Keeping Up
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Posts posted by Keeping Up
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Don't quite understand you Maffi. I was referring to the fact that when you have 2 boats lashed together side-by-side ("breasted up") there may not be enough room in the pound to pass a boat that is coming the other way. Nothing to do with shutting gates.
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Double locks require a lot more rope work and can take a long time to solo, so if you're on canals like the Kennet it's best to find a buddy. interestingly I was talking to someone the otherday who recommended lashing the boats together on flights like Caen - not sure if this would help or hinder.
It definitely helps as you only need one person to steer both boats, but you often have to "single out " if you meet a boat coming the other way especially when the pounds are very short as on Caen Hill.
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Phew thanks guys for that I'AM pleased now.
I can't afford posh heating systems and what not plus i like the idea of sitting in the dark with a glowing fire.
Any recommendations on what fire's to get and the costing?
Will this heat proof gasket thing be easily obtainable?
How will i cut that hole?
IM thinking drill holes first then jigsaw.
Thanks again.
The heat-proof sheet is a board that looks and feels like asbestos but obviously isn't. You can saw it, drill it, etc, quite easily. It's got a proper name but I forget what it is. You can also use it to go behind the stove so it doesn't melt or set fire to the woodwork or whatever else is there. I bought it in B&Q as a sheet something like 8ft x 4ft x 1/4in but this was nearly 20 years ago so I don't know the best place to get it now.
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I've got some bigger hooks that I use in that way, but on these the hole in the end of the hook is only about 4mm diameter so the fender rope would have to be just a bit of string and would soon break (unlike the hook/wire assembly which is extremely strong)
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That was one of my first thoughts except the spring-hook only opens about 1/4 inch so it wouldn't be much of an eyelet. And as the loop is only about 3 inch diameter it wouldn't be much of a bollard either.
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ah well john,i did not say i will know what to buy,only look for.
i need to see what they are in a chandler,s or on the bank before i could invent better or copy.
in fact i have seen some steel wires with loops on being used on new street furniture,advertising boards hanging.
they are very much like steel traces for fishing but the wires about
3/16 -1/4 of an inch thick and 2ft in lenght.
the boys on the works will no doubt give me 4 of them,if no good for mooring on piling ect they will defo come in useful for something.
If you can think of a use for them, maybe you could think of a use for this too? It's a loop of wire rope, about 3 inches across, attached to a spring-hook. I got it from a stand at the Boat Show about 10 years ago; a chandlery said they had about 1000 of them but couldn't think of any use for them so they were selling them for 5p each and I bought 2 but I still haven't thought of a use for them either.
If you had a loop somewhere, you could clip the hook onto it and thus convert it into ... a loop!
Or if you had a spring hook on something, you could clip it to the loop and convert it to ... a spring hook!
Really useful.
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I hope you're taking the rope round behind the pins and not (as your description seems to imply) using the loops to take the strain, otherwise the loops are certain to break off at some time. The rope passing through the loop should be passed round the back of the pin so that the loop plays no part in the exercise unless the pin gets pulled out, in which case it supports the weight of the pin and stops it from being lost.
Personally I love having pegs where a loop has been pulled off. I use them with a clove hitch (which is so much more convenient than having to thread the rope through a loop) and the blobs of weld from the old loops make an excellent additional protection to stop the rope sliding up the peg and off the top.
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That works OK too, though I think it works better when they are both leading away from the centre. But at least 80% of people put them straight to the bank and wonder why the boat moves back and forth.
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My previous boat was one of the old Harboroughs with a GRP top. The hole in the roof for the flue was cut oversize, then a piece of fireproof sheet was cut out to act as a gasket for the collar - ie it lay flat on the roof and the collar sat on top of it. The whole lot was bolted right through from the collar through oversized bolt-holes in the roof and through another piece of fireproof sheet on the inside of the roof. The only problem was that the fireproof sheet was not waterproof in the long-term, so the whole outside was encased in a smearing of silicone sealant. It gave no problems in the 4 years we had the boat - no difficulties with heat despite the stove getting very hot sometimes, and it was almost the only bit of the whole boat that didn't leak when it rained.
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6mm polycarbonate is what you need. Same stuff they make riot shields from. I brought some from DIY plastics.com, who were at Regal Way, Faringdon (Oxfordshire) and they cut it to size while I waited but I don’t know if they are still there. Unfortunately my measurements weren’t quite accurate and I needed to shave a couple of mm off, but my electric planer did the job well. You can also drill and tap it very easily.
Tommo
I bought a sheet from my local B&Q. Scribed it and it broke just fine, also drilled OK (both following the instructions on the stuck-on plastic sheet). If only my measurements had been correct it would have fitted really well!
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I looked up a few fridge specs and did some quick calculations recently. This was the result (unless anyone knows better?):
Shoreline's latest 12 volt fridge, the RR47, is quoted as having an average consumption of 0.95 Amps/Hr. Assuming they actually mean that the average consumption is 0.95 Amps, this equates to about 100 Kilowatt-hours per year. A quick look at the specification of similar-sized mains fridges shows that even the best A-rated models consume between 150 and 230 KWh/yr. The cheaper models are generally B-rated, and take even more power. Plus of course any losses in the inverter. Thus IF the test conditions are similar, it is still better to use a 12v fridge.
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Eddie Welcome to the forum
I doubt whether it will be possible to hire anything, let alone a boat for a group of sixteen year olds. You are all upright standing citizens no doubt but that is not the way hire companies will see it, you need 'a responsible adult' to be in charge and that would mean over 18.
Even a group of 18 year olds would probably have to be mixed.
It's not always such a bad thing that they insist on mixed crews. There was this girl we always took along as the "token female" - after a few trips we had to change the cabin arrangements because she and I got married, and 29 years later we're still married (and she STILL can't ever remember which top paddle to open first!)
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Go there Daniel. We went this year and it was WONDERFUL. Peaceful beautiful and fascinating! (I put a couple of pictures on our website)
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You can add TV's to the list John. I tried five before I found one that would work without interference on my inverter. Apparently the manufacturers also like adding little circuits to them that don't like inverters (Charles Sterlings words - not mine) eventually the little 14" job that has been sitting in my Mum's back room for ten years worked perfectly.
I too tried about 5 before finding one that worked well on my (supposedly pure sine-wave) inverter.
The one I've got now is a Sony which works fantastically well once it's going but it takes some starting! When running it takes less than 35 watts, but at first switch-on it takes over 800 watts for a short while!
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I was cleaning out at diesel tank yesterday. It had a bung drain at the very bottom, in such a position that the only way to drain it was to let it run into the bilge - then clean out the bilge.
Anyway, the interesting thing was the amount of water in the bottom of this tank.
About 20l came out - I couldn't believe it.
There was a drain higher up, obviously no-one had completely drained the tank in years.
Was this a boat's fuel tank, or a boatyard's supply tank? I've recently heard tales of people getting a LOT of water delivered with their diesel when they filled up at a boatyard.
If it was a boat's tank, assming that the engine could still run this means the fuel pickup pipe is ignoring at least the last 20 litres of the tank. That sounds like a lot (mine takes down to about the last 5 litres).
My tank can also be drained into the bilge, but I've found that if you crack open the drain bung just enough that the water comes out as a small steady stream that is only just faster than a string of drips, thenit will stop when all the water has come out and the diesel will not follow.
I've got a bottle of some stuff called "Enersolve" that dissolves water from diesel and enables it to be burned by the engine. I've had the bottle for years, used it a couple of times and it did the job, but I don't know if you can still get it.
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Definitely looks the way forward... the SVO systems like 'Greasel' look interesting, I bet their systems which are intended for haulage trucks would be ideal for a narrowboat. You start the engine with normal diesel, then switch to 100% untreated veg oil once it has been heated to the correct temperature, and back to diesel again before you stop the engine.
The website says that oil from Chinese restaurants is good because they change it often. So the smells will be more chop suey than fish and chips. Certainly no more unpleasant than diesel fumes.
I'd be willing to bet, that if it became popular the Government would want to start taxing it. Do you remember when the advantage of being one of the few who ran a diesel car, was that there was so much less duty on diesel at the pumps that it was really cheap to run?
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Glad you clarified that John, I'd been assuming he needed to keep the original charger (perhaps it plugs directly into the camera for example)
Just goes to show, two people can be saying opposite things yet both be right, just as long as they are talikg at cross-purposes!
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A good (and enviably simple) suggestion.
The other suggestion made earlier is to buy a small (and hence cheap) inverter. That way you can charge your camera, mobile phone, toothbrush, and lots of other things.
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Indeed no rectification is required but the existing setup that runs from 240v does contain rectification.
If it's in the transformer/plug, then the problem is simply one of replacing its 3vdc with 3vdc derived from the 12vdc.
If it's in the charger, then that charger is designed to be fed with 3vac so the conditions may need to be changed for example to provide a dc voltage equal to the peak ac voltage that the charger is expecting.
The need for fine tuning or not, depends on the level of sophistication in the charger - everything needed may already be in there.
Also the OP has not supplied any info on the current required which makes it a bit harder.
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Hi,
is easy to replace the seals on the mansfield "dump" through toilets?
Ours no longer holds water. A local hire company advised that they remove their toilets each year and pressure wash to remove the limescale build up on the ball valve is this rather drastic.
As usual any comments very welcome
cheers
Steve
Yes it's relatively easy. Buy new seals and they come with a full set of easy-to-follow instructions. Basically you just pull out the freshwater inlet (rubber bung at back of bowl) then unscrew a big circlip and lift the bowl off, change the seals and replace it. You don't need any special tools other than a screwdriver.
If you have a sense of smell, make sure the tank is well pumped out before you start.
Have a good look at the ball. If it's got a lot of limescale or is badly scored, you should replace it. That's only slightly more difficult, and you need an extra screwdriver; you replace the ball and the spring cartridge at the same time, and again the whole lot comes as a kit with good instructions though it's a bit pricey. But for over 10 years I got away with just VERY carefully scraping off the limescale with a plastic scraper every time I changed the seals (without removing the ball that is). If it is scored, or if cleaning it scores it, then it's replacement time. I know of one boatyard that uses battery acid to dissolve it once a year (not sure I like that idea but maybe one of the propretary domestic limescale removers would work). I guess removal and pressure washing is a sort of intermediate option - though you could presumably presssure wash the valve in place as long as you don't mind having to get the water pumped out of the tank again.
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Going on the info given (not much) i think the charger has the charge circuity in it, rather than the 'transformer' which meary supplys a low voltage power supply.
- Although im not sure where the rectification happens, but that shouldnt actually make much difference, i think?
Alternatively it may just be easyer to get a cheap inverter.
- We have one of those 230v shaver point, which seams to work acceptable for charging our camera (PentaxOptioS5i)
Daniel
If the rectification takes place inside the charger, it may need considerably more than 3v dc to feed it; a simple diode/capacitor rectification setup from 3v ac produces approx 4v dc (the peak voltage of the 3v wave being well over 4v, less the drop in the diode) and you'd need to match that.
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Bob.
Maplins are usually quite good for this sort of thing or you could ask at the place where you bought the camera. Alternatively buy a converter down to say 12 to 4 volts and a potentiometer, 2 or 3 watts would be ok, measure the voltage and current that your mains charger is putting into the battery.
Connect 12 volts to the converter input and the pot' to the output side, by turning up the pot you will be able to regulate the charge rate to the values you have measured, don't forget the polarity.
When satisfied seal up the adjustment fit a fuse and enclose it in a box or whatever.
I'm assuming that the mains transformer is actually a charger that supplies 3v DC? If it is just a transformer, providing 3v ac which is rectified inside the camera then things would be very difficult.
The voltage will rise as the charging current falls, until it reaches that of the converter. Ther's a risk that the battery could be destroyed.
Best to use just a resistor from the 12 v and a Zener diode to limit the volts across the battery. Both available from Maplins. Cheaper too, only a few pence.
You'll need to know exactly what voltage to charge the batteries to (measure this on your present charger if you can get at the terminals while it's charging) it's probably a fair bit over the 3 volts; and what current the charger provides into a nearly flat battery (after all it reduces to zero for a fully charged battery). Then get a zener diode of that voltage (see Maplins BZX79C available at 3v, 3.3v, 3.6v, etc), and calculate the resistor you'll need remembering that your 12v supply could be nearly 15v when the engine is running. For say 100mA charging current you'd need a resistor of 120 ohms rated at 2 watts or more.
The resistor goes in the 12 v positive feed, and the Zener diode goes across the charger output, with its positive terminal to the resistor (and also the battery positive) and its negative terminal to the negative supply (and also the battery negative).
If that doesn't make sense, email me & I'll try and send a picture.
PS someone else give my figures a sanity check please, my head is spinning.
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Its another of these give and take things, and its usally a a combination of varous things.
SNIP
But how much a moored boat bumps around depends on more than just how much the moving boat is displacing, and how fast it is displacing that. It also depends a lot on how its is displacing relative to the size of that section of cut (mentioned above), but also how well the boat in question has moored themselfs.
I find it very interesting to watch the boats we are passing as we go past and moniter how much they move about. It varys a huge amount from one boat to the next, and not nessasrally how you expect (ie, you expect lighter boats and first time hirers to move more, and larger boats to remain more sationary) Infact some of the worst boats are often the larger most fancy boats, and these are of cause the ones most prone to to complaning.
In all the years i can remember i have yet to every see a boat moored using springs, even if its clear the boat has been there for a a while and would benifit.
- Quite often on a canal you can get away without using springs by simply mooring the boat tight against the side with the two warps at about 45degrees.
SNIP
Daniel
I have also noticed this variation. Closer inspection shows that some 80% of boats are tied with the ropes at 90 degrees to the bank, and of course they move back and forth in response to every passing boat. Also the ropes are often quite loose, especially when piling hooks have been used (never having used them myself I wonder if it is impossible to moor tightly with these?).
Nowadays I tend to look at the effect of my movement on the 20% of boats that are moored correctly, ie with tight ropes at 45 degrees. If I can travel at SLIGHTLY above tickover without affecting those boats, then I will do so and be happy to enter a discussion with anyone who needs advice on how to moor properly. On the other hand I will travel at (or even below) tickover speed when necessary.
I use springs more often than not, and there have been occasions around the system this year when my moored neighbours have commented on the high speed of some other boat, and I have honestly been able to say that I hadn't noticed it's passing.
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No that's 2.7 LOCK-MILES per litre which is very different; if you spend all day going down a long flight (like Tardebigge) you will use hardly any fuel and do only a couple of miles, but you'll do a lot of lock-miles.
On our most recent trip, a typical mix of canals and rivers, we used 750 litres of diesel to cover 1051 miles and 655 locks in 492 hours.
Chimney Flu
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted
If you have a free choice of sides, I'd recommend the left-hand side. If it is on the right-hand side, the chimney can get knocked off in a tunnel when you pull over to pass another boat. On our first boat I lost the chimney 3 times in that way.