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Broad Ambition - TLC Time Again


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I proper hate that Robin character 0730 and he's up with the joys of spring. Mind you he did bring me a coffee as soon as I had prized my eyes open and he is now cooking sausages 

First job this morning for me - remove gearbox, after that I'll get my teeth into a proper job. Onwards and upwards Griff

Griff

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Home safe and sound, got in at 2350 (Having stopped off at the Harvey Arms for our Sunday get-together)

Proper busy weekend that was, I like busy weekends - brings results and get that list down somewhat.

So what got done?

1)   The transom needed 2 more coats of varnish, along with the teak landing pad for the windscreen - they both got flatted back and one coat of Brava varnish, so they both need just one more then the graphics can be applied to the transom

2)   Jizer clean Beta engine, gearbox and drip tray

3)   Sterilise fresh water tanks - done sort of, the powder has been administered, next weekend will see the system flushed out and job completed

4)   Bilges throughout deep cleaned and inspected which resulted on one deck board bearer adjusted

5)   Deep clean deckhead linings throughout

6)   Deep clean interior bulkheads / cabin sides - still a few more to do

8)   Drain sump in diesel tank - this is a particularly  awkward job, to gain access to the drain valve on the sump of the diesel tank you have to remove 3 x batteries, battery box then get double jointed to get to the thing.  The diesel tank is 35 gallons capacity, half a litre was drained out with approximately an egg cup full of contamination - well chuffed

9)   Clean diesel water separator filter

10)  clean 2 x vetus raw water filters

14)   Remove gearbox and inspect - see separate post

15)   Remove coupling shaft and replace bearings - Now up here in Donny and will take back down next weekend

17)   Apply varnish to windscreen landing pad - 1 more coat needed

19)  Measure aircraft now that horn / searchlight have been moved - Result - both the horn and searchlight are now lower than the windscreen in it's lowered position.  The windscreen lowered is 6ft4" so that is still B'A's minimum airdraft, (I can get her down to 6ft 3" if I unscrew the windscreen)

23)  Replace white screw caps to headlining

24)  Replace beige screw caps to bulkhead carpet lining

25)  Bond deckhead lining in fwd passageway

26)  Condition deckhead lining with 'Armour All@

29)  Apply silicone to deckhead in heads

32)  Replace plug / chain in shower basin

36)   Condition wheelhouse canopy inside and out with 'Armour All'

38)   Cut back engine room deck plates where possible, sand edges and apply paint

43)   Replace 2 x LED fittings to deckhead in fwd passageway

44)  Apply Beta red paint to areas of engine where required

So out of 46 items on the list we have completed 18 with a few more partially done.  Next weekend will see more progression

Griff

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Gearbox issues:-

Back in January on a social weekend - Yes I was actually out cruising the rivers - I noticed when going above 2'200 rpm the  drive was slipping within the gearbox, and again if using full ahead when berthing etc.  no problems in reverse.  Then during the AMP in Southgates,we had to remove the propshaft, this entailed removing the coupling shaft (The bit between the gearbox and the propshaft) I noticed wear in the fwd spider bearing, which is strange as the fwd of the two had a grease nipple that we rigorously apply grease to - Why has this one worn and not the aft one that is a sealed unit?  Further investigation required.

Jump forward to this weekend - Remove Gearbox and take it round to Toby in Stalham.  I need to inject here that we got lots of professional advice from Jason aka SOS24:7

'B.A's gearbox is a Borg Warner velvet drive 2:1 reduction 70C circa 1960's (Confirmed by Toby)  That is to say it rotates the same way as the engine and is capable of handling 60hp (.B,A's Beta produces 50hp)  We had it fully reconditioned back in 2006 at a cost of around £1'100.Oil changes have been done iaw manufacturers guidelines and we do not abuse the gearbox

So I was somewhat disappointed / miffed it had developed this issue after 2'400 Hrs running time over a period of ten years.

Toby connected the box up to his test bed / engine and confirmed that the pressure was low and the pressure relief valve was lifting too early.  I then left him to it.

Two visits later and here is the diagnosis.   There are three fwd drive plates and two aft drive plates.  A lug on one of the reverse driveplates had snapped off and then merrily proceeded around the gearbox wrecking havoc.    Oil pump - knackered, fwd and aft drive plates - knackered,  pressure relief valve - knackered,  piston/seals - knackered.  the damage in turn resulted in an off balance input shaft which has knackered the splines on the input shaft which in turn has knackered the splines on the drive plate fastened to the Beta fly wheel (Now removed and a replacement one ordered).  The vibration has knackered the fwd spider bearing on the coupling shaft as mentioned earlier.

Toby stated that he has never seen this failure ever on any gearbox - That made me feel a whole lot better - and that he was surprised the gearbox was still operating at all.

So what's the way ahead?   -   Replace worn items with new BUT use a 71C journal enabling 7 fwd clutch plates to be fitted along with a 71C main gear wheel.  This will uprate the gearbox to a 71C rated at 120hp. Then it will never have to be looked at again (The last gearbox engineer said that 11 years ago too)

Looking on the upside after all this work is completed and I have installed everything 'B.A' will be in as better position than before with an upgraded gearbox.  The coupling shaft is now here up in Donny with a mate and will have new bearings this week.  Photo's to follow but I really must get to bed

Griff

 

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Let there be light:

Charlie will be along in time and give the ‘full report’ on the progress we have been making on Broad Ambition’s upgrade and maintenance list but I wanted to cover a few points as the questions arise every now and then so far as lighting on boats goes.

I personally think boats should no longer have any fluorescent or incandescent lighting on them any more – they are so inefficient and when many boats have 200ah of domestic battery capacity or less – preserving this capacity as much as you can is an important factor.

When Broad Ambition was restored all cabins had ‘G4’ style down lighters put in – these are very shallow spot lamp type fittings which in their standard form take a 20w Halogen bulb.  These get very hot and consume a lot of power. These days many Chandlers sell this type of fitment as a sealed LED unit.  In the Quarter Berth on Broad Ambition we had such a unit fitted, but as LED lighting has come on in leaps and bounds over the years its cold white and relatively dim output was no longer up to par. It is why I dislike the ‘sealed’ type units as you cannot upgrade the bulb, one must remove and update the whole fitment.

I replaced it with Aluminum fitments which appear as if a satin Chrome – but unlike Chromed steel will never rust. I then put in a COB (Chip on Board) LED bulb that is sealed in a silicone bubble – no moisture can get at any of the electrical components and if you get the 4w variety (harder to find) they are absolutely identical in light output and colour temperature to the 20w Halogen bulb they replace. 

So firstly it was down with the deck heads – many screws and as one proceeds further into the small space that is the quarter berth on Broad Ambition it gets narrower – not something a wide person like me fitted into very well.  That said once these were all down I could get on with fitting the new lamp fitment to replace the older sealed LED unit. Next up was to measure where an additional fitment would be placed to further light up the berth.  Measurements taken it was time carefully cut back the headlining and foam to which the Vinyl is bonded to in preparation of drilling through the 3mm Ply to make a hole for the new fitment.  I’ve not done this before so I consulted the Yorkshire Woodworking Oracle – Charlie – and he duly showed me the best way to do it.  

Hole cut, new fitment in it was time to begin wiring them up – which having done this I then consulted the other Yorkshire Electrical Oracle – Howard – who approved of my wiring and all was put back and duly worked.  We now have one very well lit Quarter Berth.

Now it was time to head into the Galley and fit a light over the sink thus removing a shadow area, I repeated the process of many screws being removed and a far larger sheet of Ply but then duly cut the hole, fitted the light and wired it all up without consulting any Oracle’s.  It is nice to know the theory of something, put it into practice and get it right but have someone who has done it before tell you it was all ok after all.  I guess that sums up boating – everyone learning something new from somewhere else right down to the Yorkshire Woodworking Oracle who learnt from the Grand Master of Wood – Doug – about adding Natural Turpentine to certain Varnish’s. 

Back in the Galley and with some help getting the deck head back up all was fine and working – we now have a very well lit space with no dark spots.  

If you are interested in updating your lighting then there are a number of options that you can take that do not mean new fitments but simply finding new bulbs that are LED and use far less wattage, produce virtually no heat and yet provide all of the same light output. If you have existing small fluorescent strip lights, you can obtain LED tube style bulbs for these too, but you will have to remove any ballast/starter that the fluorescent tubes need before fitting your LED replacement tubes. 


 

The fitments we used are: Here

The LED bulbs are: Here

As an aside, if you want some bright waterproof LED's to light up certain areas - such as we have used around the engine area, these are ideal: http://amzn.eu/hEMflzN 

QB.thumb.jpg.9745e9754af90399d76f14559638fa2d.jpgEng.thumb.jpg.bd130ad9030393ac5d17d558d30e66c1.jpg

 

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Griff will be along in time and give the ‘full report’ on the progress we have been making on Broad Ambition’s upgrade and maintenance list

Here as instructed.  Ok here's what got achieved:-

1)      Transom – strip, repair, 6 x coats varnish

3)      Sterilise fresh water tanks

5)      Deep clean bulkheads / Deckheads / fittings throughout

6)      Deep clean cabin sides

7)      Service Mikuni  - replace glow plug

13)    Replace throttle / Gearbox control cable with Morse Extreme items

14)    Re-fit gearbox

15)    Re-fit coupling shaft

17)    Make / fit / Varnish teak landing pad for windscreen

18)    Survey upper deck / repair with Teak where necessary in preparation for Dek-king

21)    Fit upgraded LED’s to engine bay

27)    Deep clean / polish interior woodwork / varnish

31)    Cut back both window kites in ¼ berth

37)    Fit Oak knob to Morse control

39)    Fit 240v double socket with usb ports to ¼ berth cabin

40)    Fit 2 x LED deckhead lamps to ¼ berth

45)    Touch up Gearbox with ‘Beta Red’ paint where required

46)    Fit new LED to deckhead over sink in galley

50)    Fit new drive plate to Beta

Eight of the above items are upgrades, a one off once only item to attend to.  Most of the rest of the items are routine normal maintenance, some of which are only required every two years.  The gearbox issue should have never happened, but of course the law of sod made it happen, that little episode has cost us around £1'400 to put right and if it hadn't been for Jason Hatch could have been even more.  The two morse controls, we have now upgraded to their top of the range, the 'Supreme' are supposed to be really good, the extreme even better - this should be a lifetime once only upgrade.  The deck surveying and consequent repairs took me a fair while, some soft patches had developed in the ply around the fender eyes due to prolonged water ingress (My fault from the restoration days) I have repaired these sections with genuine Teak so consider them cured for good, especially when we get round to fitting the Dek-King which will fully waterproof the decks

That's 19 items ticked off the list with three of us onboard going at it full out over two days.   That leaves around 18 items left on the list to attend to.  The list seems to constantly get longer but at least we are ticking off items faster then they are getting added on.  I'm due to be afloat this coming weekend, actually going out on the rivers for a change, but will endeavour to get some of those outstanding 18 items ticked off in the normal manner

BTW - I am so impressed with the LED engine space lights, I have ordered a set for the back of the 'GriffTile' van

Griff

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This is how typical outfits in Norfolk work:-

Robin on Monday morning rings a supplier to the caravan / camping trade, orders a new gas hob for ‘B.A’ (Propane with FFD’s)

He discovers that the supplier is based in Cromer and only 19 miles from Richo’s.  They stated it would take 4/5 days to deliver it the 19 miles to Richo’s !!  Really?

I rang Richo’s today to see if it had arrived – No sign of it

Today Robin contacts caravan supplier to be told it is ‘Waiting to be despatched’ (Just what it was waiting for we will probably never know) and will be 4/5 days to Richo's from despatch to cover the 19 miles  -  You are joking me right?

Here’s how Yorkshire folk work:-

Howard Bro was servicing / fault finding a car park today in Gt Yarmouth, he gets a call from Robin.

Howard drives to somewhere out in the middle of nowhere near to Cromer, collects Hob on his way home to Donny and drops it off at my hovel at 1830

(I’ve had a look at – Looks the biz,  -  I intend to fit it this weekend)  Friday pm I will drive down to Stalham and take Hob onboard with me

24 x Hrs start to finish – Job done.

That’s the difference between Norfolk and Gods Country !

 

CHG

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Last weekend afloat was supposed to be a social event and actually cruising the rivers and enjoying 'B.A - It was and we did.

However I just could not resist finishing off a few items whilst onboard which of course I did.  'B.A' now has a secondary fwd bilge pump, mounted in a sump on top of the hog adjacent to the existing fully auto Rule pump.  This secondary pump is also a Rule and also capable of 1100 gph, the difference is, it is triggered by its own incorporated float switch wired direct to a 12v supply (With in line fuse of course)  I had to re-site the water pipes via a 'Y' piece and fitted two new in line non-return valves. This is a 'Belts and Braces' affair the same set up as the aft bilge pumps.

The quarter berth now has smaller hoppers (Along with other upgrades) and I needed to fix up a mount to carry the re-sited curtain rail - it is now in place, just requires more coats of varnish.

The repaired gearbox was tested and is all to the good - I did comment on this topic when asked on Saturday lunchtime stating we did full power trials ahead and astern   :naughty:   with the river inspector in earshot, when I turned to him he was standing there with his fingers in his ears singing 'La La La' rofl

We have new hob in the galley

I put most of the newly laundered curtains up

We took delivery of the cabin 'Marine Tuft' carpet mats and very nice they look / feel too

 

I've just had a glance at our upgrade / maintenance list - items completed since we commenced with 'B.A's AMP at Southgates followed by two maintenance weekends and last weekend afloat.   Seventy items have been sorted.  Seventy!  That's all to the good and we can rightly feel somewhat smug with ourselves

However to keep our feet firmly on the decks there are now nineteen items on the upgrade list and ten on the maintenance list still outstanding.  We will crack on with these time and money allowing over the coming months.  The big one is to remove all deck fittings, then fit 'Dek-King' to the upper decks.  You may remember I fitted this product to the well deck a couple of years ago now and it is standing up very well and still looks smart

Onwards and upwards in the normal manner once more then gentlemen

Griff

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  • 5 weeks later...

This is our House Flag - and since Derick, one our owners star sign is Cancer, he elected this to be the design - the Crab for the flag.

I know Charlie is a stickler for things looking spot on, but I think he has done one grand job with this - and I know the hour and amount of work that he has put in starting from a less than perfect base. So don't be so hard on yourself, because it looks very much better than it was before, and recon regardless of what was applied and how it would never have been completely even.

 

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