Big COL
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Posts posted by Big COL
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Yamanx
Only a masochist would call this the joys of boating. You seem to be getting a lifetimes boating problems in one trip. The up side of all this must be that you will have trouble free boating in the future, you certainly deserve to. Look forward to the next instalment, its far better than Dead Enders.
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You are quite right Chris, that's the place for it. Everthing streaming with condensation to keep it nice and dank. I miss that exilerating feeling of the rain dripping down the back of my neck when doing a bit of daily maintenance and people treading on my fingers whilst I'm wrestling with the deck boards.
Only the other day I was bemoaning my fate whilst I was doing a little job at my workbench in the engine room, over-heated and over-lit as it is I managed it, and then went on to give my engine a polish with a dry cloth, at the same time listening to the rain pattering outside.
My god it was hell in there.
John
How you suffer!
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It took three of us to lift them through the door, heaven knows how much it will cost to ship then to the UK.
Is this a new concept? Furniture ballast.
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Yamanx
Will look forward to it.
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I built my own cratch board some years ago, but I chose to build it in three sections. Not only does this make building and installing easier, but it makes the board far more versatile. Being able to remove the side wings in fine weather gives more visability for passengers sitting in the front well, but is quick to reinstall when wet weather threatens. We have found it very usefull to have an area where muddy boots and wet coats can be removed before entering the boat.
HI David
Our old boat had the same designed cratch board, the only down side to it was, when we removed the wings, which was often, they were stowed in the front locker and after a short period of time they looked a little battered. On the new boat we kept the same design but built the wings so they can hinge forward and clip together, giving the advantage of the extra visibility without the damage.
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Daniel
As you look at your picture the belt should be running anti clockwise. Top of the belt towards the alternator. If you imagine it running the other way you can see how it could undo if something was to catch on one of the flaps. I have just read what I posted earlier and it was wrong. I shall have to go and have a lie down, its all getting to much.
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I am not confusing them, but if I am confusing other people then I am sorry.
I was merely pointing out a cheaper, if less accurate alternative then those being mentioned.
And as for people who don't believe that they work on DC, I give up.
I remember now why I don't normally get involved on these discussion forums.
Phil
Whoops.
Chill out Phil and welcome to the forum, its only friendly banter. Sorry if you felt insulted, but theres a good bunch on this forum. Stick with it.
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John
Did some googling on DC ammeters and the Hall effect, very interesting. Also read about what you're describing as induction ammeters,the consensus of opinion is that they get as close to being a measuring instrument as does a chocolate tea pot.
Colin
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So, is it on the right way then, should the links more "into" the pulley
like this
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (links)
--> --> --> --> (direction of movment)
Daniel.
The covered part of the link moves towards the pulley with the flap trailing.If you have the flap leading and it catches on something it will pull the belt undone.
Hope this makes sense
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Yes it is possible to embed a virus in a pfd file and it has been done, however, unless it's changed recently, the reader does not run any code, only the full Acrobat package does.
Joy
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I agree with Maffi PDF files are a pain, they take ages to download, and are often difficult to read on screen. They also seem to reproduce all the printing faults present on the original document. My son who works as a computer Graphic Designer says that people use them because any idiot can send a PDF file, wheras producing a text file incorporating graphics requires a degree of skill.
Hi David, Maffi.
Not being totally computer literate, this is over my head but my (she who must be obeyed) other half, has had a lifetime in IT and runs her own IT business so I assume she must know something as its totally lost on me probably an age thing.
Hi Joy here,
The point of pdf files is that I can produce a document and know if I send it to you, you will see it exactly as I do, regardless of any differences in our systems. A text file is fine for text and if you're not concerned how it's formatted, but if your understanding of what I've written depends in any way on formatting then the fact that you may see it completely differently to what I intended, depending on what program you use to read it, or what fonts you have installed on your PC, may make it impossible to understand. The same applies in a Word document, and can actually be worse, as Word encourages you to use different fonts and formatting, which can make a document less easy to read and understand if you don't have the required font or use a different Word version.
Yes, PDFs can take ages to download but this is nothing to do with them being PDF files. It is due to the size and number of images in the document, which applies to any format that can include images.
'HOWEVER, Adobe have stuffed this up by making the newer pdf formats incompatible with the old viewers.'There comes a time in all software development that it becomes impossible to continue supporting old formats without sacrificing the ability to improve or even keep the software compatible with evolving operating systems etc. In the case of PDF files Adobe supply the reader for free and make it extremely easy to download and install.
Another consideration, and a major reason why many people supply PDF files instead of word documents is spreading of viruses, Word documents can spread viruses as Word has the ability to run the virus code within the document. The PDF reader has no such ability and therefore it's much safer to download and open a PDf file than a Word document.
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I didn't realise you could get DC clamp on ammeters, how do they work on DC,I understand the principle how AC amprobes work, and these will not work on DC so how do they differ, I have this need to know.
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Yamanx
Pleased to see you got the boat home. How did the gearbox perform, and did the coupling hold up ok.
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Maffi
Buy as you well know you usualy get what you paid for.
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The slight voltage variation you can see between two similar batteries is not significant. As with many electrical measurements a better result will be seen when the circuit is loaded.
If you can read a different voltage when 2 batts. are connected in parallel it means you have bad connections somewhere.
With batteries connected in parallel the battery with the higher voltage will become the lead battery until it becomes equalised with the next highest voltage and so on until all batteries are equal. Basic electricity, ohms law voltage = pressure.
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Colin.
Life is not like that, not all the Comets crashed.
I have said this before but a hand-held clamp type DC ammeter is the best tool you can have, you can see what every battery is doing.
John
What do you mean by a hand held clamp DC ammeter it must need wiring into the circuit on DC, amprobes only work on AC.
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Why diferent cases ? are they the same etc . does the colour define made in diferent country's or are they a lower quality battery?
I don't really know, they are identical in size physically and I had always assumed they were electrically.As until now I have never had reason to remove them from the battery box, but asking this you have set me thinking, I have to admit I have sometimes wondered why there were two of one colour and two of another, but as they say if its not broke don't fix it. I took delivery of the hull as a sail away and they were already installed. I am on the boat again tomorrow and I will extract one of the yellow ones and check its output, the red ones I know are 125 amp hour.
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I think you should ask for 4 new batteries as they must have come from a faulty batch.
Worth a try.
I had considered that, but the faulty two have red cases, and the other two have yellow cases. I gave the good ones a fair test 25seconds each the resistor on the tester was glowing red hot and the needle on the meter did not flinch so I am happy with these at the moment.
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Lost a couple of roof tiles but I am sure the boat is ok.
It was some Greek philosopher chap who believed that wind is caused by the trees waving their branches about.
Your quite right John he was called Socratrees
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Update on the battery chain. Checked all four batteries with high resistance tester, the two that have needed constant topping up are as flat as a witches t--t, and are short of water again after only a week on a trickle charge, replacements under guarantee required, which will be interesting as they are elecosol batteries and after the comments on this forum about customer care that this company offers I am holding my breath. Contacting them by telephone only gets a recording for you to leave a message, and I have had no response from an e-mail that I sent on Monday. Will update you all on the outcome.
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I think that what was said, and I said it, was that on our mooring site, paid for BTW to BW, was that a couple of the boaters were liveaboards and as long as the moorings were kept tidy and the moorers caused no trouble then BW turned a blind eye. They were glad really to have someone keep an eye on the site. No one was moored illegally.
Bernie
If BW were glad to have someone keep an eye on the site unofficially, why not just make it official,the whole set up is a nonsense, what may be acceptable in your area, probably would not be tolerated somewhere else. the point I was trying to make is that BW should provide moorings, even if only for the winter months.
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Chill out guys
There is no easy answer to this, you are raising the continuous cruisers debate from a different angle. BW have a case to answer they encourage trade from the canals in going into partnerships with pubs, and owning marinas if they encourage people to use the canals 24/365 as they will need to, to keep these new pubs in business during the winter months then they should provide moorings, at a charge. If as a boater you want to live aboard and expect to moor close to a road so as you can park the car and close to shops and water, then expect to pay for it.
Most of you will probably say thats fine, until a boat moors next to you and has no mooring rights and is left undisturbed, then the situation changes. Whatever system is used it will be open to abuse if not properly policed. Several of you have commented in previous post about moorings that if you moor illegally but keep the moorings tidy and keep your head down BW will leave you alone this really helps no one, I except that you are being forced into this position, but its not the answer you are only strengthening and confusing the continuous cruisers argument. BW should provide moorings and let the moorers police their own moorings then any if strange boats appear they have 14 days, then reported to BW for them to move them on, it will require BW to play their part in this but small self regulating moorings could work.
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The question you should really be asking is why one battery should die before another, if they are only two years old their demise is premature. Are they being over-charged.
John
If this was the case. I would have expected it to affect all the batteries.
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Yamanx
Not a nice place to be broken down in. I wouldn't worry to much about the drive coupling, as you are between a rock and a hard place with this. Get the box repaired and back in the boat and the boat back on the move, you can then tell what revs you will be able to use without causing you to much trouble, and you can at least nurse it home and attend to the drive later. Check the alignment when you reinstall the box, as a well aligned drive train will run without a rubber drive to get you out of trouble Good luck and safe journey.
Fitout "good ideas"
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted · Edited by Big COL
John
To each his own. I know where you are coming from with this, and I can imagine you will ruffle a few feathers. On the same lines applied to motor cars we would still be driving model T fords (comes in any colour as long as it's black) It must be a individual choice as with any thing in life. You may enjoy throwing the bucket down the well for your fresh water, others prefer to turn on the tap.
Commercialism drives the advancement in all products, and the majority of us embrace all the advantages this brings.You yourself are as guilty as anybody in this as you have worked in R and D and expected the developments to be put to use or there is no point in having any R and D.
A dug out canoe is a boat if you really want a true boat, but you are willing to accept the advancements from this up to the level that you perceive to be a boat, strange thing this, a little bit of dual standards applied here methinks.