nb Imagine - progress?

[alan_fincher]

'sfunny, I've just reviewed the photos and everything looks much worse than I thought. Suspect I'm just tired. Night folks....... (I'm off to dream about Vactan)

 

Jill

Well I went the other way on it......

 

I don't think it looks half bad from the piccies, whereas I thought your written description, including what needs doing, sounded worse........

 

Nothing looks too horrible to me there, (except those tiles of course ).

 

Also, if you are not confident with electrics, I'd definitely get it looked over by someone who is.....

 

To me it looks like it has "grown" over the years, with bits added fairly willy nilly. Most of it's probably OK, but some of it clearly needs tidying, and possibly small parts a bit more than that.....

 

Looks a spacious boat, with a good layout too.......

 

Alan

[Moley]

Well done Jill, great set of pics, thanks.

It's also nice to be able to put faces to the names.

 

Everyone seems to agree, she looks basically sound, and certainly liveable, but a bit tired in places and could benefit from freshening up. I think your boat and ours were wired by the same bloke

 

You've said elsewhere:

I need to do some varnishing on nb Imagine but it'll need to be done before my daughter and I move on because otherwise we'll have to live with the fumes.

Why? What are you planning to use?

 

I've been varnishing ash faced ply on our dining table, and priming pine T&G on the kitchen floor when the rest of the crew have gone to bed. Modern polyurethanes and yacht varnishes are very low odour.

 

If you can do stuff like that before you move on, fair enough, but she already looks habitable, so you could get onboard and start enjoying her, take your time and do bits as the mood takes you.

 

Though I think personally I'd check out the plumbing and start with the bathroom

[DHutch]

Yeah, lose the tiles... and while you at it i would, get a decent surface mounted (non-thermostatic?) mixer fitted too, rather than having a pair of taps for to shower.

[Bones]

Jill! Fabulous pictures - really clear too. I hope you have a really good time with it all. I thought the boat looked really welcomeing too - good on you!

[wrigglefingers]

Right folks, I've made it to Friday in one piece so a schedule for the weekend is needed otherwise nothing will get done properly.

 

I had a look at the folding table and chairs and they seem to fit the bill, but Ellen thought we'd need enough room for six, so I've contacted a local furniture maker and I'm waiting to hear his thoughts as to whether he could extend the idea to accomodate six chairs (probably too expensive but we'll see).

 

I've rewired the manual switch pump so it works again and I've found some high temp silicone sealant. It's red but it'll do until next time. Thanks for the info about varnish, Moley, I've checked the varnish with the technician at school and he says it's safe to use at any time, it's just school policy to issue everybody with respiratory masks when we use it (I don't teach resistant materials so I just see all the students with masks on in the res mat workshops and assumed it must still be nasty).

 

I've sourced all the fabric I need for curtains and soft furnishings and ordered it via a very nice woman in Trowbridge at very reasonable cost (it's a girl thing). I've fourteen and half pairs of curtains to make between now and May, so I'd best get started.

 

The boat engineer and dry dock is booked for next week (inspection and welding) and in late June for blacking and anodes. The school has an artist in residence at the moment and she's offered to do the sign-writing when (and if) we decide to re-name her when she's out of the water.

 

so .....

 

Saturday

 

Task 1 - meet my mate in Frome for a coffee and whine about the uselessness of kids (bit of a recurring theme today but hey whatevvverrrrrrr ............ ). drive back to Bradford; wake the innocent slumberer and take her to boat.

 

Task 2 - Sort out and fire stove (it's freezing again down here with a nasty whippy wind)

 

Task 3 - give primer and brush to Elly as she's vaguely offered to paint the inside of the kitchen cabinets. It's not particularly useful but when an adolescent offers ........ (see task 1 and she may have woken up too)

 

Task 4 - turn on gas and make tea

 

Task 5 - investigate wiring and draw preliminary wiring diagram

 

Task 6 - take exhausted, painty daughter and self off to the Lock Inn for dinner and beer (hoorah!)

 

Sunday

 

Task 1 - take comatose but strangely argumentative daughter to choir and buy more primer

 

Task 2 - Light fire, make tea, review diagram and throw in the bin as totally useless. Do again.

 

Task 3 - sort out hinges and catches on Ellen's cupboards and primer inside.

 

Task 4 - Primer gloryholes and measure up for t & g for Elly's cabin

 

Task 5 - Collect daughter (will now be awake but chuntering aimlessly) and then deposit her at music centre with french horn for orchestra. If time, collect t & G but not essential today.

 

Task 6 - Take side off bath for investigative peer at the plumbing. Make equally inept diagram of the water system.

 

Task 7 - go home, make dinner and start planning for school.

 

Task 8 - go to bed and fret (still haven't started that engine bay)

 

As this won't seem too sensible by tomorrow morning, I'll let you know what I really get done in the time on Sunday evening!

 

Regards, Jill

 

PS Now off to find the wine!

[wrigglefingers]

 

I have also just drawn up two sample diagrams of roughly what your electrical system might look like.

- Assuming its 12v, and you have two alteranors. And and a change over switch to select the 240v supply to the boat. Which is the most common way. [Click Me]

 

Also, i did a diagram of what it might look like if you fitted a "Combi" Inverter/Charger to replace the existing charging/inverting setup [Click Me]

Daniel

 

Daniel,

 

Thank you very much for the diagrams. I've just had time to sit and look at them closely. As you suggest, I think the twin alternator diagram is close to what I have and I'll check tomorrow to see if it makes sense on the boat. I've tracked some of the wiring and I can see that there's one 220-230V ring main and a number of 12V rings coming off a distribution board, but as you can see from the photos it's a bit of a mess of wires, inside the box is even messier, although it could just look worse than it really is. I was thinking that it might be safer and easier to take out the inverter and car charger, re-wire where necessary and fit a combi inverter/charger instead anyway. Electricity always worries me and I'd like to be confident about it before visitors start arriving.

 

I hope you've enjoyed St Patrick's Night at the Union or wherever and the hangover isn't too unmanageable!

 

Jill

[DHutch]

Daniel,

 

Thank you very much for the diagrams. I've just had time to sit and look at them closely. As you suggest, I think the twin alternator diagram is close to what I have and I'll check tomorrow to see if it makes sense on the boat.

 

I hope you've enjoyed St Patrick's Night at the Union or wherever and the hangover isn't too unmanageable!

Yeah, no problem!

- Just back in from from the union, and possably not 100% sober! But never mind!

- There is somthing magical about pizza a 3 in the morning after a heavy night out! Might stick up a few photos tomorrow!

 

 

Dainel

[ChrisPy]

I've tracked some of the wiring and I can see that there's one 220-230V ring main and a number of 12V rings coming off a distribution board,

I hope those are separate distribution boards ...................

[wrigglefingers]

I hope those are separate distribution boards ...................

 

I hope so too Chris - Ellen will check carefully. Thanks to the glories of GCSE triple science I've discovered that Elly can read a wiring diagram very confidently so she's off to put all into practice now. She's found an ammeter too! (goodness knows what it does though).

 

Jill

[Alec Gatherer]

It etes am. (sorry).

[DHutch]

I hope those are separate distribution boards ...................

Dont start that again...

[wrigglefingers]

It etes am. (sorry).

 

And I thought dreadful puns were the exclusive preserve of my family. Are we related?

 

Jill

 

PS it did eat am 'cos we spent at least an hour this morning squabbling about how to use it!

[Bones]

And I thought dreadful puns were the exclusive preserve of my family. Are we related?

 

Jill

 

PS it did eat am 'cos we spent at least an hour this morning squabbling about how to use it!

 

 

sounds perfect!!! Have you gone for a cruise?!

[DHutch]

Ammeters go in series, Voltmeters in parallel!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammeter

 

Also, i dont know what ammeter it is, but depening on what its current rating is you wont be able to mesure anything very high current with is. The feed to the inverter (when the inverters power somthing) for instance.

 

Also, due to the fact you have to conect it in serise means you have to break the circuit somwhere/somehow and use the ammeter to bridge the gap and re-make the circuit.

- Unlike voltmeters, which you can just stick across two terminals, and read off the voltage.

 

But having the meter is a good start! All good boats should have a multimeter onboard!

 

 

Daniel

[wrigglefingers]

sounds perfect!!! Have you gone for a cruise?!

 

Not yet, Bones, but we're getting closer. It was really busy in the marina this morning and I couldn't work why until the cold but light breeze freshened to hefty and bitterly cold half gale this afternoon. It's such a tight fit in the marina that I'm quite anxious about backing her out and then taking the corner out on to the cut; particularly as there is a very pretty-looking grp cruiser moored on the opposite side. If the wind drops a bit tomorrow morning I'll give it a go and get moving but I'd prefer to do it first time without anybody watching or (gritted teeth here) offering 'advice'!).

 

We had a slow day today; I knew my timetable was just wrong. We had a look at the circuits, and Dan's diagram is about right. The electricity works fine and I think it's just a bit untidy. There are two separated distribution panels (12V and 230V). The 230V circuit has four sockets on a single ring, I'm assuming that there's an RCD but I don't know what it'll look like so I'll ask the engineer to check next week. Landline is still unplugged. Elly is still trying to figure out the 12V panel and the wiring but it's messy and difficult to follow at the moment, but all the 12V devices do what they should do.

 

Flue pipe is done and the squirrel was re-lit in a small way late in the afternoon. Lovely and toasty and the Ecofan went round (hoorah). We collected primer and paint and bits and pieces, but on discovering that we'd run out of gas and therefore no tea to eat we settled for a cider and a bag of peanuts and went home. Early start tomorrow to make up for today so I'm off to bed.

 

Jill

[Keeping Up]

It etes am. (sorry).

Ah, there's no place like Ohm ... (I'll say sorry too, though it's not really my Volt)

 

Never trust an electrician, he'll promise you the Earth then just give you a bit of green-and-yellow wire (shocking isn't it)

[wrigglefingers]

Ah, there's no place like Ohm ... (I'll say sorry too, though it's not really my Volt)

 

Never trust an electrician, he'll promise you the Earth then just give you a bit of green-and-yellow wire (shocking isn't it)

 

Another livewire eh?

[DHutch]

It's such a tight fit in the marina that I'm quite anxious about backing her out and then taking the corner out on to the cut...

 

We had a slow day today; I knew my timetable was just wrong. We had a look at the circuits, and Dan's diagram is about right. The electricity works fine and I think it's just a bit untidy. There are two separated distribution panels (12V and 230V). The 230V circuit has four sockets on a single ring, I'm assuming that there's an RCD but I don't know what it'll look like so I'll ask the engineer to check next week.

 

Flue pipe is done and the squirrel was re-lit in a small way late in the afternoon. Lovely and toasty.

 

....discovering that we'd run out of gas and therefore no tea to eat we settled for a cider and a bag of peanuts and went home.

Sounds fair enough!

 

Dont worry about geting out of the marina, just take it slow, and if there is any wind, make sure you give it plenty of respect!

- I dont know what you marinas like a all (where abouts are you again, southish) but you can always send Elly to stand at the end of one of the fingars with a rope if that is going to help. We usally use a rope at tight junctions, such as barbridge, etc)

 

Narrowing is always low. Im a very productive person usally, but as soon as i get aboard, productively reduced to about 0.03% (although this may be to do with my grandads prensnt as well, becuase on my own, i do a lot more)

 

Seperate AC/DC pannels is common practice, and also fairly sensoable, espcially where space is not too much of a premum.

- Its also very much the norm of 240v wiring to be done in a ring.

 

The RCD will be in the 240v Consumer Unit on the righthandside of the MCBs, and will proberbly say on it what it is. (somthing like the one below)

 

And im glad you got the squrial working nicly, theres somthing truly great about a nice warm stove, and the squrral is one of the best.

- You only run out of gas once, then try harder not to again! I assume you have two bottles, in which case, may i suggest you only use one at a time, and change them over manualy. Auto-change over valves are all very clever in there own way, but they change over so quitely, you never notice till its too late!

 

 

Daniel

Edited March 19, 2006 by dhutch

[DHutch]

Never trust an electrician, he'll promise you the Earth then just give you a bit of green-and-yellow wire (shocking isn't it)

Hehe!

 

 

 

Daniel

[Alec Gatherer]

And I thought dreadful puns were the exclusive preserve of my family. Are we related?

 

I'd like to be.

[Guest]

It's such a tight fit in the marina that I'm quite anxious about backing her out and then taking the corner out on to the cut; . . . If the wind drops a bit tomorrow morning I'll give it a go

Jill

I've always found that if I know what's happening, I cope with it much better (baking a cake, sex, driving, difficult relationship - whatever) and once I understood two important facts, I got on much better in the wind.

 

1. The boat turns like a spinning bottle, not like a car! ie: it pivots at a point approx two-fifths back from the front end. So when you're turning, the front swings one way and the back end swings the opposite way.

 

2. The wind is always trying to turn you like a wind-vane, trying to turn you so that the front of the boat is pointing in the same direction as the wind. Of course it wont ever get to that point, because there isn't enough room, but that's what it's trying to do.

 

Someone here on the forum gave me a tip - he ties a couple of bits of brightly coloured wool (knitting wool) to something that sticks up at the front end (radio arial etc) so that as you're manoeuvring you can always see what the wind is doing.

[wrigglefingers]

Okay, back home, daughter despatched to orchestra and generally exhausted.

 

We made our early start, picked up some gas and made our way to the marina. Fire was lit and I discovered that lifting a full propane bottle is a different proposition to an empty one. How come gas weighs so much? Or was I just weak after the cider last night? (only a pint, honest) Perhaps the word liquid should have given me a clue! Any way, after a while, it dropped into the locker which is an horrendously tight squeeze with a resounding clunnnkkk. I gratefully connected it with the biggest spanner ever and retired for a cup of tea. All this to the tune of Ellen shouting dire warnings about my imminent dunking. The prow seems very small with the cratch board very close and I ended up straddled backwards with feet dangling just above the water. Got to be a better way, or a nice friendly bloke somewhere! It's not that I lack strength, it's just a height thing. I'm the tall member of this crew and I have to stretch to make 5'2". Maybe I'll need to rig a pulley system; now that's one for a sleepless night!

 

We've got gas to the cooker but there must a stop tap to the water heater that I haven't found yet as I can light the pilot light but there's no sound of gas. I'll try and sort that out next week.

 

Elly aimed to paint the kitchen cupboards with primer on the inside and I was to do the wiring and water diagrams. The cupboards were originally ply but have been enhanced over the years by a mixture of kitchen grunge and dirt which is such an essential part of yesterday's kitchen fitting. Further additions to the original fit have been made by Laurence Llewelyn Bowen's little brother. Ellen, with the straight-forwardness that is the hallmark of a really determined 17 year old, simply destroyed this, packed the shattered remains into a binbag and marched it off to the bin. We now have one enormous kitchen cupboard nearly 3 metres long and painted in white primer. As it has double doors in the middle and those only, I need to think about how to organise the stuff that'll go inside. I'll save that for a boring cover lesson next week. I did the water diagrams and peered at the 12V wiring. I can't find an RCD for the 230V distribution board so I need to ask somebody who knows about this stuff.

 

I then moved on to preparing the saloon for re-decoration. We had decided that the paint on the t & g ceiling was a delicate stone grey colour with a matt finish. Very stylish, except that it was really white gloss with a layer of dirt which rapidly turned to grey murk. Attacked with CIF (added !! extra !! bleach !! and more noxious chemicals) which did the trick and is now ready for sanding and re-painting. The oak-faced ply lining has been thoroughly washed down and looks much better. I think I'll just re-polish for the time being except in Elly's cabin where it's grim.

 

As you will have gathered we didn't go out although it was lovely. I decided that it was too windy again and frankly I was just too lily-livered to try. I did successfully start the engine after checking the oil and gearbox levels. I forgot to unhook the charger from the pair of 6V batteries before starting despite my Dad's strong instructions but the landline wasn't connected so I'm hoping it didn't matter. Checked the charging level, pressure and revs and brought her up to temperature. All fine, except I forgot that the calorifier would heat the additional radiator in Elly's cabin thus adding to the already tropical climes pertaining in the galley. Still, glad to be warm really ........

 

All in all then a good day. Lovely to be bobbing along again and when the ducks came to see us I felt really happy. Simple things eh?

 

Jill

[DHutch]

Still having fun then...

 

Im sure the charger/engine-running thing will be fine, espcially with the mains unpluged.

- And yeah, full cylinders wiegh quite a lot, espcially the 47kg ones! Try geting one of them in the car without scratching the paintwork... (yes, it was vertical as well...)

 

 

Daniel

[Canal Shop Man]

We've got gas to the cooker but there must a stop tap to the water heater that I haven't found yet as I can light the pilot light but there's no sound of gas. I'll try and sort that out next week.

What make of water heater? If the pilot light lights, then the gas is getting to the unit. If it doesn't fire up when you turn the hot tap on, it's either the settings on the heater which need adjusting or the thermocouple has packed up.

[wrigglefingers]

What make of water heater? If the pilot light lights, then the gas is getting to the unit. If it doesn't fire up when you turn the hot tap on, it's either the settings on the heater which need adjusting or the thermocouple has packed up.

 

It's a Rinnai heater, Richard. I may have been slightly haphazard last weekend when I tried as I'd left the instruction book at home. I'll try to remember to take it this weekend and switch on again. Also it's possible that I didn't turn the hot water tap on far enough as I was worried about the level of the water tank. That's now filled so I'll give it another go tomorrow.

 

By the way, does anybody have a way of working out how much fuel is left in the tank? The filler cap is next to the swan-neck if that gives anybody a clue. The previous owner was pretty hazy about how he worked out the level ("I just know" he said. "How much left then?" "not sure; it's been a long time since I filled her") so I'm thinking of rigging a dipstick until I can fit a level indicator at some unspecified point in the future (probably not for a while though). I don't think I can attain that level of accuracy without help ........

 

Jill