jim s

The main thing is to have plenty of memory on your Go Pro...

So i've done a couple of sketches and they show in a 1:1 setup with 50 kg (technically should be called 500 newtons) of force holding the sail in position there is 50 kg of "pull" in the halyard going from the sail going up to the sheave and of course the same 50kg pulling down inside the mast - so the sheave is compressing the mast by 100 kg. With a 2:1 set up there is only 25kg of load on the halyard so 25 kg where it terminates above the sheave plus the 25kg going from the sail up to the sheave as well as the 25kg coming down inside the mast giving a total of 75kg now... I'm pretty su

Ideally if the shaft and prop bore could be measured then a good plan might be formed, or is the looseness only on the key? . Regardless the grubscrews if they must be kept on should seat in shallow dimples and be loctited (262 or 263)

as a self employed contractor you need to be payed around 30 to 35% more than a wage earner to end up the same at the end of the year (holidays,the odd sick day stats acc levies cost of accountancy etc). There will be a bit of a variation if the wage earner is regularly on penal rates.I have a spreadsheet that shows the costs and comparisons of being self employed (albeit 10 years old) that i can pm to you if you like wheels.There is a lot of bigger picture stuff involved too like whether you are looking at a short or long term prospect and even how much it would cost to get to work, and if yo

For what its worth we occasionally have a similar thing happen in our off the grid set up of 15 years . typically we run two sets of 4 6v lead acid 220ah batteries in series (24v system) with the two sets paralleled. last summer 3 of the batteries (in one bank) started needing frequent top ups but the system seemed normal in everything else.early one morning before the sun came up i noticed amongst all the 6.2s and 6.3s i had a 5.8v on one battery (less than two years old) - changed it with a new one and all is well again... By any chance Fish have you compared the resting voltage of them? I

For what its worth i had a frozen shoulder a few years ago following an injury and it barely responded to physio etc but after 18 months or so it slowly came right by itself so lets hope your one follows suit...I'm a real fan of starting the trailer sailer way as fish mentions and certainly you won't get bored with what we have in nz waters. Further to that anytime the pair of you are in the bay of plenty or thereabouts i would be real happy to take you out for a sail for a day or two - pm me if you are keen.

I think it would be fine to reinstate and "push the button". it certainly wouldn't hurt to turn the engine a few turns by hand to give the oil pump a head start but not essential. Definitely don't put any oil down the intake though as when that gets drawn into the cylinders the engine will very likely take off and possibly destroy itself. Years ago a friends father got a bulldozer into a very awkward position (more upside down than upright) and while he was standing next to it (still idling) pondering the predicament and how the boss would react it started to run on its own oil then took off a

About this time last year my elderly sailing mate and i went ashore for a few days while some dodgy weather passed and during that time took a walk around the marina at nelson. As you do got chatting with an old salt who was tinkering with his boat and ended up spending a very enjoyable few hours listening to some pretty neat stories covering all sorts of things from logging and deer culling down the west coast through to sailing on the Nile overloaded with oranges - where else do you bump into people like that?

Personally i'd be happy to leave the belt in there for another 5 years/1000 hrs - at this stage its still quite young and very low hrs.

We've used those chinese remotes on our winch-equipped farm truck. one of them lasted 2 1/2 years of getting used almost every day and getting trampled by cows and dropped in mud etc - i was deeply impressed with it and happily bought another one when it finally died. the second one only worked within about 7 or 8 metres of the reciever compared to the original troopers 20 odd metres range and only lasted 6 months. the third one worked for about a week then fizzled out...(new batteries didn't revive any of them) so i'd be hesitant about them unless you got one made by the same girl that built

assuming both pumps are doing their job (no slipping key / spline / grub screw ), then considering the checks you"ve already done it does make you start to think about cracked blocks etc... I'd be keen to see the list of temps taken on the run in case something (hopefully) stands out.

Ok the engine still has the upper hand ... is there any chance of an issue with the circulating pump drive? i'm just about stumped.

I think we are starting to get it a bit worried now ... where do you reckon the piece of rubber came from? could there be more hiding in there - a back flush of the system into a bucket could be worth doing. i once worked on an engine (outboard) that had inconsistent water flow and it turned out to have bits of impeller intermittently blocking the water galleries. It doesn't sound like the head gasket at the moment. A vigorous back flush may shed some light.

Sad news ... When you did the full power test did the temperature take off almost immediately? and did the header tank dump water straight away or after the temperature surge? On a separate line of thought has it had a couple of good work-outs since the rebuild a few months back?

I've used the "pressurize the oil system while the engine is stopped " idea previously to help fault-find a small newly rebuilt aero engine that had issues - it gave enough new info for the engine to be stripped down where it was found the reconditioner had left out a pressure blank in the block of all things...

As a precaution during the above it would be a good idea to remove the oil filler just in case the breather struggles with the airflow and possibly motor over a bit afterwards to re-prime the oil pump... the tricky bit will be if it doesn't blow bubbles (more neurons needed if thats the case)

Hmmm what a pity after such a nice job...I agree with the logic in your analysis so far but engines can be full of surprises so to make sure i'd set up an air pressure regulator to say 70psi or so and supply air to the oil pressure switch tapping (often 1/8 or 1/4 bsp even on metric engines) and observe for bubbles arriving in the header tank. you'll hear air hissing in the crankcase but if little bubbles start arriving in the header then the theory is sadly proven...

Looks like the wolves are closing in on dee...hopefully she can hold them off for a few more hours...

Reading your initial post two things come to mind - you changed the supply hose and now it wont go , so surely a good bleed of the supply,pump, and injectors and you should be back in business...but the second thing is it stopped recently but then went ok again - was this after the overhaul of the pump/injectors ? I'm wondering if the reason it stopped recently is back in play...Any extra background info could shed some light here. As others have mentioned if the battery or starter is a bit dozy it swings the odds against you especially if there is something else such as a little bit of air st

I wonder about the very fine filter on the inlet banjo to the injector pump - they can partially block the supply to the pump and cause all sorts of wierd and intermittent trouble (and often they still indicate ok while winding the starter with an injector disconnected) - a bit of a long shot but it has happened before ... are you giving it plenty of throttle after the bleeding ? my 5 cents worth - good luck

Hmmmm mcp thats a bloody good idea - only trouble is i can see a new thread starting in a few weeks time "generator left running in dinghy all night" In actual fact its easy to find an anchorage with no houses or other boaties for miles in the Pelorus

Thanks Fish - i have thought about the size and weight of lead acid batteries and it isn't really an option for our little boat . the machine itself i understand is about 2.5 k complete with data-logging thats reviewed from time to time so i suspect it could be potential drama if a different machine is used and something unfortunate happens...possibly i may need to consider a base we return to each night that has mains power...

the breathing assist machine would need to run about 9 hrs per night using 90 odd watts the whole time. The yacht has a pull-start outboard - the car battery normally runs a little waeco fridge and a few other bits but i know i'll need a separate system for this outing. I'm not familiar with the latest in battery technology and am hoping someone can point out a possible solution.

It plugs into the mains and has a transformer/rectifier? that then plugs into the actual unit

Hi all, I've invited a very likeable old salt sailing in the sounds next month but it turns out he has a machine he needs to bring that helps him breathe at night ... i understand it runs constantly at night and draws 3.8 amps at 24 v. our on board capacity wont handle this at all (trailer sailer with car battery and 80w of solar panels) so i'm looking for suggestions as to how i can store enough power to run this thing for 4 nights or so. i don't mind spending a few dollars if for example a couple of fancy lithium batteries will do the job... thanks, jim