Service please

01/08/2010 by admin.

Sunday 1 August 2010

The engine might have only done 100 hours since its last service, but with about 12 months having passed since the last oil change, I decided it was time to carry out a full service.

Having bought a spare set of oil, fuel and air filters last year, all I needed to buy was some oil and AFT fluid (for the gearbox).  Planning on spending most of next week in the Slough office, I set off from home early on Sunday morning for the 200 mile drive to Packet Boat marina.  En-route I stopped at Halfords in Slough Trading Estate to pick up the oil and AFT fluid.

Once on board, I quickly set about removing the brick and steel-sheet ballast from the engine room to provide better access to the engine compartment.  As I was getting to the lower level of bricks, I noticed they were sitting in liquid in what is normally a dry bilge.  Initially thinking it was water, I soon realised that it was diesel.  After removing the remaining fuel-soiled bricks (which have now been taken home until I can dispose of them properly), I started to look for the fuel leak.  With the bilge now clear of bricks and cleaned of dirt and diesel, it quickly became apparent that the fuel was dripping from a compression joint on the fuel feed line.  I suspect this had worked lose during the recent fuel primer replacement (carried out by an Engineer from High Line Yachting).  Fortunately, this was easily resolved by tightening the compression fitting, which checking 24 hours later seemed to have done the trick.

With the leak now resolved, I set about servicing the engine.  Running the engine for 10 minutes to warm the engine oil, I pumped the ~6 ltr of black oil into some spare plastic containers (now also sitting im my garage waiting to be taken to our local recycling centre).  Removing the oil filter (with a plastic bag wrapped around it to catch any drips), I lubricated the rubber seal with clean oil and fitted the new filter.  I then slowly filled the engine with new oil. As I had more new oil than I actually needed, I decided to flush the engine with a spare 2 ltr of new oil - a bit of a waste, but as I wouldn’t need the surplus oil for at least another year, thought having a cleaner engine would be better.

Then on to the fuel filter.  Closing the fuel valve, I carefully removed the fuel filter.  Although there was a little bit of sediment in the filter, it didn’t look too bad (compared to the first time I removed a very rusty filter!).  Lubricating and fitting the new filter was a dodle.  Switching on the fuel valve, I opened the bleed valve and using the recently fitted replacement lift pump, primed the fuel.

Next the air filter.  Four clips, old filter out, new filter in.  Job done.

Having previously failing to remove the bleed screw off the gear box, this time I am going to succeed.  After about 20 minutes of knuckle bruising effort, the bleed nut eventually comes free.  Placing a plastic bowl under the gear box I manage to remove all of the black gearbox oil.  A first for me whilst we have owned the boat, and I suspect for many years (if it has ever been done!).  Having never seen AFT fluid before, I was quite surprised to see it was pink - quite a change to the jet black oil I had just removed.

With everything back in place, time to fire up the engine.  As suspected, I still had air in the fuel line.  This was quickly sorted by loosening each of the four compression valves in turn whilst turning the engine, until fuel flowed and the engine fired up like a dream.

Finally, a quick check over the other all the pipes, compression joints, engine mounts, batteries, cables and coolant, all looked well.  Running the engine for about 30 minutes, both in neutral and in gear under load, and everything looked fine.

Time to replace the ballast (leaving out the fuel stained bricks) and replacing the engine housing and flooring, clean up and rest.

Job well done (until next year).

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The Doors

04/07/2010 by admin.

Sunday 4 July 2010

With the wooden external engine room door inserts looking rather tired, it was time to get them replaced.

Two offcuts of oak-vaneered MDF, surrounded by softwood trim and several coats of exterior varnish and the doors are as good as new.

Not quite as ornate as the original - but we like them.

This means of course I will now have to make some new side-hatch doors.

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Drip, drip, drip

04/07/2010 by admin.

Sunday 4 July 2010

A couple of weeks ago, I had noticed the plywood board under the water pump was looking rather damp.  On further investigation there were small droplets of water seeping from the screws securing the diaphragm. Hoping it was no more than the screws having worked loose due to the vibration of the pump when operating, I managed to tightened each of the screws by about 1/2 a turn - then fingers crossed.

Having spent a couple of days on the boat with Bev, Nia (3 yr old grandaughter), Natalie (daughter) and Greg we returned from Little Venice on Sunday morning.  As I again needed to spend a few days in Ingres’ Slough office, Bev, Nia, Natalie and Greg returned home whilst I remained on board.  Whilst in London, I checked on the state of the pump.  Although previously there had only been a few drops of water, the floor was now completely drenched - clearly more than just tightening the screws was needed.

Taking note of the model number of the Shurflo pump (2088), I drove to Uxbridge Boat Centre  in the hope they could help.  Being a well known pump, UBC were able to provide a new diaphragm/drive kit assembly at £28.53 (gulp).

Examining the contents, it looked simple enough.  Three screws on the outer casing and a further three on the inner.

But before starting work, I decide to read the instructions (that’s rare for me!).

As working on the pump is going to be easier with it removed from under the foredeck, I switch off the electric supply to the pump, close the recently installed isolation valve, undo the water supply and outlet pipes and disconnect the pump from the electric supply.  Finally removing the 3 screws securing the pump to the floor, the pump is now free to be removed.

Then to the instructions.  Being an American product (although there is an outlet in Crawley nr Gatwick), the instructions appeared to be quite well written (i.e. not having been translated into English via Chinese, Russian and Hebrew).

Disassembly

1. Remove the three upper housing screws (C)

2. Remove the three long screws (D)

Brilliant.  So where on the diagram (above) are the screws labelled (C) and (D)?  We have labels for (A), (B), (E), (F), (G) and (H), but certainly no (C) or (D) - maybe the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has removed them as there was no (N) either

Using some common sense (yes I think I still have a bit left), I removed the only six screws on the outer assembly.

Right at the top of the single-page instruction sheet, was a note:

Earlier Versions: This kit fits all earlier versions of the model 2088. Do not be alarmed if this kit appears physically different than your existing upper housing/switch assembly.

As my pump is over 15 years old, I presume it qualifies as an “earlier version”. So as instructed, I remove the upper housing (E) and valve assembly (F), followed by the old diaphragm/drive assembly (G) from the motor.

Then on to the “Assembly” instructions.  Placing the valve assembly (F) on top of the new diaphragm assembly (G), ensuring the valve assembly seats properly on the diaphragm, before placing the upper housing (E) on top of the valve assembly (F).

Then continuing to assemble the pump with the six screws, I place the pump back under the fore deck and reconnect the water pipes and electric.  So far, so good.  However when I try to run water through the tap, although I can hear the pump running, no water comes out of the tap.

Suspecting I may have made a mistake in aligning the motor to the diaphragm, I repeat the disassembly and check very carefully the work I had done.  Not finding anything wrong, I re-assemble the unit and try again.  Still no water.  Thinking there may be a problem with the new diaphragm, I remove the unit for the third time, and refit the old diaphragm to the pump.  Putting the pump back  in place, sure enough, water comes out of the tops - but of course, still dripping from the diaphragm.

It was now getting rather late, and I was tired of going back and fore under the foredeck to remove and refit the pump.  Nothing for it other than to turn the water and electrics off and leave this until tomorrow.

On returning from the office, I remove the pump for the fourth time.  This time, I decide not to follow the instructions and use some logic.  Looking at the depth of the old setup and comparing it to the new, the new unit clearly looks about 3-4mm thicker.  I then realise what I had done wrong.  When removing the upper housing, the valve assembly came away with it.  It was now I realised that the valve assembly needed to be prised from the upper housing and disposed of before fitting the new diaphragm/drive assembly - doh.

Ah well, with the old diaphragm/drive AND valve assembly removed, and the new unit installed, everything works a treat.

A mixture of not very clear instructions, and me believing the “Do not be alarmed if this kit appears physically different than your existing upper housing/switch assembly” warning, using some common sense wins at the end of the day.

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Paloma 0 - Rinnai 1

10/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Saturday 10th January 2009

Up and about at 06:00, Max fed and watered and walked around the lake.  Back on the boat I have a couple of cups of tea from water heated on the Morsø and watch the early morning TV news, read through all new emails and start to catch up on writing the blog.

By 10:00 I’ve waited long enough for Bev to surface so make her a cup of tea so that I can start work on the water heater.

Last night the temperature dropped to -6C and from early morning a light dusting of snow now sat on the frozen canal and marina.  I’m sure glad that the work I have to do today is all indoors.

With the water already switched off, I turned the gas off and within just a few minutes the Paloma was off the wall.  

Following the printed instructions for the draft diverter, I attached the unit to the top of the heater.  Then, on reading the instructions for the heater I discover that the flange on the front on the diverter should be pointing to the back of the heater.  So undoing the two self tapping screws I removed the diverter, turned it round and re-applied the screws.

Attaching the unit to the wall was a doddle.  Offering the heater up to the existing chimney I marked the location of the upper bracket.  Using the largest of the three supplied screws, I then hung the heater on the wall.  Then, making sure the heater was sitting straight; I secured the unit to the wall with the remaining two screws through the lower bracket.

That was the easy bit.  As expected, with the heater being slightly shorter than Paloma, I now had to extend the 3/8” gas pipe, 15mm cold water feed and 15mm hot water supply.  I had to make a return trip to Uxbridge Boat Centre to pick up a couple of tap connectors and a gas leak detector spray.  Of course, when I returned to the boat I quickly realised that I had picked up the wrong connectors, as these were cone fitting and I needed the flat 1/2″ BSP type.  So it was back to UBC where I swapped them for the correct ones.  I also picked a 15mm isolation valve.  This would allow the heater to be isolated from the cold water supply in the event of future problems.

Cutting new sections of 15mm Hepworth pipe and fitting them with reinforcing inner tubes, I was quickly able to complete the cold water feed and hot water supply.  Switching on the water pump, I was then able to test for water leaks.  Perfect first time (that makes a change!).

I then started on the gas supply.  Again, cutting a short length of 3/8” copper pipe to fit between the existing gas test point and the new 3/8” adaptor now connected to the heater.  Using the gas leak detector fluid, I spayed each of the new and existing localised compression joints and turned on the gas.  A couple of minutes later, and without a single ‘bubble’ showing, I was happy that the gas supply was sound and I could now move on to testing the heater.

After inserting the ignition battery, and following the instructions, I pressed the ignition button.  Within just a couple of seconds, the pilot light lit and on turning on the galley hot water tap, the heater fired up and quickly provided steaming hot water.

Initial impression is that the heater is definitely more powerful than the Paloma.  Bearing in mind the water in tank is sitting in a canal which is currently frozen, the hot water pumping out of the heater was too hot to touch when the heater was turned up full (point 6).  The only way to get a comfortable water temperature was to reduce the temperature to point 4.  This also provided a greater pressure of warm water.

The final test was conducted by Bev – she had a shower!

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Sealant with a loving kiss

09/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Friday 9th January 2009

With Bev looking after Nia in the morning (whilst Natalie was working), we couldn’t set off until after 12:00.  This wasn’t a problem, as I was able to do some of the chores around the house; sorting out the re-cycling bags, taking down the icicle lights from around the house (not a nice job on an aluminium ladder in temperatures just above freezing) and downloading the Rinnai installation manual from the internet so that I could have a read beforehand.  This prove to be useful, as I discovered that the heater has a 10mm gas pipe connector, whilst my existing copper pipe is 3/8” – a reducer would also need to be picked up from UBC.

I was also pleased to see that the gas inlet, hot water outlet (15mm) and cold water inlet (15mm) were in the same order left-to-right as the existing Paloma.  At least I wouldn’t have to re-route all the pipes.

With car packed, Bev and I (with Max the Labrador in the boot) set off at around 12:30, arriving at the Marina at around 15:30.  Coincidentally, as we were passing the exit for Heathrow (just a couple of miles from the Slough office), Wouter (Director of Premium Services - Ingres) telephoned from Slough to ask about some of the work we did in 2008 for a report he was preparing!

Whilst Bev took Max for a brief walk, I unloaded the car and lit the Morsø – it was again quite cold (just above freezing) and with the prospect of temperatures dropping to -8C, keeping the boat warm was clearly going to be a priority.

As I looked across the Marina, there were clearly a number of other boaters who were also preparing for another cold night as the plumes of smoke rose from their boats’ chimneys into the cold, still air.

With Bev and Max on board, I headed out to Uxbridge Boat Centre to collect the heater.  Whilst there, I also picked up some 3/8” copper pipe, some spare olives (as I would probably need to refit the existing gas test point below the heater) and the 3/8” connector for the heater (to replace the 10mm connector with integral gas test point).

Before leaving UBC, I mentioned that I had passed their details on to the Canal List mail group.  To which the two ladies behind the counter suddenly realised why they had received two telephone calls asking about high temperature sealant today!

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René Rinnai

08/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Thursday 8th January 2009

With several days of annual leave being carried over from last year, and a number of TOIL days accumulated from my recent trips to Venice, I decided that I would take Friday off with the intention of heading back to the boat to fit a new water heater.

A phone call to Uxbridge Boat Centre confirmed that they also stocked the draft diverter (a separate unit which fits on top of the heater to prevent the pilot light from being extinguished by drafts!) and that both heater and diverter would be put to one side for me.

In the evening, whilst reading through some canal emails on Yahoo’s canal-list, I spotted one asking about high temperature silicon sealant to which someone else had responded that they thought UBC stocked it.  Having bought a tube of the sealant for the chimney of the Morsø last year from UBC, I responded that to the best of my knowledge they did stock it, and whilst I had their details on screen, I cut ‘n paste the telephone, fax and opening hours into my reply.

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400 mile round trip – because we can!

07/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Wednesday 7th January 2009

At 06:30 I left the boat and set off to pick my colleague Peter Gale up from his hotel near Slough station.  We had planned to spend a couple of hours in the office at Slough before catching a train to London for the meeting.  No sooner had I picked Peter up (at 07:00), his phone rang.  The call was from two of the other attendees for the meeting who were calling to cancel the meeting as the overhead power lines had prevented their trains from travelling from the North of England to London.

Ah well, might just as well drive home.

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Una Paloma Blanca – Roughly translated from Welsh, My Paloma’s Broke

06/01/2009 by Mark.Whalley.

Tuesday 6th January 2009

With a meeting planned in the City on Wednesday and wanting to check out the boat having not seen it during the prolonged cold snap, I decided to drive from Swansea to the boat on Tuesday afternoon so that I could stay on-board overnight.

This of course would also allow me to put my new BW licence disks (which came into effect on 1st January) on prominent display.

The M4 was extremely quiet.  Whether this was due to the sub-zero temperatures, people taking longer breaks over Xmas and New Year or just that I had planned my journey outside rush hour, I am not too sure.  Anyway, just over three hours and I was parked up at Packet Boat Marina.  As I was only staying on board for one night, unpacking the car was a relatively quick process.

With a few more hours left in the working day, my first priority was to unpack the laptop and get it started.  Whilst Windows was going through its laborious start up, I set about preparing the Morsø.  With the stove lit I checked the temperature on the Max-Min thermometer (in the bathroom).  Not surprisingly, the inside temperature matched that of the outside – a rather chilly -2C with frozen sheets of ice surrounding the boat.

Sitting at the table with my coat and Peter Storm hat on, breathing clouds of condensation I kept warm by replying to emails that had been sent whilst I had been driving from Swansea.  As usual, the Morsø delivered the goods, raising the temperature from -2C to 26C in no time at all, requiring me to open the front door to bring the temperature to a more comfortable level!  Shortly afterwards I decided it was time for a cup of tea.  Remembering that I had not yet switched the electrics on, I flicked the rockers for “water pump” and “shower pump” (which also feeds the smaller toilet water pump).  I didn’t bother with the “fridge” as I wouldn’t be on-board long enough, and I could always leave the milk and other perishable food in a bag in the engine room which was still quite cold.  Hearing the water pump kicking in and re-pressurising the system, I worked my way back to the galley from the engine room.  It was then that I noticed that the water pump had not stopped running (not a good sign).  Checking the bathroom and galley sink taps, I then spotted the spout of water squirting from the side of the Paloma water heater.  Quickly back to the engine room where I switched off the electrics and then back to the galley to mop up the water from the work surfaces and floor.

The cover of the Paloma is easily removed by unscrewing two grub screws and sliding off the two control knobs from the front of the unit.  Briefly turning the water pump back on, I was able to spot from where the water was now leaking – the inlet diaphragm.

With a picture in my mind of the part I needed, and believing Uxbridge Boat Centre was open until 18:00, I set off in the hope that they might stock parts (or at least point me in the direction of someone who did).  My hopes were quickly dashed when I was informed that they stopped making the Paloma 9 years ago, and UBC stopped stocking parts for it about 6 years ago!

Although I wasn’t going to do anything about it just yet, I enquired as to what units I could replace it with.  I was then shown a number of heaters of varying sizes (and prices), one of which had a balanced flue, the remainder, like the Paloma with a “normal” flue.  Asking which was the most popular, I was told that for those replacing the Paloma, the Rinnai 58E is the one typically chosen.  It is physically slightly smaller, delivers a higher heat output and the price (~£200) comparable with the other models.

I thanked UBC for their advice and assured them that I would return, probably when the whether was a bit warmer and I had more time to devote to fixing the problem.

Returning to the boat, I spent the evening without running water but was able to use bottled water to make that cup of tea and the communal shower facility in the morning to get ready for the meeting in London.

During the evening, I did a bit more research.  The tried and tested search on Google confirmed that Paloma is no more.  There were a few second hand ones on sale on E-bay and a company in America who seemed to be able to provide parts.  However, I believe I had already made my mind up.  The Paloma was approaching 20 years old.  Although I had identified the main leak, there were no guarantees that there were not other yet-unidentified leaks.  A replacement unit would have to be installed.

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Crystal clear waters

15/07/2006 by Mark.Whalley.

15 July 2006

Having put it off over and over again, I decided that it was time to tackle the water tank.

Suspecting that the tank cover had not been lifted since the boat was built, we had never actually drunk any of the water from the tank over the previous couple of years. Although the water came out visibly clear, as the tank became empty, there would always be a brown rust residue clouding the water. It this point I would refill the tank and within a couple of days after the residue had settled, it would be back to its ‘normal’ clear state for a few weeks / months. Whenever we wanted drinking water we would use 5 ltr plastic bottles which we would keep on having to refill.

 

One water tank inspection cover with barely visible securing bolts!

 

Obviously this could not continue, so with warm and dry weather forecast for the weekend and having worked from the Annex (aka home) on Friday, I decided to set off at 05:30 on Saturday morning with the intention of getting a full day on (or more precisely in) the tank, and if necessary would also have Sunday as contingency. As Bev had not been to the boat for while, she was going to follow me up (with Max) later on Saturday afternoon and stay until Monday.

The first challenge was to attempt to remove the sixteen countersunk Allen key bolts. With many years of exposure to the elements this was not going to be an easy task. No matter how clean I made the Allen key holes and how much WD40 I applied, simply using an a Allen key was clearly not going to work. The only think for it was to drill each bolt out with a tungsten drill bit. Ensuring the bit was slightly smaller than the bolt enabled me to use a pair of nose pliers to remove the shell of the screw threads. I then used a tap and die set to rework the holes to the same size of the original bolts. A couple of weeks earlier I had managed to remove a number of these bolts, and although I had considered alternatives to the replacement countersunk option, had decided to stick with the same. Screwfix (http://www.screfix.com/) supplied me with a bag of 50 bolts which would mean I had spares for whoever would be the next person to lift the cover!

 

16 new bolts (well 15 actually!)

 

With the cover removed and remaining water emptied, it was time to tackle the inside of the tank. As can be seen from the photos, the years of neglect had resulted in rust forming in several places

 

Back and port-side walls. Angled pipe in lower corner (centre) is feed to water system.

 

Bow and recessed gas locker base.

 

Several hours later with loose rust and bitumen removed, the tank is ready for painting.

 

Not much room down here!

 

With loose rust and bitumen removed, ready for cleaning and painting

 

ditto

 

Look at those white feet (and beer gut!)

 

With the walls of the tank now cleaned, I applied three coats of bitumen paint (that which is approved for potable water). Unfortunately, the fumes from the bitumen were so strong, I could only stay inside the tank for a few minutes at a time. This made the whole job much longer.

 

Nice shiny black bitumen

 

 

Having taken measurements of the inside of the tank, and taking into consideration the angled port and starboard side walls, the curvature of the bow and gas locker resses, I attempted to calculate how much water could be held in the tank.

I also did a controlled filling of the tank whereby I took the average time to fill a 5 ltr water bottle a number of times and then the time taken to fill the whole tank.

At 250 gallons (950 ltr), amazingly, I was only out by about 10 ltrs!

Over the following weeks I filled and emptied the tank 3 or 4 times before the water lost its bitumen taste. But at least now I can happily (and more importantly safely) drink the water!

One more ‘tick in the box’.

 

 

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A memory like a …

12/01/2004 by Mark.Whalley.

12 January 2004

A memory like a … thing with holes in …? If I don’t write down what I did within two days, I forget exactly what I did! At least I didn’t cut my finger off this time! This week I’m aiming to get the new floor down – or at least make a damn good start on it.

One of the problems with a small working space, and no immediate storage to hand, is how to juggle things around to be able to work and live. After some careful thought, I decided to convert the bedroom into a temporary store and to use the shower tray for some items. All the wood, PVC trunking and stove pipe fitted neatly across the two bedside tables. The stove slotted down the side of the bed in front of one of the tables. The large pack of polystyrene blocks sat in the shower tray. I then removed all the carpets – now paper thin and put them in the skip. The shelving and small cupboard on which the TV set was dismantled and the TV / video now positioned on the Black and Decker Workbench next to the divider between the galley and saloon. The hifi sat on top of the work surface under the hanging glass cabinet. On moving the sofa bed, I discovered how to remove the cover – again, this was bagged and packed in the car to take home for washing.

The lino floor and aluminium edge strip was removed from the galley along with the under-cupboard plinth and half-height bulkhead between the galley and saloon. It was my intention to fit the new floor underneath the fridge and oven and as far under the kitchen units as possible (without actually removing them).

In the main part of the saloon I removed a single ply sheet from the floor to carry out a further inspection of the ballast.

 

Removal of plyboard to reveal ballast

 

Sections of concrete walling

 

and steel reinforced fencing

 

ditto

Although the ballast in the bedroom was poured concrete, as can be seen in the photos above here we have a variety of different materials.

 

Loose concrete moved away to reveal bottom plate. Dry and relatively rust free.

 

 

 Date stamp of ‘Oct 82′ - which means the original fitout must have been after this!

 

After taking the photos, I replaced the ply board and planed one of the edges that had previously been squeaking when walked over due to the tightness of the adjacent board.

A good evening’s work so I cleared up, showered (not with the polystyrene slabs, but in the Pumphouse!) and had the only ‘Sunday lunch’ for this week - pork chops with veg.

 

Every bit of space is precious - even the shower tray!

 

Earlier in the evening I took some photos of the BW truck parked in the yard. On it were a large number of supermarket trolleys, obviously recovered from the canal. I have always wondered what happens to them now?

 

BW van full of supermarket trolleys (sorry about the poor quality of picture)

 

On returning from work, and whilst it was still light, I noticed that the top lock and pound had again been emptied. On talking later with Kevin, he was also unsure why, although there clearly was work being carried out on the towpath.

During our brief chat, I discovered that Kevin was a Scout Leader with 1st Quinton Scouts. Clearly his group (and those around) were very popular and well attended. This contrasted to our Scout Group (1st Pennard) which struggled to find leaders and was reduced to just running a Cub Pack. We also discussed the Birmingham Canal Navigation Society (BCNS) whose headquarters was located in the Pumphouse. It turned out that they were having a committee meeting the tomorrow night (Tuesday), and although these were not always well attended (approx. 10 people), the Society as a whole had over 700 members, including one from Australia!

 

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