nb Innisfree
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Posts posted by nb Innisfree
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I designed my own wheel steering on Innisfree (60' nb) direct mechanical linkage, 2.5 ish turns lock to lock, in practice afloat it was spot on.
Only thing I changed was to fit a knob to the wheel, positioned at 12 o'clock when straight ahead + drilling another hole in the rudder plate to give a different radius and alter the wheel loading.
Placed the steerer out of the way and gave more room for passengers, great in rain or hot sun as the steerer could stay under the pram hood.
ETA: Just remembered, I eventually ditched the wheel and replaced it with a simple crank and knob knocked up from a piece of ply decking, even better.
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Innisfree (60' narrowboat) 1st engine was 33bhp, enough for rivers but if batteries were in bulk charge the 100amp 24v alternator took enough power to bring max rpm (theoretical 2k rpm) down to about 1750rpm from 1950rpm. 2nd engine was 40 bhp @ 3k rpm (reworked prop) and had a few bhp spare at full alt output so was ok, we only ever used max rpm for emergency stops (narrow bridges & oncoming boats!)
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3 hours ago, Tony1 said:
I would never doubt your wisdom for a moment sir, but if I might don my canal investigator hat for just a moment, I would pose this question:
why is it that my original domestic alternator was regulated to 13.9v, and the new one (installed in December) is also regulated to 13.9v?
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Daughter's got a chocolate lab, 8yrs old now, very intelligent when it suits her, very thick when it doesn't! She's gorgeous, there will be lots of tears when she's gone.
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12 hours ago, LadyG said:
It's only relatively recently that smoke alarms have been widely used in domestic situations
Bought our first one in '84/'85 after attending a grim fire scene, very unusual to have one in a house then & not seen for sale to general public. When they became cheaper some time later and I decided to fit one in each bedroom (TV in each) my colleagues thought that was over the top, and that was from firefighters, funny how attitudes are fixed by convention.
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Hats off to whoever thought of them in the first place
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We had a folding ladder thing as a boarding plank, 3m long, with chequer plate, pinned to boat & shore, moored where we fancied.
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13 minutes ago, KezzerN said:
'Not' I assume you mean
Yes ok whatever, I'm getting too long in the tooth to listen to you splitting hairs and commenting on something you seem to know nothing about.
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3 hours ago, KezzerN said:
My relative that was a fireman always said they would much prefer to have a false alarm than someone be over cautious about phoning them and then they ended up pulling a body out of a fire, but each unto their own.
You're stating the obvious there.
ETA: It sounds to me as if you're suggesting I preferred someone died rather than be called out to a false alarm, if so then you're very naive, I've dealt with enough death to want to see more.
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33 minutes ago, KezzerN said:
A relative once got the fire service out because the fire alarm was going off and they were sure they could smell smoke but couldn't find anything. Their partner thought they were mad. Turns out that there was an electrical fault where wires were burning in the wall cavity. If they had taken the attitude you believe they should have taken the place would have burned to the ground. Were you perhaps at one of those fire stations that had very few call outs and the staff didn't like being dragged away from the TV set?
I've been at busy stations and quiet ones, makes no difference, when called out we went, day or night, whether we liked it or not, in any case quiet stations welcomed some action but not time wasters. It doesnt wastes time just for one station as others have to be mobilised to provide cover, and sometimes while attending a spurious incident a genuine caller has to wait longer for help which can be life threatening.
Yes I've seen some decisions made by senior ranks which in retrospect were a bit iffy, fortunately no comebacks but that's the nature of the job.
9 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:I've been at busy stations and quiet ones, makes no difference, when called out we went, day or night, whether we liked it or not, in any case quiet stations welcomed some action but not time wasters. It doesnt wastes time just for one station as others have to be mobilised to provide cover, and sometimes while attending a spurious incident a genuine caller has to wait longer for help which can be life threatening.
Yes I've seen some decisions made by senior ranks which in retrospect were a bit iffy, fortunately no comebacks but that's the nature of the job.
ETA: It's really exciting when you sit on the toilet for a much needed dump only for the bells to go down mid drop and after a perfunctory wipe to then find it was a waste of time. Return to station jump in the shower for a quick splash and then the bells go down again, great fun.
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3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
Don't big fires start as little ones?
Very true but if we want a fire service that responds to every alert then we need a much larger one.
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I spent 28 yrs as a full time firefighter and attended a few incidents where someone had dialled 999 because their smoke alarm had gone off, we were an emergency service not an advisory one, 4/5 firefighters one appliance, someone once said after we responded to a smell of smoke that it was ridiculous, why couldn't you send a man with a van instead, where a "man & a van" would come from is anyone's guess as we were on minimum manning anyway. Folk must think there are lots of spare hands on call 24/7 just to check things out.
Innocent ignorance.
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Innisfree had low level CO indication, caused by smoke curling down into mushroom vent when wind was blowing from astern, longer chimney sorted it.
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On 26/01/2025 at 12:14, magnetman said:
How do you actually know the source of the CO? It might have been coming out of the appliance and putting a longer terminal helped with the draw.
Its all interesting. Best to have a CO alarm with the digital readout and make sure it works.
Patient observation, at a certain angle and level of light I could see very small amounts of smoke coming in through the vent occasionly.
ETA: Also I tried running our Villager without the slide in/out baffle plate but found the higher temp around the exit to the flue baked the deposit so hard I had to raise the flue enough for me to use a hammer and small chisel to remove it, a major faff. Instead I reinstated the baffle plate and made it a regular job to remove and clean it before any deposit on top didn't pile up enough and bake hard to prevent plate sliding out.
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FWIW we occasionaly had a low level CO alarm on Innisfree, turned out to be smoke curling down back into a mushroom vent, only happened when wind was blowing straight down the boat from astern, cured by fitting a longer chimney (3')
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6 hours ago, IanD said:
1963 was similar -- at least it was in Yorkshire...
Actually it was worse down south, in Sheffield I recall it being worse than before but not remarkable, I saw the weather map on telly and the worst of the snow from Siberia? was laid at an angle from the NE down to the SW just clearing Sheffield, but we were still 'ard!
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Some time in the mid '50s I have a clear memory of walking to school one day and having to navigate between snowdrifts higher than my head (4'?)
The wind had blown the snow into a natural maze, being able to walk on dry asphalt most of the time as I zigzagged a route across roads and pavements, it was so surreal and I Ioved it!
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I'm not trying to pedal my goods but a spokesperson has claimed that the the hub of the prob is linked to a chain reaction due to covid and manufacturers not able to handle the bar on bikes, which frankly makes me cross and want to drop the whole subject. Seems the old tyred argument of not gearing up, or down, to demand, rings a bell to me, folk have taken to travelling by tube.
The whole business needs a proper framework forming, by placing someone in the saddle to gain leverage, somebody competent not just any old pumped up crank.
ETA: Yes I need to get a grip.
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I fitted a 200mm 6hp 24v BT, mounted under welldeck and close to the stem, it was capable of pushing against a cross wind but very slow, would overheat in 15 - 20 secs so effectively useless in that situation.
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With Innisfree I screwed 3" wide 9mm ply onto the 1" sq bearers, then sprayfoamed the areas between bearers then fixed 6mm ply to ceiling ensuring screws only fixed ply to ply.
Also bags of solid fuel on roof helped
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I remember a bottle of mum & dad's home brewed elderberry wine exploding in the airing cupboard, talk about wipeout, very impressive to an 8 yr old.
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As I see it the only practical advantage these days is lithium batts, no more endless hours of charging to get LAs 'fully charged', otherwise not much has changed in the last few years to make a practical difference, still need a SF stove so not doing the planet a favour.
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8 minutes ago, Gybe Ho said:
I can fully appreciate the wisdom in this advice. Last week I watched a video of a narrowboating couple attending a carol service in an old saxon church near Braunston, even the church is offgrid. I don't want to miss out on cultural events like this in my travels for the sake of 300 Wh.
If I can summon up the confidence to build 48kWh of battery capacity this will create a huge winter power reserve. If I got to the 1st of Nov with a full tank of kWh's then even a wretched solar November would get me to the 1st of Dec with before the first marina topup via shore power. In theory the worst case second top up would be 1st Jan. After that by 1st Feb solar is climbing rapidly, I think daylight hours climb 50% or 100% over February.
Off grid towpath living using a massive battery bank is a largely untested option and I am not sure I could sleep at night thinking of 48kWh of energy fermenting under the cockpit entrance ladder and threatening an unscheduled escape bid in some thermal/chemical containment failure.
I was wrong earlier, 48 kWh would last a month!
Cleaning stainless steel water tank
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted · Edited by nb Innisfree
Sodium metabisulfite (Camden tablets) is an effective bleach neutralizer, it can affect plastic so rinse after use. Can be purchased from home brew suppliers in powder form.