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Loving my new life on board my trad...


9teen60six

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My name is Keaney and I've wanted a NB since a kid, now finally made the big step and bought myself a 61' trad stern, Colecraft hull, Built by NT boats Ltd, as my new home...

 

Covid 19 has a lot to answer for as I didn't really get a chance to run through everything with the broker, however I'm mechanically minded and love a challenge...

 

I've had a $h1t tonne of jobs to work through after the survey, shame the last owner(s) weren't able to look after her. Still the jobs are keeping me busy..

 

I've got lots of questions relating to what some of the equipment in the engine room is and whether it is correct. I've managed to clear the water out of the bilge and tidy up a few issues where basic maintenance would have prevented the ingress in the first place...

 

loving the forum...

 

Keaney

 

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37 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Fire away??? 

First one, these timers are in the consumer unit, one is on, one is off. What are they for and is the one that is off a spare or should it be on..?

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22 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Happy New Life Keaney! I hope you and your boat are very happy together. :)

 

We’ve started off well, Bonnie, my rescue spaniel and I have been on board six weeks and have started to turn it into a home 

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When i was at Whilton Marina on shoreline, the battery charger replenished the batteries to 100% with a voltage of 14.2v. We cruised to Blisworth,  10 mile cruise, now batteries are showing 88% and 13.7v while on shoreline... guessing the charger isn’t getting enough AC voltage to produce the 14.2v to recharge the batteries..? I had a similar issue with a touring caravan years ago on a large site that provided hook up...

 

I have a single sola panel fitted to the roof and a cheap looking “solar panel controller” by photonic universe, which has pretty flashing LED’s on it, however know way of showing if it is actually doing anything.... looks a bit of a Heath Robinson installation to me... the vessel had four other panels prior to sale, which must have had a “better” management unit fitted. I’ve welded up the 20+ holes left from the previous owner who thought self tappers, rubber washers and RTV makes a waterproof solution...

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59 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

Fire away??? 

I’m new to inverters... 

 

When on shore line, should the inverter be on or off..? I was conscious of the inventor gently humming in the background when i was in bed and got to thinking “is it needed while on shoreline..?”

 

 

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20 minutes ago, 9teen60six said:

I’m new to inverters... 

 

When on shore line, should the inverter be on or off..? I was conscious of the inventor gently humming in the background when i was in bed and got to thinking “is it needed while on shoreline..?”

 

 

It depends on ur system and how it's wired? Is it a combo or just an inverter? 

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1 hour ago, 9teen60six said:

I’m new to inverters... 

 

When on shore line, should the inverter be on or off..? I was conscious of the inventor gently humming in the background when i was in bed and got to thinking “is it needed while on shoreline..?”

 

 

If it's an inverter, it should be off - the shoreline is providing your 230v.

 

If it is an inverter/charger, it should be switched to "charger only".

 

(Sometimes, on the higher end units, there is ashore supply support function but, even if yours can do that, leave that function alone until your understanding deepens).

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3 hours ago, 9teen60six said:

When i was at Whilton Marina on shoreline, the battery charger replenished the batteries to 100% with a voltage of 14.2v. We cruised to Blisworth,  10 mile cruise, now batteries are showing 88% and 13.7v while on shoreline... guessing the charger isn’t getting enough AC voltage to produce the 14.2v to recharge the batteries..?

If your batteries were fully charged when you left Whilton, and you boated 10 miles (or 3-4 hours), then your batteries should still be fully charged if the alternator is charging properly. So I suspect either the alternator is not charging, or your batteries are knackered (a technical term!).

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5 hours ago, 9teen60six said:

 

Thanks,

Is there a fuse missing from here or is it just being used as a “buzz bar”..?

313ADC87-53BF-4366-85BB-EAEDFF637FC7.jpeg

I suspect that it's currently just a mini bus bar, as there doesn't seem to be anything connected to the upper terminal. Might be that something has been disconnected and removed, ( solar panel controller?) which is probable, as it's serving little purpose as a bus bar with only two thick and one thin cables on it.

 

No idea about the timer things !

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9 hours ago, David Mack said:

If your batteries were fully charged when you left Whilton, and you boated 10 miles (or 3-4 hours), then your batteries should still be fully charged if the alternator is charging properly. So I suspect either the alternator is not charging, or your batteries are knackered (a technical term!).

Probably. But there are lots of people on boats in marinas with knackered batteries who will never know until they disconnect the shoreline. If your charger is switched on it's basically like running your 12v system from the mains and that should work fine even with knackered batteries. Just don't rush out and buy a new expensive set of batteries until you actually need them and know what's what.

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10 hours ago, Iain_S said:

I suspect that it's currently just a mini bus bar, as there doesn't seem to be anything connected to the upper terminal. Might be that something has been disconnected and removed, ( solar panel controller?) which is probable, as it's serving little purpose as a bus bar with only two thick and one thin cables on it.

 

 

But would probably be a bigish job to remove it depending on where the big cable comes from and goes to.

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15 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

It depends on ur system and how it's wired? Is it a combo or just an inverter? 

it's a Mastervolt Mass Sine 12/2000 with a separate Mastervolt charger. the batteries are all new. Luckily for me they were "missing" when I viewed her..

 

the alternator is putting out 14.2v when running... there is a nasty Solar controller that looks like it came out of a cornflake box, photonic universe db1024... this lights up and show's there are batteries connected.. it looks like a cheap Sci-fi prop from a Flash Gordon comic... 

 

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3 minutes ago, 9teen60six said:

it's a Mastervolt Mass Sine 12/2000 with a separate Mastervolt charger. the batteries are all new. Luckily for me they were "missing" when I viewed her..

 

the alternator is putting out 14.2v when running... there is a nasty Solar controller that looks like it came out of a cornflake box, photonic universe db1024... this lights up and show's there are batteries connected.. it looks like a cheap Sci-fi prop from a Flash Gordon comic... 

 

Then if wired correctly you can turn the inverter off whenever on shoreline and leave the charger on 24/7 365. ( whilst on shoreline )

Edited by mrsmelly
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1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

But would probably be a bigish job to remove it depending on where the big cable comes from and goes to.

Thanks for the reply Brian,

 

just trying to establish what should be there and what's been added over the last 18 years. some of the wiring looks awful. The bilge pump has obviously been an issue in the past, as there were three in the bay. Will pull out and re-make the connections with decent crimps as the terminal blocks are rusty and frankly look very poor...

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18 hours ago, 9teen60six said:

First one, these timers are in the consumer unit, one is on, one is off. What are they for and is the one that is off a spare or should it be on..?

 

Those timers will do from 0.3 to 768 s in four ranges. Can't see clearly which range they're set to (you can tell from what's in the little window - see https://www.gastroparts.com/en/part-110942 ). I suspect they might be to delay switching on something like a charger or isolating transformer to spread out a start up surge which would trip a MCB when reconnecting a shoreline supply. You'll have to trace the wires back to see what they're connected to!

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

That would suggest to me that there has been a water ingress problem, rather than a bilge pump problem.

 

Did you have your own survey conducted before purchase ?

Yes Alan there was a water ingress issue, the drain hole on the rear stern hatch was blocked and had been for some time, judging by the amount of crap I cleared from it. it looked as if water had been allowed to access via the hatch channel. I've cleared the blockage, and also cleaned out the water from the engine bay. I've had her running to see if there is any signs of water creeping in and we've had a few heavy showers and all seems good so far. I've yet to take her out and see if it is an issue with the stern gland while running...

 

My survey picked up on a couple issues in the engine bay that I got the previous owners to pay for...

 

Ian

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