Bow Thruster Chamber maintenance...

[Alan de Enfield]

 

It is like WD40 - some folks squirt it down their throttle / gear cables to 'free them off'. the problem is that on the cables with a Nylon lining in the 'outer', or a Nylon coating on the 'Inner', the WD40 is absorbed into the Nylon, it swells and makes the cables much stiffer to operate.

 

WD40 IS NOT an oil or lubricating liquid, or even a penetrating liquid, it is simply a 'water dispersant' (hence the WD) and was the 40th 'recipe' when developing it.

[cuthound]

For the 35 years that I worked for them BT used Vaseline on battery terminals and interlinks. I suspect they still use it these days.

 

BT was (probably still is) the largest user of lead acid batteries in Europe.

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by cuthound
To remove duplicate post

[Tracy D'arth]

3 hours ago, MartynG said:

Looks like you can get grease that is  specifically made for battery terminals. Example below 

Oh no, Liquid Molly will be back!  Its how much for 50gm? A jar of Vaseline is coppers.

[Momac]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Oh no, Liquid Molly will be back!  Its how much for 50gm? A jar of Vaseline is coppers.

Well not quite ''coppers'' but certainly better value.

And I wouldn't splash out on Vaseline when other brands are cheaper 🙂

[robtheplod]

Thanks to all the encouragement I've now started on sorting the chamber...

 

BowThruster and all electrics now removed and its all sitting with a coat of Vactan.  The boat is still afloat!

 

The mounted board and isolator switch/fuse holder were all rusty and practically falling apart so its turning into a 'refresh' i think they call it! Theres an old disused fuse holder which had melted and an old BowThruster control panel, no longer used/needed - why dont people remove stuff when its defunct?

 

I have a few questions.......

 

The chamber seems to have something like an old Waxoyl coating on it - I wasnt intending to use this, but now thinking would this be better than Jotmastic 90 as it may cover over better?

 

The Isolator switch needs replacing and i thought about something like this:

Marine Battery Isolation Switch 300A - IP68 | 12 Volt Planet

as the fuse is 250A I'm assuming this would be fine - do you need to take more into account with BowThruster isolators - max draw etc?  cranking is 1000a so assuming thats ok.....

 

thanks, as ever - here are some pics. Seems to be lots of room down there, such a shame you cant really access it when the battery/BT are in - goes underneath the gas locker.

 

Forgot to add - discovered my radio was wired to my BT battery and was using the negative for the battery charge (the correct negative was in there but cut!).... had boat 3 years and still finding out stuff!

 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by robtheplod

[robtheplod]

Would WaxOyl be a more suitable cover in this area as its got what looks like a coating already?  thanks!

[robtheplod]

Hello  Hello Hello Hello..... is anyone there  there there....

 

I'm thinking people don't like WaxOyl? 

 

maybe i need to remove all traces of Bow Thruster from the title?   

[Col_T]

Yup, someone’s here.

He’s got no idea about waxoyl or bow-thrusters, but that coating looks pretty good from here. If it’s kept the rust at bay so far is there any need to do anything else?

[robtheplod]

1 hour ago, Col_T said:

Yup, someone’s here.

He’s got no idea about waxoyl or bow-thrusters, but that coating looks pretty good from here. If it’s kept the rust at bay so far is there any need to do anything else?

thanks for the reply... it did ok apart from the rust along the bottom... now being treated, so i need to pop a coating on here but undecided on what.....

[ditchcrawler]

8 hours ago, robtheplod said:

thanks for the reply... it did ok apart from the rust along the bottom... now being treated, so i need to pop a coating on here but undecided on what.....

I understand the Dutch use grease on the inside of their hulls