Amber boats

[Tickertywho]

Evening all. Just a quicky. Our 58-footer N/B was made by Amber Boats. We believe the boat was fabricated in Poland or the like. also, might have been fitted out there. Two questions... What makes are the windows/ports? Has anyone done any plumbing on theirs? as all the push-fit connectors are an odd size(a bit bigger). I only found that out, after cutting the main feed to the kitchen tap to add an in-line filter. DOH!!

Are the extra larger fittings available in this country ?

David.

[Alan de Enfield]

16 minutes ago, Tickertywho said:

Evening all. Just a quicky. Our 58-footer N/B was made by Amber Boats. We believe the boat was fabricated in Poland or the like. also, might have been fitted out there. Two questions... What makes are the windows/ports? Has anyone done any plumbing on theirs? as all the push-fit connectors are an odd size(a bit bigger). I only found that out, after cutting the main feed to the kitchen tap to add an in-line filter. DOH!!

Are the extra larger fittings available in this country ?

David.

 

 

You might like to spend a little time reading the convoluted company history here ....................

 

 

[HenryFreeman]

10mm and 15mm seem to be fairly standard push-fit fittings. Not either of those?

[matty40s]

The windows and potholes will be built to European measurements not UK standard.

We know as we recently had a Polish built boat in for repaint, the owner ordered new double glazed windows and potholes to UK spec.

They arrived and nothing fit. So we spent a week cutting potholes to fit , and corners to fit coach windows, and repainting all the panels..

Hope this helps...

 

😃

And yes, he paid for the mistake.

[Ronaldo47]

Have you measured the diameter of the pipes? Whereas the UK standard sizes for copper pipes between 10mm and 22mm are 10, 12, 15, and 22mm, in France the range is 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 22mm.  I have no idea what the range is in other countries. At least Europe uses BSP Iron pipe threads and pipe  sizes. 

 

 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Ronaldo47
typos

[Tracy D'arth]

I found the plumbing to be 16mm. You will be able with a struggle to get 15mm compression brass fittings on it to convert to 15mm so that you can fit new plumbing to the original. The stainless 15mm Hep2O inserts will do, its a bodge but works.

[Ronaldo47]

Many years ago when my aunt had a new water heater installed, rather than use straight couplers, the plumber had a home-made mandrel that he hammered into the end of one pipe to enlarge enough to take the other pipe, and then used solder.  Perhaps something could be done with an end feed coupler to make an adaptor, or using a 16mm drill to enlarge the bore of a 15mm brass compression fitting, and either enlarging the olive or using solder. 

 

We had a similar problem after last winter's cold snap at the heritage railway where I volunteer, which froze a water pipe in the engine shed. A section of the pipe had split, and when we cut it out to fit new pipe, we found that the pipe that hadn't split, had expanded and wouldn't fit 15mm brass compression or copper solder fittings. A fitting for 15mm  plastic pipe worked, but we then had to bridge that section with a copper cable to ensure earth continuity. 

Edited August 12, 2023 by Ronaldo47
typos

[MtB]

7 minutes ago, Ronaldo47 said:

Many years ago when my aunt had a new water heater installed, rather than use straight couplers, the plumber had a home-made mandrel that he hammered into the end of one pipe to enlarge enough to take the other pipe, and then used solder. 

 

Known as a "swaging tool" or "socket former".

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134163709043?

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

Maybe a mod can put this in the relevant section “Boat Building and Maintenance” @Athy

[blackrose]

11 hours ago, Tickertywho said:

Are the extra larger fittings available in this country ?

 

I'm sure you can source replacement European fittings at a cost. But you'll need to find out exactly what they are first in terms of diameter and possibly manufacturer. Some brands of push fit connectors are interchangeable, others possibly not depending on what you're trying to do.

Edited August 13, 2023 by blackrose

[Tracy D'arth]

You will struggle finding 16mm fittings in the UK.  As I said, 15mm brass compression fittings will go on if you are patient.

[MtB]

4 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

You will struggle finding 16mm fittings in the UK.  As I said, 15mm brass compression fittings will go on if you are patient.

 

 

I disagree. No matter how long you wait, a 15mm olive will not go onto a 16mm pipe.

 

 

[Tracy D'arth]

Just now, MtB said:

 

 

I disagree. No matter how long you wait, a 15mm olive will not go onto a 16mm pipe.

 

 

Easy, spread it very slightly, I'll show you some time. Brass ones are harder but CU ones are dead easy.

[MtB]

Just now, Tracy D'arth said:

Easy, spread it very slightly, I'll show you some time. Brass ones are harder but CU ones are dead easy.

 

I'm intrigued now. I guess a copper olive can be stretched using a fid or the swaging tool I mentioned earlier, but I still can't imagine getting 16mm pipe into the brass body of a compression fitting! 

 

Many decades ago Rothernberger used to make a swaging tool with a six-part die to stretch the copper. That would stretch an olive in seconds.

[Tracy D'arth]

5 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

I'm intrigued now. I guess a copper olive can be stretched using a fid or the swaging tool I mentioned earlier, but I still can't imagine getting 16mm pipe into the brass body of a compression fitting! 

 

Many decades ago Rothernberger used to make a swaging tool with a six-part die to stretch the copper. That would stretch an olive in seconds.

Try it, mostly they will fit!  You may have to knock the fitting on but it is plastic pipe and it goes. We had to do this when installing some continental drinks machines in factories. They came with a 16mm hose attached with the daftest bayonet fitting swaged on the end ( Hungarian I think ) which we never got the other half of. So we cut it off and used a compression stop tap to fit,

Used Rothenburger pipe stretchers for years, we used to convert our 3/4" Yorkshire fittings stock to 22mm so we could use them up.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Tracy D'arth

[Ronaldo47]

Copper olives will presumably have become work-hardened in the course of manufacture. Heating using a blow lamp or gas ring should anneal them and restore ductility. 

 

Some olives are looser than others, but I haven't come across any with as much as 1mm clearance. 

[MtB]

9 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Used Rothenburger pipe stretchers for years, we used to convert our 3/4" Yorkshire fittings stock to 22mm so we could use them up.

Edited 2 minutes ago by Tracy D'arth

 

Ah, a second person in the world who knows about those fantastic pipe spretchers! 

 

Rothenberger tools, widely known in the trade as "Rotten Bugger" tools...

 

Most of 'em were quite good actually. 

 

 

 

I was always intrigued by the tee former. Never saw one in action to see how it did it. 

 

One on ebay now

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126040171541?hash=item1d58946415:g:xLQAAOSwRxpkzOJ4

 

[Batavia]

16mm LDPE pipe is widely used for irrigation systems and compression fittings (in addition to useless barbed ones) for it are readily available.  No idea how its wall thickness compares with the boat piping.

[midnight cowboy]

20 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

Have you measured the diameter of the pipes? Whereas the UK standard sizes for copper pipes between 10mm and 22mm are 10, 12, 15, and 22mm, in France the range is 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 22mm.  I have no idea what the range is in other countries. At least Europe uses BSP Iron pipe threads and pipe  sizes. 

 

 

In Italy the pipe and fittings are in INCHES!!!

 

[Bromleyxphil]

On 12/08/2023 at 22:15, Tickertywho said:

Evening all. Just a quicky. Our 58-footer N/B was made by Amber Boats. We believe the boat was fabricated in Poland or the like. also, might have been fitted out there. Two questions... What makes are the windows/ports? Has anyone done any plumbing on theirs? as all the push-fit connectors are an odd size(a bit bigger). I only found that out, after cutting the main feed to the kitchen tap to add an in-line filter. DOH!!

Are the extra larger fittings available in this country ?

David.

Don’t know if you managed to sort out the pipe size problem but the fitting I will try to show in an attached picture has a very flexible rubber gland inside that fitted an oversized pipe in our cottage.  It’s then a standard mope fitting and there are loads of fittings to take this to copper or plastic.  Hope this helps.

MDPE fitting!

 

[MrsM]

On 12/08/2023 at 22:15, Tickertywho said:

Evening all. Just a quicky. Our 58-footer N/B was made by Amber Boats. We believe the boat was fabricated in Poland or the like. also, might have been fitted out there. Two questions... What makes are the windows/ports? Has anyone done any plumbing on theirs? as all the push-fit connectors are an odd size(a bit bigger). I only found that out, after cutting the main feed to the kitchen tap to add an in-line filter. DOH!!

Are the extra larger fittings available in this country ?

David.

We have an Amber boat and it has standard Caldwell's windows. I sent them photos to confirm when sourcing new rubbers etc.

[mrsmelly]

On 13/08/2023 at 19:04, midnight cowboy said:

In Italy the pipe and fittings are in INCHES!!!

 

And the US of A

[GUMPY]

16mm is used for underfloor heating loads of fittings and adapters available. Just Google 16mm pipe fittings 😉

[Tracy D'arth]

Pex fittings, but I don't know if there is a 16mm to 25mm adaptor,

[matty40s]

5 hours ago, MrsM said:

We have an Amber boat and it has standard Caldwell's windows. I sent them photos to confirm when sourcing new rubbers etc.

Dont listen!! Measure!.  The Polish windows are NOT standard size!!.

We recently repainted an Amber, and the owner ordered new double glazed windows. 

We had to recut the steel on all portholes and repaint the entire back end (at owners expense, as he hadnt measured) as our English 18" portholes are not the same as the continental size which equals approx 17 3/4"