Little Bit Of A Setback

Ive had a little bit of a setback of late, Ive been watching it hoping it would go away, but as its getting colder its getting worse.

So what is it?

The laminate flooring I used to line the ceiling is distorting. I suppose as the boat gets a tiny bit shorter.  Essentially is compressing and was beginning to ripple midships.  Other option is that the laminate is expanding with the damper weather.

Normally when you lay this sort of flooring its know as a floating floor because its not fixed anywhere and a 10mm gap is supposed to be left all around the edge of any room its laid in to allow for expansion etc.

Compounding this also is:- 1. I have had to glue it to the roof batons to keep it in place. 2. on the port side I did the whole boat in one continuous length of about 12.5m.  Its only this part thats distorted.

The planned repair is underway and involves removing the affected mid section and cutting in a expansion joint above the bedroom door separating the run.

So this is what its looking like.

I shall leave it a couple of days for it to normalise, I have cut some more of the glue to free up more movement.  Then it will be all put back up again and hopefully that will be the an end to the matter.

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A Little Problem

We have spent the last few weeks exploring some of the tributaries of the Gt. Ouse, The River Wissey, The Lt. Ouse and The River Lark.  As lovely as these rivers are they are pretty weedy and so a couple of times the exhaust temperature light came on meaning the raw water intake filters were clogged.  Trouble with this is this starves the rubber impeller of water and it runs dry.

Once back on the deep and straight Gt. Ouse and the engine has nearly 100 hours I decided for the first time to open the engine up and let a good deal of the 114hp have its wicked way.  Top RPM is 2500 so I held back to 90% or 2250rpm  The main engine temperature remained at 85c which is normal.


After about 3 minutes the exhaust temperature warning came on.  I was a little concerned as I had cleared the filters before setting off about 20 minutes earlier and the Gt. Ouse is mostly weed free.


I cut the engine and drifted into the side to investigate.  I checked the filters and they were clear.  So after letting the engine cool down I restarted and saw nothing being drawn up from the river.  I removed the water uptake tube and felt inside the impeller housing and could feel damaged impeller blades.  As the system wouldnt self prime I filled the filter manually which was enough to get it primed. After which we were able to continue as before at about 1400rpm.


Once back at Ely I checked with Ely Chandlers to see if they had an impeller for my engine but they were unable to help but they kindly let me use their address for delivery when I found one in Leeds.  So many thanks for their help.


This afternoon it arrived and I swapped it out which took about 30 minutes.

Left buggered, right new

The new one has an 2 extra blades so I guess the original has been superseded.  Once changed and the system primed manually everything was back to normal, well at least on static tests.  A moving test will be done tomorrow.

Clearly the impeller is intolerant to running dry.  In the service book the impeller is a 1000 hour inspection so I think I have just been unlucky for now.  Its all a learning curve.

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Solar Powered

Now the roof has been painted I was able to fit the solar panels.  That was this weeks mid week visit to the boat.

Having made and fitted the mounting brackets it was time to wire up and screw them to the roof.  I had already laid in the wires in the ceiling void so this made the job a bite easier.  What made it difficult was the almost continuous rain over the last 2 days.  Anyway, after dodging what I could and getting the occasional dampening this is what it looks like.

Now the technical bit.  

As the panels output at 30+ volts and this needs to get it into a 12v battery bank safely by reducing the voltage.

This needs another bit of kit, an MPPT controller (this site explains how they do what they do).

This is my MPPT charge controller.

The grey cable is to the remote meter which displays loads of information about whats happening. Of most interest is the live data on the input voltage, amperage and battery levels. 

I have wired the negative via the shunt so this will record on the Victron battery monitor.

This is the instruction manual for the 10amp model but its exactly the same.

So today when the sun did shine well I was getting 35amps! Even when it was cloudy and pouring down I was still getting 5amps.

Conclusion.................... It works so hopefuly this will reduce or eliminate the need to run the generator.

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Little House

Lots of crazy wonderful changes around here lately. Sadly, Im way behind schedule on boat progress this summer. Happily, I have a new job that I love and I am starting graduate school in two weeks! 

Ive also recently succumbed to the American anti-feudal impulse. 

While I dont have that plot of land yet, I do have a covered wagon I can roll across the country. This sweet little darling is all mine. Isnt she cute?

Ramon and I rigged up this super safe-looking wiring system to get the little lady home from Crocket, TX. The wires stretched all the way to the passenger seat of the pickup where I would cross wires whenever Ramon yelled, "Braking!" or "Left-blinker!" Our scheme worked-- no trouble with the law on the way home.

I now work (and will be attending school) about an hour and twenty minutes from our home on the ranch, and I realized that commuting over 50 hours a month isnt really my cup of tea.  Id much rather spend that time on the boat, so I bought Minnie Mae to live in during the week.

Shes an older gal-- 58 years young to be exact-- but shes in great shape. Of course, there are still lots of things to do to get her liveable in two weeks: scraping off a bajillion layers of lead paint, re-painting, re-caulking the windows, re-sealing the roof vent, installing AC, repairing some water damage in the closet (that was a fun discovery today), running new electrical, putting new gaskets around the window panes, testing and possibly fixing the plumbing, installing a porta-potty in the closet for late-night use, and deep-cleaning the interior.

I thought Id document this little detour from the boat project here on the blog over the next two weeks. Boat postings should resume in early September.

This here is my Charles Ingalls. I never could have gotten Minnie M. home without him.

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