Gearbox and engine controls

I had originally thought to use cable controls with a 'Morse' type lever. But the practicality of trying to mate these cables to a vintage engine, coupled with the difficulty of trying to route the cables through the back cabin, made me start considering traditional, speedwheel and lever controls.

Whilst browsing Tony and Paul Redshaw's website (http://www.vintagediesels.co.uk/), I spotted their offer of a complete kit, which seemed just the job. Having collected the kit, I was presented with an interesting collection of trunions, bell cranks, rod ends and various other bits, which all looked pretty confusing. Luckily, they also supplied a very helpful diagram of how it should all go together!

Having figured out some of the basics, i.e. to go forward, the gearbox lever needs to go back, but the D-handle needs to go forward, this dictated how the bell cranks needed to be set up.

But before I could do anything, I had to install the T&G boards to the back cabin and engine room roof.

The gear lever was drilled and tapped to take the ball joint and was linked to the bell crank. The cranks were supported on two pieces of inch-thick ash.

Then the rest of the linkage was completed back to the D-handle, with a detent for neutral.

Fitting the throttle control was reasonably straightworward, after drilling and tapping the throttle bar to take the ball joint. The lever box was located directly above and was connected back via two universal joints.

Speedwheel and D-handle in place and working correctly.

Next job was to connect up the fuel lines from the main tanks to the engine. I had had the engine running from a 5-litre can; now it was time to make a proper job!

PVC-coated copper tube, brought through the bulkhead in Copex, to resist abrasion.

Fuel Guard filter in place. This removes water and contaminants from the fuel. I abandoned the idea of including the recirculating function in this location. It involved too many components and joints, with the attendant risk of leaks.

The cooling system is finally complete! It took a while to get some airlocks out of the system, but it's all working nicely now. It took 35L of anti-freeze mix to fill it. Now I was able to run the engine for an extended period and vary the speed accurately with the speedwheel.

The alternator is working well, a little too well in fact. It generates over 100A @28V on tickover, which is somewhat overloading the engine. So I may fit a larger driven pulley to reduce the load a bit.

Filters, fuel and Diesel Bug!

Having got the engine running (albeit from a 5L (1-gallon for Brexiteers) can), it was time to bite the bullet and drag out the box of components from Fuel Guard to assemble the fuel filter assembly.

My original plan was to have a recirculating fuel filter in the Potter's locker. After a bit of head scratching (seems to be a frequent event these days), I figured I could use the system as both a normal inline filter and a recirculating, polishing system.

The real question was where to locate it. The obvious place was the devoid-of-obstructions, newly-installed rear bulkhead, until I noticed that the filter was set up to flow the wrong way. More head scratching.

So the filter ended up on the electrically-crowded forward bulkhead. Due to space constraints, the pump and valve assembly had to be mounted separately.

A non-return valve was fitted to the engine feed line, to stop the fuel draining back. After connecting the feed and return lines from the main fuel tanks, it was time to focus on the engine room and back cabin roof lining. My ambition was to install the speedwheel and gear controls, but to be able to do that, I needed something to fix all the parts to. So it was on to cutting lengths of T&G boarding to line the roof.

Hopefully, a few more days should see the controls in place and the boat technically movable!

First run of the Gardner 3LW

I don't really know why it's taken so long to get the engine running, to be honest. The beautiful Gardner 3LW has been installed in the shell for months, but it's never really been a top priority to get it running. There have also been some good reasons why I couldn't, such the starter motor not being wired up, then finding that the starter motor didn't work properly, not having the exhaust components to hand, no gearbox oil cooler, no cooling system, and so on.
But mainly, it's just all those other jobs, like insulating the boat, which were really more urgent.

Anyway, the other day, the replacement starter motor arrived, courtesy of Iain Parker at ICS Online.
(Quick plug for this company here... they are very knowledgeable and incredibly helpful. Top service!) It only took a few minutes to install and was turning the engine over very nicely.

This gave me the motivation to get the gearbox oil cooler installed. This was a tricky one, because the gearbox was at one end of the engine room and the coolant pipes were at the other. I figured that the only place where it could sensibly be fitted, was on the engine bearer. Then there was the small matter of sourcing 10mm bore hose which could withstand 20 Bar!

The location of the cooler meant I needed a few more bends for the engine cooling system, but with those on order, I could now fill the gearbox with oil. The exhaust components were just screwed together by hand for now...

With the addition of some plastic tube and a can of fuel, it was time to try and bleed the fuel system. I struggled to find any useful information on the internet, so it was down to a bit of trial and error, made more complicated by the fact that the engine had to be turned by hand to allow the manual lift pump to work. During the months that the engine had stood idle, many of the fuel-related components had got very stiff, so I was worried this was going to be an issue.

However, after a number of unsuccessful engine spins, there was the unmistakable sound of it firing on one cylinder. A bit more bleeding of the fuel, another go with the starter, then all of a sudden, the engine sprang to life!

As the engine has no coolant at this stage, I was limited to the amount of running time, but was able to test the prop in gear, both forward and backwards. All seemed well, with a good strain being exerted on the mooring lines!

Now I was keen to check that the big 155 Amp, 24 Volt alternator was working. I found a 24V bulb and wired it up to battery positive and the Lamp terminal on the alternator. Another brief run of the engine saw the Sterling A2B charger spring into life, with a row of green LEDs showing. Next job is to fit a Hall effect ammeter to the cable, to show the charge current. First indications are that the pulley ratios are about right. Phew. The system will need more testing, by discharging the batteries, so they 'demand' full charge current.

Next jobs are to complete and fill the coolant system and make the permanent fuel connections; secure the silencer to the roof collar, etc. But these are minor things. It might not be too long before I'll be reversing Calbourne out of her mooring, onto the river for a little test cruise!

Happy days... good progress!

Cracking on with the essentials

It's been a funny old couple of weeks, but some good progress to report.

When I returned to the boat in the New Year, it dawned on mt that I had just over two months to get the boat into a sailable condition! The grit blaster and paint tunnel were booked for the beginning of April, so I had to be able to set off for Nottingham around 15th March.

This had the effect of focusing me onto 'Jobs That Really Must Be Done To Be Able To Move The Boat', instead of the jobs that I was most interested in!

I started writing a list and was surprised at how basic some of the essential jobs were, e.g.

• Fit tiller
• Get engine running: cooling system, starter motor, gearbox cooling, fuel supply, etc
• Flooring over propshaft
• Something to stand on whilst steering
• Steps to stern
• Water pump
• Install toilet (thankfully simple)
• Buy and fit fenders
• Ideally, get the cooker installed and working: two 11-day trips on 'ping' meals???

I picked the water pump as the first task, as I wanted it out of the way and thought it would be a quick win. It should have been simple: screw pump assembly to a piece of plywood and connect up. Until I realised that all the holes were covered by the pump itself, so I ended up having to fix captive bolts into the wood, fit the pump over, then fiddle and faff to get washers and nuts on. Four hours later...

Twin pump assembly, ready for in/out connections

Who designs this stuff? Don't they give any thought to the poor *** who's got to install it??

Having run the DC supply down the boat, I was able to test the pumps by pumping the tank contents overboard. The twin pump setup worked impressively, delivering through a 22mm pipe at full bore. They emptied the 900 litre tank in under 30 minutes.

The next key job was 'Get The Engine Running'! As with so many things on this build, one task is dependant on two or three others. The engine needs a cooling system; the cooling system needs a header tank; the header tank needs to go on s bulkhead; before the bulkhead goes in, the ceiling insulation needs finishing... and so it goes.

So it was out with the Celotex and spray glue, then off to the builders merchant to get T&G boarding, ready for the bulkhead. Happily, I'd pre-made the ash framework in the workshop weeks previously, so it was a fairly straightforward job to fit it.

Fitting the T&G boarding was a nice easy job, then I was able to fit the lovely brass header tank (supplied by Tony Redshaw Vintage Diesels) and connect up the feed hose.

The PRM 500 gearbox needs an oil cooler. This is not normally an issue on modern engines, because they arrange somewhere convenient to fit it. The problem with fitting a vintage engine is that... nothing fits!! The cold side of the cooling system is at one end, the gearbox is at the other, so the compromise was to fix the cooler to the engine bearer. This was another case in point - all the blasted screw holes covered by the unit itself!! I think these designers think we have flexible, right-angled screwdrivers!

Added to that, the PRM 500 manual states that the system needs to be rated at 20Bar. That's 300psi in old money. A lot of searching on eBay produced some rubber hose, sheathed in stainless steel. Hopefully it will be OK!

Next, the starter motor. I  had tried spinning the engine, but the starter failed to engage. The pinion just kept hitting the flywheel, making a terrible din and was starting to damage the flywheel rack.

A phone call to the most knowledgeable Iain Parker of ICS Online solved the problem. He supplied a rebuilt replacement starter motor, which took a few minutes to fit. The new motor worked perfectly and turned the engine over without a problem. Progress!

Having fitted the oil cooler, the next challenge was to route all the cooling water pipes around everything else. This involved ordering a bunch of various bends, but at least it will fit and work.

More on the engine next time!

Installing underfloor heating in my narrow boat

Just to recap a bit on previous posts...

One of the main reasons given for not installing 'wet' underfloor heating in a boat, is the lack of exposed floor area. This is a fair point - an awful lot of it is covered by various cupboards and other furniture.
But one day, I had a lightbulb moment, which was to run the UFH pipes along the hull sides, as well as the floor. Doing this would make a massive difference to the exposed area.

The only issue was dimensioning the thermal panels to fit. I needed to allow for three 50mm battens, to support the lining, and I wanted to run a 40mm conduit along the top for 230V cables. All of which left it very tight for fitting in the bends at the end of each pipe run!

But with some careful measurement, it all proved just possible. After a few false starts, I set to, cutting the panels to fit in between the battens.

The polystyrene panels make an awful mess when you cut them - the bits seem to get everywhere, but thank goodness for the cordless Dyson!

The panels were fixed in place with a few dabs of SikaFlex. So far, so good. I have a feeling that fitting and securing the pipes is going to be a little trickier!

This photo shows the port side, where the oil fired cooker will go. I have provided vents to allow fresh air to be drawn from the bilge. These line up with the combustion air intakes on the back of the cooker. The idea is to provide the required air without a draught, whilst ventilating the bilge.

Meanwhile, the celing still needed finishing. I had bought a couple of mini Acrow props - these proved to be absolutely invaluable as a third (and fourth!) hand, for holding the battens while they were secured with self-drilling screws.

Once the lengthwise battens were in place, I was able to add the remaining layer of 25mm Celotex and apply yet more foil tape to complete the ceiling insulation.

The BSS guys aren't keen on 230V cables being located with DC ones in the same conduit, so I've run two lengths of 40mm conduit right down the length of the boat to contain them in the roof space.

These should make it quite easy to connect up ceiling lights, as well as running the long cable runs to things like the tunnel light.

Well, that was it for 2018. I suppose, considering the boat wasn't launched till mid-October, I've not made bad progress. But I'm very mindful of the fact that in just over 2 months, I need to have the boat in a cruise-able and semi-habitable state. Around the middle of March, I need to set off on a 12-day trip to Nottingham, where 'Calbourne' will be grit-blasted and painted.

Hmmm... need to start thinking about the engine cooling system, exhaust, controls... plus a few other minor details!

24V wiring on the narrowboat

Well, it's been quite a busy month, with the majority of my focus on the heavyweight 24V electrics.

At the time of the last post, I'd completed some of the wiring, but was halted as I didn't have a crimper big enough to handle the 70mm2 cables that had to run from the domestic battery bank to the inverter. At full power, the inverter will be pulling 200A from the batteries, so the cables and connections need to be rated appropriately.

Once I had the crimper, it was on to the heavy cabling in earnest. A friend of mine made a couple of bespoke brackets to hold the big 400A isolator switches. These need to be mounted as close as possible to the batteries. Power is then fed through a megafuse to the busbar and is distributed from that point.

It's surprising just how many connections needed to be made to the busbars! I was careful to make the installation as neat as possible, to facilitate tracing and fault-finding if required. Any loose cables were routed in convoluted pipe to prevent chafing.

24V busbars

At the final stages of the shell build, I'd made a mistake when locating the starter battery box. I asked them to place it near the starter motor... as I realised later, it needed to be near the bulkhead with a all the other electrics. So it was out with the angle grinder and a crowbar; before long, I had it loose and was able to relocate it.

Starter battery islolation switch

Next job was to wire up the starter motor. This was an awkward job, as the only safe place to route the cables was along the engine bearer, which was fine, but getting the screws into the cable clamps involved trying use a drill under the engine, whilst holding the cable and the clip - and not really being able to see!

The temperature sensors for the inverter and A2B charger were connected to battery negative and an additional fused supply was taken off to provide unswitched power for the bilge pumps.

The Victron Colour Control unit was connected to the inverter and MPPT controller using the VE Bus and VE Direct cables. It's an impressive piece of kit that tells you what's going on around the system.

That completed the 'power' side of the 24V electrics. The next phase will involve taking cables from the distribution box out to the various lights, pumps and other 24V equipment. The installation just needs labels applying to the key components.

Best practice is to keep 230V AC cables separate from the low voltage DC ones. So the AC is fed through trunking below the gunwale and the DC stuff through trunking in the roof. This is one way the Celotex insulation has worked out very well. The roof has two layers of 12mm, which made a level with the steel roof bearers. I then fixed 25mm battens lengthwise and ran two 25mm x 40mm plastic trunkings right down the boat. The spaces in between were filled with a final layer of 25mm Celotex, giving a total of 49mm under the roof.

Showing trunking in roofspace

By routing a channel, it should be a relatively easy matter to break out of the trunking to supply lights and other equipment.

With the ceiling insulation finshed (hooray!) between the engine room bulkhead and the forward bulkhead, I could now turn my attention to getting that battened and insulated, as it was one of the last remaining areas of bare steel.

Engine room bulkhead and electrics

As I mentioned in the last post, a key objective was to get a 'decent' source of mains power. The marina only has a 6A supply, which kicks out as soon as you pick up something like a nail gun.

As I have twelve 2V 840Ah batteries on board, the obvious approach was to trickle charge them, overnight and when I'm not there, to have oodles of power when I need it.

So the priority was to construct the engine room bulkhead - a frame of 2" square ash and boarded with 14mm T&G. I had pre-made the ash components in the workshop, so it was a relatively simple matter to assemble the components and fix in place.

Next, on with the T&G boarding...

This is taken from the engine room side, after the first coat of varnish. Next job was to locate and hang the various major electrical components: inverter, consumer unit, solar controller, Victron colour display, Sterling A2B charger, etc.

An electrician friend came down for a few hours and installed an RCD in the Potter's locker (to protect the incoming shoreline), wired up the consumer unit and put in a couple of double sockets, one at each end of the boat. I feel happier now that all the AC is properly protected.
I had an issue with the big battery bank failing to deliver any useful current. It turned out to be one slightly dodgy connection on a battery interlink, now resolved.

With the basic 230V stuff sorted, it was time to turn my attention to the 24V DC cabling. At this point, it's worth explaining that the back of the engine room bulkhead forms the inside of what will be the airing cupboard. This gives a great opportunity to hide a lot of the wiring.

The 155Amp 28V alternator has been removed and wired up...

... and re-installed. This was followed by the busbars, megafuse and 24V distribution panel. This needed a little box making, due to the depth of the fuses and wiring.

With the inverter connected and the battery bank fully charged, it was time for the acid test - a full burn cycle of the Cinderella toilet, purely under inverter power. (This featured in an earlier blog, but in essence, the whole electrical system has been designed to allow repeated use of the toilet, without recourse to the generator or starting the engine.) So I unplugged the shore power and started the toilet operating.

After 50 minutes, the toilet stopped incinerating and went into the cooling phase. Success! The only evidence of its operation was the quiet fan noise and the inverter running its cooling fans during peak load. I'm delighted that the system has passed this aggressive test with flying colours!

It will now be a simple matter to install the toilet: a 13A plug and some plastic 4" pipe out through the roof vent.

I will admit to looking slightly smugly at other boaters, when they are struggling with their poo-laden cassettes, on their way to the Elsan point. I am also very pleased that I won't have to find room for a massive sewage storage tank. I have every confidence now, that this toilet system will be the gold standard of the future.

The Cinderella toilet is available from https://www.leesan.com/shop/all-toilets/incineration-toilets

I now have the hydraulic crimper for the big 70mm cables and connectors, so that's the next job...

Narrowboat fitout - end November update

Well, it's been a rather slow, tedious few weeks.
I really need to get the inverter connected up, so I can run some decent power tools. I also need to get some charge into the two sets of batteries.
But, before I can connect up the inverter, I need a bulkhead to hang it on.
Before I can build the bulkhead, I need to fix the ceiling battens, so I have something to fix to.
Before I can fix the ceiling battens, I need to complete the second layer of insulation...
I also need to inject every gap between the pieces of Celotex with expanding foam, which makes a godawful mess and takes 24 hours to cure fully, so the cutting back process can't be rushed.

I've almost completed the insulation in the engine room and back cabin. This has been complicated by the fact that everything is either curved, angled or both, so every piece has to be custom-fit.

That all pretty well sums up the state of play - a whole bunch of things that are dependent on something else happening. So I've just knuckled down to the (now very tedious) job of fitting all the 12mm Celotex to the ceiling and squirting expanding foam into any gaps.

Next will be the job of applying foil tape to all the joins between the Celotex panels on the ceiling and port side. Although this is another very tedious job, it's vital, as it prevents moisture migrating through to cold steel below.

I don't deny, I will be glad to get this stage finished. Getting the pile of Celotex off the floor and onto the walls/ceilings has helped to make more room.

Hopefully, the next post will be more interesting!

First month - insulating my narrowboat

Time flies, so they say... I've just realised it's been a month since the last post!

Once Calbourne was safely in the water, it was time to take stock a bit. The departure from XR&D had been chaotic, to say the least. All the tools and materials, which had been conveniently stacked outside the boat in the DIY shed, had been more or less thrown into the boat while the crane and lorry were waiting!

So it was a case of sorting things out and trying to store them where they would cause the minimum of obstruction to the next jobs. Easier said than done, but the space in the forecabin was very welcome. The bulkiest material was the 50mm Celotex, so it became a priority to get this insulation onto the walls. 

Not much room to move!

When floated, the boat was already sitting with the stern higher than I would have liked, so I decided to complete the filler pipe and breather for the water tank and do a test fill. I needed to see the effect of a full tank. I had a flow gauge, so I connected it up and turned the tap on. And waited... for nearly two hours. Finally, with 923L showing on the gauge, water came out of the overflow. The bow was now 3" lower and the boat had listed quite a bit to port. Clearly, I needed to shift a lot of ballast toward the stern and to starboard. This was made more difficult, as the cooker was bridging two of the plywood floor panels, but I moved what I could access. 

Fitting the Celotex was fairly straightforward - cut and then fix in place with spray glue. But first, all the battens needed to fixed. Most of these were cut to size in the workshop to save time. After fitting the panels, the gaps behind the steel angles were filled with expanding foam. Once set, it was trimmed back and all joins were covered with foil tape, to provide a continuous vapour barrier. 

Because the cooker was hard up against the port side, it was logical to concentrate on the starboard side. I was keen to see how the 'underfloor' heating pipes would sit in the hull sides, so I pressed on with fitting the horizontal battens. These had to be carefully spaced, to make sure they would accommodate the six pipe runs and the cabling conduit above. A first attempt at fitting the panels revealed an issue - the need to allow room for the pipes to sweep round at the end of each run. This involved some adjustment to the cutting of the polystyrene panels, but I soon had the first two installed. These will be permanently fixed in place with PVA adhesive.

Spot the problem?

A 40mm x 25mm plastic conduit was fitted above the top batten, which left a gap to allow for a section of 30mm Celotex to insulate the bottom of the gunwale.

I then pressed on with getting the port cabin side insulated. With the weather getting colder, I was keen to make my floating steel box a bit cosier! While doing this, I allowed for a channel, to allow the combustion air for the cooker to be drawn up from the bilge.

Next, I started on the ceiling insulation. I found that Celotex is not very bendy, so instead of fitting 25mm as planned, I would have to fit two layers of 12mm, to allow it to follow the curve of the roof. This was quite straightforward, just a bit repetitive!

In between doing the insulation, ProCast finally turned up with the remaining chimney collars and hatch. This was quite a relief, as I'd had to glue pieces of plywood over the holes to keep the weather out.

The hatch is very heavy!

They also brought the porthole liners. It was a relief to see that they fitted neatly into the holes I'd cut in the insulation. They are made of glass fibre, but look remarkably like wood - and should solve the perennial rotting problem.

Although the marina has the benefit of mains hook-up, the supply is limited to 6 Amps. This means that even modest hand-held tools, like a circular saw, kick out the breaker. In order to use more powerful tools, I need to get the inverter connected up.

Outside, Calbourne is going a bright orange colour as she starts to rust. This is causing a few raised eyebrows and more than a few questions! The reason for this is simple. The boat will be grit blasted and painted next Spring. The grit blaster has told me that the millscale will come off the steel better if it's allowed to rust first. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing her looking more respectable!