grendel

to be fair, 6 foot 9 under 7 foot 3 is a huge clearance by broads standards, just keep it central and take it easy

I can with the male connectors, but I needed more of the female ones to plug in anyway, so I have just ordered extras

wiring diagram completed, more connectors ordered as i need some with 2 pins and other configurations.

this is the printer, currently running another test piece

yes Smoggy it is radio controlled, but after going to all the trouble to fit working switches on the dashboard, it seems a waste not to use them, not a lot of progress today, I need to map out the connections required for the veroboard. Added to that I have been playing with another new toy, I wanted to be able to print using PLA material, my current printer is mainly used for ABS, and to use PLA is a bit of a faff as after using ABS, the residue left in the nozzle can cause issues with PLA, so it is recommended to use a seperate extruder for this purpose, but at around £98 each it gets a bit expensive (I have actually worn out 2 nozzles so far printing ABS,. for £139 I was able to buy a small printer, that can nearly print the same volume as my old one, and a friend who had recently purchased one recommended it - so I spent about an hour this morning putting it togeher (really easy on a scale of 1-10 for ease of construction, i give it a 9 (only because i had to put away the paper instructions and watch the video to get the orientation of one part) since then I have printed sme test prints using the material I have to hand (the same stuff I used forr the light fittings in the cockpit) In fact as a test I printed a light fitting using the best quality settings (slightly better than the top quality on my existing printer) and I am happy to report that the quality of the finish is excellent (that came out slightly yellowed as that was the colour of the previous filament and I didnt run enough through to fully clear it.) still more test prints are being run to see how things come out, but so far I am liking it- and all for only slightly more than the cost of a new extruder for my existing machine. I have made notes of the circuits required and the connections needed for the veroboard, so when I get some time that will be a nice project.

there is that consideration, I was just considering the crush strength aspect.

looking at the shaft, the keyway will need machining out (on the shaft and in the other part), and the shaft will need cleaning up too as metal has pushed out into the taper (where I have circled in red), that metal will need to be removed before the taper will seat properly. alternatively a new keyway of the same dimensions could be machined in at 180 degrees to the existing, the taper on the shaft would still need cleaning. either option should be easily done by any competent machine shop.

greenheart or purpleheart if it can be obtained, horrible stuff to work, I have some greenheart that I got probably 30 years back (offcuts from where they were putting in new groynes locally), some was made into a planter in the garden, the rest was just left outside, last year I got a bit that had just been laying on the ground, the outside looked rough, as it hadent been protected, planed that off and it was good as new just under that gnarly exterior, so dense it makes mahogany look like balsa, a local timberyard had to use a diamond bladed saw to cut it down back 30 years ago, so it will dull your blades, its insect resistant and rot resistant. Janka hardness 2350 lbf vs african mahogany - 830 lbf

it was all wood, it can all be replaced with new solid wood- with time and money.

I once had a mobile fm rig on the motorbike, it had a connector up to the helmet with mike, and speaker and a PTT switch on the handlebars, The antenna was mounted on the topbox with a steel groundplane in the lid. was quite fun cruising and chatting

a frost stat in the engine bay removes the necessity to winterise fully and enables on the button cruising all year round, you do have to ensure you have a secure shore power supply.

for the eagle eyed viewer amongst you, you will see that the veroboard has 9 tracks, and my largest connector only 8 holes, there is reason behind this apparent madness, the switch panels have only 7 and 6 wires, one wire will be needed as a positive busbar, one as a negative busbar, the beauty of this is that if I create a test link that bypasses the switches (a connector with all 8 pins connected, I can feed all of the positive circuits from the positive busbar at once, yet not short out the negative which will be on track 9, so basically I can use these different connectors, just connecting the negative of the lights to one side, and the positive to the correct switched pin, ignoring the other spaces or if I run a bundle of wires to a mix of lights, I can connect to several pins for that cable loom. this gives me a versatile wiring distribution system that can be expanded in the future as required.

well the good news is that the postman delivered some of the items I have been waiting for, veroboard and connectors, this will mean I can start constructing the distribution board, basically I can set 2 strips on the veroboard as plus and minus, the plus will feed the switch panel which will then feed other strips on the board, feeds can be plucked from this using connectors going the opposite direction picking up the circuits from the switches. veroboard consists of rows of holes connected by copper strips in one direction, the copper strip tracks act as a common rail from which power can be drawn, you can break the copper tracks by cutting them, thus isolating 2 sections of the same strip, by soldering the strips of connector pins to the board, it enables connectors to be plugged in and unplugged to connect or isolate certain circuits, each light can be wired to a seperate connector, and where 4 lights are present 4 connectors can be used to get the power.

yes I have used a bit of artistic licence where the steps start, it makes lifting the rest of the floor easier. (as well as fitting around the motor underneath)

so not a lot to report this week, as I think through the wiring it becomes more complex, so I have been considering how to do it in simpler ways, this turns out that I need some parts and connectors I dont have, so those were ordered and I am awaiting delivery, I have figured that my new way of doing things will make the wiring easier for me and easier to follow, but more of that when I start doing it. in the meantime, since I did the cutout in the forward roof, the lack of detail in the doorway was bothering me, so onto the removable step section, I added some sides going into the doorway, this is just cosmetic, and is only attached to the step section (which sits above the motor) so is removeable for access. i need to tidy it up slightly, but its basic form is there.

ah, but did you end the day with a race with 2 royal naval fast patrol boats - we did

Water Rail Grendel (1)

for those interested we are currently having issues with the donate button, this is currently being looked into and sorted, and hopefully we will be able to add a button to the thread as soon as we have that done. thanks for your patience.

and cyclists are allowed to cut down the inside as you turn left, while busy watching for the suicidal pedestrians, you just couldnt make it up.

dont, I once rode my bike 30 miles home in ever worsening road conditions, arrived home 6" snow, and the front wheel dropped into a hole made by a warm drain cover (where the snow hadnt laid) as I was turning into our garage, and off I fell at about 0 mph.

I suspect another issue might be water depth, looking at how far above the water they rise, they will need that and more below the water, imagine skimming close to the bank and finding a tree root of sunken branch.

I wonder how fast they have to go to get airbourne, if its more than 3mph they will not be allowed (like jetski's)

yes the pedestrian crossing right on the junction is the silliest, its not a safe place to cross, as the motorist is looking out for oncoming traffic in the other direction as they pull out (especially one local junction, where there is a pedestrian crossing not 50 foot further up the road designed so they can cross safely. I nearly flattened a deliveroo driver on a moped yesterday a he sailed out of a junction, just as I hit the speedbump in the rod designed to slow traffic, emergency braking on a speedbump, as the front of the vehicle rises over it isnt very effective ( i always thought that a stupid place for the speedbump, right in the braking zone near a junction, on a downhill incline.

having watched the video, their solution to the alternator running hot (due to the capacity that the added lithium battery was taking out of the alternator (not the recommended method for charging a lithium battery), was to limit the current by fitting a longer section of 6mm2 wire, yes this will limit the current to the battery from the alternator to about 32A, but the wire is not sufficiently sized for a battery charging cable, and will get hot / possibly melt and burn. the recommended solution would be the correct battery charger for the lithium battery, which alos should not be connected in parallel with the lead acid batterys (very bad practice to mix and match battery chemistries in one bank, get a fault on a lead acid battery and the lithium battery could boil the acid off the lead acid battery and possibly cause an explosion. if in any doubt get something professionally installed, and using the correct charging method.

the big problem is that the new modern technology batteries that are available for cars are probably not compatible with the systems aboard most boats, they require different types of alternators, different chargers (though some can cater for different battery types) so its not just a simple case of swapping to the new technologies. that and the pattern of use is different between cars and boats, what suits a car may not suit a boat and vice versa, generally your domestic batteries will be a lower cranking amps rating but be able to be discharged further than a standard car battery, which will have high cranking amps, but needs to be kept fully charged most of the time. if you modernise the boats batteries, which may be expensive, then you will find additional costs in changing the charging systems to match. I found on my car that an AGM battery wasnt the right one for my car, I needed the standard one- which saved me £30 over the AGM battery. (the AGM are generally used in hybrid vehicles and ones fitted with stop/ start technology.