nb Innisfree

Yes that's what I meant as mentioned in an earlier post, maybe double thickness steel on the rounded section to compensate for a sacrificial chine, or instead of rounded a 45 deg angled corner.

Yes I can see that a chine could do that but I was considering a wide chine versus a narrow one which I would have thought wouldn't make much difference, whereas a boat without a chine would be safer.

We decided on a DIY tubular frame, main reason was wanting access to the bow tank and to assist tying off mooring ropes though if we had a bow gas locker it would assist with that also. Side screens rolling up to the centre board (a length of PVC down pipe!) avoids having to duck when entering or leaving, in the pic you can see wooden dowelling (broom handles!) which can be hinged up to provide a nice solid and squared off edge, these are quite handy as the front of the frame is 'H' shaped to give more headroom.

Of course, I was thinking of getting caught when going down which a deep sacrificial chine wouldn't play a part in, but going up is a different story.

Can't speak for the rest but to reduce plate corrosion associated with long float charges Victron has a 4th stage reduced voltage float charge, also monitors and gives a weekly boost charge.

Some have the grease entering on the bottom to keep it out of the way of big clod hopping boots.

I am assuming that the risk of a deep overhang getting caught up is down to the idea that the baseplate is wider than normal, is that what we are talking about. If so then a standard width base plate with the sides set in further is not a risk?

Yes I think most baseplates are based(?!) on a standard 2m wide steel plate. Was Birmingham Square perhaps based on old steel width of 6'10"? I am just guessing here.

Same here, I put it down to having lots of batts (8) preventing voltage crashing, lasts us 24 hrs before a couple of hours charge needed, we give it a weekly 8 hr absorption with genny and Victron.

We have about 1"-1.5" overhang, doesn't make the boat any wider as the baseplate is a standard width anyway, it just means the hull side has been set in a bit more than usual, gives slightly less width inside. One advantage is having room to weld a couple of extra anodes without increasing boat width.

Posted 31 August 2011 - 04:42 PM nb Innisfree, on 31 August 2011 - 04:09 PM, said: Gibbo, I have a BMV monitor, great, I have had quite a bit of enjoyment out of it but got pissed off with percentage readings so I bought a Smartgauge to supplement it. Not quite as much fun as you can't fiddle about with it as much but that's ok as I only want it for percentage readings. Now the thing is you may or may not recall my AGM batts are down to somewhere in the region of 45% capacity left, might have improved a bit since I adopted regular 8hr raised absorption charges, but as I don't know what level of inaccuracy my Smartgauge is reading I can't trust the reading. Is it possible for you to give me a rough ballpark figure? If it is within, say, 5% then I could get by until our batts give up the fight for survival and we get nice new ones. Also at what level of batt capacity would the inaccuracy be impractical. Thanks. Difficult one this. The full answer is, it could be reading complete rubbish. What happens is that once the batteries fall below about 50% they're actually not just living with reduced capacity, they are broken. This means that everything SG uses and relies on to get the SOC is nothing more than random information. The nett result is that it calculates complete rubbish. The only way I could work it out is if you can run two complete discharges, at two wildly different constant currents, from totally full down to totally flat and log the current and voltage right the way through at a minimum of 1 minute intervals. At the start, after fully charging, the batteries need to stand, with neither load nor charge, for 48 hours before starting the discharge run. Which is, in all fairmess, practically impossible to do in a living environment. But if you can... This post has been edited by Gibbo: 31 August 2011 - 04:42 PM

Sorry, I should have gone to Specsavers, not a very nice thing to be accused of. I'll put you back on my favourites list.

What he's saying is the grease when pumped into the space around the shaft will either go backwards between the shaft and bearing to the outside (which you refer to as a "passage way") or forwards past the stuffing gland, the direction it takes depends on which route is easier, slack stuffing gland and it will go that way, tight stuffing gland will prevent grease exiting there so the only route out is between the shaft and bearing. To clean this "passage way" tighten gland right up up and keep pumping until clean fresh grease appears at the exit of the propshaft, it may take a complete greaser full or more. Don't forget to readjust packing gland.

And me until he posted his picture, beard and ginger....aaarrgh

If no EV is fitted hydraulic expansion will result in PRV opening earlier due to it's opening pressure being reached earlier than if an EV is fitted, in normal operating conditions EV prevents PRV venting and weeping which is for the better.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; for anything to survive it has to evolve, the way things evolve is for it it to come under pressure and the UK waterways are a prime target for this, they will never survive in the long term if they don't change, nothing evolves by trying to stand still and stay the way they are or were, it's impossible. So therefore I think the govt. proposals, in principle, can only be a good thing in the long term. Only my opinion of course.

HERESY!

Pramhood and wheel steering, when it's slinging it down I feel really smug.

Apparently some species have a genetic predisposition to defend each other by attacking in numbers like wasps....

Yes provided that car was insured by the owner, your fully comp didn't cover you to drive another uninsured car.

An expansion vessel can only work as a safety feature for a while, it's there to prevent PRV weeping, eventually pressure can still increase to above the safety limit, PRV should protect the calorifier even if EV isn't fitted.