Titan

Help advice please !!! I have spent today wiring up a new control panel, its not a perkins one its a Lister deluxe i admit its taken some head scratching to get around, this was mainly due to several diodes which allow an alarm to sound should oil pressure or battery circuits fail,(whish were wired incorrectly for this app) i guess also temp circuit but yet to confirm, as temp sender doesnt work on engine. The new panel has both a oil warning and a oil pressure gauge (electric) do i need to make a union to fit two independent oil senders ? or can a sender unit be found to switch both the oil warning lamp and feed the gauge? At the moment im happy enough with the oil lamp, but it sort of annoying having a gauge there thats not operational. As allways thanks to all that reply Regards Martin

The online auction system !!! We recently were lucky enough to win a mooring, the simplest way to explain is the highest bidder wins, it states in the guidelines that if the winner fails to complete they (can ) offer the mooring to the next bidder but this never happened to us. we lost out several times by trying to bid in the last ten minutes but on 3 occasions the bw system would not accept (froze) so bids failed to be recognised. I mailed bw to enquire/inform and they had no explanation for this. Often a mooring we bid on was available the following month. Finally almost giving up hope we one an auction for a mooring for 320.00 less than we had bid on previously??? I feel the system is not fool proof, our new neighbours have welcomed us, and have been there for 3 yrs and agreement on there mooring has just renewed, for a slight increase on the previous term??? but not as much as the recognised current value ?? I wish you luck oh and patience regards Martin

In the mean time get a cheep bag of disposable nappies, suprising what they can soak up for £2 !!!! but the above sounds like a good start. regards Martin

Just a quick thought, something that is all to often overlooked is the coolant cap itself, as the seal hardens over time they can cause a slight bloss of coolant. worth a look, and also one of the cheepest and easiest to replace. To find a leek otherwise i recommend a static pressure test for twenty minutes when colod and then again once hot. regards Martin

Thankyou for the replys, 240 is going to run along the gunnels, 4.5 mm is for lighting only inc tunnel and horn, I havent decided on the fridge supply i have a 25oow inverter and 4x trojan 6v cells @ 239 Amps each which will have 400w solar through mppt controler and hoping this will keep up demand, and not use fridge during winter months, early days just hope this works. thanks again Martin

Could anyone advise please i am using 4.5mm cable for the dc circuits on the boat which i have ran along the length of the roof in conduit, i have then placed the cables above the ceilings to the wall light fittings etc, the question is do these cables have to be in a conduit aboce the ceiling also? or are they ok loose so to speak, insulation is celotex/kingspan, kind regards Martin

I have a stainless tank in the bow on n/b angelwood. Am i wright in thinking it should be packed well around the exterior with insulation ?? If so Which type is likely to perform the best my thoughts were rockwool type batts packed tightly and a exspanding foam at the face then some foil type barrier, before i encase the interior of the front end to match below gunnels. Or should it be vented and even have a good air circulation around it ??? I know even though the tank is empty when the temp changes a few degrees condensation seems to form ??? thanks in advance Martin

Usefull info, a little while ago I visited a farm on the welsh hereford border, where the owner proudly showed me his new wood boiler house, quite impresive kit a Polish company installed it, heats a 6 bedroom farm house a 40 x 15 foot swimming pool and the cool return through a stable block. His supply of wood is genourous being a farmer but the efficiency was in the 90s and in a 24 hour period it used just one normal garden wheel barrow of logs ???? very impressive

I feel its often difficult to make what u want out of what u have, my guess you like the finish/appearance of what you have bought, as others will say a tad thin, builders express are very inexspensive for faceless ply which you could use as a sub base ??? or if your sticking to your choice ,perhaps exspanding foam could be applied just prior to the last few fixings to bulk out and indeed support your ply ????? the reason i say this im using 6mm oak ply above gunnels which could flex but a quick squirt of foam makes them solid. regards Martin

I am just about to embark on the wiring of my rebuild, today has been more of destructive day than constructive funny how some days you achieve lots in 3 hours and others little in ten? However i thought id ask this before I go and make another hash of things. I have some shiney new Anderson type plugs which I would like to utalise as part of my D/C installation. Is there any reason why i cant ? id like to use a pair between the starter batt wiring, and also a a pair between the domestic bank. They will be fitted with grab handles, i feel they would be of bennefit, for fast isolation of either during maintenance, and also allow me to manually plug in and out chargers/inverters/ and one day solar? (anderson type fork lift charger plugs ) your thoughts appreciated regards Martin

I have just purchased a 90amp twin cast pulley alternator as fitted to Caterpiller plant vehicles, a really heavyduty one,advised it pushes max output at slow engine speeds? i appreciate 90amp is not a really powerfull but at £48. i thought quite a bargain!!! supplier has about ten left, if anyone wants to know more pm me regards Martin

Congratulations, we have experienced the same fortune, having bid for 5 months had given up hope, but have now won at the reserve price. Having read the guidelines it says if the highest bidder drops out then they can offer to the next highest bidder ? ihave just won the same mooring that someone else had won 4 weeks ago ? which certainly not offered to me after they had pulled out. I had bid 1620, the auction was won for 1625, here we are 4 weeks later and secured for the reserve price 1407 Quite chuffed tbh, not as picturesque as where we are currently moored but a lot closer and less exspensive. regards martin

Thank you all very much for your replys, i will carry on with the fit out and examine more so at a later date, once again many thanks regards Martin

Hi Folks Last week we decided to take the boat out for a few hours to recharge our souls, 9 moths now and this was to be our second trip, after having previously sank she is now warm clean and dry, but far from finished. we went from Saul to Glos Docks all went great, i didnt colide with anything, even when mooring up between 2 rather shiny exspesive boats Back to topic, the engine is purring along amazingly well after its ordeal (if a Perkins D3 ) can be decribed as to purr ? But when at the bow the whole craft seems to judder/vibrate? not excessivly but none the less. I havent experienced this on any of my friends boats? and nothing can be felt at the stern ? my thoughts are could it be put down to the bow being high in the water ? as no gas bottles and a empty water tank? making the bow possibly 6/8 inches higher than norm? Also although fully ballasted i have much more weight in the stern to sit low to elleviate cavitation @the prop as not fitted out and weigthted down correctly. Your thoughts and advice appreciated regards Martin

I assume the 24v alt is connected to charge a 24v battery bank ? you ought not supply a 24v direct feed to the alternator, you need to create a circuit ideally with a small 24v bulb in line (battery charging bulb ) or a resistor of sorts. If it were me i would hook up a simple 12v relay from an ignition switch fed live, which could then switch the 24v circuit whith the 24v light in the circuit, once engine has started the alternator will charge and exstinguish (battery charging bulb )as normal . i hope this helps, i am sure others may offer far superior advise but i believe this should be a cheep and effective way to solve, good luck

Have tried to PM you ? perhaps inbox full ???

Look up local welding supplies, probably the cheepest way tbh, approx £4.50 a mtr and 24 p a crimp some would argue but works for me

Hi, as i have never seen a solid fuel rayburn dismantled , could someone advise me of the size once dismantled ?? does it come totally apart ? or is the inner casting still a large lump???? ie can we dismantle it to a point where it can be transported through the doors of a average narrow boat ??? This is info will help us decide future plans in anticipation i thank you one and all regards Martin

HI Dean, like you i am fitting out our n/b and being cautious with the finances, i found builders express the cheepest for plywood £9 a sheet for 6mm and £11 a sheet for 9 mm seems ok and free delivery when bartered for i believe there opening up all over the place. I wish you luck in your adventure, oh and patience and persaverance all the best regards Martin