robkg

Hi Alan, I believe it was either Roger Fuller or possibly his brother Martin. I am biased having owned two Fuller hulls, but I don't understand this derision of fake rivets. If you were to attempt to replicate the look of an FMC boat (or any other for that matter) why would you stop short of replicating the rivets? I guess it is fair enough to love or hate any attempt to replicate a working boat shape, but surely illogical to pick on one element of that replication. As a final note, the idea of trying to make something look like something that it is not is hardly new to narrowboats; scumbling for example. Rob

Is this why my wife doesn't allow it anymore!

Hi Joshua and all, I have a Kelvin K2 in my boat and having read this thread, thought a couple of comments may be slightly misleading. The K2 is not that big in practical terms. It is taller than the others, but who needs loads of space above it. I estimate that I have got about 2'6" between the top of the engine and the ceiling. My engine room is 7' 6" long, and this allows masses of space including enough room for a normal back cabin door to swing fully open behind the gearbox. The starting from cold procedure is in reality childs play and only takes a few minutes. Warm start is the same as any other diesel engine. The only negative point I can think of with the K series Kelvins is the way the whole boat rocks slightly on tickover (doesn't bother me but some may find it annoying). As for the 'show off' element, we typically get about five 'lovely engine/lovely sound' comments per day. Here is a pic showing the engine height. Rob

I plan to reach the rally site late tonight. Incidentally I am taking my quarter scale narrowboat "Eagle" along so if you are there, look out for it. Rob

This topic reminded me of this.

Hi all, Thanks for the nice comments about Eagle. I had a great time at the weekend and was appreciative of the care taken by steerers of all those giant boats for giving Eagle a wide berth during the show. The only forum member I met was Koukouvagia as I remembered his boat as we both have Kelvin K2's. I had planned to ask one of the boatowners with a Bolinder if I could take a few measurements and photos of their engine so that I can make a quarter scale replica to go into Eagle, but I never got time. Are any of you Bolinder owners and if so would you mind me visiting your boat at some point, or if not can any of you put me onto someone who is please. Rob (builder and steerer of Eagle)

I am planning to be there by boat, but also hoping to have my quarter scale working boat "Eagle" if I can find somewhere to launch her. If any of you are interested, there are a couple of videos on youtube.

Correct, it is not an action man. It is a doll, bought, not made by me. I hope to take the model to Braunston and/or Crick rallies. Yes it is mostly based on a replica josher and as such is shallower draughted, but not by a lot as my real boat has a draught of 2' 6". All the Cratch, top plank, uprights etc. were guessed at using old photos and the painting guide "Stem to Stern". Rob

My sewage tank (actually two tanks linked together) are either side of the prop shaft, underneath the 9' boatmans cabin floor. They are each roughly triangular shaped to match the swim. I never normally use all the capacity but it's there if the need arises. The space under the back cabin floor is useless for anything else so why not? Rob

Each half is effectively a watertight boat in it's own right, i.e. each half has it's own bulkhead. The two halves are bolted together above the waterline only after they have been launched. Consequently no seal is necessary. Rob

Fuel - Approx. 1200 litres Water - Approx. 1600 litres Sewage - Approx. 1300 litres on a 70' narrowbeam Never yet had recourse to use all the capacity so may be overkill. Rob

Hi Tim, You may well be right (it was a bit of a guess at the time). See if you still think so from these pics taken at an earlier stage. Rob Wouldn't dream of having a bowthruster on my 'real' boat so why would I on an 18 footer? Rob

Thanks to you and others for your kind comments. Yes it (she?) is radio controlled. Four channels, two proportional for propulsion and steering, and two for tunnel light and horn. Motive power is electric, from a donor mobility scooter. I want to make a dummy Bolinder but I need to dimension one up. I also want to make some sound recordings at several revs. Would any of you know someone with a Bolinder who may let me do this? Rob

Thanks for your replies, Most of the observations I wouldn't dispute. However, the pigeon box is not on the skew, it must be the perspective. I am not sure what is wrong with the cratch Mykaskin, can you elaborate? The mast is smaller than the mast box, it slides up and down inside it (but maybe not quite enough) Top plank bend too severe; I think that is perspective again. Definitely not a chinese model. Smoke from the exhaust and stove chimney will be installed soon. Not convinced that there are the wrong number of bow rubbing strakes. Agreed that I used insufficient ballast. (I'll take more with me next time) Credit for things that are right about the hull and cabin dimensions should go to Roger Fuller as I measured my real boat (one of his shells)for this purpose. Credit should also go to Dave Moore who did the lettering and decoration for me. The model is not finished yet but I got impatient to try it earlier this week. The first photo was cropped, not because there was no steerer, but because I have not yet made the stern fenders. As for scale, she is quarter scale (18' long) Made in two halves for ease of handling and transportation. Almost entirely constructed from aluminium [/img] [/img] [/img]

OK, time to come clean. Care to guess what scale? I'll post more revealing photo's shortly Rob

Hi all, I found this interesting photo. Can anyone shed any light on it? What sort is it? Rob

Hi, I would always recommend drilling and tapping the cabin side. It is a huge advantage top be able to remove portholes easily for repainting. The technique I employ and would recommend to others is: 1. mark position and orientation of porthole on the reverse side as the holes are not precision drilled (at least not in brass ones) i.e. TOP LEFT No. 1 2. position porthole where required and mark the top hole only on the cabin side. 3. drill correct size hole in steelwork then tap hole. 4. Attach porthole with 1 machine screw. 5. Select a drill bit of a diameter that matches the existing holes in the porthole. Drill an indentation in the steel through the hole on the opposite side to the screw. 6. Change the drill bit for the tapping drill and locate the drill tip in the indentation previosly made. The resultant hole will align perfectly with the centre of the porthole hole. 7. Tap the hole and screw in a second machine screw. 8. Use the larger drill to put indentations in the cabin side through all the remaining porthole holes. 9. switch to the tapping drill and drill and tap all the remaining holes. !0. Finally remove the two screws and apply whatever sealant you wish before attaching for the final time. My preferred choice for sealing is closed cell foam tape as it is quick and easy to apply and makes the portholes easy to remove at a later date. As for security, I am sure that the glass would be broken or the doors jemmied long before a scumbag would contemplate unscrewing the portholes. Rob

Hi Tanunda, The noises you describe suggest to me that the water is reaching boiling point. If this is the case, then I would have thought that either the circulation pump is not working properly, or that a blockage has occurred somewhere, or that the system is not full of water (needs topping up and bleeding) Has the heater been OK in the past? Rob

Hi, I have used "Daryl" bifold doors in both fitouts that I have done as they are lower than others. Not cheap though (£500+ from recollection), but very nice quality. Rob

Hi Mike, I have a K2 fitted in a modern 70' shell. The engine was bolted to transverse steel bearers with no wood in sight, by the shell builder. I have fitted a horizontal stay bar as Kelvin envisaged, which runs from the intended location about halfway up one of the cylinders to a reinforcing plate welded to the side of the hull. At tickover the boat rocks very slightly with each fire of the engine but not obtrusively so and when cruising there is no issue at all. I carried out the rest of the engine installation myself. The propshaft arrangement is as follows: The 2" shaft runs through a conventional stern tube then through a splittable, plummer block phospher bronze bush (about 1' away from the stern tube)which provides the shaft with two points of support. The rest of the distance (approx. 12') is an agricultural PTO shaft made for me by an agricultural supplier. It consists of a flanged U.J. at each end with a single piece of "Lemon Tube" in between. I had a second length of the smaller section of tube inside this for extra rigidity. These shafts are intended for conveying hundreds of horsepower at 540 rpm in very arduous conditions, and have the added advantage of being much lighter than lorry driveshafts. Also this arrangement allowed the engine to be installed horizontally at the right height and allowed sufficient clearance for the back cabin door to open over the top of the guarded shaft without having to have the suspended floor too high The reason I did not go for an accurately aligned rigid drive, was that the shell builder did not think it was possible to weld in the stern tube boss with sufficient precision to line up with the gearbox output shaft some 12 ' further forward, and I tend to agree with him. Also I have heard comments about shell movements due to road transport, thermal effects etc. upsetting this alignment which has the potential of causing significant problems. The arrangement that I have got works very well with no apparent snags to date. Apologies if my description is not very clear. Rob P.S. I am not convinced of the argument that U.J.s are not able to take thrust, as the needle roller bearings are required to take high turning forces when operating and the thrust forces are acting in exactly the same way. (But maybe this is an discussion for a seperate thread) P.P.S. Now I think about it, I am not entirely convinced that wooden bearers would make any appreciable difference to vibration, as assuming the section of wood used is sufficiently robust and durable enough to support the engine, I can't see it having any real give in it anyway.

There are much more effective products than WD40 available for freeing seized bolts. They are often refered to as release sprays. Plus Gas is one well known brand. Rob

Hi all, Can I first put this one to bed. In my considerable experience of Webasto problems, I have encountered only one authorised Webasto company that has any idea what they are talking about. That company sells primarily into the offshore Yacht market. The owner of that business explained to me that whilst the air heaters had burners of sufficient size, the water heaters did not, and that was the route of many of the problems. He went on to tell me that he would not continue to sell Webasto water heaters into the marine market as they were "more trouble than they were worth". Remember, this was an authorised main dealer talking! So that is why your heater works Phylis. You say that "To blanket state that they are no good for marine use is wrong" I take issue with this as firstly, there appears to be considerable anecdotal evidence that many more people have problems with these heaters than any other single piece of equipment on this forum. Secondly, Paul Sylvan successfully won a case against his supplier/installer of a Webasto heater with the judge finding the units unfit for purpose. Thirdly, in my case, I took a main dealer to court over a Thermotop C that repeatedly failed and accepted a full refund plus costs offer from them (in court) four years after purchase. In my case the diesel used was gas oil from a fully traceable source, fresh and uncontaminated, supplied direct from a fuel distributor who also supplies several inland marinas. I carried out the installation myself entirely in accordance with the dealers installation manual. Furthermore I had it checked by an authorised Webasto engineer who gave it his seal of approval. To summarise: The cause of many of the problems of these heaters is NOT dirty/old diesel. This is a smokescreen perpetuated by those with a commercial interest. (In any case, is it reasonable to expect boat owners to always have "fresh" diesel in their tanks when many are intermittant users on boats with 100 gallon or more tanks.) Suggesting that running on higher grade diesel/paraffin is a solution is unsatisfactory. It is more expensive and the heaters are NOT SOLD ON THIS BASIS. Suggestions about only running them for a short period or not allowing them to run on "tickover" or "low heat" may well help to extend their reliability, but why should the customer have to live with these constraints? Surely it would not be beyond a manufacturer such as Webasto to develop new software that disables the low setting so that the heater only cycles from full heat to off (whilst widening the high/low temp. limits to reduce frequency of cycling. Rant over. Rob

Trying to stop a boat with a centreline attached to the roof, by wrapping it round a bollard is not a good thing to do. Firstly the boat will roll causing drawers to fly open etc., and secondly the roof, being generally only 4mm thick, is at risk of distorting. The shell builder of Grace makes the stern dollies/bollards by using steel bar approx. 40mm diameter. These run down through the counter as far as the uxter plate. I imagine the stern of the boat would be ripped off before the dollies broke. Rob

Hi Sue As an alternative to a conventional self pumpout system, I made my own system by using a submersible pump capable of handling solids (240v run through the inverter) which cost about £80. This is permanently piped to a fitting on the gunwhale. A length of 1" layflat hose with a ball valve at each end and a quick release fitting which can be screwed into the gunwhale fitting completes the system. To carry out a pumpout, I unroll the hose, attach one end the boat fitting and then open that ends ball valve. Then with one of us manning the downstream end at the sanitary station, someone else switches on the pump. At the same time the other ball valve is opened. Flow occurs. When the tank is empty, the pump is switched off. The upstream (boat end) ball valve is closed and the hose detached from the boat, then rolled up whilst the downstream end is still held over the sanitary station. This empties the pipe of it's contents. Then the other end is closed, sealing the pipe. This system allows either person to stop the flow instantly(either electrically or using the downstream ball valve) should any problem arise. The whole set up cost about £140 in parts which has paid for itself many times over. We have a macerator loo. I'm not sure if this would work with a drop through! Rob

Errrrr....... you did !