Broad Ambition - TLC Time Again

[WherryNice]

1 hour ago, ZimbiIV said:

Wish I had gone along with the remote control system, the idea of phoning the heater to start before getting out of bed on a cold morning does appeal.

I have a SmartStat at home which allows me to do just that and I love it!

[JanetAnne]

50 minutes ago, WherryNice said:

I have a SmartStat at home which allows me to do just that and I love it!

I have similar but mine is called a SmartArse! How it works is she wakes up, cleverly drops umpteen hints about the temperature until I get up  and turn the heating on!

This is always followed with "you didn't need to get up but now you have is there any chance of a coffee?"

 

[BroadAmbition]

Planar Heating system - Yes, we are pleased with it, well now we have it sited and functioning correctly, those issues were down to us not the heater

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Removal of the soft Velcro attached to the top of the windscreen / wheelhouse sides was laborious.  Obviously, this stuff is not supposed to come off and it has been there since 2007.  As well as bonded on it also had a fair few s/steel staples in it for good measure.  It took hours and hours over two days.  Had to drive over to B&Q and get some glue remover, that helped but was still far from easy / quick.  Four press studs also had to be removed.  Once cleaned off, areas that required touching up with varnish were attended to, then the replacement new velcro could be fastened in place.  Evo stick contact adhesive and s/steel staples and the job is a gudden.

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Another annoying item to attend to is the onboard TV reception - Or lack of it to be precise.

Since we fitted the 'Ballade' omni aerial with associated wiring etc, much to our dismay it has never performed well if at all, something was obviously wrong.

Enter our retired tv / aerial engineer Pete (One of our Lads Week crew) He brought with him all manner of test equipment, high grade coax and connectors.  He had previously tested the aerial at home and pronounced it fit for purpose so it had to be an issue onboard.  He checked all the cables, connections throughout, changing the coax supplied from inside the omni as he declared it not the best.  He found the issue almost immediately, we had fitted an in line 12v booster via a switch on the helm.  This although a good thing to have did not supply 12v up to the Ballade.  It needs its own 12v feed to work.  I went rooting in a electrical spares box and there it was, supplied but not fitted. Pete had it wired in then declared the system was ready for testing out.  To do this would mean taking 'B.A' out of the wetshed to get any sort of reception.  This we did on Tuesday late afternoon, spent over night down river of St Benets abbey.  A soon as it was set up and switched on - Voila !  Finally 100% signal strength on all channels.  Tv retuned and at last we are sorted.  That only taken about a year to fettle - No rush then Griffin

Griff

[JennyMorgan]

A telly on a boat, how's that for progress! 

[JanetAnne]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

A telly on a boat, how's that for progress! 

Just needs some someone to invent the remote so it can be turned on..

[grendel]

nothing more fun than a remote app on your phone tuned into the neighbouring boats tv. 

[BroadAmbition]

The most pressing issue was a below waterline ingress.  This needed investigating.  After some simple detective work I discovered the source - It is down aft below the well deck.  I really need to change a couple of planks in that region.  'B.A' is due out of the water next year late spring time and I really don't want to go the the loss of downtime and expense before then.  Having made the decision that with some repairs from the inside she will last until then.  Repairs duly carried out but will obviously need monitoring between now and the spring of 2021

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

The Planar heating system - Since we installed in back in May of 2019 it has not performed as well as it should have done.  Initially it was fine but then issues have been slowly developing.  We sited it where the Mikuni unit sat for years without any issues until a fault developed causing us to order the current Planar unit. The original mounting / fitting of the Planar is documented further back in this thread. Btw - the fault on the Mikuni was easily fixed if we had found it before ordering the replacement   I blame Bro Howard

The reason that the Planar started to underperform is that we mounted the outlet far too close to an obstruction, namely the Stbd fresh water tank.  The installation manual clearly states that there should be a clear run of at least 500mm - ish before any tight bends are in the heating pipes / ducts.  Ours had a 180 deg bend immediately after the outlet - this was causing the unit to back pressure and consequently overheat and shut down protecting itsen - clever stuff.  It needed fettling to make life comfortable onboard during the winter months and get the best out of the heater.

Plenty of extra gear was duly ordered, 90mm trunking, 'T' pieces, copper fuel pipe, exhaust pipe, exhaust insulation, jubilee clips, 90 - 80mm reducers, heat wrap insulation, aluminium gaffa tape and the like.  I had worked out where the units new home would be below the wheelhouse deck prior to arriving onboard.

To get below the deck in the wheelhouse is straight forward enough unless you want to get the whole lot up as we did then the furniture has to come out along with wiring for bulkhead lights, not a five minute job but it had to come out and it duly did so, not the first time we had done this by any stretch of the imagination.

Then I removed the burner unit, vent trunking, exhaust, control cables, fuel pipe etc.  This left a gaping space, seeing as we now had a removable hatch in the double cabin to allow access something had to be done with that space.  Space on a boat as we all now is not to be wasted or not utilised.  I fashioned a storage shelf to be used for rarely used items, I'll probably put engine spares there like belts, pumps glow plugs and the like. Originally when R641 was Star Supreme 1, the gas bottles sat in this location as they did when we took ownership of her back in 2002

Herewith pictures of the Planar before and after I removed it and the current storage shelf 

Griff

 

[grendel]

I can remember the struggle that Robin and I had fitting that unit into that tight space, quart in pint pot comes to mind. everything was just a few millimetres too short.

[BroadAmbition]

Next on the list was to re site the burner unit, plenty of thinking of likely consequences, measuring then measuring again.  Measure twice, cut once as my late Dad used to teach me.  A piece of hardwood was fastened into place then the s/steel bracket supplied with the burner to the hardwood,  followed by the copper fuel pipe and control cables.  Robin went off to JPC for some items priority being a new collet / olive for the compression fitting on the fuel delivery at the burner.  He came back with ISO rate rubber fuel pipe as that was the method JPC recommended.  This was far easier to run from pump to burner especially after I had removed the new copper pipe that I had just finished installing.

Next was to extend the exhaust pipe to the original Mikuni pipe and silencer, a straight copper 22mm fitting bridged the joint nicely, the new exhaust was then lagged in heat proof exhaust insulation.  It was obvious that a couple of support brackets would be required, the thin steel of a discarded fridge door sufficed nicely

Then it was the turn of the vent trunking.  The Mikuni supply trunking uses 80mm, the Planar system uses 90mm, reducers are available for this event and work very well.  All trunking was wrapped with insulation thereby saving the heat form  being wasted into areas where it it is not required.  I was careful to avoid any tight bends and keep the supply flowing to be 'Burner Friendly'

Now that the burner was mounted closer to the engine and gearbox there was the very real possibility that the warmed air supplied into every cabin would be 'Odour de la Beta'   We had thought of this so fitted a small length of 90mm vent trunking to the inlet side, then cut a hole in the side of the riser step behind the door from the aft passageway to the wheelhouse. A covering vent finished this off.  Snag there was that when the door was tagged open it restricted air flow, so another hole with another vent had to be fitted to the door, this had to be in line millimetre perfect for it to work, it is and it does.

One of the control cables had to be extended which Bro took care of, the lot then re-routed and supported.  The control touch pad was replaced, whilst the plywood dressing cover for the cables was down in the adjoining fwd cabin, the supply cables for the fish finder / depth log were re-routed too so they are no longer on view, much neater.

The unit was run up then run flat out with no hiccups whatsoever, I have run it a few times since, there is a slight smokey smell coming from the whole affair but this will calm down as it settles in and the firegum used on the exhaust joints cures / hardens.

One issue has developed, now that the unit is drawing air from the step, the induction noise when it is running flat out is noticeable, this will require further fettling in the form of some type of foam being placed in the induction pipe so as not to restrict flow but to baffle the noise, a bit similar to a cars air filter system.  The crew onboard for the Lads Week come October will certainly appreciate our efforts and enjoy the comfort / reliability  now available

Griff

 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Seen a video where a 85mm K&N air filter was used.

[BroadAmbition]

There was other small issues to attend to, namely the amount of bird crap on deck / roofs as the wetshed was fairly well deserted for months the avian population seemed to have moved in, in mass so an exterior clean was called for. 

A 6" section of the s/steel dressing strip mounted on the rubbing strip was bent and sticking out, this was an easy one as was an aluminium frame around one of the small wheelhouse windows that needed rebonding. 

Sometime in the near future all five of these aluminium frames that are around the wheelhouse glazing will be replaced with mirror finish s/steel items similar to the ones now fitted to the aft hatches, more open wallet surgery yet again.

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

The next large issue was the shower compartment, or to be precise the glass mosaic tiles. The deck and bulkhead tiles have been in place since around 2006.  The mosaics on the deck were starting to become a problem or to put it better a right PITA.  The reason for this is that the mosaics themselves are tiny, only about 15mm square and about 2mm thin.  They were never designed to be used as a 'Floor' tile as being so thin severely limits the amount of adhesive they can be bedded into.  A few of them were regularly starting to come adrift and I was getting sick to the back teeth of having to re-bond / grout the odd loose one back into place.  Plus Mosaics by their very nature have a stack of grout per m2 which means more time consuming domestic engineering (Cleaning).  Also that seat we had fitted back in 06 - hardly ever got used and all agreed it was intrusive within the confined space available.  Enough was enough, time for a change / upgrade then

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

First job was to remove the seat,  after much contorting by Pete n Bro and 12 x s/steel wood screws later it was free without any damage being caused, the awkward screws were only accessible via the small hatch for access to the Shwr extract pump.  Thereby followed hours n hours of hammer / wood chisel removing each tile individually. there isn't any finesse involved in this process, it is just what it is.  Then it was scrape back and clean off any residue adhesive / grout.  Now it was inspection time, both the bulkheads and deck were in sound condition so no need for replacement or any wood butchery, that was a relief and saved a stack of time.

The whole lot was treated to an application of acyclic primer then I dressed the corners and joints with a tanking system backed up with fibre webbing and allowed to cure

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

Once thoroughly cured it was time to commence with the tiling proper. The first area to be tiled was the deck.  I had chosen a porcelain tile about 8mm thick and 100 x 100mm, this would allow flex movement between the tiles.  A 2mm grout line would allow for the said movement and give good waterproofing, and also some grip for bare feet, the tiles themselves are the smooth but non slip variant.

The adhesive is the most flexible rapid set that 'Bal' produce, it really does what it says on the tin, it is also their most expensive coming in at around £70:00 for 4:5kg's of the stuff, it is a product that I am well familiar with.  I used the same stuff years ago to bond the current ply to overboard the fwd and aft coach house roofs during the restoration although back then it needed a special additive to activate it, nowadays we have moved on, plain clean water is the activator.  I also used it for the original first round of tiling and on other clients boats too.

Once the adhesive was cured I applied a coat of 'Stain Stop' normally this is not need on most porcelain tiles but it is recommended for these ones.  Grout was then applied, again a flexible type, light grey with an additive to flex the grout up to the max.  Grouting prior to commencing bulkhead tiling ensures there are no gaps between the edge of the deck tiles and bulkheads for any small amounts of water to accumulate

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

Once the floor grout had cured it was onto the bulkhead tiling.  Much larger tiles than those mosaics, less grout = less cleaning.  I again opted for a 2mm grout line to allow for movement,  a 150 x 150mm ceramic tile, high gloss = easy to keep clean.  I used the same highly flexible adhesive.  The issue here was I had to fix the tiles starting from the top and tile down - a process normally to be avoided but I had no choice.  Also working back to front around the door frame.  The varnished timber by the top was removed and replaced with a polished tile trim = maintenance free.

Griff

 

[BroadAmbition]

Wall tiling completed, white grout swimming pool standard with a flexible additive. 

Then it was time to refit the thermostatic shower control and extract pump switch.  Switch first, had to fine tune the hole with a tile file, grease the two electrical connections, test operation, small amount of silicone to hold in place and its ticked off

Shower - Yet again it's the easy straight forward stuff that on boats just seems somehow to fight you all the way.  There are three small fixing holes to be drilled for the s/steel screws - That was straight forward.  What was not is that these wall tiles are a lot thicker than the previous mosaics that were fitted.  Consequently the compression nuts were now too far recessed in the timber bulkhead to get a spanner on from round the back.  Ok then pull through the bulkhead and tiles 2 x 15mm hep20 supply pipes and do the nuts up from the tiled side a bit awkward but doable.  Only it wasn't as the damn pipes would not now go far enough into the recessed fitting and the copper olives wouldn't budge to allow them to.

Down tools, traipse off to van for the trusty Dremmel, back onboard oh so carefully cut off the olives.  No spare olives onboard or in t locker

Down tools, traipse off to van, no olives in t van - Visit Bakers for new olives.  New olives wouldn't slip over inserts, tease out and damage inserts, no spare inserts in t locker

Down tools, traipse off to van - No inserts in t van - Visit Bakers for new inserts.

Reassemble and tighten up.  Fit cover plate with the three s/steel screws having had to sprag the holes in the timber.  The only way to test the system is to then fit the control and pressure the system up which I did - Sodding Typical and you could have put your mortgage on having a leak and I did too, on the cold water feed side, in my concern to not overtighten the compression fitting I had not tightened it up enough. Sigh, (Well I used some old English words ok?). Off water pump, drain down system take the lot apart again to get to the damn compression fitting and nip it up.  Reassemble and test once again - success

I hate Plumbing

Refit the inspection hatch only it won fit properly due to said new wall tiles being thicker.

Down tools, traipse off to van for my Marples

Adjust the timber dressing frame to fit.  The timber frame could really now do with sanding down and the obligatory six coats of varnish only I'm not going to.  What I will do this year sometime is get a mirror finish s/steel frame made up to match the rest and become maintenance free.

Clean / tidy up, seal the deck tiles again - this will protect and keep the grout looking like new.  There is just one more job to do, and that is to apply some antimould silicone sealant to the tiled corners, only this cannot be done until the grout has had 24 x Hrs to dry, I'll do this next time I'm onboard.

Griff

 

 

[BroadAmbition]

Senior Moment

Friday 1945 and I'm at last ready to set off home.

We have a set routine when leaving 'B.A' before departing.  After the customary clean through,  it's Gas, Water, 12volts, 240volts, Bilge pumps, physical security, alarm activated and the like.

Robin had purchased / supplied a new small 240v gizmo for the wheelhouse and fitted it during this visit.  It's a small plug in 240v insect killer that glows bright blue/violet.  Only it wasn't glowing, this meant the 240v shore power was not live onboard.

Check credit on shore power meter - Fine,  check shore power breaker - Fine,  check shore power cable - Fine,  check onboard breaker - Fine,  check changeover switch was made to shore power - Fine. Hmmmm, I was really going to have to check this one through as I couldn't yet understand why there was no 240v power to the sockets.  Plug in a wandering inspection lamp into socket - It was working ?  Then I notice Robins gizmo had a tiny off / on switch on the side of it AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH 

Locked up and drove home.

It wasn't until Sunday that I was reminded that I was supposed to have visited Fleggborough to collect a wing for a mate who is restoring and old Landrover and bring it home with me for him.  Need more B12

Griff

[ExSurveyor]

And this is all before you hit sixty

[Vaughan]

7 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

I hate Plumbing

So do I!

I have a hard and fast rule that I never touch a plumbing job outside the opening hours of the local DIY shop.

[LizG]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

So do I!

I have a hard and fast rule that I never touch a plumbing job outside the opening hours of the local DIY shop.

Absolutely, and two people have to be in the house/boat!

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Despite all the banter between plumbers and tilers on plumbing forums and whilst I can tile flat & level ish surfaces to a reasonable standard I tip my hat to those that can do the sloping floors in showers and wet rooms.

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[BroadAmbition]

So, what's next on the maintenance / Upgrade schedule? 

Well that new velcro we applied round the wheelhouse, we are a couple of metres short for the lifting sash sides, they should have been measured twice to account for the extra length required for when they are up / down.  I've ordered more of it and will fit when onboard next month

The next big one is the wheelhouse deck replacement in its entirety, 2 x full 8 x 4 sheets of load bearing holly and teak will just do it along with a slight re-design of the lifting sections / support battens.   Of course it'll not be straightforward nowt onboard 'B.A' ever seems to be 

Griff