wheels
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Posts posted by wheels
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Most solid glass boats are not made from Epoxy. They are Vinyl Ester. Only specialised type hulls get laid up using epoxies. Like specialised racing hulls.
The new names on the market have not been around for all that long in comparison to the two staples, being West and Epiglass. Plus not as many boats are built in back yards today either, so the market is not like the old days. Much less quantity to make a name with.
Epiglass and West are the two most common for Boats because they were formulated specifically for use in the boat building market. Not al Epoxies are created equal. An epoxy needs to be able to wet out the glass well, allow air to migrate out, have good penetration into the timber, and have a certain amount of flex without cracking, but not too much that it does not stay rigid. Ultimately the aim is to make a joint without the need for mechanical fastenings. Sanding is an often over looked aspect as well. Especially if you are using Resins with powders. Some brands are harder to sand than others. Some tend to clogg the sandpaper, others are as hard as hobnails.
Then you have the ratio of hardener to Resin. A higher number in ratio adds up to a product that is harder to work with, but often performs better strength wise and is more rigid. But you have to have greater accuracy in measuring the two parts and the combination needs to be really well mixed. A low ratio tends to be safer to use, easier to use and has a greater fudge factor in measurement and mixing.
If you talk to any of the experts that use Epoxies on boats all the time, you will find that they notice a big difference between brands in how they perform. It used to be that specific brands would look after their clients with good deals. I don't know if that still happens today or not. -
Before covid here in NZ or before covid world wide. Remember that the rest of the world was dramatically affected a whole year to year and a half before NZ was.
Some products have undergone ownership changes and thus are now under different names or product lines dropped and others added. Especially in the coatings industry. For Anti-fouls, new regulations have meant some of the old lines no longer exist. Hence why i said it is a whole lot of diffferent issues coming together. There is no one issue, it's a myriad.-
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There are several issues that have come together to make that perfect storm scenario. The biggy is that products produced in several overseas countries are near impossible to get at the mo, due to the problems Covid caused. Other products produced here in NZ have had issues with getting raw materials. The issue is over much of the market in NZ, not just a few marine related brands.
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Very sad. Does anyone know anymore about this, re what could have happened.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/family-of-kiwi-couple-killed-in-tonga-fundraise-to-bring-them-home -
IT is correct in that a breaker is normally used to protect cable, not device.
However,
The Anchor winch is possibly the only circuit on a boat, in which the breaker is there to protect the Winch itself, as well as cable. That is because there are no other items on a boat (I can think of) in which the user is likely to put into a maximum current draw situation during operation, in which the unit could be damaged by excess current draw while not in an form of fault.
If the winch ever stalls or close to stall, say Anchor jams and user thinks he can stand harder on deck switch to compensate, it draws max xurrent and produces max heat. So the breaker is in this circuit to protect winch abuse and cable is automatically protected due to being able to hand current greater than breaker trip point.
All other circuits on a boat, the breaker is used to protect the cable. Internal fuses protect individual electronics when you have multiple electronics on one circuit. Other than lighting, all other circuits tend to be individual runs to single devices.
On 7/04/2022 at 7:20 AM, wheels said:You mean, you need a breaker rated for the normal rated current draw of the winch and cable sizes over distance to suit the winches current draw.
My earlier comment is pretty much as aadvarkash stated. Breaker size is selected for winch. Cable size is selected so that when winch is under load, the current does not dissipate into cable and create a voltage drop. Voltage drop equals loss of current, which equates to loss of power of the winch motor.
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Yikes.
You mean, you need a breaker rated for the normal rated current draw of the winch and cable sizes over distance to suit the winches current draw. Otherwise, when the winch boggs down, all the current dissapates into the cable as heat and the winch will not have the power to keep it turning and will bogg down even more and the cable will get hotter and around and around we go. If the breaker is lucky, there might be enough current spare to cause it to trip. The best way to check that is to short the cable at the winch and the breaker should pop within a second or 2 at the most. If it takes too long to pop, then there is too much current dissapating in the cable. If the cable gets warm to touch, there is too much current dissapating in the cable and you need to go up a size or two in square area of cable.
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4 hours ago, Kevin McCready said:
Thanks wheels. It sounds like the solenoid set up isn't working. The lever feels very sticky. I'll try to get it working freely. I'm gonna kick myself if this whole saga is a broken spring on a solenoid. Grrrr. But just to get it clear on my head, when the black button is released, the spring should pull the lever back?
That is what I would expect, yes. But just were the spring is, is anyones guess. It could be a spring inside the Solenoid, or it could be external on the lever.
It's not wasted energy though. Look at how much you have learned about it all.-
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2 hours ago, aardvarkash10 said:
Not sure what they are rated to, but assuming 1kw, at maximum load it draws about 80A, so a 120A breaker is appropriate. Our RC10 Maxwell has an 80A breaker fitted - it hasn't ever thrown out, but that seems a bit low to me.
Just for comparison, most anchor winches use what is effectively a repurposed automotive starter motor of he old school type (full series winding, no reduction). These typcally draw about 300A at stall...
And that is pretty much where the name comes from. It's a Lucas starter motor, but the winch was most likely built by someone else, like maybe James Nillson of the old Simpson Lawrence days perhaps.
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23 hours ago, Kevin McCready said:
At idle it ran smooth enough but blew a bit of smoke at high load. I'm not sure where the stop lever is, but to shut down I press and hold a little black button on the ignition panel for a couple of seconds. I don't actually know how the little black button works. When I first got it started on Sun 27 March it conked out under load but started immediately when I turned the ignition again. Perhaps the gold lever with the boot on it is the culprit when I moved it back and forth it was a bit sticky. Would it run fine for over half an hour if there was a fuel/air problem but fail to start seconds after shutdown?
Smoke under load is probably just normal for an old engine like that. Although, Is the prop and Hull clean?
The little black button should energise a little solenoid with that little black crinkled rubber boot on the end of it. When you push the button, the lever should pull across and shut off the fuel rack. When you release the button, the lever should return to the proper run possition. Make sure that is happening. Their will be a spring to ensure that takes place. The Solenoid will pull in under power, but a spring needs to pull it back. The spring may have rusted or disconnected or something.
There is nothing wrong with checking and cleaning the exhast elbow, but that should not cause the problem if the engine has already been running. While maintenance on other areas is good, don't distract yourself with red hearings either. The issue will be either Fuel not getting to InjPump or that stop lever. It's all pretty simple when you break it down into logical steps.
Reasons fuel may not be getting to pump could be,
1: possible problem with that manual/mechanical lift pump.
2: not all air was bled out of the fuel system and it has no made it's way to InjPump.
3: you have a small air leak from either a filter not sealing properly, or a fuel line connection not tight.
4: you have turned and fuel valve off and forgotten to turn on again.
5: a blockage in fuel line or filter.
So go back to the steps of bleeding air right through. Even just one tiny little bubble is all that is needed. Bleed the system all the way and see if engine wants to start. You must have done something right for it to start the first time. Try that again and maybe the problem will be solved. Keep asking here if it does not start. You can never ask too many questions here.-
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On 3/04/2022 at 8:18 PM, Cameron said:
yep... found out who all my mates were... and had to do it all by myself!
What a pitty I didn't still live up your way. I would have been more than happy to come give a hand......
......by directing you to areas you missed, point out how hard such a job is and make bad attempts at humor. Bascially show that "Crew" mates would never leave you in the lurch like that.-
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20 hours ago, Kevin McCready said:
UPDATE
I got the engine started again yesterday (had to use ether and pump the little blue lever). I ran it under load for 30 mins. Then I thought I'd turn it off and try to start again. It wouldn't start normally. So now I suspect it might be the glow plugs. Do I need a special plug socket spanner to remove them? Any more tips would be welcome.
No not glow plugs. You only use Glow plugs when the engine is cold. Do not use them when engine is hot.
When at idle, did the engine run smoothly?
When you shut the engine down, are your sure the stop lever returned to correct position to allow engine to start again. (just in case you did something while working in that area)
Diesels are simple, in that to make it run, you need Air, Fuel (compression) and turn over at a good speed to start. Seeing as it had been running, we can rule out Compression problems. Air can be rulled out as well. That leaves Fuel.
You need to check that fuel is getting through OK to that injector pump. Simply disconnect the fuel line that runs to the Injector pump and then cycle that little fuel pump lever and ensure Fuel with no air bubbles flows out the fuel line.
If yes, try the air bleeding process at injector pump and Injector lines to injectors again. There could well have been a little air trapped somewhere that managed to move after you shut down. -
5 yrs already??? I swear you were talking about it just 18mths ago.
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On 22/02/2021 at 8:47 PM, Sailing Pivo said:
Hello,
My wife, dog, and I have recently bought a boat here in NZ. We are still relatively new to sailing but we are keeping a vlog for memories and family back home in the USA. Check out our channel if you want to come along for the adventure! We are not kiwis but we are permanent residents.
Hi to you both. My wife and I have followed you from the beginning and wait eagerly for your updates each month or so. Having had to abandon our own sailing life, we feel for you having to also give up the dream.
I had often thought that if we were still out on the water, we might have met up. That would have been awesome. For us, one of the best parts of sailing was meeting new People and enjoying "sunset over the yardarm" with them.
All the best. -
Gosh, so many hoses running off through bulkheads.
The only concerns I have are.......and a good thing for us all to check....Hose clamps.
As part of your yearly pre season check, you should go over all Hose clamps and see if any need a tighten. Hoses crush over time and temp and the clamps can become lose. Plus clamps that are fully SST can loosen from vibration. Even if the hose stays in place, it can still cause weeps and that results in corrosion.
Ensure the clamps are full SST. You can often get ones that are SST band and Zinc over steel screw. The screw will rust and make it difficult to tighten and eventually the band breaks.
Normally two clamps should be used per joint. I use narrow clamps so as to get a good crush of the hose and you have enough room to have two side by side.
Don't be afraid to liberally use WD40 or CRC everywhere. It will help slow the spread of corrosion on metals.
The pipe situated at the very bottom left of the picture. It looks like it is copper. Is that the fuel line from the Fuel tank? It may need to be checked for corrosion soon and either replaced or cleaned and sprayed with protectant like WD40.
At the bottom of the Oil exchange pump, there is an electrical strip connector. That needs replacing with a proper wire splicing connector that can be sealed. Water will eventually cause it to corrode and fail completely. Plus water can wick up the wire and rot it out and create a very high electrical resistance.
It would be worth checking all electrical connections for corrosion and replace and waterproof. If there is one, there could well be others.
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Use the Biocide called "Drain"
.
Water always looks bad in a filter. Drain it and simply keep and eye on it. It is something we should all do before going out.
But if you do want to use an additive, any of them will work. I use one from Supercheap or sometimes the Lucas one from BNT.-
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12 hours ago, Steve Pope said:
A lot of Marine diesels don't bother with an air filter as there is a shortage of (no) dust when you are out at sea, unless you are sailing close to the Sahara or somewhere similar. You can certainly fit one if you choose, but I think?? your air pickup isn't designed for one.
It certainly wont have any effect on your current problem.
Very true. The problem is that the Paper Air Filters get very damp and clog. I used K&N Filter on my boat motor. That worked well. I liked the idea of something that could stop any larger item from every being sucked in. Like a small piece of Foam or rag.
Do not confuse a box that looks like it should have a Filter, with a resonator Box which can aid in the reduction of the droning noise that can come from the intake. -
NPD 100 is ethanol.
Most outboards do not reccomend the use of ethanol additive fuels. In fact most small motors, especially 2 strokes do not reccomend Ethanol in Petrol. In 2 strokes it breaks down the lubrication property of the Oil.-
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11 hours ago, Black Panther said:
I always buy whatever is cheapest, never been a problem.
Any engine designed for low Octane fuels will run happily on higher Octane fuels. But never the other way around. You will damage it. If it is designed for higher Octanes, it usually makes it very clear at the fill point on the Vehicle.
High Octane is used in any engine that has high compression. Turbo's are the most common to come across, as more air is pushed into the chamber thus greater compression achieved. The uncommon engines are high performance engines, either modified or Super Cars. -
It is really important to get intimate with how the Fuel system works. Whenever it doesn't work, it is usually at the least opportune time. Like it might be ruff and the last pace you want to be is head down in an engine compartment. So knowing what to do is important so you can spend less time there in an emergency.
Lets start at the injectors and work backwards. The injectors are the two things that are screwed into the top of the Head and have two steel tubes running around and down to the Injector pump below. The injector on the left has a black hose coming out that has SAE100-6 stamped on it. That is the return line and you will see it goes back to a white filter. The white filter is your Final Filter. I will call it that because I have found people call it either Secondary or Primary. The important point is, it will be a very fine Micron rating and is the last line of defense before fuel enters the Injector pump.
The reason why your return line is fitted to that is due the being only a very small amount of fuel ever going back through the return and it is quite acceptible to join into the fuel system at this point. The fuel just goes round and round the sytem.
Just out from the point where the two metal lines fix to the IP, you will note a flat piece of the pump leading your eye out to a fixing that has two braided Fuel lines and a rusty looking Nut on the end of them. That will be the bleed point for the injector pump.
Below that is a round looking component. Directly mounted to the left hand side of that are two braided fuel lines. This is the Fuel Lift pump. One of those fuel lines is the in line, coming from what I call your primary filter, which is the filter with the Glass bowl. The other is the out line and should run to the Seconday Filter, being the White one.
On the left hand side of that round lift pump is a little flat lever. That should be the fuel priming lever. That should suck the Fuel through from the glass bottom filter and push the fuel up into the white filter and on to the Injector pump.
The item that has the rubber crinkly boot will be either the Throttle, the stop, or in some cases it can be both. As already said, it mov es the Fuel rack inside the Pump and that rack position determines the amount of fuel the Injector pump will push into the Injector. So in some cases, the throttle can also pull the rack hard back and stop fuel delivery to injector and thus stop engine.
How to bleed. Especially if Tank has run dry, or the filters have just been changed.
In an installation like this, it is likely that the Fuel tank/s are above the level of the first filter. You need to turn off a fuel valve at the tank when you want to replace the filter if that is the case, or fuel will run out while the filter is dismantled.
Another way it can be done is that the tank might be below filter level and no fuel valve fitted. This requires a slightly different means of priming.
The filter at this point is a very commonly used CAV filter housing. Now also available by a couple of other brands. This one uses a cheap element that is easy to get and you should keep a few of these as spares and stored in an easy to get to place. It tends to be the main filter that will cause blockage problems from dirt and Bug etc.
We will assume you have just replaced the Filter.
a: for tank above Filter, simply loosen the bleed screw on top of the CAV housing and wait for fuel to flow clean of any air bubbles. The bleed screw is the one that sits up proud of the other, which is a long bolt that runs through the Filter and pulls the Bowl up tight against the element. There will be a rubber ring between Bowl and element a element and top housing. Don't over tighten bolt when pulling back up.
b: tank below filter, you will need to leave the bleed screw closed and use the lift pump to pull the fuel through the filter. You need to open the bleed nut on the Injector pump and then manually pump fuel through. When that CAV filter is full, you can then losen the bleed nut on top of the housing and let any bubbles out. DO NOT pump. When no air is present, close that CAV filter bleed nut.
Now continue to pump the fuel on through the next filter till fuel comes out that Injector Pump bleed screw. Once all the air bubbles have stopped, you can close that bleed point off as well.
You can try starting the engine at this point.
(For any Diesel that has a Rotary Injector pump, they self bleed and you do not usually need to crack and injector.)
For any inline pump, which this one is and tend to be the most common found, they require the injectors to be cracked. This means that you will require a spanner that fits the nut on the metal line at the injector. You undo the nut just a little. It takes some force to undo it and it usually goes with a crack, hence the term. While turning the engine over, the air and fuel will bubble out and the engine will start and perhaps run rough. Once the engine starts, tighten that nut and it should run sweet. You usually only need to do this to the one injector. If the engine still runs a little rough, you could try the other injector, but that is usually not needed.
If you do not bleed the air out, the engine runs in the exact way you were describing. It takes quite a lot of time to get that air bubble to finally push it's way through. That is because air compresses and the amount of fuel going into the injector is really tiny. So the air bubble will be bigger and simply compresses not allowing the fuel to get pushed into the injector and overcome the spring pressure of the injector seat. The Injector has a needle under a very high load spring and the Fuel pressure must overcome that load and lift the needle and then the fuel sprays out in a very fine mist.
Keep a clean dry rag with you at all times and you can use that to stop fuel from dribbling down and keep your tools and hands clean and dry. Which dramatically helps holding onto the Tools.
I hope that is helpful
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So when they are talking Bio-fuel, they are actually referring to the addition of Ethanol?? Because there are many forms of Bio-Fuels.
The largest producer of ethanol in NZ is Fonterra. At the moment, the only Alcohol added to Petrol is Ethanol. NZ does not use Methanol in it's Petrol. That is not to say that someone might use it at some stage.
Ethanol itself does not gum up your plugs or engine. That should only be a first use symptom, as the ethanol dissolves the gum in the Fuel system and that gum, which is non combustible and a high carbon product, will move on into the engine and adhere to plugs etc.
E10 (as a fuel avaliable from the Pump) also has a high octane rating of around 100. But this is NOT the same as Avgas 100.
I believe that our NZ manufacturered Fuel uses "Octane" to produce the required RON number. But in other places of the World, other products are sometimes used. Ethly Butane and Toluene are both common. I don't know what will be in our Fuel as an Octane additive, when the shipments start arriving from Singapore soon. The Last shipment of Crude is going through Marsden right now. Once that has been processed, that is it for Marsden.
Petrol is produced out of the Refinery at a RON rating somewhere in the mid 80's I think. Then Octane is added at rates to produce the 91, 95, 98 RON ratings.
Avgas 100 is a completely different mix altogther and still includes Tetraethyllead. So don't go making the mistake that a few have of putting Avgas in your Car if it has a Catylitic Converter. Lead is instant death to them.
Ethanol increases Octane ONLY because Ethanol has a very low calorific value and thus reduces the speed of the "flame wave front" at ignition. It's like the difference between Black powder and the newer high energy nitro based stuff used in modern ammunition.
Octane and Ethylbutane and the others used as RON boosters are different. They work the same by slowing the Flame wave front, but still have a high energy content. If you think of Petrol and Diesel, Diesel is made of a set of very long chain molecules and Petrol is a set of much shorter molecules. Octanes are longer chains than the other petroleum chemicals that make up Petrol. Diesel has a much higher energy output per litre of fuel than a litre of Petrol does.
But it is much harder to ignite.
OK, so if you have stayed with me so far, the result is that E10, even though it is 100Octane, has a much lower power to litre of fuel ratio than 100Avgas does. In fact E10 has less calories per litre than 95. About 10% less. The result is that burning E10 actually equates to no fuel saving at all and in most cases of driving, you likely end up using more fuel. It does make the engine feel smoother, but the engine needs more fuel to get the same power output. At the very best on long run drives, you might make a saving, but the extra cost in Fuel completely outweighs any saving in liters used.
So if the only choice we have is E10 in NZ and it is 10cents more expensive per litre, it becomes even more expensive for us to run the Vehicles and Outboards etc.
And one last Warning. DO NOT EVER put Ethanol into Diesel. Like one nieve fellow did once when I...errr I mean....he was told that Ethanol could be added to Diesel. We were going through some 1000ltrs per week of pure Ethanol and a machine I invented removed the residual Ethanol from the powder before being dumped. The Ethanol could not be resused in the process for fear of tainting the finished product. So we had huge amounts of it with no use other than cleaning. The manager was using it in his lawn mower and told me it could also be added to Diesel. So into my work Van it went. I can now say from experience, nope. No it cannot. I had to remove the fuel tank, clean out the fuel lines and pump and injectors. Thank-fully I had not wrecked the injector pump or injectors.-
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A line must have been wrapped around the pole or hooked over the pole or something. I hope it doesn't suddenly let go.
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8 hours ago, harrytom said:
Clear hates the sun,look at imported cars ,particularly the plastic bits ,seems to peel off nicely.
UV stabalizing additives are in themselves, not clear. Plus any material like Plastics and paints etc need two different forms of stabalizers to work in conjuction and offer the best protection. Usually one acts as a reflecter of UV and the other absorbs the energy of the UV Photon. Both work together well as a team, but each on it's own works very poorly. So there is this difficulty in producing a clarity of product vs great UV protection.
So mixing stabalizes into a clear coat has always been difficult while trying to maintain the clarity of the coat.
By the way, Black does not absorb UV, unlike all other bands of visible light and through into IR, which is absorbed by Black. So the most common UV stabalizing product in Black products is Carbon Black. -
UV won't affect the Carbon itself, but it sure can affect the Resin. Thus often a clear coat of Polyurathane with a UV stabalizer is coated over top. But even then, the clear coat can break down over time too and it needs to be maintained. Not using a clear coat usually results in the Epoxy yellowing from UV. I would not expect much in the way of reduction in strength of the spar as the Carbon should stop the UV from penetrating any further than the first layer.
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This is the resulting damage to the wiring after having to handle 1800A. Much of it is wiring the the main cable melted into and shorted out.
After this, we installed Breakers and the battery isolators no lnger lived down in the engine room. They were moved to above floor in the Pilot house so I had instant easy access to isolate banks in an emergency.
Why are we stuck with just a couple brands in NZ?
in TechTalk
Posted
It is called Polyester, because that is what we were all used to. But Polyester was done away with waaaay back in the 70's. Polyester is the resin that caused Osmosis issues. That changed ruffly around 1972, although that was a slow change as stocks slowly deminished and the new Vinylester took it's place. However the name Polyester was never dropped fro use. Everyone still called it Polyester. Basically, it looked the same, smelled the same, worked the same. Except it didn't let water through it via Osmosis.
The blisters that are sometines seen on modern hulls are not the same. They come about due to the layup not being 100%. Something very hard to get right in chopped strand processes. But much easier to fix by a simple grind and fill and waterproof coat to seal it again. Osmosis was a slightly different problem and could result in a lot of damage if left unchecked. Repair was not always simple.