Independence - Updates | Maintenance & Care

[Lulu]

So that massive wooden  box that was being driven through Norfolk the other week was Robins after all! 

[FairTmiddlin]

28 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

  I can't wait for the new washer / dryer to turn up (Not told MrsG about that one yet )

 

 

That one will be met with one of two responses

1. OOOOOH Thats nice of you Griff

2. YOU B*STA*D If you think that's a Christmas present you can think again!

 

[grendel]

I would imagine that's Robin off the christmas card list then.

on the other hand I havent informed my daughter about the brake parts due for delivery later this week for my car - over £200 in parts just to cure the horrible graunching noise every time I brake. that said I looked in my records and its nearly 2 years since the rear brakes were done, and I havent changed the front discs (though its had pads) since I got the car. at 209,000 miles though its getting new discs, pads shoes and flexible hoses this service. though it will be another £100 a pair if it needs new callipers too.

[BrundallNavy]

Well I've spoken to a friend of mine who was a washing machine engineer. It's most certainly powder blocking your washer. His advice is to remove the grey door seal and put your arm up the inside and squeeze the pipe while running hot water down the tray this should soften up the powder and clear the blockage. 

Doug. 

[BroadAmbition]

I came to the same conclusion and am confident I can sort it. However the drier facility is now old technology, nowt wrong wi it just not up to the job. So it may end up getting replaced. Easier to accomplish with my team onboard 

Griff

[Guest]

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

I came to the same conclusion and am confident I can sort it. However the drier facility is now old technology, nowt wrong wi it just not up to the job. So it may end up getting replaced. Easier to accomplish with my team onboard 

Griff

Well good luck with that , having put 3 domestic washing machines on boats and only narrow boats so no massive heights to haul them up I know first hand how difficult it is , that machine was highly likely onboard that boat before the superstructure was fitted least that's how Hardy marine did it , the logical thing is to remove the concrete ballast from the machine but doing so sort of waves good by to the warranty , heavy work and pretty dangerous not only for the personal but the vessel its self , it can be done even though tight  gaps my last one we had 5 mm overall to clear the doors , but the first thing is you have to accept that if something goes wrong then you could face a lot of damage hence as long as the washer function works fine I'd personally forget the dryer .

A classic example though of why I steer clear of combination machines lose one and you lose both .

[grendel]

what is the reach on the crane for the tender, and cable length, can the machine be slung from this and the crane used to assist the removal? (with maybe pulleys attached to blocks to keep the machine away from vital components / space off supporting structures?

you have mechanical assistance, if it can reach - why not use it.

[BroadAmbition]

Already thought of that. Superstructure prevents use of the crane  it’ll have to be Yorkshire muscle

Griff 

[BroadAmbition]

Now we have had some sort of broom arrived (it’s wrapped) hopefully MrsG won’t try flying  off on it 

Griff

[SteveO]

If it's a Broom, it may be the tender 

[grendel]

standard broom or besom?

[TheQ]

or a Nimbus 2000

[LondonRascal]

I am not going for a replacement Washer Dryer - the reason is Marina's have these facilities and I have been getting on just fine washing all sorts (including the bath mats and cushion covers) in the one at Plymouth - I recon could wash ropes in there too in the late night when no body is about despite the sign saying not to..

The current one works - ok so it floods when you go to use it initially, but I recon that is an easy fix - if it did go tits up then I also think easier to deal with a new one being put in when in Norfolk than on a moving floating pontoon with less access in Plymouth.

Now...For the real update:

 

In this video you will see the work that Carl from CP Fuel Polishing did and in so doing we found out the bad news - I cannot balance my port and starboard fuel tanks. There is more about this coming in part two about this where you will see the actual set up in the engine room.

Basically. there are three tanks and a 1" 1/2 pipe that connects them to each other. This in turn has four valves along its length and either the pipe is blocked, or the valves are not working for when Carl was extracting fuel from the starboard tank and pumping it back in filtered to the port tank - the port tank was just filling up and the starboard was just emptying and this in turned caused a list to port. This was exactly what I had been told the previous owner experienced - All Boat Services solution tot his was t isolate the centre tank and 'balance' the other two tanks. Of course this works as a short term solution and if you only cruise short distances, but go further and use more fuel and there is still no way for the tank levels to equalize and also means you'd be filling one tank then having to move the boat and fill the rest on the other side to keep things in trim.

I have therefore been in touch with Mount Batten Boathouse (who were to service the generator and provide spares for the engines) but now I have to get the boat to them in January and I am hiring a 2,000 litre fuel tank to be delivered to the boatyard and then I am buying a large fuel transfer pump and we will remove as much fuel as possible into the tank on the quay, then they will set to inspecting valves, pipes and so on before we re-fill the boat tanks.

This must be done before our passage in February. A local tanker firm had agreed to buy the fuel off me at 40p per litre but this did not include the cost of taking it out the tanks and travel to the boatyard, they also would only do it if the boat was out the water on the hard which is why working with the yard we are going to be doing it ourselves. At the end of the day I want the boat back to how should be and would have been when left the factory that all three tanks can be drawn from, and all three tanks are connected so will always find their equilibrium so far as how much is in each.

In the next update you will see how I have gone on an all out war on the local sea gull population...

 

[BrundallNavy]

I find the Apple case for the Pro expensive and not particularly good as it only covers the screen I have collected a dent in the back cover.  Do you have the setting on auto so the screen dims itself.

Doug.

[grendel]

Robin, once you have emptied the fuel out of the tanks, is there a detergent type product that will break up that sludge, that could be sprayed or poured into the tanks to clean them out.. I can see that once you have them empty, the next task is to empty the centre tank and then remove the pipework and balance valves to clean them out.

[grendel]

hmm this seems to highlight the problem you are encountering - http://www.brighthubengineering.com/marine-engines-machinery/75335-cleaning-marine-fuel-tanks/

just one thought, would a steam cleaner do the job, or a commercial pressure washer with a detergent in the mix? I would think you might need some sort of borescope to see what you were doing in the tank.

[Siddy]

If your going down the line of draining the tanks to check the pipes to the middle tank etc having played back I've seen their is a tank connector. Fit an isolator valve and cap it off. You then be able to use as a tank drain point or flush point for the middle tank.

I'm just waiting for a fuel report on a 3000lt tank which hasn't had fresh fuel in for 16 years they worked out, We've installed a small fuel cleaning system that runs 6 hrs every week. The bowl looks clean!!.

If you had ANY room in the engine room you could have hung this. https://www.fueltankshop.co.uk/piusi-filtroll-diesel-oil-filtration-unit/p4741

Set yourself up as a little side line earner.

[Baitrunner]

Just a question really and something I have always thought was best practice. 

Most boats are designed with separate port and starboard systems. Fuel and electrical.  In the event one has a major problem the other engine will hopefully still work. 

Mixing fuel seems a bad idea.  If you have bad fuel, the bug or anything else. If you mix it up both engines die?

My boat has different systems. Sure I can link the batteries once one engine starts to   counteract a flat battery but would never join my fuel tanks!

mind you my tanks are down the middle so even if I did empty one there would be no list. Although how you get to the stage where one tank has so much more fuel in than the other so that it lists a 55 footer would be a massive problem surely I'd be heading for a safe haven before it got that bad .

hopefully once you have it all cleaned you won't have to worry. 

[BroadAmbition]

Robin, once you have emptied the fuel out of the tanks, is there a detergent type product that will break up that sludge, that could be sprayed or poured into the tanks to clean them out.. I can see that once you have them empty, the next task is to empty the centre tank and then remove the pipework and balance valves to clean them out.

The fuel and tanks have been cleaned out so no further work on this required

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

We have a method in hand to deal with the issue of the balance pipe / valves,

More to follow

Griff

[LondonRascal]

Mark you are not the first to talk of the worry of having all tanks connected - but my basis is that if the fuel is bad in one why, if it had been filled at the same time and kept in the same manner would the other tank be ok?

But more over the boat has a very complex fuel management manifold - from here you can select which tank what uses and to what tank fuel is returned - currently port engine takes from port tank and returns to it (vice versa for starboard engine and tank) and that is fine for shorter periods of use, but since each engine will always consume slightly different amounts of fuel each tank will begin to become unbalanced (one fuller than the other) and poor old centre tank won't have anything going on just sat there as dead weight. 

At build the system is shown to take from all and return to all tanks through a continuous feed and return line (that then runs to the fuel supply management manifold) - using this would mean if you had bad fuel or a leak in one tank you can switch over on the fly to draw and return from another tank but leaving it like that just gets you into the situation I am now in.

For some reason, at some time one of the Racor fuel filters was moved way over to the port side and in a very hard to get to place - I am thinking of using the opportunity when all this fuel work is undertaken to replace these with duel filters (you can even get them  an electronic warning system to alert you to either low pressure  - possible blocked filter element) or water in the fuel - you then go into the engine room, move a valve over to draw from the standby filter without any down time - now isolated you can change the dirty filter and drain any water from the bowl, then switch over to your primary filter. This is where this years boat show will come in very handy!

P.S Traders have notoriously poor hulls for stability, in short they like to roll - and considering her beam and length me walking to one side and back to the other will cause a noticeable movement happen, move back and froth and I can get quite an oscillation going which takes some seconds to calm down once yous top moving. 

it took about 60-100 litres of fuel to cause the list (see video below) - small, but noticeable none the less. This is why so many Trader owners have had stabliser systems fitted and why later build 2004+ models had them fitted at build (especially to the 575 and above models) - while this would do nothing to stop the boat listing in port, it would make a big difference in a beam on or quartering sea. I also have a 300KG RIb and a (who the hell know but a lot) KG crane up top to make things that bit more fun.

These sort of set up is pretty 'high end' and not what the typical leisure boat will have fitted but then this vessel is not the typical leisure boat really and I have to think ahead and long term to keeping in in this sort of form and not cutting corners as most people who would buy this class of boat do so for extended passage making and expect things to be a certain standard.

[LondonRascal]

This video shows the list developed with 60-100 litres more fuel in the port tank than starboard. She now has full starboard tank, and a 3/4 full port tank but is level - the crane (port side) clearly also weights a good amount and so with a full port tank I am sure we will see a list begin once more, extra ballast may therefore be needed on her starboard side - yet to be seen.

 

[grendel]

from what you are saying you an set up the fuel to feed from wherever you want and return to wherever you want, so if you set up each engine to feed from one tank and return to the other, if one engine was using more fuel, that should even out the contents as the engine using less fuel would feed more back to the tank of the engine using more fuel. thus the only real issue is filling up the tanks, where you would want to fill from one filler and have both tanks fill evenly, I would imagine that if you were filling 500 litres to each you would not want to fill one then fill the other, so you would introduce quite a list to the first side filled, then correct with the other, as you said - this would be a lot of Faff. I suppose the other option would be to add a line with a pump to even out the two tanks - a fuel trim pump (unless you have a line already that the pump could be fitted into.

[Snowy]

6 hours ago, LondonRascal said:

This video shows the list developed with 60-100 litres more fuel in the port tank than starboard. She now has full starboard tank, and a 3/4 full port tank but is level - the crane (port side) clearly also weights a good amount and so with a full port tank I am sure we will see a list begin once more, extra ballast may therefore be needed on her starboard side - yet to be seen.

 

I had tea and biscuits all ready for another long blog, no sooner had I lifted the cup than it had finished !

keep up the great videos, really feel part of it all.

[Brundall1037]

On your radio if it is the same as mine you can hook your mobile up through the Bluetooth and answer calls on the radio. Good for if you want to keep your phone dry.