6/5/2024 0 Comments 6th MayI've been by myself working on Seren today (and Friday) as Gareth has been too unwell. He's been cutting back on his pain medication because he wants to feels more alive and not so doped-up but maybe he's cutting back to much, too quickly. Here's what I've been up to:
The cockpit is looking better too though not finished. Gareth has made some little cover plates for the corners of the window frames where they used to leak and I've ripped out all the old carpet and replaced it with some 'new', ie recycled, carpet. It's not finished yet but it should be a more comfortable berth for Gareth if he's fit enough for the summer trip.
There are a few niggly jobs to tackle, eg the shower/washbasin taps don't work but the big issue remaining is the starter motor. I've checked the battery voltage and connections and all seem fine but the solenoid only clicks it doesn't fire up the starter. Unfortunately the marinisation of the engine by Perama has resulted in the starter being hidden under the heat exchanger. In a car you'd crawl underneath to get at it but in a boat that's not possible! I've asked a boat engineer to come and have a look and give me a quote. We'll see how that goes. If it's too expensive I'll do it myself but taking the heat exchanger and exhaust off is a trial. I've done it before to get at the thermostat. But that was years ago when I was fitter. I have a deadline of sorts. I'm planning to set off for Llangollen on the 13th of June. It should take 14-16 days traveling time but I'm allowing some extra for sight seeing, shopping, technical issues and general cock-ups. The opening night of the Eisteddfod in Tuesday 2nd July.
0 Comments
28/4/2024 0 Comments 28th AprilSo, flooring finished, just need to re-install the step I took home to varnish, I turned to the engine vibration problem. Quick recap; Seren used to have a terrible vibration problem which I tracked down to someone having fitted engine mounts for a much bigger engine (75Kg static load on each of four mounts). Seren's engine, flywheel housing and gear box total about 100Kg but not evenly distributed, the rear mounts are forward of the flywheel and there is no support under the gearbox. I did a little calculation and figured there's about 40Kg on each of the rear mounts and 10Kg on each of the front ones. So last year I fitted lighter mounts and she's a LOT quieter. Except on tick-over when she vibrated almost as badly as before. I suspect some previous owner replaced Seren's engine and the current one, A Perkins (Kubota) 3 cyl diesel is wider than the original. It does just about fit but access is terrible and, I discovered, the engine mounting brackets and their hex-head screws are VERY close to the engine bearers. The rear mounts especially as the engine is tilted a little to align with the propshaft. A 'feature' of 3 cyl engines is that they vibrate fore/aft. At cruising speed (~2000 RPM) the vibration is damped by the mass of the engine but at tick-over <1000 RPM it becomes more noticeable and is enough for the screw heads to contact the engine bearers. Back to Crick tomorrow to refit it. Then I need to investigate the starter motor problem. I'm hoping its just the awful damp weather has corroded the connections. If I have to take the starter off it's going to be a big job because it's hidden under the exhaust manifold/heat exchanger so that would have to come off first.
22/4/2024 0 Comments 22nd April
I got a rugging tool from one of the daughters for my recent birthday and that works fine. The tricky bit is cutting thousands of rags.
Other news, I've started painting the plywood for the weed hatch cover/step, it'll need a lot of paint to keep the damp out. Yesterday I took a load of allotment rubbish to the tip and acquired a couple of steps that seem to have been cut from a step-ladder. I might use them instead of the plastic stool for the bottom step. 20/4/2024 0 Comments 20th AprilI haven't blogged for a while as progress on Seren has been slow. I can only get there about once a week and there's a limited amount one old codger can do in a day, even with Gareth's help. However, today we finished the floor, sort of. It still needs a good clean and some rugs but here it is as of this afternoon: I've also been working on replacing the rear step making it lower and smaller than before and using a folding step to make getting in and out easier with dodgy knees. <- This is a trial assembly, it's all in pieces again now and at home waiting for several coats of paint. Then of course there's the actual step to make from decking off-cuts to put on top. The floor is sturdy and attractive in a rustic sort of way but needs rugs so I've started making a 'Rag-Rug'. I've never done it before though I grew up with rugs my mother made. There will be photos when I've done a bit more. 26/3/2024 0 Comments 26th MarchAfter weeks of ripping out the old floor, pumping out oily water from the bilge and de-greasing the hull, preparing wood at home and varnishing it, I *finally* got some floor boards laid. Still a lot to do. The three slightly wonky looking boards with cuts across will be fixed together and providing with a recessed handle so they can be lifted out in one piece to gain access to the prop-shaft stuffing box. To the left of the second picture there's still a gap between floor board and skirting (and the skirting needs painting). The wedge supporting the cupboard will go once there are floor boards under the cupboard's legs.
Final touch will be to make 'rag rugs' to provide a warmer, softer surface. 16/3/2024 0 Comments 16th MarchA couple more photos of work in progress. First, a 'feather edge' board which be glued direct to the hull, the feathering going some way to cancelling out the slope of the vee hull. The chamfered edge of the decking boards will marry up with the thick edge of this board. The hull sides are slightly curved so the beam is greatest about 2/3 of the way back from the bow. This board will run straight though so all the decking boards can be the same length. Next to this will be some thin matchboard cut to fit the hull shape.
Secondly, some boards being varnished. So far I have 5 varnished twice on both sides, 5 varnished twice on one side and once on the other (this afternoon's job) and 26 not varnished at all... 15/3/2024 0 Comments March 15thWorking on Seren now she's in Crick isn't so easy, it's about 1hr 10 min if the traffic co-operates and I find driving tiring. But I do try to get there once a week. In between I do some work at home to make the next trip more productive. I've spent a lot of time getting oily water out of the bilge. I can't just pump it out because the marina owners and other boaters would not be happy with oil floating around so I've got most out by bailing or pumping into a bucket then carrying that to the canal bank and flinging it as far as I can into the canal. I've been using degreaser on the hull and add some detergent to each bucket load so the oil emulsifies and doesn't leave a tell-tale oil slick. It's nearly done now, I have some oil-absorbent pads to get the last bit out next time. Then I have to do the same under the engine and try to prevent oil from the sump under the engine spilling into the bilge in future. It'd be nice to find the oil leak too once the engine is cleaned up but it's hard to see under a boat engine without taking it out. I want the hull clean and degreased so I can glue some new bearers in to support the new floor. The picture shows a test run with a single floor board made from timber decking and some bits of timber underneath to support it. I haven't removed the bed and the floor under it which seems sound but I'm making the new floor about 15mm lower so it will fit under the bed (and later also the drawers and WC/shower). This will involve removing all the old transverse bearers but I've left a few of the better ones in so far to use as a guide to floor level. Some of the bearers also support propshaft bearings, so that's an extra complication. The second photo shows how the first board was planed to fit the shallow vee hull. I need 35 of these and that's too much work for an old codger so I got a local joinery company to cut them to length and bandsaw the chamfers. They are all in my shed at home. I've coated them all with brown 'fence paint' as an extra layer of water-proofing that also functions as a 'stain'. I'm slowly working through applying 2 coats of varnish to each, on both sides. I can't do many at once due to limited bench space.
I'm also working on boards to fit direct to the hull beyond where the decking boards end. More details in the next post. 11/3/2024 0 Comments 'nother testThis time I'm trying a tracker system... ... seems to work OK so I've transferred it to the Tracking Seren page. 15/12/2023 0 Comments December 15thIt's a week since I last went to Crick so here's a quick update. The gas locker is done apart from some paint on the bulkhead behind and some safety stickers. The water heater works but the thermostat is dodgy. The water was 15°C when I arrived, which is better than freezing but means I'm wasting electricity. I turned it down a little so we'll see how it goes. I ripped some more floor out but there's still quite a lot to do. 3/12/2023 0 Comments December 03rd, 2023I last stayed on Seren at Crick 21st - 23rd November which seems an age ago. It was cold and damp but I managed to get some work done on the gas locker, HW system and pulled up some rotten floor boards in the cabin. I went back for a single day last Tuesday 28th and removed a lot more floor. Seren is pretty much uninhabitable at the moment so day trips it is until I get some flooring down. I was planning to go for another single day trip today to remove the rest of the floor and finish the gas locker but it's cold and I'm not fit enough. Going to be a busy week this week, Linda and I both have hospital appointments and other stuff, so maybe next weekend. Meanwhile here's some snaps of recent work. The little immersion heater in the calorifier works but the thermostat is inaccurate. When I first fitted it and refilled the system the water temp according to my dashboard was about 15°C but the thermostat clicked on at about 35°. So I set it to 30° hoping that would put it on if the water temp got to about 5-10°. A few days later though when I went back the indicated temp was around 4° and the heater wasn't on. It clicked on at about 35°, again. Which is odd. I left it on all day while I was working and the temp rose from 4° to over 15° which is good enough. I left the thermostat set at just below the click on point in the hope it will work. It's been cold the last week so I need to get back and check! I suspect my Ebay thermostat might be a reject, possibly wrongly calibrated. It's marked in °C but maybe it's working in °F?
12/11/2023 0 Comments Sunday 12th NovemberNot going well, but what's new? I planned to spend this weekend at Crick, the weather was good yesterday and not too awful today but unfortunately yesterday turned out to be a sofa and paracetamol day. No energy at all, Today I'm much recovered but it's not worth driving to Crick for one day and Linda needs the car tomorrow morning. So I've been in the shed instead. Making some progress on the anti-frost device. I bought a replacement blanking plug and have drilled it 3/4". I have a 1/2" BSP tap on order to cut the thread but it's not arrived as promised. Probably lost in the post. The brass cap isn't very thick so will only have a couple of turns of thread but I'll put a 1/2" BSP nut off an old pipe fitting on the inside. I've also bought a HW thermostat to fit to the calorifier and rooted out an old junction box from my drawer of useful electrical junk. Meanwhile, here's the modified engine mounting. 3/11/2023 0 Comments Friday 3rd NovemberWork on Seren is slow due to weather and transport/accomodation. It's quite a long way to go to just do a few hours work then drive back, so the plan is, or was, to stay a couple of nights. I've tried twice. First time I stayed one night during storm Babet then earlier this week I went intending to stay but couldn't face it. It was cold (and I feel the cold badly) and damp so I did a bit then came home. So here's what's happening. The gas 'locker' is progressing. Due to the weather I haven't been able to paint the area exposed by removing the old locker so it looks a mess but I've fitted the new locker side panel piece. As expected the corner between hull side and cabin isn't 90° so I scribed the top plate to the correct shape and brought it home to cut. I couldn't remove the blanking plug from the calorifier in situ so disconnected it and brought it home. Still couldn't shift it but our local #Mechanic did it with an impact wrench. Now I need an adaptor to fit the heating element. It's only 150W so won't really heat the water much but I hope it's enough to keep the frost at bay. Photos below. I'm determined to solve the low speed vibration issue. The gap between engine and bearers is very small, made worse by the mounting brackets bolted to the side of the engine. I've taken one off and taken it home to modify. I think if I reduce the length it won't be so close to the bearer. Might also try to find CSK head machine screws to replace the hex head screws but I think they are 3/8" UNC which aren't common these days,
Still pondering the replacement floor but decided not to work on it until the engine bay is restored, I need at least one area clean(ish) to live in while working on the rest. 20/10/2023 0 Comments Thursday 20th October (cont)As the gas cylinder is outside the cabin sitting in a self-draining well-deck I don't need a full locker, but I do want to protect the cylinder, fittings and pipe from vandalism and deter theft so I'm making two sides of a 'locker' to fit around the cylinder that will be screwed to the cabin bulkhead and the hull. With a Chequer plate lid so it can be used as a step. Something like this. The sides are made from a single piece of 1.5mm aluminium with the top and bottom edges given a 'safe edge' to make it smoother but also more rigid.
20/10/2023 0 Comments Thursday 20th OctoberMy brother pointed out I haven't blogged recently. But there are reasons. Mainly I decided to move the boat to Crick Wharf Marina on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union Canal, and to do it quick before the weather broke. I got the gas rigged up but without actually having it in a locker, just a hole in the stern deck. Did a bit of a clean up, collected Gareth and set off on Oct 1st, arrived 10th. This is DEFINITELY the last time I tackle the Nene, though at this time of year it was better, The weed had been cut and the water was deeper. Rather than snagging weed 10 times a day I think we did it about 10 times the full length of the river. I haven't got photos of Crick Wharf so see here. This shows the well deck with the decking planks removed so I could check there was space between the frame members. Below shows the decking cut out to suit and the gas fitting previously in the locker now attached to the frame with a bracket. The messy bulkheads behind where the old locker was will need cleaning and painting. This is how It was for the journey to Crick. |
AuthorPhil, owner, captain, chief engineer, electrician, carpenter, cook and comms manager of Seren Archives
April 2024
Categories |