grendel

even with the pink safety fence?

so pending further sea trials, last night I have been clearing up the workshop - finding places for tools etc. as I had some danish oil left over the bench hooks received a third coat, as did sections of the bench that will be heavily used (next to the vice). Once the power plant on model #1 is performing as required I can fit the power plant to model #2 and progress that model.

It could almost be construed that Mr Knight is being persecuted by the authority for not toeing the party line.

definition - yurt A circular tent of felt or skins on a collapsible framework, used by nomads in Mongolia, Siberia, and Turkey. the definition of nomads - they move around, thus the yurt is by definition a temporary structure. just pick it up and move it every few months (turn the door to face a new view). I used to do viking re-enactment, we had a tent 24 foot by 12 foot (by about 10 foot high) this had a wooden frame - 6 people could pick it up fully assembled and move it anywhere it was needed, assembly from flat was about 20 minutes, and that was with all the 12 foot timbers

look at it this way Robin, most plant items with similar engines are running for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week 50 weeks of the year, so thats about a years worth of work for a piece of plant, the boat has done that work over 16 years, so although fairly heavy usage for a boat - nothing to how they are treated as plant, and thinking back, didnt those two navy boats we went out with have similar sized power plants, that were maintained by the one man on board responsible for the mucky bits.

it was a taxi.

I find that I just get up to 65 - 70 and stick the cruise control on, then they can try and intimidate a dumb system by driving too close, and it really worries them when they get in front and try braking - 1 1/2 tons of Volvo approaching at high speed tends to leave brown stains, and I have a dashboard camera to prove them in the wrong. (I also have a rear facing one - and a taxi driver who nearly got caught out while trying to undertake in the bus lane as I turned left, and then proceeded to tailgate me at about 3 foot off the bumper (at least until he spotted the camera, upon which he vanished pretty smartly)) when I reviewed the footage it was obvious why I hadnt seen him in my preparations to turn left - he was 3 cars behind at the point I looked, in about 3 seconds he had got to a point almost level with my rear bumper- in a 30 limit- I was doing about 25 as I slowed for the corner.

my gran had her shed on wheels, this meant it was classed as a moveable structure and avoided planning laws.

no its 'the other left'

it goes back to the dead

I am having enough problems with this motor at 11,000 rpm, it was fine at about 4500, but at 11,000 a bearing block had to be added at the free end of the prop shaft, greasing the prop shaft helped, but caused too much drag - slowing the motor down yet again.

or behind her.

well they correctly identified it as a broads cruiser, then said they had never seen a model of one before. this evenings bracket was made, motor testing done - after 20 minutes the motor was still hovering around 0.7A and was barely warm - result, next to see how it performs on the water.

with the gearbox on at a 2.5:1 reduction at Beccles we were getting pretty much the same speed as I did at testing on Sunday, this would have equated to about 4500 rpm at the prop, which is why - if the prop under load was only managing 5000 rpm the speed didnt look any different. we will see how she goes next weekend.

getting all technical, I was wondering the difference in rpm between a current draw in the region of 2A plus and 0.6A (remembering the resistance of the water will push the current up a bit) so could I find a chart anywhere - no. the data sheet gives 3 pieces of data - the no load revs and current, the peak load revs and current, and the stall current (0 revs). so from this I drew a graph, now all 3 points are on a straight line - good, that makes it easier. so the new current draw is 0.6A, this equates to over 10,000rpm the current draw with the greased prop shaft was generally between 1.8 and 2.2A (best ever was 1.5A) this equates to between 7000 rpm and about 8000prm. if we say that the current draw in the water is +50% now we are looking at .9A 10000prm we were looking at 2.7 - 3.3A - 5000 - 6000 rpm - and one very hot motor. about 1A is peak efficiency for that motor, so it looks as though it will be just about right now, and we will have nearly doubled the speed through the water, tonight we will be testing the motor at the new out of the water current draw to see if the motor gets hot- or not. oh and making the brackets to reinforce the bearing for the prop shaft and hopefully reduce the vibration there.

yes Tim, But to put 'in case of accidental immersion this way up' with an arrow pointing to his feet was a bit mean I think.

I would have thought he should have shouted " Charlie! "

there are still garages where you can buy leaded petrol - for a price. diesel at least can be home brewed from chip fat, bio diesel being slightly cleaner than the normal variety. I dont see petrol becoming a replacement for diesel on boats though due to the storage and heavy vapour problems associated with it, the marine authorities would just quote health and safety when it came to banning diesel. Price for price wave energy is very expensive - even when compared with offshore wind farms, and every time it is mentioned it stirs up the environmentalists and such as it might alter the sea bed environment. electric hook up at Marinas - well there wont be any fast charging - thats for certain, the electrical infrastructure is not there to provide enough power.

I will wave one in your general direction while you sniff hard if you want. Tim is right though - everyone mucks in and helps, I went up and donated a few days hard graft in the freezing cold, helping with the out of the water maintenance. in return I get the occasional trip on Broad Ambition (well I am also making the models )

surely heels like that would puncture the water bed. If any of you think getting shoes is easy, try getting them in size 14, choice - well they might have a pair. I do have a couple of posh pairs - oxfords and brogues - straight from India, very well made shoes too at a reasonable price, other than that its trainers. I did get some czech army baseball boots. last time I found a whole bundle of shoes in my size, I bought all the ones they had - 6 pairs, when a pair wears out I get a new pair from my stash. my nephew on the other hand takes size 16. when he was in the army he had special permission to wear trainers on parade as it took nearly 3 months to get his boots built - uppers from italy soles from america, built by the army outfitters in London.

hmm further investigations and easing one point, and its still not running as free as I wish - more powerful motor required. The only thing I can think is that the grease in the prop shaft is dragging the speed down, I will try cleaning it out and retest the motor current. OK, so I forgot to post this, but I have been out, blasted the prop shaft through with a light oil, and retested the motor, 0.6A, - so it was the grease causing the problem. I now have a slight problem with the back bearing, where its made up from two pieces, its chattering, if I hold it it quiets down, so I may make some brass bridging pieces and bolt them around that bearing to hold it rigid, if the sound is anything to go by the motor is running a lot faster, so more testing may happen next weekend, before I opt for bigger motors. I did try a bigger motor, but that started at 1.6A and rose to over 3A when on the model.

well that was enlightening, I took the model to Herne bay, to the pond used by one of the local boat clubs, and took some advice. The motor - even running flat out wasnt really pushing the model any faster (well maybe a little) but no spare power, when I bought her out of the water the motor was well hot, the binding somewhere in the drive train, and the resistance of the water on the prop was making the motor work hard. The motor guru at the club showed me one of his models with the same motor, andthough a much smaller model it was a lot faster. he recommended a bigger motor for the size of boat - a 555 motor - low revving - high torque. I tried different props - no real difference. bigger motor will be looked at next.

having been out to sea on the old girl, when filming Broad Ambition, an in company with two of HM finest, even with the engines she has - she has got a fair turn of speed, and if you ever get the opportunity to go to sea on her you should, its a magical experience.

without a change in technology I think diesel will be around for a while, all plant will still run on it, mostly due to safety issues (you dont want to be storing petrol on site) and electric wont keep site machinery running day in day out.

well I have eased the baseplate, removed 1 layer of the ply at the back end, and its still 1.5A, I think there is some drag of the grease in the prop shaft, but that is better than running it dry. it sounds 100% better than it was previously, I now know what to expect on model #2 so I can start progressing that. maybe if I get the chance tomorrow I will take a run to the local boating pool and test the new power levels, see if it is what is required.