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Ribble Link


Polly Graff

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IF your skin tank is OK for pootling along the canal, but a bit undersized when it comes to passages like the Ribble Link, then it is possible to improvise. One member here emptied a few bucketfuls of water into the stern bilge, then set up a spare bilge pump and length of hose so that one of the crew directed the jet of bilge water to spray over the internal face of the skin tank for the duration of the tidal trip. That provided sufficient extra cooling to keep the engine termperature down, and all the warm water going back into the bilges was then cooled by sitting on the bottom plate. Not ideal, but enough to solve the problem at the time.

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When we did the Ribble link on Copperkins she heated big time (it was later found that there were no baffles in the skin tank) and on the way out two of us spent the whole trip fishing pails of water in through the side hatch and throwing them over the skin tank. The steerer standing above, had a sauna ? . On the way back, the water hose was connected to a cold tap and we sprayed the tank. A lot easier than pails of water and just as effective. 

Must do the trip again when I can actually see the scenery ?

haggis

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15 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

Presume if you have a calorifier that gets heat from the engine you could run the hot tap to cool the water in the calorifier - might help a little?

Yes, and also (to a lesser extent and depending on set-up) running the central heating pump.

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5 minutes ago, sailor0500 said:

I did the link in my 48 foot boat with a Beta 28.running at 2000 rpm. No problems. Buy the boat with the Beta.

 

Presumably that is said as a joke ?

 

ANY boat with incorrect cooling can overheat any engine.

It is the way the boat is built that determines if the engine will overheat.

 

Just because in your boat the Beta did not overheat does not mean that the Beta will not overheat in another boat.

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6 minutes ago, IanD said:

So I going to ask the question...

 

Those of you who've actually done this trip, would you be happy to do it in a 57'/50' narrowboat with a 15kW/20hp electric motor?

I did it in a 50ft boat with a 21hp JP2....I would want to know I could run flat out for 4 hours plus with no issues...if not longer. So it might depend on battery bank capacity and also how you recharge them. I ran the JP harder for longer than I have ever done. 

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25 minutes ago, IanD said:

So I going to ask the question...

 

Those of you who've actually done this trip, would you be happy to do it in a 57'/50' narrowboat with a 15kW/20hp electric motor?

 

It's the anchoring in the middle of the Ribble estaury while you wait for the solar panels to recharge the batteries that's the real b* factor.

?

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26 minutes ago, frangar said:

I did it in a 50ft boat with a 21hp JP2....I would want to know I could run flat out for 4 hours plus with no issues...if not longer. So it might depend on battery bank capacity and also how you recharge them. I ran the JP harder for longer than I have ever done. 

 

Presumably it didn't have an egg whisk, it would have had a proper LARGE propeller.

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7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Presumably it didn't have an egg whisk, it would have had a proper LARGE propeller.

Indeed. Mind you the electric 70ft trip boat I skippered had a proper sized prop...the drive was via belt & pulleys so was suitably geared down. I have to say I wouldn’t fancy the Ribble on electric drive.....I dare say others will say it would be fine. 

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10 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Its not the engine, its how the hull builder arranged the cooling

It''s also very important to have the prop. correctly matched to engine, gear box and hull size/ shape/weight, and you get that from trial and error/experience. Prop calculators help but are not neccessariy correct.  When I was building yachts it was not unusual to try two or three props before settling on best one for hull / engine configuration.

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10 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Not sure why because much deeper boats have done it

Possibly because of potential water levels on Savick Brook?

 

But whatever the reason its correct.

 

From the CRT skippers guide.

 

 

Screenshot_20210116-230311_Drive.jpg

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15 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Possibly because of potential water levels on Savick Brook?

 

The limiting factor is the depth over the cill on the rotating sea lock.  You can get deeper draughted boats through on the higher tides, but the booking system won't let you book it anymore.

 

 

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13 hours ago, robtheplod said:

Presume if you have a calorifier that gets heat from the engine you could run the hot tap to cool the water in the calorifier - might help a little?

I tried that once on the Thames. It didn't make the slightest difference to engine temperature on my boat. I guess it was heating water in the calorifier quicker than I could pump cold water in and let the hot water out.

Edited by blackrose
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5 hours ago, frangar said:

I did it in a 50ft boat with a 21hp JP2....I would want to know I could run flat out for 4 hours plus with no issues...if not longer. So it might depend on battery bank capacity and also how you recharge them. I ran the JP harder for longer than I have ever done. 

Power is one problem (which is what I was asking about), endurance is the other. Can do at least 3 hours with a 15kW motor.(and 30kWh of batteries and a 7kW genny), but this is where it gets tricky -- a more powerful motor (e.g. 25kW) is great for power, but then the batteries run out after less than 2 hours...

 

The Ribble link is probably the most difficult problem for electric boats to solve...

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22 minutes ago, IanD said:

Power is one problem (which is what I was asking about), endurance is the other. Can do at least 3 hours with a 15kW motor.(and 30kWh of batteries and a 7kW genny), but this is where it gets tricky -- a more powerful motor (e.g. 25kW) is great for power, but then the batteries run out after less than 2 hours...

 

The Ribble link is probably the most difficult problem for electric boats to solve...

I think either of those electric set-ups might struggle with the Bristol channel too. Portishead to Sharpness or vice versa is about two and a half to three hours. Even with the current you need to be using some power so that you're going faster than the tide and have some steering.

Edited by blackrose
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20 hours ago, robtheplod said:

Presume if you have a calorifier that gets heat from the engine you could run the hot tap to cool the water in the calorifier - might help a little?

When I did the Ribble I turned the circulation pump on the hot water/heating and fully opened the rad valves to pull heat from the calorifier. This is without the boiler on obviously. It worked well and pulled a fair bit of heat. 
 

 

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9 hours ago, blackrose said:

I think either of those electric set-ups might struggle with the Bristol channel too. Portishead to Sharpness or vice versa is about two and a half to three hours. Even with the current you need to be using some power so that you're going faster than the tide and have some steering.

Of all the usaul tidal journeys taken by inland waterway craft, the Ribble Link works the engine hardest as you are stemming the tide for most of the trip.

 

Portishead to Sharpness is (by the direct route) via the Severn estuary.  The Bristol Channel is much further seaward.

 

 

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I was advised by the engine builder to fit a 42/ 4cylinder engine rather than the 3cylinder 30hp engine for river work for a 50ft narrow boat.{Isuzu}  Throttle on the stop for hours on end,no problem. Fuel consumtion on canals,just over 1litre per hour.Used a lot more when being thrashed,unsuprisingly  .BUT the engine was directly water cooled{through a heat exchanger}. Just have to be carefull the mud box stays clear. Wire brush with long handle for cleaning patio solved that problem. I had a PRM 150 gearbox which seems to be the box of choice for marine engineers.

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