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What have you fettled for the boat today?


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12 hours ago, Higgs said:

You should have a Blue Peter badge for that collie hat.

I think Blue Peter would reject your nomination due to your unfounded assumption of the particular breed involved. Jen said it was a dog bowl, but didn't actually specify it was for Collie as you suggest. :detective:

 

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21 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Yesterday, not today. A new coolie hat.

Tried cleaning the winters accumulated tar off the outside of the stainless steel chimney. I've previously used oven cleaner for this, but the stuff I used this time was useless and didn't touch it. When rinsing it off in the cut, the old dog bowl coolie hat finally parted company with the chimney. Off to the local pet supplies store for a new stainless steel dog bowl. £1.99. Cut some 1mm thick stainless steel straps from a sheet I had. Pop riveted on. The straps were made long so the rivets would go in to the outer skin of the chimney, but not the inner and hopefully last longer. It isn't the most aesthetically pleasing, but it should work. You can't see the paw prints and bones embossed in to the stainless steel at normal distances. It isn't as obviously a repurposed something else as the converted frying pan I once used!

I still need to clean the tar off...

 

 

 

I bet it was a real awkward job to drill the holes in the chimney. It was on mine.

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12 minutes ago, mark99 said:

 

 

I bet it was a real awkward job to drill the holes in the chimney. It was on mine.

Not to bad actually. Centre punch a divot to start the drill, then used a brand new 3mm bit to go through and opened up with a 4mm. Stainless can be a pig to drill, but these were surprisingly easy.

9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

In my eyes they will always be Collie hats on boat chimneys from now on

Also gets round the non-PC name. Just being breedist now, not racist. You can buy a collie hat.

Edited by Jen-in-Wellies
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22 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

Yesterday, not today. A new coolie hat.

Tried cleaning the winters accumulated tar off the outside of the stainless steel chimney. I've previously used oven cleaner for this, but the stuff I used this time was useless and didn't touch it. When rinsing it off in the cut, the old dog bowl coolie hat finally parted company with the chimney. Off to the local pet supplies store for a new stainless steel dog bowl. £1.99. Cut some 1mm thick stainless steel straps from a sheet I had. Pop riveted on. The straps were made long so the rivets would go in to the outer skin of the chimney, but not the inner and hopefully last longer. It isn't the most aesthetically pleasing, but it should work. You can't see the paw prints and bones embossed in to the stainless steel at normal distances. It isn't as obviously a repurposed something else as the converted frying pan I once used!

I still need to clean the tar off...

IMG_20210405_125204.jpg.50025275c5591bf45735a9055063d4c8.jpg

Just fitted my back cabin chimney. 

Was going to paint it? but decided not to. 

IMG_20210331_122923.jpg

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4 minutes ago, Thames Bhaji said:

Yesterday - replaced 4 fender eyes on the port side, turned the boat round to do starboard, then my 5mm tap slipped out of the tap holder into the dock. So that will wait till next week now! 

Magnet...

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I'm running a small experiment with solar power at the moment. It's not a full rig on the roof, but I've bought a couple of relatively inexpensive 50w flexible panels and stuck them in the landscape windows. I did have to buy an MPPT controller, the one I had was ancient; not even PWM. Bought a Renogy Rover PG 20A controller, under £60.00. The panels are wired in series, through the controller to two 12v x 17Ah mobility scooter batteries I was given; connected in parallel.   

 

The placement of the panels is not ideal for light, but it can't be worse than what could be expected in winter, with the panels on the roof. It seems to be keeping the 2nd hand batteries at about 70% SoC, 12.5v. AGMs. Well, the fiddling about will continue. The assembly is being used to keep various items charged up: bike lamps, battery backup packs, and run a dab radio. 

 

The control unit is a Maximum Power Point Tracker type, to detect the panels' optimum output at any given moment. and to do DC to DC conversions; lowering the output voltage of the panels (+/- 34v) to 12v-14.4v, increasing the current charge to the batteries. Something the ancient controller couldn't do. My next decision is whether to buy another four 50w panels and give the controller a bit more work to do. 

 

 

 

Edited by Higgs
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25 minutes ago, Higgs said:

 It seems to be keeping the 2nd hand batteries at about 70% SoC, 12.5v. AGMs. Well, the fiddling about will continue. The assembly is being used to keep various items charged up: bike lamps, battery backup packs, and run a dab radio. 

 

 

 

I am a bit concerned either how you are measuring the 70% SOC..(smiley face on controller??)..and that you think 70% is a satisfactory place to be for batteries.

Keeping them there means you lose 30% of their capacity. So your old 70% becomes your new 100%......and if that is at your calculated 70%SOC, then that again becomes your new 100%....etc etc etc.

The 12.5v is not good, the batteries should be showing much higher voltage during sunny days.

Edited by matty40s
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32 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I am a hit concerned either how you are measuring the 70% SOC..(smiley face on controller??)..and that you think 70% is a satisfactory place to be for batteries.

Keeping them there means you lose 30% of their capacity. So your old 70% becomes your new 100%......and if that is at your calculated 70%SOC, then that again becomes your new 100%....etc etc etc.

The 12.5v is not good, the batteries should be showing much higher voltage during sunny days.

 

The batteries have already had a previous life, so I'm not expecting too much. The set up of the panels, in the window, creates a weak set up also. The battery voltage does reach higher voltages, as does the state of charge. What I have stated reflects where it normally sits after the sun has gone down and I've had a load on the system. I'm still learning, and probably will buy more panels to strengthen the output on the panel side. The batteries were handy and relatively small. 

 

I also notice the tracking voltage is up and down, more than I'd hope to see. Could be rubbish panels, and poor positioning of panels. Not quite sure. I think the system is running underpowered from the panel side. The charge controller can find higher voltages from the panels that can't be sustained by the panels. Peaks and troughs. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Higgs
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Yesterday afternoon I prised the top seal out of the rudder stock bearing, ZZ sealed for life type. lifted the plastic ball spacer slightly and forced so grease in and pushed it all sort of together again, it doesn't make a crack sound now when I steer.

I blame this on her ladyship with her posting about her rudder bearing. 

 

Edited by ditchcrawler
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At the weekend I found my on board battery charger had packed up.  So now deciding which make/model will  replace it.

Possibly  this 

image.png.ee84610e09f036fb57fbfbed1dd51ebc.png

 

or perhaps this 

 

image.png.5226102b61d9a39cf46b186a68abc478.png

 

 

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1 hour ago, MartynG said:

At the weekend I found my on board battery charger had packed up.  So now deciding which make/model will  replace it.

Possibly  this 

image.png.ee84610e09f036fb57fbfbed1dd51ebc.png

 

or perhaps this 

 

image.png.5226102b61d9a39cf46b186a68abc478.png

 

 

 

As I own the Pro Charge Ultra, if I were choosing again, I'd buy the Victron. My Sterling gave up, (fuse blew), and Charles Sterling gave me some very bad advice regarding just increasing the size of the fuse until it didnt blow!! In the process, I discovered that they had used a cheap way of fusing by using 2 x 40A blade fuses, rather than an 80A fuse, (in a 60A charger).

 

This want the first time I have had a bad experience with Sterling, but it was the straw that broke the camels back, and now my electrical area is turning blue.

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10 hours ago, Richard10002 said:

This want the first time I have had a bad experience with Sterling, but it was the straw that broke the camels back, and now my electrical area is turning blue.

There are good reasons why so many boats have blue boxes in the electrical cabinet.

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