Iain_S

Copperkins has an Alde a the back of the cabin which can feeds 3 radiators, and also can heat the calorifier. When the engine is running, the output pipe from he Alde gets hot, due to the heat exchange between the calorifier coils and, if the pump is on, warms the radiators. (as per your Option 2) The radiators get warm, but can't be described as hot. This system is OK for warming the boat while travellng, but I haven't tried it for more than 20 minutes or so once the engine has stopped. I don't think the hot water would stay hot for long. To be honest, I use this "feature" more as additional engine cooling than cabin heating Iain

Is there a bleed point before the injectors, e.g on fuel filter where you can get a good jet of fuel? If there is air in it, it should show up as frothy fuel. This has to be on the pressure side of the fuel pump; if there is an opening on the "suction" side, it will just allow air in. I had a similar problem with an SR2 after the fuel sysem was altered to comply with BSS. The problem then was water in the fuel, which eventually clogged the newly fitted prefilter, and decreased the pressure in the supply pipe enough to allow air to get sucked in. Bleeding at the filter on the engine would allow the engine to run for five or ten minutes before air stopped it again. I never did isolate the air leak; the most likely culprit was an "O" ring on the pre-filter which was changed for a thicker one when all the connections were nipped up a bit. Iain

How thick is the wall of the Calcutt fitting? The fitting looks to be a fair bit wider than the thread diameter. Could the non threaded end be turned down to a more sensible size? (by a friendly local machinist ) Iain

Surely there will still be a voltage drop across the diode splitter, whether or not battery sensing is used. This will lead o the alternator voltage being higher than the battery voltage. (It does on my boat, anway ) Iain

Is it possible to reduce the distance between the pivot point and cable attachment on the engine, to increase the rotational movement, and compensate for the reduced cable travel?

I believe that the current hypothesis for the earth's recovery from the "iceball" state is that volcanic activity eventually releases enough assorted greenhouse gases for global warming to kick in. Once this starts, it procedes at an accelerating rate, due to the reduction of ice cover. Iain

As I understand it, we are looking for a fitting about 5/8" or 16mm diameter, with a thread pitch of 16 - 18 tpi. IMHO, the possibles are M16 conduit, or 5/8" UNF, which is 18TPI. The mangled fitting may have been caused by forcing a threaded conduit into a UNF threaded hole. It seems much more likely that the original was UNF. Is it possible to borrow a 5/8" UNF tap, and try running it through the hole? Alternatively, do you know any local engineers (or mechanics ) who can cut a 5/8" UNF thread? Iain

M16 ISO metric conduit is 1.5mm pitch. Iain

3/8" is 9.525mm. Could it be 10mm, ISO metric coarse? Iain

Barton Turns? Iain

No relevant degree(s), so mechanic

That's not what the core plugs are there for I've seen more than one cracked block caused by freezing (although mainly in cars and quite a few years ago, (before global warming kicked in? Iain

The rate of heat loss to atmosphere will vary as temperature. but the amount of heat lost will also be proportional to time. Therefore, the energy lost will be greater with the smaller heat source, i.e. 1KW will take more than twice as long as 2KW to achieve the ame temperature rise. I'm with TerryL on this one Iain Always assuming, of course, that the muppet who wired the pub lights actually connected the earth. I have seen 5A sockets used for pub lighting, but with twin core cable on the "upstream" side of the socket. Iain

The opening shots of http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7681010.stm show that most of the arch has collapsed, and not just a side wall. Iain

See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/excise-duty/brief4908.htm QUOTE VAT is charged at the reduced rate of 5% on fuel for propulsion and domestic use. This example assumes a 60% (propulsion) and 40% (domestic) split for a purchase of 100 litres of red diesel (the price of diesel is assumed to be 0.70ppl which includes 9.69 ppl duty already paid to fuel supplier): Propulsion calculation (ie 60 per cent) 60 litres @ 0.70ppl = £42 60 litres @ 0.4066 = £24.40 (additional duty) VAT @ 5% = £3.32 Propulsion Total = £69.72 /QUOTE Iain

If it's a Vetus 4.17, the alternator is a Mitsubishi. Replacing the rectifier pack involves soldering it to the field coils, and requires a GOOD soldering iron; the usual "electronic" ones won't cut it. I found these people http://www.absolutely-starters-alternators.co.uk/index.html very helpful in tracing the bits for the alternator on Gamebird's Vetus M2.04. Iain Edited for tpo!

We put Copperkin's number in and got response "Boat is licensed, but may not be displaying" A quick way to avoid being reported might be to display the index number of another (licensed) boat Iain

Some were built this way : Our canal society trip boat has concrete ballast cast into the hull. http://www.ann.street.btinternet.co.uk/b19...bluebellpix.htm No good pictures of the floor, but there is concrete under the junk, honest ! Iain

I agree about the alignment, but I've always found re-packing to be a bit of a B. The packing catches the internal thread, and getting the nut started usually leads to a few colourful phrases I got a C spanner from Calcutt a few years ago: before that the tool of choice was a large set of pipe pliers. Iain

"Shiny Sinks", followed by Brasso to put a shine on.

Trolling valve?

Gamebird, along with most of the shortish Sea Otters, has a similar arrangement. The shower tray butts against the cassette loo, and fits underneath the cupboard/sink unit on the opposite bulhead. The shower head doubles as a mixer tap on the sink. Works quite well. Modifications we did were fitting a shower curtain to cover the door (otherwise water can drain down the outwards opening door into the main cabin) and fitting a shower head holder to the wall (can't remember whether that was an addition or a replacement). Iain