Water Rail Out And About - Aug 2021

[grendel]

Well that time is here again, departed home at just gone 7 and a 4 hour trip to Oulton Broad, then load up Water Rail, Assist Shaun Getting Manxman started, and then it was time to head out, just about midday, a slow cruise against the tide from Oulton to Breydon, Passing Nipper and Missouri star en route , and then half way across Breydon it happened.....

The revs suddenly dropped, and I thought oh no, not on Breydon, dropped them down to tickover and reapplied throttle, it picked back up, but then slowed again, ok try it on a lower throttle setting , so dropped down to 2000rpm, fine happy here, so proceeded across breydon, turning at the yellow post, I thought with only 2000 revs this could be fun, I was just a few hours after high tide at this point, so once again had the tide against me, after lots of fiddling it transpired that 2000 rpm was all she was happy with, so it was a long plod up to Stracey Arms to meet the rest of the flotilla. when I arrived I re-checked the fuel, whoops I had misread the nearly full stain on the dipstick, I was quite low on fuel, which probably wasnt helping, so tomorrow it will be a quick stop en route to top up the tank, a 40 litre (max ) tank is not good for 5 hour cruises. also tomorrow it will be replace the fuel filter time. heres hoping as the return trip is with the tide all the way.

More tomorrow.

 

[YnysMon]

Ooh err! Hope all goes well. You have left us on a classic cliffhanger. 

[vanessan]

A midnight stroll to syphon off a few litres from one of the other woodies would have done the trick! 

[Meantime]

I'm curious what engine is in Water Rail? and what's the maximum revs it's capable of?

It seems strange to hear you talking about struggling to keep at 2000RPM. I recently spent 6 days drifting up and down the Yare. My default from cold was 1000 RPM whilst it warmed up, then normally 1200 RPM with the occasional sort period of running at 1400 RPM in the more tidal sections down near Reedham.

My engines a Nanni 40HP and flat out across Breydon I've run it at 2700 RPM for short bursts, that speed is actually limited by the throttle **** hitting the bulkhead, I'm guessing there is still a few more revs available, but my normal maximum on the rivers is 1600 RPM with most cruising done at 1200 or 1400.

I guess ultimate river speed all comes down to gearbox and prop size etc. Being a centre cockpit boat and standing or sitting directly above the engine bay the engine noise becomes increasingly more intrusive at anything above 1400 RPM really, especially if the roof is up.

[grendel]

she has a Nanni 390 engine, 21 HP, 2000 rpm is 5 mph but we had 2 issues, one was that she was low on fuel, ( thankfully someone had a 30 litre container, which filled the tank , before we left,) so we were with the tide to Breydon, so never got to 2000 rpm, then I went flat out (testing purposes) for Breydon Bridge- 8.8 mph, @2600 rpm, then dropped back to 2400 trying to catch the front half of the fleet, about 2/3 of the way across i had to cut back to 2200 as she was struggling, after that i found that she  was happy again at 2000 rpm, so fortunately with tide assist I managed to keep up with the fleet, we suspect that there is something restricting the fuel, so will try a filter change later (not knowing the last time it was changed. after arriving at Oulton Broad, I reversed onto a pontoon mooring (inside) all the way from half way across the broad, you need a good run at it to get her going straight) then it was time to try and find why the rear cabin lights had stopped working, so first check the bulb, one look at the wiring and I was certain I wouldnt be touching any of that circuit, that can wait for the rewire.

[Meantime]

Casting my mind back to my last trip 1200 rpm near Hardley Cross with the tide under me was 5mph. Going the other way earlier in the week against the tide and 1400 rpm was giving me about 4.5mph. I'm guessing that 2000rpm with slack water would give me close to 6.5 or 7mph, so I'm guessing the prop is significantly larger than Water Rail's. Also the gearbox ratios could be different. Mine's a PRM which I think is a 2:1

[LizG]

4 hours ago, grendel said:

she has a Nanni 390 engine, 21 HP, 2000 rpm is 5 mph but we had 2 issues, one was that she was low on fuel, ( thankfully someone had a 30 litre container, which filled the tank , before we left,) so we were with the tide to Breydon, so never got to 2000 rpm, then I went flat out (testing purposes) for Breydon Bridge- 8.8 mph, @2600 rpm, then dropped back to 2400 trying to catch the front half of the fleet, about 2/3 of the way across i had to cut back to 2200 as she was struggling, after that i found that she  was happy again at 2000 rpm, so fortunately with tide assist I managed to keep up with the fleet, we suspect that there is something restricting the fuel, so will try a filter change later (not knowing the last time it was changed. after arriving at Oulton Broad, I reversed onto a pontoon mooring (inside) all the way from half way across the broad, you need a good run at it to get her going straight) then it was time to try and find why the rear cabin lights had stopped working, so first check the bulb, one look at the wiring and I was certain I wouldnt be touching any of that circuit, that can wait for the rewire.

Have no recollection of any fuel filter being replaced. Bet the lights will work tomorrow!

[grendel]

27 minutes ago, LizG said:

Have no recollection of any fuel filter being replaced. Bet the lights will work tomorrow!

I am not sure, I certainly won't touch this for fear of making it worse.

[Meantime]

One word Yikes! then I thought BSS, there is no doubt that would be a failure if ever it was spotted, but I don't think any BSS would ever go that deep or pick up that kind of thing. A lot to be said for low heat output LED lights though.

[Mouldy]

23 minutes ago, grendel said:

I am not sure, I certainly won't touch this for fear of making it worse.

Is it possible to make it worse?

[grendel]

we had tea and cake at Shauns, now back aboard to watch the power boat racing and cook tea, steak and chips tonight. just waiting for the new filter to arrive to fit

[LizG]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

I am not sure, I certainly won't touch this for fear of making it worse.

That could be a museum piece!

 

[ChrisB]

I would advise that a re-wire should now take priority! 12v dc can be a very real fire hazard without insulation.

[grendel]

it is a priority it was due to be done last winter, but lockdown prevented that, circuit is now isolated and dead, and will remain that way until replaced, I believe this is the last circuit containing that wiring, we hadnt spotted this as the screws to remove the light covers were painted over so had not been opened for a while, as we identify this type of item it is being retired. I will look at getting some of the battery LED lights as a temporary fix until we can get her out for maintenance/ rewire, its silly we have all of the new electrical panels all ready to go.

[grendel]

19 hours ago, grendel said:

I will look at getting some of the battery LED lights as a temporary fix

Temporary lighting purchased at b&m in Beccles and fixed above the sink and cooker

[grendel]

today started with running out of data, i purchased a new 12Gb block and then found that i still couldnt get online, anyway, after some time trying I gave up and got water rail ready for the trip from Oulton Broad to Beccles, Dave turned up with the new fuel filter and with a little help from Griff, I managed to fit it and prime the system, I can report there was about 1/4" of waxy slimy something in the bottom of the filter housing, that obviously wasnt helping matters. anyway we did an engine test, and she started fine, ran her up to full revs and all seemed well, when we left oulton I did a quick engine test, a lot smoother through the speeds and 100 rpm additional on the max revs, result.

chugged our way to beccles in convoy, and a spectacular sight it was indeed.

it was while trying to get online at beccles I decided to reboot the wifi dongle, - Bingo, that did the trick, and i was back online, pleased to say that the throttle is now more responsive too, it used to need stepping the speed up by 200 rpm at a time, now we can get the steps between too.

[Meantime]

Just out of interest has Water Rail only got the one diesel filter? Its quite common to have a pre and final filter. If so you might want to change the other one.

On my boat I have the CAV style filter with water trap, followed by the final spin on fuel filter. 

[grendel]

She has the fuel tap, then the water filter, and then we have the main fuel filter 

[grendel]

A nice lie in this morning, it was 6 am when I awoke, so thats an hours lie in, up and straight to the Beccles Yacht Station showers, for a nice morning shower, most refreshing, then it was down to the serious business, cheese and bacon turnovers in the oven for breakfast, and time to get baking, bread ingredients measured out, mixed and kneaded, and the dough is now sitting in a sunny spot for 45 minutes to an hour to rise for the first time (or until it has doubled in size), boat tidying for the upcoming visitors started, canopy back and the model is back out on the stern on display, the start of show day at the wooden boat show. the smell of the fresh bread rolls will of course give me an edge when it comes time for votes to be cast

[grendel]

Baking complete for the morning, just got to cool a bit more before I can test them

[Tractorted]

Great looking rolls, add a bit of bacon & water rail will surely go to the top of the votes, spectacular varnish and gorgeous doggies help garner votes but good food tips the scales

[FairTmiddlin]

Welllllllllllllllll good try Grendel

But Im afraid no Biscuit or Roll

[grendel]

well connection here at beccles isnt great, but we did have the model out on the river today, I also have a zoom meeting for my astronomy club tonight. this isnt going too well due to signal drop out. its been a busy day chatting to people and showing them around the boats, so not a lot to report from today.

[YnysMon]

I really wanted to get to the Wooden Boat Show this year. Instead we had to travel to Anglesey yet again to continue the long struggle of trying to get my father in law's house in to a relatively habitable state.

[grendel]

Thats a shame, it would have been nice to meet you.

Well this morning up at 5.45, hit the beccles shower block early and was back to the boat in time to see my cats feeding on the wifi camera i had set up that links to my tablet, not that its as good as being there in person, but I can talk to them over the link.

Cheese on toast and coffee to start the day off, I have not planned much past this morning, but I have only paid for two nights here, so technically unless I extend that, I will be heading off on my travels later today, then at least I will have more to report to everyone out there that reads my posts.