pmms

In a word "yes" Paul m

we run this machine with a "Prosine" 1800 watt pure sine inverter. No issues as long as power save is off. With power save on there is not enough current draw when the machine is resting between some of the cycles and the inverter drops off into standby mod. Paul m

Hi all just to be clear, fuel filters are only required to be "fire resistant" if installed in an engine space. The pipework to filters outside of the engine space are required to be connected by pipework/hoses to the required standard. There are numerous fuel filters around with what appears to be a plastic drain plug, but in fact the plastic is just a hand grip that covers a metallic insert, so is compliant as the plastic melting does not compromise the integrity of the filter. If you have one of these filters save the old one (or by a spare) to show the examiner when (if!!) he fails it. Excess fuel return pipes AKA "spill rails" is another matter, the return to flexible, non fire resistant return pipes was the subject of a long investigation, and subject to certain conditions being met. Paul M Frozen in on the Maccy

Hi Martin It is acceptable to use flexible hose in the fuel line, however it must be of the correct standard,iso7840, sae1527 being the two most common, in addition they must be correctly terminated onto nozzles, not onto straight copper, you can use jubilee clips of the correct size, too large a clip distorts the connection and is a fail. The electric fuel pump is acceptable as the fuel isolator, providing of course that there is a switch in its circuit! HTH Paul M

That may be the case now, I was talking of my time as an examiner. Paul M

Hi all I trained as a Boat Safety Examiner at Berkshire college in 1996, on the second course that they had run. There were no pre course qualifications and there were "phase tests" during the course. Following the two week course which was (and still is) full time, I returned for an assessment day that entailed both a practical and an oral assessment. I believe that assessments are now conducted on the last day of the course. The course cost was in excess of £1000 plus your accommodation/food/drink. I was an examiner for 10 years, only giving up to go continuous cruising, It would not be viable for me to have carried on beyond my end date due to the requirement for a 5 yr gas training CPD and the mandatory requirement for examiners to have PL insurance in addition to the PI insurance we always carried. I would like to say that I met some interesting people, the vast majority seemed happy with my examination, even if they failed, I always took the time to talk them through the examination and to offer advice on the way forward. Please remember the examination is no guarantee that the boat is safe (define safe!) it only means that the boat, at the time of the examination, meets the requirements of the navigation authorities. I have for example issued a certificate to a boat that had a hole in the bottom, and to a boat with no tiller. Neither of these points is in the checking procedure, REMEMBER "if its not on the (checking) list it dont exist" examiners cannot fail your boat just because they dont like the way your boat is fitted out. Always make sure you get the report form so you can check the fail points against the BSS guide, the examiners check list details what is required for an item to be compliant, ask him/her to explain the reason for each failure, if you are unhappy refer the matter to the BSS office, in writing. Finally if there are any of my ex clients here thank you for your business and I wish you all well. Paul Morris NB Enchantress

May be an AGA burner unit, I think that they used wicks to transfer the diesel into the burner unit to vapourise for ignition and the wicks themselves did not burn as they do in lamps or aladin type heaters. HTH Paul M

looks like a Refleks to me, try Lockgate stoves at shardlow HTH Paul M

Hi emkay 16mm (is that the actual dia or the sparkys estimate of the csa 16mm2?) seems way too small for that length of cable run. You say the run is 55ft is that the distance between charging source and the bow prop batts, in which the cable run for calculating the size of cable req is 110 ft. this will give you a cable size that will freak you out! you dont say where you are located, if you pm me I may know of someone you can contact. BTW its worth remembering that any circuit protection device should be rated at less than the capacity of the wiring/device its protecting. do you have the vetus installation instructions as they may offer guidance on the matter? All the best Paul M

Hi Daniel we were up to Llangollen about 20 months ago, Enchantress draws 32'' static and yes it was slow going in places on the way up, water flow thru the bridge holes and tunnels, and thru the one way concrete channels beyond Trevor, BUT it was worth it, on the Friday morning there was only one other boat in the mooring basin at the end. A friend tipped me off to moor over night at Trevor and leave for the run to the end at first light, this we did and was able to stay in the middle of the channel all the way, never touched the bottom once. HTH Paul M

Hi Boots its worth checking that the thread part of the drain is actually plastic. Many of the "plastic" drains have metallic threads and the plastic part is just a hand grip, in this case the filter is compliant. Its worth keeping the old one to show the examiner that the thread is steel. BTW the requirement for fire resistant fuel filters only applies to filters installed in an engine space, however all fuel filters wether or not fire resistant must be connected by compliant pipe/hose. HTH Paul M on a vwet shroppie

if you have a MC 42 they were highly regarded, being a japanese base engine marinised by perkins in peterborough. the downside was their price. if you require parts or info contact DIPERK they are the suppliers of spares for all perkins units. you wont find much info on older engines on their website but they hold parts for all the older range, I get any parts i need for my 3hd46 from them, or try UCC at Braunston bottom lock they used to be perkins dealers so the may be able to help HTH Paul Mhttp://www.canalworld.net/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

Hi Daniel the BSS does not specify the product the extinguisher must contain, as you rightly say if all the conditions are met, approval marking , A & B ratings above the minimums , minimum No of extinguishers and the condition of the exts. meets the requirements then you are good to go. HTH Paul M

Its my understanding that the 35sec gas oil that we all call red diesel will be supplied from 01 Jan 2011 in ultra low sulpher form, less than 10ppm sulpher content. There are many implications in addition to the lubricity(?), it renders the fuel hygroscopic, so implications for fuel absorbing water, long term(?) storage and the fuel goes off much like petrol, but at this time no one knows the time line for this, and the fuel is not compatible with nitrile rubber(the lining in all iso7840 fuel hoses) and other fuel lines, copper being one. Has any one identified an additive that can be added and in what qty? Paul M

yes the filter goes on the inlet side, many pump manufacturers wont offer a warranty without a filter in place as grit is the death of diagphrams(?). We have had a wps5 for 4 years now and its a super pump, but I have got it with a 5ltr accumulator, fills the kettle in the morning without the pump switching in. Paul M NB Enchantress

I have had an old dutch for nine years liveaboard use and would not be without it. you must keep them clean inside and sweep the flue each year, use the scraper every day and use one of the cleaning tablets the midland chandlers sell every 6weeks or so. light the stove with meths , but when lighting do not start with the regulator higher than about halfway between the top of the black pilot and fig.1. when priming with diesel to light hold down the flame failure and release as soon as you see fuel enter the pan, only repress the ffd when the initial blue flame starts to drop down. be carefull when wiping the window as it is only mica i keep a spare on board and a spare thermopouple, buy from plumbers merchants get the universal one for lpg only £3 HTH Paul Morris

dont know if I come up with the solution, but, FYI we recently got the same machine and it runs perfectly on an 1800w Prosine(pure sine wave) inverter. When the heating element is on it draws 120-137 amps, the higher figure when the drum takes aturn during the heating process. We cut down the heating time by putting a large pan of hot water in with the clothes, and I know how that reads but cant be bothered to reword it !!! Battery bank is 4x110 wet lead acid (£46+vat fron potteries diesel in Longton) 2x lucas a127m 55 amp altenators with Adverc control on both, had this for 9 years now and reckon to get 3years out of the batteries, continuous cruising, engine running time depends on how much telly/computor time we need that evening HTH Hope to on the forum more now my phone sorted out Paul Morris NB Enchantress currently Middlewich heading to Stoke Bruerne via Audlem

Clive we have had an old dutch on board for 8 years now, and apart from the occasional new "window" and an occasional fsd thermocouple(buy a universal lpg thermocouple from the local plumb centre) have had no trouble with the stove. I think that Kuranda at Whaley bridge have a rig to set up the valve if you can get it to them, a neighbor of ours drove his up there and they did it while he waited,(made an appointment first!). We havnt had cause to touch ours at all. They ar great stoves like all diesel stoves they are a bit "touchy feely" what setting is good for a blue flame on one day will not be right for all days due to differences in air/fuel temp and wind speed. cleanliness of the burner pot is critical and use the scraper every day. if the o ring in the scraper fails and starts to leak remove the inner part of the scraper, small brass nut at the back, and wind ptfe tape round and round to make a new o ring when its re inserted, this is what kuranda do as the rubber ring is not available from holland as a seperate item. HTH Paul M

look at www.thermoboat.co.uk at bath narrowboats Paul M HTH

Fenders are not part of the BSS. If your examiner is asking for them then ask him/her to show you the section of his checklist that requires fenders to be fitted. If it aint on the (check)list it dont exist. Back in time when the old BW craft standards were used to issue a Certificate of Compliance then fenders were indeed required, along with such things as life rings however when the BSS standards were born out of the BW and EA craft regulations there was a lot of compromise (fuel tank vents for example- BW required the vents to be 100mm/4ins above the filler point, EA required them to be at or above the height of the filler so the EA standard was adopted as this way all boats would comply with the new BSS requirement). Paul M

Hi we have a perkins 3hd46 in the boat and the rotation is , looking at the flywheel, anti clockwise. we had a previous boat, albeit a small one 24 ft, with the set up you are looking at. it had a yanmar 1gm10 sitting above the propshaft, with a "deepsea"type seal cos the stern gland is a bugger to get at with this set up, driving the prop shaft thru a duplex chain running in an enclosed case with a small amount of oil in the bottom to lubricate the chain via splash. and a spring loaded tensioner on the chaincase. It worked quite well, it was designed and built by the previous owner who was a toolmaker for cosworth F1. I have also seen a similar set up using a 3cyl vetus using tripple v belt drive but this always had a lot of slip and was difficult to keep the belt pulleys in line, I think it would work better with a flat toothed belt which nowadays come in allsizes. HTH Paul Morris

77p at kings lock middlewich, 76 100ltrs or more. middlewich narrowboats 68 on the pump but they were closed when we passed and i later heard that they were out of stock so i expect that they would be at a higher price after delivery. 69p at lock 57 hassle green.

Hi all I cant believe we are having a topic re fire extinguishers 10 YEARS on. 1. the CE mark on the extinguisher has no relevence to the suitability of the extinguisher, it refers to the bottle itself meeting the pressure vessel directive. 2. The wheel mark shows that the extinguisher meets the requirements of the marine equipment directive, and is an acceptable marking for the BSS. 3. Maintenance. The last review of the scheme introduced a limited requirement for maintenance of extinguishers. IF the manufacturer of the extinguisher has printed on the body a life or replace by date then it must be serviced as per the wording in the Boaters guide, otherwise it should just have a condition check in line withe the guide. This was a whimp out by the various BSS committees, the tech committe recommended set servicing periods but this was rejected futher up the line. 4. yes you can have a foam extinguisher providing all the other criteria are complied with. Remember the requirements are the minimum number. HTH Paul M

Noah If you live near Northampton contact Servias silencers, they manufacture hospital silencers and will sell to you at the factory gate, give them a detailed drawing or better still a mock up of what you need,( a friend of mine made his out of wood and chicken wire) including the pipework and they will give you a VERY competitive quote. they will need engine details. Sorry I dont have their phone No on me HTH Paul M

Sorry folks I have come to this thread a bit late, (I have to "borrow" a landline for browsing) there is a good (I think) bit on this on an american web site www.yachtsurvey.com. You need to get your head around the terminology Hot=live, Ground=neutral, Grounding=Earth. Look at the artical "corrosion in marinas" See you soon Paul Morris NB Enchantress (on the Maccy for now)