monobrow

Hi. I've had a 12v Eberspacher D1LC heater lying around my workshop for about a year - it apparently worked when I bought it but I never got round to trying, until now... .. and guess what? It doesn't work. Both the LEDs (red and green) on the control panel light up but nothing else happens (no fan, no fuel pump). I'm connecting it directly to a reasonably charged 12v battery (and it's a 12v unit). The glow plug works when removed and connected direct to the battery, I don't think it's getting hot when inside the unit, but it's probably not reaching that part of the startup sequence. I've checked the manual and looked around online - I've not seen anything that talks about what may be wrong if the fan doesn't start (step 1 of startup). Unfortunately I don't have a diagnostic panel to try in it. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks Gez

We have a Vetus Ursus anchor windlass on the front of the Dutch Owl.. It's never been used since my girlfriend bought the boat, so I've been fiddling with it. (you would, wouldn;t you...?) I've sucessully dropped the achor (very satisfying), but despite consulting the manual (link below) I now can't haul it back up! The lever won't budge using reasonable - strong force. I've taken the drum side off but I can only grease the drum shaft from there, not the clutch inside. Vetus Ursus anchor windlass manual Does anyone have experience of these? Any suggestions what I might do? (other than stay put)

I'm an IT freelancer (ie. geek) and I work from my wheelhouse using a MIFI box from three (the older one) - I can't fault it, particularly as I get good three reception at our mooring. If you have particular needs on your LAN you can update (read: hack) the firmware on the MIFI box to give you access to all the settings (mac adresses, port-forwarding, etc..) Gez

Many thanks guys. The canoe has been found! It seems they left it in the river and it made it's own way down Keynsham weir, on to Hanham and picked up by one of the boatie network who was looking out for it. If there's any more sighitings or incidents, please do let me/the forum know. Gez

The community living on the river near Avon Valley Country Park, between Salford & Keynsham, have experienced some thefts lately - a group of 3-4 kids around 16-19 years old have been seen in inflatable dingies on the river on three seperate occassions: 1) Stealing two white rowing boats belonging to Avon Valley Country Park (marked no.1 and no.15 at the stern) 2) Stealing paddles/oars from a residents property 3) Stealing a black 16ft Canadian Canoe from a residents property (pyrhana with wooden seats & yoke, with several repairs & new but tatty black gel-coat) The Lock Keeper Inn at Keynsham (1/2 a mile downstream) have also had problems, a fisherman was robbed and one bar-staff had a bicycle stolen, though we can't be sure it's the same group. If anyone has seen them or knows the whereabouts of the rowing boats or canoe, please do get in touch - PM or call me zero-seven-81 0 543 858. Equally - if you see any of these items for sale anywhere, particularly car-boot sales, please feel free to contact me on zero-seven-81 0 543 858. I can identify the canoe (it used to be mine) and should be able to spot the rowing boats (white, quite square in shape, made from fibreglass). Many thanks Gez

That sounds like the ticket. Presumably that doesn't have a pressure switch built-in - is the only switching option to have a manual switch or do inline pressure switches (like those in shurflo water pumps) exist?

As part of refitting a bathroom and in an effort to get the shower to drain properly, we are considering an inline waste water pump to replace the bilge-pump-in-a-box. Does anyone have any experience with them? Do they work well? Anything to look out for? Any model recommendations? Are there any with pressure swithcing (ie. that start pumping when water builds up and stops when it's out, like using a float-switch in a box?) Thanks Gez

Hi. We're planning to re-do the bathroom. We'd like to put in a curved quadrant shower enclosure and low-profile tray, but as expected the minimum height we can find is 1850mm for the enclosure which goes on top of the tray. Has anyone found lower height enclosures anywhere? any other suggestions? (no, we don't have space for a bath, before you suggest it!) Thanks Gez

hi. we'd like to make some pipe fenders (small piping hung over the side). I know you can get these forn chandlers, but at £8-12 each, i'd rather go and buy a length of thick-walled, 2" - 3" diameter rubber pipe and make them myself. the question is - where should i look for thick-walled, 2" -3" (ish) diameter rubber pipe ? any help welcome.. thanks

As far as I understand - yes, PU will release hydrogen cyanide when it burns. The PU you would sprayfoam will be flame-retardant (or at least it certainly should be), however if the boat truly goes up in flames I would think it will eventually burn, retardant or not. If you're stuck on a burning boat and can't get out, the cyanide is only one of your problems and the likelyhood is that the smoke will get you first. (sorry, doesn't really bear thinking about, but probably true). With sprayfoam being the insulation of choice - every major new-build using it for insulation - and no reports of cyanide release ever being a problem, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it - just don't slap the stuff around the burner and don't start fires anywhere but inside the burner! All that said, I opted for thermawrap based on a ) price and b ) the (uncertain) cyandide factor...

It may be local to Bath/Bristol, but has anyone else noticed that ducklings have been quite late this year and there are many more dragonflies (in number and variety) than usual? Do ducklings eat dragonfly larvae?

Sinking it would be my favorite, but not spending anything includes not losing a "perfectly servicable" pontoon...

We live on residential moorings, our pontoon sunk about a week and a half ago nearly taking the boat with it - waterline was very close to the the wheel-house door when I cut the ropes... The guys that run the mooorings have been trying to sort it out without spending a penny and it's not really working. Today's attempt was to finish pumping out the leaking tanks and tow it down-river to the boatyard (only ~200 yards). The couldn't pump it out as fast as it was coming in, so now it's started flipping over again - back to square one. We're at a bit of a loss because they won't listen to any reasonable suggestion (ie. get a crane!). It seems that the current options are either: a ) drag it up the bank (10 feet and steep), almost certainly destroying a well looked after and much loved garden and a few newly-planted trees b ) get lots of stuff (like empty gas-bottles), stick it all underneath and hope it floats long enough to tow it down-river. Neither option are very good, in my opinion, but if it could be reliably floated then towing should be the way to go. My question is - does anyone have any suggestions about what to use/how to securely float the thing so it can be towed? (or any other suggestions?) Thanks http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/592090/pontoon2.jpg http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/592090/pontoon.jpg

A couple of thought from my material science days: Aluminium tubing is stronger and stiffer the larger the diameter, to an extent (can't remember the term, something-or-other-of-axis). This is why modern Al mountain bike frames are made with fat Al tubing rather than thin Al tubing (or the nice thin steel tubing they should be made with). If they were made of thin Al tubing they would definitely flex and bend and probably fold (like a coke-can). If they didn't fold in half they would quickly suffer from fatigue... Whilst 1" tubing would definitely support the frame itself and the canopy, it might be worth cosidering a larger diameter so the frame won't bend and flex when the wind is up (I assume this will be up when the weather is bad), otherwise you might find youself having to replace folded or fatigue broken poles (which you may have spent hours/days carefully shaping in the first place). Worse still you might end up scouring the country-side looking for the canopy itself if it comes off in a gale! Perhaps being over-cautious - if you're just using straight poles then an un-obtrusive thin gague would be easy enough to replace.