Broad Ambition - TLC Time Again

[Meantime]

Would it be possible to cut a sheet of Formica to the size of the door front and then hold it in place with the plastic trim you were on about buying. The door on my Isotherm fridge is basically a reversible Formica panel that you can remove one piece of trim and then slide the panel out and turn it over.

[Meantime]

A quick glance on eBay and any of these could be cut to size, good choice of colours, might even be able to find something similar to the existing work tops?

eBay Formica

 

[BroadAmbition]

That's a great tip I'll forward it on,

Tvmom

Griff

[ZimbiIV]

Fablon?

paul

[Guest]

Put a dimmer light bulb in the area of the fridge and no one will notice, the wife does that instead of tidying up!

[BroadAmbition]

Put a dimmer light bulb in the area of the fridge and no one will notice, the wife does that instead of tidying up!

Like it, be a damn sight cheaper and easier too but it won't work during daylight hours.  

Griff

[MaceSwinger]

On 29/12/2020 at 15:59, BroadAmbition said:

£600 just to make a door look acceptable?

I feel your pain. I'm a bit of a stickler for appearances on things too (I blame over 18 years "in green" for that one) regardless of serviceability! I think @ZimbiIVl suggested it, but Fablon or an automotive vinyl wrap might smarten it up and keep future moisture off it. I vinyl wrapped some tatty parts of centre console on an old car and it worked a treat.

[BroadAmbition]

Thanks, We are currently considering Formica, vinyl wrap / fablon, filler and paint, Robin has sourced a 240v fridge for only £30:00 that we may yet purchase just for the door if it fits.  One way or t'other we will get it sorted.  Mind you by the time we are allowed back to visit Norfolk and 'B.A' we'll probably need a new fridge at this rate 

Griff

[finny]

A mate of mine damaged his fridge door on his 60,s camper van with a very deep gash across most of the front of the door . he filled it then did a fantastic job  fiber glassing the whole of the door then simply paint sprayed it - very time consuming but the end result looked the part 

finny  

[Jbx5]

Wouldn’t go down the formica route for that job with its serious razor like edges as still got the scars from my apprentice shop fitting days !

John 

[JennyMorgan]

5 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Mind you by the time we are allowed back to visit Norfolk and 'B.A' we'll probably need a new fridge at this rate 

The PM appears to be talking about April before we come out of tier four and then only if things are getting better!

[BroadAmbition]

I can well believe it but really hope not.  I've booked eight days afloat onboard 'B.A' for mysen MrsG and Purdey dog second week in March, I can see that one getting cancelled tbh 

Griff

[JennyMorgan]

35 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

. . . . . . second week in March, I can see that one getting cancelled tbh 

You need to be cunning! The end of the fishing season is the 14th of March, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean. Set your rods up on bite alarms, no bait, spot of varnishing whilst waiting for a bite, easy, no probs! I'm sure that there is a forty pound carp hibernating in the boatshed, she must surely come out for the occasional snack. Just come to Norfolk in a full hazchem suit, got to protect us locals.

[Meantime]

7 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

You need to be cunning! The end of the fishing season is the 14th of March, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know what I mean. Set your rods up on bite alarms, no bait, spot of varnishing whilst waiting for a bite, easy, no probs! I'm sure that there is a forty pound carp hibernating in the boatshed, she must surely come out for the occasional snack. Just come to Norfolk in a full hazchem suit, got to protect us locals.

Two slight flaws in your plan. One travel from tier 3 to tier 4 not allowed, and two no overnight stays. Apart from that, sounds like a good idea 

[JennyMorgan]

11 minutes ago, Meantime said:

Two slight flaws in your plan. One travel from tier 3 to tier 4 not allowed, and two no overnight stays. Apart from that, sounds like a good idea 

Fishermen fish throughout the night! The 'Mighty Tiger' can surely outrun local 'plod'! 

Regretfully this slightly tongue in cheek discussion highlights a possible problem. Laying up/winterising has been a worry for many, now we have a very real prospect of having to worry about whether or not we will be able to fit out our beloved boats. This must especially be a worry for those owning a wooden boat. Traditionally Broads boatsheds come to life in the New Year, none less so than the DIY shed at Martham for example. 

[BroadAmbition]

The week I booked afloat is indeed the week leading up to the closed season. It's supposed to be a social week afloat maybe with a couple of friends too

Then there is the maintenance that is due. The Beta is now slightly overdue for a major service that I'm itching to get on with.  Also we have a brand new input shaft for the Borg Warner gearbox to fit which in turn means fitting a new drive plate, no use using the present one as the worn (But not worn out) splines on the drive plate will prematurely wear the input shaft splines.  So that's a gearbox in / out job and round to Toby again.

Then there is the whole of the wheelhouse deck to replace with Holly and Teak decking and re-designing some of the supports underneath to enable a more user friendly way of lifting the deck boards, doing away the the overlapping aluminium strips in the process and fitting better stronger deck ring pulls

The soft furnishings should be re-covered in the new year, then the fridge / door  is ongoing

Next year she is due out of the wet n crinckly stuff for a bottom clean, planking and anti-foul. New rubbing strips all round are also required.  Five mirror finish stainless steel glass surrounds for the wheelhouse.  Galley deck to be replaced again with holly and teak (After the bottom planking).  I'd like to fit a third deckhead Led in the fwd passageway too

The list goes on and on.  That's no bad thing, some of the items are  just normal maintenance, some are upgrades.  Upgrades in our ever growing experience are the more costly items.

All I need is time and money with plenty of hands on helpers to crack on, that used to be the biggest headache.  Nowadays it has become secondary to planning all the above lot regarding dates and the like, it's a proper nightmare due to this blasted covid and if we don't crack on soon then the minor issues become big expensive issues

Basically since March there has been very little maintenance or upgrades carried out, it's starting to show and it's bothering me more and more

Griff

 

[JennyMorgan]

4 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Basically since March there has been very little maintenance or upgrades carried out, it's starting to show and it's bothering me more and more

Griff

 

If folk are unable to get into the boatsheds before April then it either means launching with minimal work having been done or a June launching which might mean boats drying out. Either way that might not be good. 

At the moment Oulton Broad is laid around the edges and in the dykes, frost has remained all day and the  brass monkeys are looking anxious.

[Andrewcook]

Hi Griff as I've had a good look at the growing list of what B  A needs to be done. How often do those Input Shaft part needs to be replaced ? And how long will it take to do ? O by the way I've Booked to going away in  March 🤞

[Vaughan]

Just a silly question - how do you know the input shaft splines are worn if you have not already taken the gearbox off?

I have not heard of that happening often but it may be caused if the drive plate was not fitted dead centre. Some yards have a shaft dummy that they use when doing up the setscrews on the drive plate.

If you have a tinkling noise going on, that will be the springs failing in the drive plate.

[JanetAnne]

I thought it was a dummy shaft used for alignment. The shaft dummy is the unfortunate person landed with doing the job!   

[BroadAmbition]

Just a silly question - how do you know the input shaft splines are worn if you have not already taken the gearbox off?

Good question, not silly question at all Vaughan.  You sure you wanna know? - Here goes

To answer it correctly we have to go back to 2006-ish (Without me checking back over my records)

During the restoration, once we had made the decision to part-ex the tired 4108 for a new Beta we turned our attention to the gearbox.  R641 came with a Borg Warner 2:1 reduction box.  On one of my usual visits to the Broads I went to visit Brian Greenwood at his gearbox workshop adjacent to the public mooring staith by the Museum of the Broads.  My simple question was do we buy a new gearbox or have the BW reconditioned?  He told me a brand new PRM back then was around £1'100, it would cost about the same give or take to fully recondition the BW, purchasing a brand new BW from America would be around the £5k mark, if we could manage to get one.

The difference in engineering / weight / quality between a PRM and a BW was worlds apart, He had one of each built up in his workshop. Picking up the PRM was a breeze, picking up the BW was a proper effort.  Decision made, I would bring our BW down to his place for a full re-condition with the instruction to do whatever was needed and not to shortcut or skimp

In due course the brand new Beta was delivered to his place, he then married our reconditioned BW to the engine, painting the BW same colour as the Beta, they were then trundled round the corner to John Williams boat shed to await 'B.A's arrival for fitting, therefore none of us was able to view the BW and in particular the input shaft as it was married to the new Beta

Jump forward to early 2017 and if you look at a post back in this thread Mar 20 2017 - more explained there

On top of getting the BW repaired and upgraded, it became only too obvious that the input shaft and drive plate splines were very worn.  This after only 2'500 x Hrs of use too.  Toby explained that Brian had obviously not changed the input shaft and should of done so during the reconditioning back in 2006, this had caused the drive plate splines to prematurely wear out.    I was proper miffed, my leg had been lifted and it had taken 11 years for this to come to light.  Toby explained that he didn't have a new input shaft in stock as they are very difficult / expensive to get hold of but would have a rummage around to find the best one he could, which he did, I in turn fitted a new drive plate onto the Beta. 

I was now in the situation where although reliable I knew the drivetrain was not at the top of its game.  We were running around with reliability but not as good as it should have been, a worn input shaft although much better than we first had would be prematurely wearing the drive plate splines in turn even more wear on the input shaft splines.  Sometimes we take 'B.A' out on the salty stuff for longer runs, this would have to be sorted in due course.  We have never skimped on any items where 'B.A' is concerned and we were not gonna start down that road now

2018 - A call from Toby - He bought a job lot of gearbox spares from a yard on the Broads in boxes - not a clue what was in them until he opened them up.  There in amongst all sorts of items was a Brand New input shaft still in it's brown wax paper and did I want it?   'Did I want it' ??  The mighty Tiger was burning rubber all the way from Donny to Stalham, price agreed, beer chits exchanged

And there it remains in his workshop patiently waiting. Well, this year it will wait no more.  So as and when I can get down to the wetshed I will remove the BW take it round to Toby who will fit the new input shaft, seals, change the oil etc,  I will in turn yet again fit a new drive plate to the Beta, then refit BW and all will be good in the world

That was some answer eh?  I hope all is now clear

Griff

 

[Vaughan]

Well I did ask, didn't I? That's quite a history!

Normally we get trouble with the splines on the output shaft, which is due normally to shaft alignment but you won't have that problem as you have a Plummer block fitted as well as universal joints.

[Andrewcook]

Hi Griff here's this question. If and when you do have B A out of the water and if you need to replank her what sort of Wood will you be using? Also what Type of water proofing will you be using? To make it water tight and how long will all this last for? Once the job is done. What part do you think Griff of any Wooden Boat's does needs replanking more the others Front / Middle / Back?

[BroadAmbition]

1)  Teak.  'B.A' is fully teak planked on teak ribs so wanting to keep like for like that is what we have always used and will continue to use.  Wonderful material is teak for boat building, but it blunts chisel / blades fast.  It's biggest disadvantage is sourcing then the cost is horrendous.  Some folk state that it doesn't take varnish very well.  I have found if the preparation is done correctly with modern uv varnishes then it takes very well and I've never had a problem

2)  Between her planks she was never caulked with cotton but teak splines/strips parred down then sanded to get a really smooth / flat finish, this was to enable a mould to be taken as she was the plug for the Bourne 40 hull.

3)  Waterproofing between  the planks - Nowadays we either teak spline and / or use an Arbo product in a skeleton sealant gun.  Planks are fastened in place using s/steel screws with teak plugs.  Removing the original copper roves is a right pita but we have a well practised method for removing them which is still time consuming and sometimes awkward.  Replacement timber be it planks or graving pieces is treated to 5 star Cuprinol.  Followed by a couple of coats of underwater primer followed by anti foul

4)  The longer the better, having good clean smooth joints and being meticulous regarding 3) helps a lot

5)  Where there is no hard chine as in 'B.A's case we find most problems occur around the pressure area adjacent to the propeller.  The water line with her planks being teak fairs very well, the Apron we replaced with Oak during the restoration.  Being Oak it is not as long lasting as teak and needs constant attention every two years  especially around the waterline.  The rubbing strips - We replaced the original Mahogany items with Oak - This was a mistake as they are now suffering quite badly despite 3 x applications of 5 star Cuprinol and 6 x coats of varnish.  We plan to replace the lot of them with Meranti this coming year, that's gonna be a big expensive time consuming job but its gotta be and will be done

Griff

 

[Andrewcook]

Thank you Griff it was very interesting as you've done a lot of research on things on B A and improving where it needs to be done for B A and to out live us all being on the Broads with a lot of T L C  have a pleasant 2021