me with confidence that they actually knew what they were talking about. They just sent me curt emails and data sheets. I got the impression that the £200 or so was not of interest to them and they showed little interest in discussing anything. I won’t be using them again unless I have to. It sounds like your experience is similar
With me it was hit and miss. The first guy I spoke to didn’t have the time of day for me and wouldn’t recommend anything, just sent me a link to their (crap) site and various data sheets.
I then tried to call later, left a message and got a call back from a much more helpful man who chatted to me about everything engines and resonances for over half an hour, eventually recommending four of the same compression mounts. He said different to the first guy though and not to mix ratings of mounts which I think other people have also got the same mixed message!
The studs are captive though so it makes installation more challenging…I think I can slide the engine over each corner in turn though, the whole thing is only 170kg so with a bit of scaff as a lever it should be fine.
Improving onboard Mobile communications
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It’s 12v but use a DC-DC converter if running from the boats 12v system, avoid connecting it directly as it goes up to 14.4-14.8v. Some routers seem to be fine with the variation, some die within a week or two.