[Should I repack the stern gland of a newly purchased secondhand boat?]

16 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

I've never thought of that. What a good idea! 

 

 

(Does it work?)

 

 

No idea

[Should I repack the stern gland of a newly purchased secondhand boat?]

I've never repacked while afloat but if I did I would first wrap lots of clingfilm around the shaft via the weed hatch to stop water ingress. 

[Batteries]

1 minute ago, Steve Manc said:

Ok thanks 

 

Gone home for a few weeks.

 

Thanks for all contributions even if they made you tired 😊 

It's not you, it's me, can of worms and all that🙂

[Batteries]

. 

[A million questions narrowed down to a few, for now :)]

1 minute ago, Boater floater said:

at least a blow up GF wont sink!

GF = BJ? 

[A million questions narrowed down to a few, for now :)]

23 minutes ago, IanD said:

True (which is why I've got one!) -- but also bigger, heavier and a *lot* more expensive, which is why most canal boaters have much smaller cheaper GIs... 😉 

GIs can fail & need regular checking which is a bit iffy with hull corrosion. 

Cheaper but risky 🤔

[A million questions narrowed down to a few, for now :)]

Isolation transformer better than galvanic isolater 

[What's your boats MPG?]

Years ago we worked out Innisfree (60' nb) @ 2/2.5 mph canal cruising was doing approx 8/10mpg.

[Narrow Escapes]

Like a lot of things in life, it seemed like a good idea at the time 😊

[Canal etiquette]

SLOW DOWN!!! 

 

🤣🤣🤣

[Weed Hatch - Mission Impossible]

25 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

This seems to assume that there is a lip around the bottom of the weed hatch trunk for the anti-caviation plate to sit on. On a steel boat I would not see a problem getting one fixed, but welding aluminium is more specialised/skilled.

We need a photo. 

[Weed Hatch - Mission Impossible]

How about a two part connection twixt anti cavitation plate and lid, large dia short section of tube welded to AC plate and same with lid, tube would have a shoulder so that both sections would fit together, large dia would ensure stable and secure position- 

Unscrew lid bolt, and remove top plate, lift out AC plate. 

All this assumes that there is enough vertical clearance to insert/remove two short sections. 

 

Tubes wouldn't even need welding provided they can be securely positioned before replacing lid and lid has proper sealing round the edge. 

[Thai, inspired by Golden Lion Todmorden]

 

[Narrow boat heating]

Just for the record I designed Innisfree's heating so that the Mikuni heated the rads & calorifier via a two pipe system, it could also be run from the engine coolant via a diverter valve + engine could be preheated by Mikuni (handy in cold weather) 

Engine could easily run CH using its inbuilt coolant pump. DHW was provided by engine or Mikuni or immersion heater, stove didn't have a back boiler as it would have been too complex to integrate it into the CH circuit and provide a gravity system to protect against stove runaway.

All this necessitated the system should be unpressurised, it ran like that with no issues. 

Quite a simple system in the end which involved a lot of complicated planning & novel ideas! 

[Fire port for engine bay]

FWIW I designed &  installed a locking mechanism for Innisfree's engine cover to be operated from inside the engine bay, so I cut a 5" square hole in the steel bulkhead to reach in from inside the back cabin, lined it with plywood & fitted a sliding hatch, it doubled up as a fire port so I had a co2 extinguisher handy. 

[Narrowboat hadling, just curious]

Once Innisfree was rotating in the early stages of a turn (full blast of power to  initiate rotation with prob about 3 to 40 deg of rudder if memory serves correctly) then applying full reverse would almost stop the boat but rotation would remain the same thereby tightening the turn considerably. 

[Mrsmelly - is he OK?]

Give him my best wishes Peter and tell him to leave those nurses alone...x

 

 

[Fitting a prop while in the water?]

Don't forget to tie a rope to a blade (& to the boat!) 

[Fitting a prop while in the water?]

2 hours ago, magnetman said:

Out of interest what circumstance led to you needing to change the propeller? 

 

 

Change of 2k rpm engine to 3k rpm one, same prop actually just had it reworked by Crowthers.

 

Crowthers RIP 

[Fitting a prop while in the water?]

I once changed the prop through the weed hatch, water temp was below freezing & the pain was unbelievable, faded away after 15 mins but that is the point at which physical damage starts to occur, had to withdraw and warm up (more pain) then start again, not recommended in winter! 🥶

[Reversing]

With Innisfree prop walk wasn't very noticeable when in reverse unless near piling when it seemed to go in the opposite direction most of the time, I eventually came to the conclusion that the prop helix when in reverse would bounce back off the piling and hit the swim and push it away...but sometimes it could go either way or neither, it seemed to depend on water depth and shape of canal bed near the pilings.

I could never reliably guess which way it would go, so just adjusted to behaviour at each occasion. Very complex. 

 

ETA: It also depended on which side the piling was on, if on the stb side prop walk would often be conventional, but then again depth of water and canal  bed blurred the results. 

 

Witchcraft

[Cleaning stainless steel water tank]

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. 

[L plates]

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. 

[What HP engine do I need for river cruising?]

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!) 

[Charging lithium from alternator]

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?