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Post by pilgrim17 on Feb 28, 2015 17:01:33 GMT 1
Well P****d off now! The saga of these bloody bilge pumps, & the way they have been wired up is testing my patience, time I intended to use in doing things that I want to do, is being taken up with the ongoing saga of this bloody electrical installation! I cut away the top of the engine bay for Richie to get into the hold & remove the bilge pump in there, that had what we thought was a dodgy float sensor because the pump would only work when you switched it to "manual", left on "auto" there was nothing! So while Richie cleared out the bilge of the engine compartment I disconnected & washed the pump & filter, then I tested it using a 12v battery. The pumps have 3 wires a black (or green) negative, a brown, & a brown with a white stripe. With the black (or green) connected to the negative pole, & the brown with a white stripe connected to the positive pole, the pump runs continuously. With the black (or green) connected to the negative pole, & the brown wire connected to the positive pole, the pump doesn't run at all, Until you place it in a bucket of water, & then it runs normally, remove it from the water, & after a few seconds it stops, drop it back in the water & it starts again! To me this proves that the fault is in the boats wiring & not the pumps, & buying 2 new ones would not have solved the problem. Richie & I have attempted to find an inline fuse, a fuse box, or anything resembling some possible "surge protection" device, but we can find nothing! & time is wasting when lots of more important things (in my eyes) are being neglected, even my wife has noticed my frustration with the boat recently. If no solution is found soon, I will run 2 wires directly from the battery, through inline fuses (which will be easily accessed) to each pump, because the alternative go down the boat after every rainy day is NOT an option! MY next task is to fit the trunking from the capstan up to the battery locker (or somewhere closer that has constant power) & fit a foot switch, a cut-out device, & a main switch. Then I have to fibreglass the wheelhouse roof to stop the leaks, & prevent the mould & fungus that are growing in the wheelhouse. I still have to cut the doorway down to prevent giving myself a lobotomy getting in & out from the wheelhouse, rake out the old sealant from around the windows & replace it with fame sealant. In fact there is so little to show for what has been done in the week it has been out of the water I despair!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 1, 2015 15:40:39 GMT 1
Deeper despair
Yet another morning of "Checking & testing bilge pumps" nobody, except the guy who installed the system, know how it works, & he has stated that he is "too busy" to offer assistance so we muddle on! John Elvins came down this morning & checked the wiring in the wheelhouse & gave it a clean bill of health, without having altered anything he found all was as it should be, however because the batteries are flat, we have to wait to test them. Richie rubbed down the anti-foul ready for it to be painted, & I carried on with the capstan & reinforcing the bow deck (just in case) I will pick up the anti-foul in the morning, & get that done tomorrow while the batteries are charging, we can then hopefully test the bilge pumps & forget about them!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 2, 2015 19:31:42 GMT 1
At long last!
We have made some progress, the "Bilge Pump Saga" seems to have been sorted out, (fingers crossed), all I have to do now is make good the connections from the pump wires, to the boat wires, & we should be back in business! I picked up the anti-foul from Force 4 this morning, & between Richie, Steve, & myself we managed to give the hull a coat, then we T cut the orange paint above the waterline, & I polished some of it, & I will carry on doing it a bit at a time during the week, until she goes back in on Saturday! Any volunteers will be welcome to do a bit of polishing. I have been given what size cable I need, & that will be collected in the morning, & the cable clips will be positioned ready for the final installation of the capstan, so I feel that at last I am putting one foot in front of the other instead of walking backwards, & once the polishing of the orange paint is completed she is ready to go back in the water, anything else can be done on the berth! I will add a couple of pics to show you what progress we have made so far.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 3, 2015 15:37:59 GMT 1
Cant wait!
For Saturday to come, to get back on the berth! It has been necessary to take so much down to the boat in terms of power tools, hand tools, painting material, paint etc, etc, etc & because everything has to go up & down the ladder, everything is in everybody's way, there is no room to move on board with more than 2/3 onboard. When its back on the berth anything in the way can be placed on the pontoon in seconds, on the yard you have to go up & down the ladder, & as John Elvins said the other day "You need a bigger boat" Back on the berth I can set up the Workmate on the pontoon & do my sawing on there, I can put the ladder/steps from the seat up to the roof of the wheelhouse, electricity & water are right there (In the yard its a pain to get 1, & a miracle to get 2)! Routing the cable for the winch will be easy on the berth, starting the engine to charge the batteries to test the pumps will be easy, work on the wheelhouse will be easy when the contents can be stacked on the pontoon giving full access to the inside. I want to make a fold away or store away table for making tea, coffee, sandwiches etc much easier to do alone when I can concentrate. Once the exterior orange paintwork has been polished, I will see if she cant be lifted back in earlier than Saturday, so I can start all the topside jobs that need doing before the lock gates re-open
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 4, 2015 18:48:39 GMT 1
Cometh the hour, cometh the man!
When I was starting to despair about ever getting this windlass wired properly, up to the plate steps Steve, while I made a bracket to mount the foot switch, Steve run the cable through the wheelhouse, along the underside of the gunwhale, he connected the footswitch up & connected the tails from the capstan to the cable, he also fitted the main switch & the cut-out in the wheelhouse ready for final connection tomorrow or Friday. So before Belle goes back in the water at 3 pm on Friday afternoon, the capstan should be up & running. Meanwhile Richie & Tai were polishing the orange gel-coat on the hull, which has come up a real treat, & you can see your face in the shine now, so the outside has been rubbed down & anti-fouled, the addition to the steering tube has been fitted, the prop polished, capstan fitted & almost finished being wired so I feel much happier tonight. We put her back in on Friday at 3pm so by then all the vital work will be finished, & although I have a shedfull of things to do, it will be easier to get it done on the berth. So by the time the locks reopen for business, Mumbles Belle will be shipshape & Bristol fashion, & ready to hit the fish in 2015 far better equipped than she was in March 2014. Look out trophy night, the Belle will have her share next time
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 5, 2015 16:14:55 GMT 1
Ready to go back "home" now
Mumbles Belle is now fully ready to go back home to her berth, where I can do all the cosmetic & convenience work that is needed to make her "fit for purpose", with the locks closed for maintenance I have plenty of time to carry out the jobs I want to do. She really looks the part, the antifouling & the polishing have made her look as good as new. With the roof re-fibreglassed & painted, the windows made leakproof, the door altered so as not to devour anybody who enters the wheelhouse, & the upperworks repainted she will be ready to go as soon as the locks reopen. We may have a little "change of emphasis" early in the season to see if we can "highten our profile" watch this space for details. My thanks to John Elvins & Steve for sorting out the electrics (which were giving me depression) thanks to Tai for his help & the timber & Ray for chipping in & telling us awful jokes that we have all heard before, & anecdotes of his exploits in the pipe band. & of course Richie, who turned up every day to help, was always willing to fetch & carry stuff when needed, offered moral support when things didn't go right, & who always puts himself forward when anything needs doing, thanks pal, its all down to you!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 6, 2015 17:37:37 GMT 1
Back home
Slightly ahead of schedule we are back in the water, & back on the berth, the rudder extension makes the handling different to what it was & it will take some time to get used to it, I had adapted to putting it into reverse & waiting for it to react, now it reacts quicker so its a change of mind set lol. Hopefully we will have a few dry days & I can put some firbreglass on the wheelhouse roof where it has lifted & is allowing the rain in, whilst its dry I can seal around the window, possibly fit some quadrant around it & bed it in with frame sealant. The wheelhouse roof window is also letting rain in where the plywood has shrunk away from the aluminium frame, that can probably be sealed with Sikaflex or similar. The covers over the front engine compartment have been removed & the frame cut away to allow access to the bilge pump, so we now have a single 90cm x 70cm hole for access, as opposed to 2 x 70cm x 30cm holes even I can get in there now! The new OSB cover will be chamfered & fitted with locating pegs so it fits snugly over the access, it will also be a good area for storing stuff on top of it. I am also going to fit some sort of removable "table" where I can make tea/coffee & butter bread for sandwiches etc, a few bearers will allow a sheet of plywood to be rested on top of them & act as a table top, fitted with a fiddle rail it should be ideal "man does not live by fishing alone" There are several things I want to create/alter to make Belle more "user friendly" & the fitting of the capstan is by by far the biggest so far, thank you Ken Greenslade, keep watching this space for details of what is being done. I would especially like to create a means of passing tea/coffee from the wheelhouse to the anglers in the bow of the boat, so a kind of "serving hatch" could well be on the cards The locks reopen on 30th March & if the weather is right I want Mumbles Belle to be in the first lock out, hunting rays, & maybe smoothounds for photo opportunities, so if that is what "floats your boat" get ready for the fist lock out after the locks reopen!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 9, 2015 10:56:00 GMT 1
Starting at the front!
I started in the front, because that is the logical place to start now that we have a "super duper" capstan to bring up the anchor, we needed somewhere suitable to store the anchor rope other than the existing cut down drum on deck. The existing locker directly behind the capstan is ideal but it holds water so I started off by making a duckboard to drop in there, to keep the anchor rope dry when not actually in use, now our anchor rope wont rot. I then moved back to look at the problem of the leaking wheelhouse windows to see how I could fix them, unfortunately I think I am a bit late in examining them, 2 out of the 3 front windows are rotten at the bottom where water has seeped down past the sealant & rotted the ply, so I think I will have to remove the windows, cut out the rotten plywood, & scarf new plywood into the existing good wood, then re-fibreglass & fit UPVC quadrant around the glass, to shed the water onto the fibreglassed exterior, rather than allowing it to seep between the window glass & the ply. This is more work than I envisaged, but it needs to be done properly so that it lasts this time. Some fine weather would help too, it seems that the work could carry on after the locks are open & we start fishing, you could well see me with my Workmate set up on the bow sawing plywood sheets, while the others are fishing! Having looked at the wheelhouse windows more closely it appears that the rot is more than I thought, & that the windows are going to have to be removed to fix the problem properly, trying to cut away the rotten ply with the glass left in would no doubt result in them getting broken, so its just another little job to do!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 10, 2015 17:48:25 GMT 1
Proceeding slowly
Steve came down today to give me a hand, & between us we managed to finish off the anchor storage locker, empty the forward locker space of all the junk that was in it, throw away a lot of unwanted bits of rope etc, & look at the leaking locker lid. I knew that the lid's hinges had been leaking, but a result of the leaks it had made the underlying ply sodden, & it has come away from the fibreglass & the water was running in! I have decided to reverse the lid to open the other way, & I have sealed off the old hinge holes & the leak, & hopefully we should have a dry storage locker, which means that some of the junk currently stored in the wheelhouse, can go into the forward locker if it proves to stay dry. Next task after finishing the locker hinges, is to fix the delamination on the wheelhouse roof, not a big job but it should make a difference, & while I am up there I will look for the leak from the rooflight, there is only so much condensation & this is too much water for just condensation With the next 2 days forecast for heavy rain, it looks like Friday before I am next down there, it will be interesting to see if we have cured the leak in the lid, if so a lot of wheelhouse junk will be finding a new home!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 11, 2015 19:08:43 GMT 1
Rain stopped play today
That's the problem with doing work at this time of year, the weather stops you even when you are on a roll, I had to be satisfied by cutting a couple of bits of oak in my shed today, which will fit under the hinges or the forward locker, hopefully to solve the problem. I badly want to sort out the wheelhouse roof leaks, nothing worse than everything in the cabin getting wet, condensation is bad enough but leaks a real pain. I have some glass matting somewhere but I cant find it despite a good hunt today, I don't need much so I might pick some up at the DIY shop tomorrow seeing as we have a few dry days forecast I would like to get that sorted, along with some vents in the wheelhouse to keep the condensation down a bit. There is nothing major to do on the Belle now, the main jobs have been done its just cosmetic stuff now really (apart from the leaking windows) & I am going to leave that until the weather gets a bit warmer & drier, so that I can take the glass right out, & work on the rotten ply replacement without having to worry about the weather, its isn't going to get much worse in the meantime.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 12, 2015 18:42:25 GMT 1
Rain didn't stop play today
But it should have because I got soaked coming home! The forecast said it was going to improve as the day went on, but somebody gave the forecaster false information! I started off putting the oak blocks that I cut under the hatch hinges, then found out that the bolts to hold them on were too short??? When I checked the plywood where the hinges are now is 1/2" thicker than where they were before, so I have had to make new stainless bolts out of 8mm all thread I had in my shed, so they will go on tomorrow instead of the scheduled today!!!!!!! Somebody has left a fibreglass kit in the wheelhouse, I don't know who but thank you, there is more than enough to repair the roof I have been planning to create a temporary table in the wheelhouse for making tea/coffee/sandwiches etc, so today seeing as it was raining quite heavily I made a start on it to stay dry. I should have known that the shape of the wheelhouse was "variable" & the rectangle that I first cut, ended up trapezoid by the time I finished, to get it to sit on the bearers, but I have it fitting now, & when I have put a fiddle rail around the top to prevent things falling off, & given it a coat of paint to make it easy to keep clean, it should prove to be a useful addition. It can be taken down & placed on top of the engine hatch when not in use, & the "grub box" can sit on top of it. I bought some vents to fit to the wheelhouse, but again they will have to wait until the rain stops before they are fitted, hopefully the forecast dry weather for the next 4/5 days should see Belle ready to go as soon as the locks open, & if the weather holds & allows me to finish the jobs that I want to do, she should be a more comfortable boat to fish from this year. I will keep on reporting progress whether you read about it or not !
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 13, 2015 18:58:30 GMT 1
Still plodding along
Ticking off the jobs that need doing slowly, today Steve & I put new bolts in the forward locker lid which should make it rainproof, but we are a bit concerned at just how much water is still being held in the plywood that used to hold the hinges, maybe its just water dripping out of the saturated wood, but the wooden floor is still wet, if its just existing water draining that is ok I can fix that, as long as it isn't still leaking! Put a couple of vents in the wheelhouse to hopefully help with the condensation problems we are having, I will put the third one in when I turn the boat to fibreglass the roof, as walking on water has proved a bridge too far, & I don't fancy standing on the yacht next door as it seems more rotten the Belle's wheelhouse If the forecast is correct then we are going to have a few dry days, which will give me a chance to do some fibreglass work, the sooner I fix the leaks, the quicker the damp in the wheelhouse will dry out, only then can I decide how much ply to cut out, I have an awful feeling that I might have to remove the entire front of the wheelhouse, to solve the problem, but at least when it is replaced it will last for years, & I might find space to fit the windscreen wiper I have had lying in a box for years. Still working on the removable "dining table" in the wheelhouse for doing tea/coffee/sandwiches needs a fiddle rail & one or two other mods before it is finished, & the more I think about some sort of serving hatch from the wheelhouse to the bow area the more sense it makes, people don't want to walk from the bow to the stern to collect a cup of coffee, so some means of passing it out directly, through a hatch makes sense, as does a "drop down" seat for the driver (watch this space for details )
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 14, 2015 18:19:02 GMT 1
Moving on apace now
Looked into the forward "weatherproof" locker this morning, only to find the floorboards still wet! close to desperation I contemplated what to do next, when Richie came forward & said "Did you leave that lid open last night? cos the inside of it is soaking!" Then the penny dropped it isn't rain getting in, it's condensation from the bilge trying to get OUT that is causing the dampness. We left the hatch lid open whilst Richie went to B&Q & got a couple of vents, he drilled some holes with the tank cutter, & fitted them & you could feel the air circulating immediately, well done Richie that should be another problem solved! I fitted the fiddle rail to the new "kitchen table" in the wheelhouse, & gave it a coat of clear Cuprinol to seal it, ready to undercoat it in the morning, then give it a coat or two of white gloss on Monday so that it is easy to wipe clean. Bearing in my that Wales were playing Ireland at 2.30 neither of us wanted to be too adventurous, but I thought we had time to make a start on the delaminated fibreglass on the roof, so I mixed up a batch of resin & hardener, & we laid up a good heavy layer over the split area which should solve the problem on the starboard side, we need to turn the boat & do the same on the port side now. With the boat turned, & the port side of the roof repaired, we can think about doing some painting topside, which wont take long, with a couple of dry days & a couple of rollers we should be just about ready for the "offski" when the locks re-open. I am going to leave the removal of the glass in the front of the wheelhouse until the weather is warmer & drier, so that I don't get problems from long periods of rain with the front of the wheelhouse off the rot isn't going to get much worse between now & then anyway, what hasn't rotted in 3 years wont rot in a couple of months! I am very pleased with the progress that has been made in the last week, thanks mainly to Steve & Richie, without those two, I would have been up S**t Creek" without a paddle, thanks guys you are good friends & great club members.
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 15, 2015 16:43:10 GMT 1
Another couple done
Managed to do a couple more jobs this morning, finished off the delaminated part of the roof on the port side & turned the boat using the easterly wind to take it off the pontoon, then once it was clear pulled on the bow rope & brought it back in, facing the other way. When I looked at the area of the roof that was delaminated on the port side, there was no sign of similar on the starboard side? I will soak some glass-mat & put a strip along the top anyway because if happens one side chances are it will happen on the other side as well. Whilst it is turned I have fitted another vent in the wheelhouse so that should eliminate the condensation problem. I put some of the wheelhouse clutter into the forward locker now that it is dry, & when I have finished the outstanding jobs & take my tools home it should be a bit clearer in there, I hate clutter on a boat it always causes accidents. I gave the new "fitted kitchen" a coat of undercoat first thing, then gave it a coat of gloss just before I left, another coat tomorrow should see another job ticked off the bucket list. I still have the "Booby Trap" entrance into the wheelhouse to sort out, the bottom of the doorframe & the section of fibreglassed timber below it are doomed! I will put some runners either side so that the section can slot back in when I lock up, but when the boat is in use, that panel will be OUT! Several people have remarked that it will spoil the door, but seeing as the bottom of the door is above the waterline it isn't doing much as a watertight door is it? The engine compartment, the forward locker, the wheelhouse etc would be under 2ft of water before the water reached the "watertight door", incidentally the people who have commented are people who have never been on board to my knowledge, & have never battered their head going in & out, or fallen over the 18" "step" in & out of the wheelhouse! ITS GOING!
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Post by pilgrim17 on Mar 16, 2015 18:25:54 GMT 1
A couple more jobs done
Went down today to put another coat of gloss on the "kitchen table" only to find that the first coat hadn't dried? So I transferred some more clutter from the wheelhouse, into the forward locker, cleaned the spirit stove & the cooking utensils to prevent an outbreak of scurvy or similar, & that was about it. I have topside painting to do, but with the weather as it is it takes forever to dry, so I will wait until it gets warmer & drier before I do that. I have had the first fishing trip request for Sunday March 22nd, its a huge tide (43+ ft) & the Cherry Stones would be an adventure @ 2.5hrs into the ebb so I have suggested a stop off before we get that far to take stock, & fishing the 120ft deep "Mixon Dustbin" in a 43ft ebb will be an angling challenge in itself, especially if there are any big thornbacks at home, (I will just observe I think) I don't need a workout! Mumbles Belle is ready for the trip despite not all the "cosmetics" that I want to do being completed, but she is more than ready to hit the waves once the locks reopen!
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