oldade

April 4, 2009

Hi

A good place to stop after the wigan flight is at the top of Johnsons hillock.

Good pub TOP LOCK in won this years localCAMARA best pub prize.

Live music thursday night.

48 hour moorings on the off side just through the top lock.

Shower block with water tap and pump out on the tow path side.

Boat yard just in front of 48 hour morrings. ( they are a nice frendly bunch)

An early start from theyer will get you through Burnley.

Just after the top lock in Blackburn next to the tow path is an ASDA.

After you leave Blackburn at Clayton theyer is a couple of swing bridges that are on the off side you will need your BW key and Windless for these.

After that you go over the M65 motorway. ( new concrete bridge)

All the locks have the anti vandel locks on so you will need your handcuff key for those.

You have nothing to worry about on this strech of canal.

Its not as bad as you may have heard.

What is you boat called ?

So I can keep a look out for you.

I hope this helps.

ADE

March 8, 2009

Hi I Have a sterling invertor/charger.

It wont won't charge my batterys when conecterd to two gennys I have I

It works Ok with the shore power.

I think it is an Neutral and earth bonding problem.

How do it if I tell if I can bond earth to neutral with out damaging the genny.

The genny is one out of cage with 12v dc output 110volts ac as well as 240volts ac

The other is a little two stroke jobby.

What tests do I need to do to tell if it is safe to connect neutral to earth on the genny.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

ADE

January 15, 2009

All, I'm looking for some supalux to back my hearth. Does anybody know of any national stockists that I will be able to get some from.

Thanks

Lee

Hi

I have some for sale

Two sizes

2 X 4ft by 3ft £20.00 each

2 X 4ft by 5ft £30.00 each

All about 9 mm thick

You would have to collect from me

I live near Blackburn Lanc,s

Email

0ldade@btinternet.com

Thanks

ADE

September 14, 2008

want to get a freezer for the boat what would be the best ? not sure if one of the 12volt ones would do or a small chest freezer ?

stew & Karen

Hi

Weaco CF-35 Portable fridge/frezzer.

Bought one a these Ebay no 270274669698

12volt and 240.

Silent (When I first connected it my heart sank I thought on no it is broke) its that quite

You can set your own temp on the didge display one minute it is a fridge the next it is a freezer.

Two big handles so you can use on the bank as a cool box.

Extras avalable

fixing bracket

Insulated cover.

I am going to fit mine under the bench seat on a sliding shelf.

Danfoss based.

Three or four sizes aviable.

Shuts down below certain voltage ( dont ask what that is I just know the battery I had it on wasnt flat when it stopped and no it wasnt broke)

Charged the battery and it was away again)

Take it home put the beer in coolit via 240 at home, take it the boat plug it in to 12 volt (Sorted).

Against

B**** dear.

But much better value because it is so versatile than a standard 12 volt fridge or freezer.

I have no connection with the sellar.

Or maker.

I should be on comishon for this.

Thanks

ADE

August 18, 2008

Hi

I am going to fit a genny in my narrowboat it will be fitted in front of the engine.

On the engine beds so it wont need a fuel pump as the top of the engine will be below the bottom of the rear swim tank.

The genny has no fuel fillter fitted at the moment I would like to fit one.

My question is if I did fit a fillter would I then need a pump upstream of the fillter to force the fuel through or do we think it would flow through with out a pump?

Has anyone tryed it ?

I would like to do with out the pump if pos.

I am tempted to just try it and see if it will work.

What do we think ?

Which fillter would we recomend ?

Thanks in advance of any help given

ADE

August 14, 2008

Thanks Ken, all these differing suggestions are interesting and thought provoking. Have to confess that, not being city folk, I dont think Birmingham will interest us and I suspect we shall just shoot through as fast as we can without making waves! But we are a democracy and we'll take a vote on it, together with the direction we take but I'm leaning towards eating the frog for supper as you suggest.

Doris

Hi

If you do the locks last you have two advantages.

You are going down the flight (allways easyer)

You are going against the river flow on the Seven (you tend to have more control of the boat going against the flow).

Thanks

ADE

August 6, 2008

Hi

Now that a few garages sell LPG can we refill our bottles at a garage ?

Will the garage let us ?

Is the gas the same ?

Has anyone tryed it ?

I have done the maths it is chaper at the mo.

13KG bottle holds 16 Lts

If it is 40p per Lt that is £10.40

If are paying around £18.00 that does save us money.

I have seen fittings for sale that will fit both the garage pump and the Propane bottle for £25.00

After you have filled 4 gas bottles you will be saving money.

You could even do it when you fill the car up.

What do we think ?

July 6, 2008

Hi

So If we go with the iso trany we dont need Galv iso then ?

Or would it be a good idea to fit both ?

Your help would be great

THanks

ADE

July 5, 2008

Hi

On the subject of ISO tranys.

I am right to say that a system with an iso trany will use more AC power

due to the trany using juice even when no ac is being used on board as any transformer does ?

If I have got this right how much more juice ?

How much extra would it cost to run this system as compared to a system with out the ISO trany and an Galvanic iso instead.

I am trying to decide which camp to join.

Your thoughts / help would be great .

Thanks

in advance

ADE

June 26, 2008

For those with sat boxes with old firmware, if you can enter the transponder manually put in
Frequency = 10.729

Polarity = Vertical

Symbol Rate = 22000

And that should get you all the "4" FTA channels

Hi

Finging the sat.

I read some where that once you have goodish picture put a damp teatowl ( or simular ) over the dish this cut down the signal so you can fine tune its direction.

It works ever time for me.

I see maplins are selling hand help sat finders that you can wave around to find the sat has anyone tryed one ?

Thanks

ADE

June 26, 2008

I'll find time this weekend to do a diagram and email it to you. Can't fit it in until then.

Are you using a normal split charge relay energised from the alternator?

Gibbo

Hi

Again

Its a new build

I will be using your gear I hope

The engine is a canalstar 30 with 50amp and 110 amp alterntors.

120ah start battery 550 ah domestic 220ah BT batterys.

Could you send me a list of what I would need.

And the cost as well.

I am looking for a top notch system ( not cutting corners )

I have all the battery cables fuses etc

I have read all your web site and will be following that.

Thanks a lot again

ADE

June 25, 2008

I would be tempted to keep it as it is as soon as you cut it you will find you need a longer one.

Or could you make get two out of it 2/3 and 1/3 ?

Just a thought ( I now I should stop doing that )

ADE

June 23, 2008

Hi

Question for Gibbo ( again Sorry )

Could I trouble you for a wiring diagram ?

I only need the bit with the relays and diodes in.

I am sorry if I am being a pain .

My email if you want to send it direct.

oldade@btinternet.com

If it is a lot a work I will understand.

Thanks very much again

ADE

June 23, 2008

Hi

Thanks to you all for that.

A question to Gibbo.

You say get a signal from the BT control panel and feed it to the split charge relay that feeds the BT Batterys.

I am guessing that you are getting the BT control panel to open the relay to the BT Batterys and saving the fuses that way?

I can see how that works because as soon as the BT is turned off the relay will close again and start to topup the BT batterys again.

Have I got it right ?

Would your three bank gaget be better suited to this set up than you two bank version ?

Thanks for everyones help with this it is much clearer now how this all works .

Just a thought ( I now I shouldnt do it ) I will need two feeds from the BT control panel wont I because of the two directions ?

Can I just join into the cable that goes postitve in each direction ? as that would save opening the BT control panel.

Would the current from the BT cable be enough to operate the charge relay and the BT without blowing a fuse or damaging the BT control panel ?

Have I got this right ?

Thanks very much to you all for this.

ADE

June 22, 2008

Hi

Help needed.

I am looking for a charging system for my new boat.

I will have three battery banks

My main question is about how to charge the BT batterys.

Which system would work best ?

Sterling says run 25mm cables to the BT bank and use one of theyer battery to battery chargers.

Whould that be any good ?

I see Gibbo does a three bank system which is the one I fancy.

But I need to know that it will charge the BT batterys fully given the length of cable ? (57ft)

Will the 25mm cables as sterling recomends be big enough to allow the BT batterys to charge fully ?

How do the chargers / relays know / mesure the charge in the BT batterys ?

I dont understand why I need a battery to battery charger as sterling recomends ?

If I just connect the BT batterys direct via a fuse at each end to one of the rear banks what will / won't happen ?

Thanks

I have learned a lot in a very stort time from all you guys.

THANKS

again and in advance

ADE

June 14, 2008

Hi

Why are we using inverters to make 240 volts to power computers etc when the transformer in the computer etc is converting that back to 12 dc or less ?

What a waste of energy.

Shurely a 12 dc computer / video whould be best ?

Would it be easy to convert one to run of 12 volt ?

I hope the experts can answer this for me before I pull my computer in bits .

I know the laptop I have has a 14 volt battery in it so it should be easy to do.

Would it be best to charge the battery in the laptop from the domestic bank ?

How do we do it ?

It must use less juice doing it that way, plus we dont have to do anything to the laptop etc.

Are thyer inveters that have adjustable outputs ?

Thanks in advance.

ADE

May 28, 2008

Hi,

Does anyone out there know the Lister Petter engine code for the Canal Star 36, is it LPW?

Many thanks

Rob

Hi

I think you will find it is LPWS But I thought it was 20 30 40 for the 2 3 4 cylinder models at 20 30 40 HP.

I am in the process of buying the 30 for my new boat.

It works in google try it.

Thanks

ade

May 21, 2008

Hi

How do we make our chimney holes secure when we are away ?

To stop any vandels etc pouring or tiping anything down.

Do we have to resort to something like a hasp and staple with a padlock through or is theyer a neater way?

As ever your views would be welcome.

Thanks

ADE

May 14, 2008

We've had our maplin Kit for a month or so now and so far its been excellent. Its connected to the tv in the bedroom and meant i could enjoy the snooker last week and not distrupt Swmbo's American Trash viewing on the sky set up in the saloon.

It does mean we now have 2 sat dish's on the old girl (boat not swmbo) however i connected the sky box upto the Maplin dish today and found it worked perfectly so i now need to find a double connector so that we can dump the proper sky dish in the shed.

The freesat stuff is more than ample ive found, with a couple of movie channels thrown in. Not tried to lock onto the european Sats yet.

Hi

With regard to watch two pictures from one dish I think you will need an LNB ( low noise block) with two or more outputs to be able to watch two diferent chanels at once.

Twin LNB.

AS allways I stand to be corected.

Thanks

ADE

May 13, 2008

Hi All
I have not put this in the parts for sale as I do not have them, however if anyone is interested in getting some parts to keep for spares or needs any for a rebuild etc email me and I will put you in contact.

They are all K parts, heads, cyclinders, brass and copper pipeworks, de-compressor levers and linkage, petrol heads etc etc most parts could be obviously used on any K 1,2,3 or4 cylinder but the base engine is a K4. The location is Nantwich Stoke on Trent area.

david

Can you send me the contact details as I have a mate who has a K3 in his Nortwich (ARIEL)

Thanks

ADE

May 7, 2008

I does any one know it the 240 volt switches and socket made by CBE will pass A boat safety test.

Is theyer any set standard IE BS that the 24volt gear has to pass and be marked up in order to pass ?

I know they are used on motorhomes.

Thanks

For any any help

ADE

April 30, 2008

Thanks

For that.

ADE

quote name='martyn 1' date='Apr 29 2008, 10:39 PM' post='228970']

I would say a 3 cylinder, Just one thing you need to way up, how much time are you going to spend on a river. if say 10% of the use on a river then 90% of the time its going to be idling down the cut and therfore a 4 is going to be running in the scenario from my previous post which will eventually end with problems. but if you are going to spend say 50/50 cut river mix then go for the 4 as it will get sufficient load on the rivers to keep it clean.

and yes the 3 cylinder is the 30IDI and the 4 is the 40IDI

Marine Engine Services (uxbridge) are the UK marine agent for Lister (They build/marinise them, engine built at lister them marinised by them) so I would think going anywhere else is just going to be more because you will be paying the middle mans markup. From the info I have the price they have quoted is the retail, I would try and see if you can get a discount, you might get lucky.

Also the info I have states the 30IDI comes with a PRM 150 gearbox, thats just fine as its also fitted to the 40IDI so plenty big enough, as for prop that will depend on weight of boat, etc etc etc.

as for alternators if you go for the 30IDI it comes with a 50amp start and 55amp Domestic alternators as standard but I would go for the optional 110AMP domestic if you intend on running a inverter etc. If you go for the 40IDI it comes with a 70 amp start and 110 amp domestic as standard so would need no changes.

Hope this is of help

Martyn

April 29, 2008

Thanks for that.

So for my 57ft narrow boat you would recommend a 3 cylinder.

Is that the 30IDI.

I have got a price from Marine engineering services of £4600.

Do you think I could get one cheaper than that ?

Which gearbox

Which prop.

Alternators ?

Would it do OK in the rivers ?

Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Hi ade

The lister alpha engine range that the canalstar engine is based on has been around since 1989 and is well proven model in both industrial and marine application, They are a good solid engine and will easily provide 8000hrs service as long as maintained properly. after rebuilding many of the 4 cylinder canalstars out of narrowboats unless you are intending in fitting it in a over 60 ft boat or doing alot of river work dont fit a 4 cylinder fit a 3. All of the 4 cylinder one I have rebuilt all suffer with the same coking up problems and bore glazing relating to to light load. If your thinking of a second hand 4 cylinder one ensure it is not an early one (pre 1992) as these suffered from crank failure.

You will also hear some people complain about problems with the hydraulic cam followers and starting. in my experience if you maintain it properly you will have no problems, again these issues relate to poor maintenance and light loading. in canal applications and not just related to the canalstar engines they do not work hard enough and this causes all kind of issues, most engines have say a 250hr oil change period and that can take years to do, so irrespective of hrs change the oil anually and use good oil, this will prevent the oil sludging up the oil ways and hence reduce the risk of problems with followers.

In my opinion i wouldn't even contemplate the others just for the fact there not british, be it that they are good engines in there own right.

In context my above opinion is based on upwards of 42 rebuilds of 3 and 4 cylinder alphas (canalstar).

If you need more data on the canalstars I can send it to you also it might be worth talking to peter thompson at Marine engine services in uxbridge as they are the Lister main distributator for the marine engines.

martyn

If you want british dont hesitate.

I now await the onslaught

April 28, 2008

Hi

What do we think of the new Lister canal star engines are they as good as Betta/ Barrus ETC.

I would like to fit british in my british narrowboat.

I would like an engine that revs a bit slower than the betta etc.

Any sergestions.

What about the Beeta Tug engine.

Thanks

ADE

April 21, 2008

OK, I'm finally ready to tackle my cabin electrics. Having worked out what I want and where I want it, I now need to decide how to wire it all up, and the first thing I'm not sure about is how many circuits to use. At one extreme (for the saloon at least), you could simply run a left and a right circuit with spurs off it for all the appliances. At the other extreme, you could run a separate circuit for each appliance. I suspect the ideal scenario is somewhere in between.

This is what the initial plan looks like with the appliances below numbered on the plan. Any suggestions on how to group them? Thanks in advance for any advice.

Outside

1-2 Navigation lights

3 Roof light

4 Horn

Wheelhouse

5 Instruments (ammeter, rev counter)

6 wheelhouse light (1 strip light)

Engine Room

7 Starter motor

8 Engine room light

Bathroom

9-10 Light (2 spots)

11 Whale gulper

12 Toilet

Bedroom

13 Light

Saloon/Galley

14 Water pump

15 Whale gulper

16-19 Saloon lights (2 pairs spots)

20 Galley light 1 (trad angled spot)

21 Galley light 2 (trad angled spot)

22 Hall light

23 Cooker ignition

24 Fridge

25 Stereo

26-28 x3 car lighter sockets

Hi

Just a thought what if you are going ashore and about to lockup and you spot a light still on at farend of the boat how do you switch it off ?

If you have put it on its own circuit you can trun it of from the fuse panel it saves you having to walk to thr front of the boat.

Handy if you are late and in a rush.

Thanks

ADE

Sign In

Profiles

Forums

Events

Gallery

Blogs

Store

Posts posted by oldade

Important Information