Justin Smith
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Posts posted by Justin Smith
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On 08/06/2018 at 13:02, Justin Smith said:
If they are tapered (including the welded type which are possibly more common ? ) then obviously the contact surface area would be much greater. That said, many people use open ended spanners and for most things they`re OK, particularly for square nuts much torque can be safely used. Ring spanners are capable of accepting even more torque without damaging the nut, and that`s a hexagonal nut don`t forget. The open frame type windlass is effectively two ring spanners one above the other, i.e. double the contact area of a plain ring spanner.
I just got a vernier on my welded type box (spanner type) windlass, also "Walshes", and can confirm it is tapered. More accurately the smaller box is tapered, the larger one not so, just like the skeleton open frame type in fact.
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20 minutes ago, zenataomm said:
You need to learn to be more assertive and/or how to turn every enquiry into a selling opportunity.
I agree with you but it`s very difficult when the "customer" is telling you to list what he needs so he can order it for a job which has to be done in the next few days. What can one do ? Basically if people want to rip off your time there isn`t really much you can do about it, but what makes it even more unforgiveable is all the information he needed (and a shed load else) is all on our website anyway, he just couldn`t be arsed to look for it !
At the end of the day, morally, all of us should spend our money where we get our information (or vice verse), it`s that simple.
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31 minutes ago, RLWP said:
One of these windlasses has migrated onto our boat from somewhere. I've used it a few times, it seems to be perfectly serviceable. I did notice none of the BCN Challenge crew wanted to use it preferring others from our motley selection
I prefer to use my old Harborough cast windlass which, according to Alan, doesn't fit any locks anymore
Richard
Funnily enough I`ve just been onto the supplier, and she says they actually sell them to the CRT, so, one would have thought, they can`t be that bad !
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8 minutes ago, zenataomm said:
If you do what I just did and Google it, you'll find that Whilton Marina Chandlery stock them, as such I'd expect them to have contact details?
Personally I wouldn't touch one of those with your barge pole.
It was actually bought from Britmarine aka Sawley Marina, I may phone them for Walshes phone number. Speaking from experience, I run a business supplying by mail order (amongst other things) and we get a bit frustrated at people phoning us up for info when they haven`t, and don`t intend to, buy anything off us ! One guy was on the phone to me for 35 soddin` minutes picking my brains the other day, and still didn`t buy anything, thirty five minutes ! I can usually tell when people are time wasting but he knew just how to keep me on supplying all the possible info he needed for his supposedly urgent job. My thoughts on him are unprintable.......
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2 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:
Well your larger eye clearly isn't going to be contacting much in the square on the handle side, based on your measurements!
I agree, hence me wanting to check with Walshes Implements that the windlass wasn`t manufactured incorrectly.
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18 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:
All windlasses that go on a tapered spindle should be tapered, irrespective of type.
Any that isn't is not really suitable.
In my experience most of the cast type do have a taper in the smaller eye, so should contact an undamaged "standard" spindle over quite a large area.
These are definitely correctly tapered in the smaller eye......
as, I have always assumed, are these......
If they are tapered (including the welded type which are possibly more common ? ) then obviously the contact surface area would be much greater. That said, many people use open ended spanners and for most things they`re OK, particularly for square nuts much torque can be safely used. Ring spanners are capable of accepting even more torque without damaging the nut, and that`s a hexagonal nut don`t forget. The open frame type windlass is effectively two ring spanners one above the other, i.e. double the contact area of a plain ring spanner.
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18 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:
Sorry to rubbish your birthday present, but probably because these things are really crap!
Even if they fit correctly, they don't bear on enough of a spindle to not risk doing damage, (assuming lots of people now use them, which, unfortunately they do).
However I don't think the larger square should be tapered, because it is designed for things like hydraulic paddles that actually have a parallel shaft. I suspect the reason they have made the handle side holes bigger is that if they did not, you would have to line it up perfectly to get it fully on, and with them oversize, you do not. Hence I doubt it is doing much in the winding, and all the forces are largely just on the non handle side.
A windlass really should contact the flats on the spindle over a large area - these can't.
As regards doing possible damage to the spindles (because the frame type windlasses allegedly don`t spread the load onto the spindle), surely, unless the box spanner type windlasses are tapered, only the non handle end of the box spanner is actually making contact with the tapered spindle ? Is that not correct ? If it is correct it may well be the frame type are actually making just as much contact (surface area wise) as the box spanner type ?
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On 16/04/2018 at 08:21, cuthound said:
Cheap, nasty things which because of the open frame construction cause damage and wear to the tapeted spindles.
I have just received my 4 hole windlass for my birthday (! ? !). I did check to see if the holes were different sizes (on either side of the frame I mean) so as to account for the tapered spindle and give a better fit and therefore, as you say, less damage to either the windlass or the spindle.
A few minutes with a vernier gave the following rather bizarre results :
Smaller holes : non handle side 26.3mm square, handle side 24.0mm square, i.e. 2.3mm smaller - as one would expect
Larger holes : non handle side 30.8mm square, handle side 31.2mm square, i.e. 0.4mm larger - ? ! ?
How can that be ? One would expect the holes on the handle side to be slightly smaller to compensate for the taper of the spindle, as indeed the smaller holes are. But for the larger holes the handle side ones are actually larger ! Has the windlass been made correctly or have I missed something ? If the former has anyone got Walsh Implements phone number for me to check with them ?
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On 13/05/2017 at 08:47, Justin Smith said:
I have had a reply back from Herbert Woods who said if we were to book again and not be able to get under the bridge they`d be more than happy to lend us a day boat. Whether that offer would only be for to hirers, like us, re booking is a little unclear, so I`d suggest contacting them before choosing a boat / boatyard to see if such an offer would be open to others.
As we stated on an alternative thread, the charge for Amethyst Light during the school holidays was astronomical, so we rented a cottage in Norfolk * and hired a day boat from Herbert Woods. It cost £107 ("high season"...…), we picked it up at just before 10.00AM and returned it at 5.00PM. We did about 18 miles and got to West Somerton, the end of the Martham Ferry stub, Hickling and the (ex) Brograve wind pump along the Waxham cut. I was a bit disappointed we didn`t make the end of navigation on the Waxham cut but we ran out of time...…. Though isn`t Brograve wind pump the destination for the IWA silver propeller challenge ? ! ? Not that we own a boat to put it on anyway !
* A three bedroom / two bathroom cottage for £700 a week. As far as I remember Amethyst Light was £1000 for 4 nights or £1500 for a week (for the same week) !
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On 14/04/2018 at 21:56, Justin Smith said:
A bit of good news here. When we got back to the hire base (Viking boat hire, JD boats Gailey wharf) they only charged us 96p per litre. By my reckoning that's only a few pence more than Turner`s, so I had no problem paying it. It`s just a pity I didn`t know that price at the start of the hire ! The boat from Viking, Niord a 60 ft NB for two and a half of us, was pretty good actually. A few things went wrong but almost every hire boat we`ve ever had a few things go wrong so I didn`t hold that against them. It was well equipped, including with that holy of holies (for a hireboat) a reasonable number of hooks and shelves ! We used about 67 litres of fuel taking it easy doing about 73 miles (to Market Drayton and back * ) and with the heating on about 4 or 5 hours a day. We tried to make maximum use of the heat from the (gas, and therefore not chargeable) hob !
The negative is it just emphasises how much of a rip off was the £1.45 per litre that Alpha Craft charged us.......
* Question : how are you supposed to turn sharp left out of the Shroppie onto the Staffs and Worcs when you`ve just come out of a lock and are hard up against the side (so can`t get the rear to swing to the right) ? When it appeared to be impossible to get round we could only think to to reverse back in and then cheat by pushing the bows out.....
The seller of the fuel could tell them the normal split is 60/40 ?
We were at Herbert Woods boatyard yesterday and noticed they were charging £1.20 per litre for diesel. Significantly cheaper than Alpha Craft`s £1.45, but still pretty pricey, JD boats charged us 96p/L only about 6 weeks ago.
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42 minutes ago, john6767 said:
CO is CO I would say, irrespective of having a detector or not and sleeping or not, it is still dangerous.
I presume you a referring to hire boats that have diesel central heating. All the ones that we hired had gas central heating, so if it is that important then pick one with gas heating not diesel.
I asked the bloke form the hire company about gas heating and he said there was "all sorts of safety implications about it and that was why it wasn`t fitted to hire boats any more". Whether that`s true or not, the cynic in me says if you were a hire company and could hire a boat out where the customers paid for the heating (rather than you), what would you do ? ! ?
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27 minutes ago, john6767 said:
On our boat there is a notice by the hob that it is not to be used for space heating, I assumed that was a BSS requirement, but perhaps it is not if all boats don't have that. Anyway, take a look at this for a reason not to use the cooker/hob for heating http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-40779427
As I understand it the grill was being used as a space heater whilst the men were sleeping. That`s obviously more risky, but, one would like to know, did the grill involved have a gas shut off for no flame ? If so was it working ? And the boat did not have a carbon monoxide detector......
As a side point one could argue that, if safety at all costs was the number one priority and cookers heat was deemed dangerous, hire companies should be including the fuel as part of the hire charges because to not do so is obviously going to encourage people to use the ("free") heat from the cooker as a heater.
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8 minutes ago, Sally Grim said:
Isn't carbon monoxide heavier than air? Or do I remember wrongly?
AFAIK carbon monoxide is marginally lighter than air, carbon dioxide is heavier than air. On this subject, I though all boats had carbon monoxide alarms ? The last boat we hired certainly did.
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2 hours ago, system 4-50 said:
Um, you were not using the hob for room heating??? This is not generally considered advisable.
Under what circumstances would it be inadvisable ? We`re assuming the hob has working thermocouples to turn off the gas should the flame go out and the boat has ventilators in the ceiling (for the carbon monoxide), but I thought these were both legal requirements ? If the aforementioned thermocouples aren`t working one would think it`s also inadvisable to use the hob for cooking.
A hob gives off heat as a by product of cooking, why is it OK to use that heat as a by product of cooking, but not on its own ?
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39 minutes ago, system 4-50 said:
Hi, I'm stuck at a lock. My Iphone is working properly but I can't find the app that operates the paddles. Do you have to use a particular website?
Love it.
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I did see a lady out on the Shroppie using one of these :
https://britmarine.net/product/nova-windlass-4-head/
I reckon I`ll get my wife to buy me one for my Birthday. I do have a long throw windlass but it hardly ever gets used because you can`t be sure there`ll be room to swing it and if there isn`t you have to walk back to the boat to fetch a "normal" one, thus I don`t usually bother with it.
I still reckon having 6 heads would be even better (close ones for winding down a paddle) !
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4 minutes ago, frahkn said:
Take it really slowly and have someone on the bow with the long shaft just in case it is needed. It usually is not.
My boat is 70 feet plus the fenders.
But if a canal boat rotates about the mid point, and the right rear is hard up against the wall, how do you get the front to swing to the left ? I`m assuming there isn`t a slight northwards current up the S & W which would then get the bows started in the direction you want to go in.
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A bit of good news here. When we got back to the hire base (Viking boat hire, JD boats Gailey wharf) they only charged us 96p per litre. By my reckoning that's only a few pence more than Turner`s, so I had no problem paying it. It`s just a pity I didn`t know that price at the start of the hire ! The boat from Viking, Niord a 60 ft NB for two and a half of us, was pretty good actually. A few things went wrong but almost every hire boat we`ve ever had a few things go wrong so I didn`t hold that against them. It was well equipped, including with that holy of holies (for a hireboat) a reasonable number of hooks and shelves ! We used about 67 litres of fuel taking it easy doing about 73 miles (to Market Drayton and back * ) and with the heating on about 4 or 5 hours a day. We tried to make maximum use of the heat from the (gas, and therefore not chargeable) hob !
The negative is it just emphasises how much of a rip off was the £1.45 per litre that Alpha Craft charged us.......
* Question : how are you supposed to turn sharp left out of the Shroppie onto the Staffs and Worcs when you`ve just come out of a lock and are hard up against the side (so can`t get the rear to swing to the right) ? When it appeared to be impossible to get round we could only think to to reverse back in and then cheat by pushing the bows out.....
12 hours ago, Cheese said:How do you expect a typical hirer to be able to make the correct % split declaration?
The seller of the fuel could tell them the normal split is 60/40 ?
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8 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:
No chance on that [the hire company selling diesel as cheap as Turners are selling it] , that is why Turners are the second cheapest on the system. The first time I came across locked fillers was when they started getting diesel getting nicked
I`m sure the hire company won`t be charging the same price as Turners ! The salient word in my post (when trying to estimate the hire companies margin) was the hire company must be buying diesel cheaper then Turners are selling it.
Being a bit of a cynic I do wonder what the main reason for the locked fuel cap on a hire boat is..... And, as I said, what they`d have answered had I phoned them to ask what the combination was.
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Can we just confirm there is no legitimate reason for the fuel filler cap to be locked shut (e.g. "for tax purposes") ? As far as I understand it the boat or owner has to be part of a scheme declaring the % split, is that right ?
90p per litre would be 27p a litre more than Turners, not far off 50% more expensive. Bearing in mind the hire company must surely be buying the diesel cheaper than Turners are selling it that must equate to a 50% mark up. If they can get away with it in open competition fine, but forcing the customer to buy from them by padlocking the fuel filler is not open competition. I personally think it`s exploitation.
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17 hours ago, Justin Smith said:
We were going to do this, there`s cheap diesel for sale at Wheaton Aston, but, after mooring up there to do so, discovered the fuel filler was padlocked shut......
I have to say I`ll be very interested to see what the hire company charge us for the diesel top up. The chap at Wheaton Aston said his zero tax diesel was 63p a litre and full tax £1.09. The hire company will surely be claiming some tax off as heating etc ? I`ll be quite upset if the hire company charge even 90p a litre, certainly £1.
I have copied this answer to the more relevant (specific) thread about hire boat fuel charges :
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I have copied this post from a different thread, it`s more relevant on this one
"We were going to do this [buying cheaper diesel from an alternative supplier], there`s cheap diesel for sale at Wheaton Aston, but, after mooring up there to do so, discovered the fuel filler was padlocked shut......
I have to say I`ll be very interested to see what the hire company charge us for the diesel top up. The chap at Wheaton Aston said his zero tax diesel was 63p a litre and full tax £1.09. The hire company will surely be claiming some tax off as heating etc ? I`ll be quite upset if the hire company charge even 90p a litre, certainly £1."
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I remembered I started a topic on hire boat fuel charges back in 2015, it`s here :
In that thread we got charged a whopping £1.45 per litre for the fuel from Alpha Craft (Brundall, on The Broads). Knowing what I know now (and that the tax split would normally be 60% propulsion and 40% heating etc) I`ll go up the wall if we get charged anywhere near £1.45 per litre by ABC Boat Hire.
I`ve learnt from this though, when we next hire a boat I`ll ask how much we`re expected to pay for diesel when we pick up the boat, and if it`s excessive I`ll ask for the key (or the code) to any padlock there and then. To be fair I did ask "the engineer" but he was evasive, along the lines of "it varies". I was too busy trying to get the boat packed and us off onto the cut to take it any further.
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1 hour ago, Nightwatch said:
I suppose you checked all the keys you had onboard. If you didn't have a key, then the boat company is being a little sneaky to say the least.
It`s a number lock. I wonder what they would have said had I phoned up and asked for the combination......
Norfolk Broads : Can you usually get through the Potter Heigham bridge ? !
in Holidays Afloat
Posted
Would that submarine get through Potter Heigham bridge......