What have you fettled for the boat today?

[mark99]

Well not me obviously - but a lovely thing to hang in boats kitchen to brighten up a corner. Signwritten by a forum member.

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2018 by mark99

[mark99]

In situ

 

 

 

[Sea Dog]

6 hours ago, mark99 said:

In situ

 

 

 

Now that looks very smart indeed.

[Jen-in-Wellies]

It has just gone 09:30 and this is what I've added to the boat today.

 

The rear slide hatch on my boat has brass plain bearings that slide on brass U section pressed on to the steel work on each side. These are a commercial item, See Midland Swindlers for a picture.

 

Brass on brass bearings need lubrication. If they run dry the friction increases dramatically, making the hatch very tough to open and close. I've tried oil, grease, candle wax and at most it lasts about a week to ten days before needing greasing again as the rain washes it off. Not tried graphite, or moly grease. The oil gets everywhere, including on clothes.

 

I thought I'd try a different bearing material that could run dry. Eventually chose Ultra High Molecular Weight PolyEthylene (UHMWPE). This is easier to machine than Teflon (PTFE) and doesn't produce nasty decomposition products if machined too fast, yet has almost as low friction. A boating neighbour has access to proper machine tools and very kindly made me a set of four new UHMWPE bearings, identical to the originals. I've just fitted them and they seem to work well dry. Not quiet as easy to slide as freshly oiled brass, but still very good.

 

Time will tell how well they wear. I am keeping the old brass bearings just in case. Pics below of old and new bearings.

 

Jen

 

 

Edited September 9, 2018 by Jen-in-Wellies

[Brian422]

Lopped off 2 inches of fresh water input pipe inside fresh water tank.

Having found rust particles inside Shurflo Pump and noticed that pump gradually, over time, took longer to pressurise system, and whilst contemplating purchasing a new pump, decided to look inside fresh water tank. 

Tank had been painted with two pack and, whilst generally looked sound there were patches where rust was beginning to appear so decided it was time for repaint.

Purchased Sigmaguard CSF 585 and resigned myself to adopting fetal position inside tank to prepare surface for painting however, before starting, noticed a rest coloured stain under fresh water pickup pipe.

Because clearance between end of pipe and base plate was so small, approximately 1 cm and unable to use a mirror, investigation performed with tip of small finger ; could not feel end o f pipe so decide to lop it off - see photos and spot difference.

Luckily, the remaining good metal pipe internal diameter is just less than 15 mm and provides a good interference fit with standard 15 mm plastic pipe.

 

 

[Movin' on]

On ‎15‎/‎04‎/‎2018 at 16:07, mark99 said:

In situ

 

 

 

Love it …...what's the boat - looks a really nice fit out

[Movin' on]

When we bought Zulu the previous owner had removed a cabin light fitting so I have been "playing" with bits to try to match the other fittings and mountings - here is the result...……..

[mark99]

Roger Fuller but not sure he went as far as the interior fit out.

[mark99]

Started to repaint the Gardner engine in situ - not easy. The old Walsh paint always seems to fail hence new Paragon Paints Gardner Grey high temp specialist paint.

 

Before - To scrape off old failed/disbonded and degrease and after   (lots more work to do)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luggsy]

Very nice

[mark99]

Ta guys. Bell flywheel housing and gearbox next. Then 2nd coat and polish up the brightwork. 

 

Some fuel feeds pipes are so far gone the old red hammerite will be used.

[WotEver]

Some folk have waaay too much time on their hands..

 

Just kidding - great job

[Jen-in-Wellies]

My boat has had a solar hot water system supplying lashings of hot water over the summers for the last ten years. It has worked very well, but I've not been satisfied that it has been getting the most out of the available sunshine. It used a commercial controller, now no longer available. The threshold at which the pump switched on came from a light dependent resistor on the boat roof. This threshold wasn't adjustable and over time seems to have drifted so that the pump wasn't running in quiet bright sunshine, where useful heat could still be extracted. The control panel; also had a digital temperature gauge, running off a thermistor attached to the calorifier. This was surprisingly useful as you could use it to make decisions like doing laundry now, or waiting if the water was still going to be warm enough the following morning. Unfortunately, the gauge died several years ago. All this said that it was time for a new control system.

 

The new one is Arduino based. The light sensor is a light dependent resistor again, built in to a small cable gland with a transparent plastic top for weather proofing. This is copied from the old system, which has proved reasonably robust over the years. The Cauliflower temperature sensor is an LM35 integrated circuit strapped to a brass fitting at the top of the tank with a cable tie and surrounded by foam insulation. There is a capacitor and resistor between the signal and ground line by the IC to make the reading more stable. The LM35 supplies a temperature measurement used by the Arduino for over temperature protection and to light a series of coloured LED's as temperature indicators. A combination of light level and calorifier temperature determines when the pump is switched on via an opto-isolated relay. The Arduino is powered by a 12V to 5V step down module. There is an electromechanical hours meter that was transferred from the old to the new system. This had done 11,708 hours on the old controller and has now done 90 on the new.

 

The new controller has been made and debugged over the last couple of weeks. The warm Indian Summer that ended at the weekend meant that the solar system was still producing useful hot water. I've now got it to the point that is is pretty much finished, so I can say that I've finished fettling it today.

 

Below, pictures of the old and of the new controllers. The yellow and amber LED's indicate that the temperature in the cauliflower is between 45 and 50C from the Squirrel back boiler. If the amber only was lit it would be between 50 and 55. If the yellow only was on, then it would be 40 to 45, so 5C resolution between 30C and 60C plus from four LED's. There is another light dependent resistor poking through the front of the panel. This is used to adjust the brightness of the LED's based on ambient cabin light, so that the LED's are not too obtrusive. When you turn the lights out, then the LED's go out, so guests sleeping nearby are not disturbed.

 

Jen

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by Jen-in-Wellies

[rusty69]

6 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

My boat has had a solar hot water system supplying lashings of hot water over the summers for the last ten years. It has worked very well, but I've not been satisfied that it has been getting the most out of the available sunshine. It used a commercial controller, now no longer available. The threshold at which the pump switched on came from a light dependent resistor on the boat roof. This threshold wasn't adjustable and over time seems to have drifted so that the pump wasn't running in quiet bright sunshine, where useful heat could still be extracted. The control panel; also had a digital temperature gauge, running off a thermistor attached to the calorifier. This was surprisingly useful as you could use it to make decisions like doing laundry now, or waiting if the water was still going to be warm enough the following morning. Unfortunately, the gauge died several years ago. All this said that it was time for a new control system.

 

The new one is Arduino based. The light sensor is a light dependent resistor again, built in to a small cable gland with a transparent plastic top for weather proofing. This is copied from the old system, which has proved reasonably robust over the years. The Cauliflower temperature sensor is an LM35 integrated circuit strapped to a brass fitting at the top of the tank with a cable tie and surrounded by foam insulation. There is a capacitor and resistor between the signal and ground line by the IC to make the reading more stable. The LM35 supplies a temperature measurement used by the Arduino for over temperature protection and to light a series of coloured LED's as temperature indicators. A combination of light level and calorifier temperature determines when the pump is switched on via an opto-isolated relay. The Arduino is powered by a 12V to 5V step down module. There is an electromechanical hours meter that was transferred from the old to the new system. This had done just over 11,000 hours on the old controller and has now done about 90 on the new.

 

The new controller has been made and debugged over the last couple of weeks. The warm Indian Summer that ended at the weekend meant that the solar system was still producing useful hot water. I've now got it to the point that is is pretty much finished, so I can say that I've finished fettling it today.

 

Below, pictures of the old and of the new controllers. The yellow and amber LED's indicate that the temperature in the cauliflower is between 45 and 50C from the Squirrel back boiler. If the amber only was lit it would be between 50 and 55. If the yellow only was on, then it would be 40 to 45, so 5C resolution between 30C and 60C plus from four LED's.

 

Jen

 

Very impressive. 

 

My solar hot Water heating experiment ended when the collector froze one winter when i hadn't completely emptied it.

 

I was also concerned the water wasn't always getting hot enough by solar alone to kill off legionella. 

 

 

[matty40s]

This could be worth a thread on its own WellieJen, I am looking at a summer water solution to replace the feisty eberbastard and would be interested in the setup.

I don't understand arduino though......

[Jen-in-Wellies]

2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Very impressive. 

 

My solar hot Water heating experiment ended when the collector froze one winter when i hadn't completely emptied it.

 

I was also concerned the water wasn't always getting hot enough by solar alone to kill off legionella. 

 

 

I had to repair the collector one spring for the same reason. Will have to drain it down soon as I think the antifreeze concentration is rather down.

My understanding is that legionella is killed off above 60C, but at temperatures between 20 and 60 it is party time for the little bugs. They also need some organic matter to feed on. My system seems to get above 60C fairly regularly, either from solar, or stove back boiler. I used to have an immersion heater, but didn't bother replacing it when it died. A good way to regularly sterilise the cauliflower if you are on shore power. You are most likely to get infected by inhaling water droplets carrying the bugs, so some roof top air conditioning units and shower heads are the most common sources of infection. I have a bath tub, rather than a shower on my boat. Still alive!

 

Just now, matty40s said:

This could be worth a thread on its own WellieJen, I am looking at a summer water solution to replace the feisty eberbastard and would be interested in the setup.

I don't understand arduino though......

Thanks. Will put one together. Might take a few days. The number of other boat systems I've seen over the years can be counted on the fingers of one hand! It seems an ideal summer hot water solution for liveaboard boaters, but no one makes a purpose designed boat system, so you end up designing your own, using some combination of commercial and home made parts.

[system 4-50]

26 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

My boat has had a solar hot water system supplying lashings of hot water over the summers for the last ten years. It has worked very well, but I've not been satisfied that it has been getting the most out of the available sunshine. It used a commercial controller, now no longer available. The threshold at which the pump switched on came from a light dependent resistor on the boat roof. This threshold wasn't adjustable and over time seems to have drifted so that the pump wasn't running in quiet bright sunshine, where useful heat could still be extracted. The control panel; also had a digital temperature gauge, running off a thermistor attached to the calorifier. This was surprisingly useful as you could use it to make decisions like doing laundry now, or waiting if the water was still going to be warm enough the following morning. Unfortunately, the gauge died several years ago. All this said that it was time for a new control system.

 

The new one is Arduino based. The light sensor is a light dependent resistor again, built in to a small cable gland with a transparent plastic top for weather proofing. This is copied from the old system, which has proved reasonably robust over the years. The Cauliflower temperature sensor is an LM35 integrated circuit strapped to a brass fitting at the top of the tank with a cable tie and surrounded by foam insulation. There is a capacitor and resistor between the signal and ground line by the IC to make the reading more stable. The LM35 supplies a temperature measurement used by the Arduino for over temperature protection and to light a series of coloured LED's as temperature indicators. A combination of light level and calorifier temperature determines when the pump is switched on via an opto-isolated relay. The Arduino is powered by a 12V to 5V step down module. There is an electromechanical hours meter that was transferred from the old to the new system. This had done 11,708 hours on the old controller and has now done 90 on the new.

 

The new controller has been made and debugged over the last couple of weeks. The warm Indian Summer that ended at the weekend meant that the solar system was still producing useful hot water. I've now got it to the point that is is pretty much finished, so I can say that I've finished fettling it today.

 

Below, pictures of the old and of the new controllers. The yellow and amber LED's indicate that the temperature in the cauliflower is between 45 and 50C from the Squirrel back boiler. If the amber only was lit it would be between 50 and 55. If the yellow only was on, then it would be 40 to 45, so 5C resolution between 30C and 60C plus from four LED's. There is another light dependent resistor poking through the front of the panel. This is used to adjust the brightness of the LED's based on ambient cabin light, so that the LED's are not too obtrusive. When you turn the lights out, then the LED's go out, so guests sleeping nearby are not disturbed.

 

Jen

 

This needs a thread of its own with a nice searchable title so that it can readily be found.  Great stuff.

[rusty69]

3 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

I had to repair the collector one spring for the same reason. Will have to drain it down soon as I think the antifreeze concentration is rather down.

My understanding is that legionella is killed off above 60C, but at temperatures between 20 and 60 it is party time for the little bugs. They also need some organic matter to feed on. My system seems to get above 60C fairly regularly, either from solar, or stove back boiler. I used to have an immersion heater, but didn't bother replacing it when it died. A good way to regularly sterilise the cauliflower if you are on shore power. You are most likely to get infected by inhaling water droplets carrying the bugs, so some roof top air conditioning units and shower heads are the most common sources of infection. I have a bath tub, rather than a shower on my boat. Still alive!

 

Thanks. Will put one together. Might take a few days. The number of other boat systems I've seen over the years can be counted on the fingers of one hand! It seems an ideal summer hot water solution for liveaboard boaters, but no one makes a purpose designed boat system, so you end up designing your own, using some combination of commercial and home made parts.

Yeah. Mine use to get hot enough for a shower, but probably not hot enough to kill the nasties. I used to hold my breath in the shower. It was just a flat collector off fleabay. A solar pump/temp sensor and some silicone tube. 

 

Agree yours is definitely  is worthy of its own thread

[matty40s]

Not often I post in here as doing mundane things like complete repaint in 8 days.

We've been after some reading lights for ages, couldn't find the right ones, at last, dimmable, blue led courtesy button and 12v. Was a bugger wiring as the roof cross beams meant I couldn't wire from the bathroom lights so had to come round the back of the bath and up the wall (not finished properly yet before you all diss me).

Now Kathy and I can read and not blind each other with wall lights blazing away.?

[system 4-50]

I have filled my bow locker with water and pumped it all out again.  (It doesn't have a drain.) Why, I don't hear you ask? Because I left a bottle of antifreeze in there and then piled a load of Excel bags in as well without due care and attention, and the antifreeze bottle got squashed and some of it came out of the cap even though it wasn't split or tipped, and it went all over everything else that was in the locker.  I hate antifreeze...

[mark99]

Started painting on other end engine. Cheating - only painting the bits you can see when floor put back down.

 

Silver of Flywheel housing cover to grey - 1/2 way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Completed.  Next = go round with wire wool scuff up and do second coat. The time is in the cleaning so 2nd coat won't take more than 90 mins. Then rid of the little bits I've overlapped with grey accidently.

 

 

Edited October 20, 2018 by mark99

[Ray T]

Came across an old water pump in Streethay Chandlery recently. I've tidied it up a little, mounted it on a board, wired in a switch and fuze.

It will be used for draining the dregs out of the water tank when the boat is winterised.

 

To me it has an industrial charm about it modern pumps don't have.

[Sea Dog]

41 minutes ago, Ray T said:

Came across an old water pump in Streethay Chandlery recently. I've tidied it up a little, mounted it on a board, wired in a switch and fuze.

It will be used for draining the dregs out of the water tank when the boat is winterised.

 

To me it has an industrial charm about it modern pumps don't have.

Tis undoubtedly a fine contraption and beautifully mounted.  Why the need to get all the water out though? I leave my FW tank around 25% full when I leave her in winter, which is both under water hence unlikely to freeze and gives plenty of room for expansion should icing occur. This means the boat is much closer to ready to go when needed.  

[mark99]

I have had a thought to paint the bilge. I'm hoping it will pass.

[bizzard]

Is it a Godwin pump?