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230v Generator and Hull Pitting


Captain Beaky

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Hello

Please can any of you technical types give an opinion on these? A boat we are looking at has a 3.5kW Travel power system with a 

generator mounted on the BMC/ CB Marine engine. The boat we are interested in buying has significant pitting on the baseplate

( considerable number of 3mm pits  on a 10 mm baseplate).  Less so on the sides. The boat is about 22 years old.

Is this independent domestic 230v circuit and any earthing a possible suspect do you think?

The boat has also only just has a galvanic isolator installed which may be more of a solution.

Any ideas?

 

 

 

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3mm is not so bad on a baseplate that has never been painted.  Get the sides pit welded and have it all blasted and epoxy 2 pack or even Zinga and 2 pack. ( gets a 10 year guarantee ) It will last years.

I would doubt the Travel power is a factor.

  • Greenie 2
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3 minutes ago, Captain Beaky said:

Thank you both.

Tony, your Marine Diesel Maintenance Engine & Boat Maintenance APBrooks 2007 is still my bedside reading !

Cheers

You're welcome.

 

There are lots of boats with pitted, scabby base plates because most never get ant treatment at all and our boats are often sitting in mud rather than floating.

 

That 10 year Debdale Wharf guarantee with Zinga has to be a no brainer.

  • Greenie 1
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53 minutes ago, Captain Beaky said:

Thank you both.

Tony, your Marine Diesel Maintenance Engine & Boat Maintenance APBrooks 2007 is still my bedside reading !

Cheers

 

Thanks, it must be good for getting the eyes to glaze over. For others its all available for printing out on my website apart from  there is a deliberately faulty diagram in the Electrical notes that is not in the printed version. I am also happy to email copies but they will be black & white where as the website has colour.

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Don't shoot me...I'm just passing on what I heard 

 

I had a travel power on my boat which was about 15 years old when I sold it.

 

It was a Reeves hull..and the base plate had a lot of nasty shiny deep pits 

 

When I sold it...it had been surveyed by Steve Hand at Burton on Trent.

 

I went to do the hand over... and he was rewiring the Travel power.

 

I asked him why...and he said the original installation instructions had been wrong and as such the hull was in danger of corrosion.

He also said that there had been some cases where a boater had moored next to another travel power user...and suffered serious electric shock.

 

That is what he told me...and he said he was reversing connections.

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2 minutes ago, Bobbybass said:

Don't shoot me...I'm just passing on what I heard 

 

I had a travel power on my boat which was about 15 years old when I sold it.

 

It was a Reeves hull..and the base plate had a lot of nasty shiny deep pits 

 

When I sold it...it had been surveyed by Steve Hand at Burton on Trent.

 

I went to do the hand over... and he was rewiring the Travel power.

 

I asked him why...and he said the original installation instructions had been wrong and as such the hull was in danger of corrosion.

He also said that there had been some cases where a boater had moored next to another travel power user...and suffered serious electric shock.

 

That is what he told me...and he said he was reversing connections.

 

For AC stuff that makes little sense to me but happy to be educated. Until a hull bond is fitted you just have two lines and no "earth". One will only become a neutral one the hull/earth bond is made. Maybe its something to do with the magic box but I can't see it.

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44 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

 

For AC stuff that makes little sense to me but happy to be educated. Until a hull bond is fitted you just have two lines and no "earth". One will only become a neutral one the hull/earth bond is made. Maybe its something to do with the magic box but I can't see it.

Maybe contact Steve Hand ..BSS and engineer...Burton area....he may explain better than me... 

 

I have no idea of the ins and outs other than the original travel power instructions were for vehicles and not boats and that's where he said the problem lay. 

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2 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

How do you know? You've always poo pooed the idea of a survey

Funnily enough each time I have had the hull blacked my number one eyeball can tell by simply looking at the hull if there is any pitting, it realy IS, that simple. The yards/people who have done the blacking have seen and stated the same. Its not rocket science.

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On 07/06/2021 at 21:37, Cheshire cat said:

I didn't think you'd be wanting to get down low enough to look at the baseplate. ?

Its not the getting down, its the getting back up :(

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On 07/06/2021 at 16:04, Tony Brooks said:

 

For AC stuff that makes little sense to me but happy to be educated. Until a hull bond is fitted you just have two lines and no "earth". One will only become a neutral one the hull/earth bond is made. Maybe its something to do with the magic box but I can't see it.

I believe the Travelpower is centre tapped earth, so the hull bond will exist via machine casing, engine, etc.

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