Tony Fuller

After years of smelly pump out tanks I finally found the cause. It is a build up of semi solid effluent on the bottom of the tank, this is left after each pump out as the outlet hose does not reach the bottom. This sludge is anaerobic & causes the smellIt can build up if the boat has been left for some time with 'content' in the tank. I solved the problem by making up a length of 15mm copper pipe with a 90 degree bend & jet on the bottom & a hose fitting on the top, connected to an outside tap. After pump out, pause the machine & insert the pipe via the 'eyeball' flap. Turn on the tap & 'pressure wash' the inside of the tank, this will loosen all the solid sludge & will be pumped out upon restarting the pump out machine. In bad cases it may need a further squirting with a second pump out. If you repeat this procedure maybe a couple of times a year it will remove all of the 'sludge' & cure the 'bad smells'. Tony

It may be OK on an older heavy transformer based battery charger, but I don't think that the modern 'multistage' electronic chargers are going to like the waveform & the unregulated voltage supply

I bought one of these a couple of years ago. They are cheap mass produces Chinese generators. They are just an engine driving a 3 phase alternator. There is no regulation of the Power Supply, so the Voltage will be 'all over the place' depending upon the 'load'coupled up to the machine. Will work OK with a Welder or Power Drill but not good to run, Boat battery Chargers, TV's or charging Phones or other sensitive equipment. Use with Care!!! Tony

Hi Neil, Yes, I suspect that is what many of the 'boat builders' do & probably get their local Blacksmith to make them up in batches. My hinge definitely has a 'blacksmith' look about it & as I said before the curved bit if the hinge did look a bit thin & maybe 'over hammered'. I will have a word with Tim Tyler, he may have these available 'off the shelf'. Thanks Tony

Hello Cheshire Cat, I think I can just beat you, our Tim Tyler shell is 21 years old this year. Built in 'the black hole of Calcutta (as it was called locally) ' in Hixton. I suppose that I can't really complain at the locker hinge rusty through after all this time, I suppose I should have oiled or greased the hinges more often!!! I will make contact with Tim & see what he has to say, he will probably want measurements or a drawing as I don't think accurate build records were kept in those days. I am too busy to visit the Boat at the moment so when I do I will take some pics & measurements so that he can see what we have. Thanks Tony

Hi Larry, I tried drilling & Tapping new threads & fitting a new smaller hinge on top (Message 5). Unfortunately the new hinge had a different 'arc of travel' to the unbroken one & the hatch lid jammed about half way open. I could cut through the good one & fit a 'piggyback' hinge each side but with the different hinge pivot point (raised up by maybe 8mm) I am afraid that the hatch might jam (2inch drop on the sides all round & very snug fitting) as I feel that position of the hinge pivot point may be critical to obtain the correct arc of movement of the hatch lid for smooth operation. If I cut through the good hinge & the piggyback hinges don't work then I will find myself a bit stymied. I can wiggle it open on one hinge at the moment & don't want to 'burn my bridges' Also the piggyback hinges will look a bit of a 'bodged job'. This is why I am trying to find some new matching hinges. Thanks Tony

Hi David, Welding is not the problem, as a retired engineer I can weld (or rather I can stick two pieces of metal together) & I have a reasonable mig welder. What I think you are actually saying is that you don't believe that the locker hinge is a 'bought in' item, but fabricated on site from two pieces of fancy metal with a butt hinge centre piece. You may well be right but from the general appearance of the hinge it appears to have a 'blacksmiths forge' type of hammered over hinge joint, with little actual engineering, the hinge metal looks quite thin (over hammered) which is why it has rusted away. I suppose the only way to really find out is for me to ask Tim Tyler. Thanks for your help. Tony

Hi David, That is actually a good idea, but it would be fine for a steel door & doorpost, my problem is that the hinge section is integral, ie part of the hinge goes to the top section & part to the bottom section. Similar to the left hand hinge if you arrow down in their catalogue. I did try just screwing a smaller hinge over the broken section but due to the different arc's of travel it jammed up & didn't work. Tony

Hi David, Yes, your photo shows the type of hinge, but mine has the 'ornate bit' top & bottom. You would think that Welding would be the answer, but the break is in the actual hinge part itself, it is actually underneath & quite difficult to get at to weld (its actually rusted through so not a lot left to weld on to). So probably means 'grinding off' the complete hinge but if going to all this trouble would be easier to fit a replacement rather than trying to bodge up the rusty one. I was hoping that someone knew where these were available off the shelf or had done this themselves. Tony

Hi, I have broken one of the 'weld on' hinges on the Hatch Lid of the Bow Locker (Tim Tyler Shell). I suspect I will need to replace these as a pair, as getting a match may be difficult. I can't find any online so maybe these are a 'shell builders special'. I think these are welded on but each has 3 'dummy? Rivets top & bottom. Any Ideas how to replace these, anyone done this job. Thanks Tony

For really tarnished brass (whatever polish you use) rub it on using extra fine wire wool. It will tend to make very fine scratches in the brass, but after the tarnish is removed, just polish as normal & the fine scratches will disappear!

Hi Bigcol If the wire has melted near a terminal it would seem that the terminal screw had not been tightened sufficiently or worked loose. This would cause local 'arcing' & overheating & lead to the problems you have observed. If you have enough spare loose cable then re make the connection using a bootlace terminal as recommended. Do check that the screw terminal is not damaged also, as if so it may need replacing also. Tony

Is the Glow Plug working, carefully feel the outside of the Glowplug housing to see if it is hot!! If not, unscrew the terminal nut on top of the glow plug, remove wires & unscrew glow plug from housing. Check glow plug, if they fail then it is usually a broken heater wire. Obtain another correct model glow plug & refit. Tony

When selecting battery cable sizes don't forget about 'heat'. Battery cables do tend to get very hot when passing high charging currents. I have 90mm cables feeding into twin battery banks & they will burn your hands after passing 130 amps for half an hour. So apart from the voltage drop question, the bigger the better. I used multi strand welding cable for battery wiring, it is easy to use & bends nicely. Tony

HI with the NOBELS Bow Thruster, the motor drives a cog wheel & chain ( which is inside the square metal box in the picture) The Propellor is connected to a short shaft with a cog on one end driven by the chain Where the shaft exits the box there is a bearing & a water sealing ring. When you take the top off the box you will see the two cogs & the drive chain, the box should have a bit of grease in it but NO Water. Try running the bow thruster with the top off the box. If it fills up with water then the bearing/seal will need replacing. Unfortunately this is a 'dry dock job' as I don't think that you can replace the seal without filling the boat with water. I have Nobels (Dutch) contact details somewhere if you need to order spare parts. Tony

Getting back to the original question 'Could canal water be used in a radiator for air conditioning in a canal boat', i think the answer is yes probably it could. In a conventional air conditioning unit a motor driven compressor pumps gas under pressure until it turns into liquid (the heat generated is dispersed via a coiling coil & fan). The high pressure liquid is allowed to evaporate into a gas which creates a cooling effect into a radiator matrix, a fan blows air through this thus giving a cooling (air conditioning effect). I cannot see any reason why instead of cooling gas, canal water should not be pumped at low pressure through a similar cooling coil with a blower fan to give a simple form of air conditioning, because the temperature difference between canal water (say12 degrees) & the cabin air (say 30 degrees) is 18 degrees then some amount of cooling will take place. A degree of electrical power will be required but a 'bilge pump' plus a small axial fan should not be too bad. ( it is the compressor on standard A/C system which is the power hungry beast.) I suggest that an old '12 volt evaporator unit' from a supermarket type chilled delivery van would be a good place to start. The unit will come complete with a 12 volt radial fan, connect this up to your bilge pump from the canal & away you go. Don't forget as someone said there may well be condensation to collect & remove (the condenser units come with a built in condensate drip tray) Anyone keen to give this a try??? Tony

Just a small point, most engines are earthed to the Hull via the Exhaust Pipe, as this is usually made of steel & the outlet is usually welded directly to the Hull. Tony

Hi Techcare What happens in my system is that the Combi senses the Alternator voltage as an 'over voltage' & then shuts down the Combi. After a few seconds the Combi re-energises itself & the sequence starts again.(about every 30 seconds) When this happens I adjust the Alternator Controller output voltage to balance the system so that complete charging can take place. My system is quite old now, a Heart Interface 2500 Combi Inverter/Charger (with useful 130amp charge rate), also a Heart Interface Alternator Controller. The Heart unit uses big heavy transformers & has been extremely reliable (although not so efficient as the modern electrical systems) Tony

Holding tanks do have a tendency to get a build up of hard anaerobic sludge on the bottom of the tank. This is just not removed during normal 'pump out'. Just putting a hose down the pump out pipe from the side of the jetty does not shift this. With a 'dump through' toilet the sludge build up results in bad bathroom smells after each pump out' To remove the layer of sludge, I have made up a 2ft length of copper pipe with a shut of tap & a hose connection at one end. At the other end is a 90 degree pipe fitting bend, with a 'jet fitting'. In my case a drilled out radiator air bleed nipple. This gives a really powerful jet of water when connected up to the jetty rinse out tap via a length run through the boat to the bathroom. I just open up the 'dump through valve on the toilet' & stick the 'sludge buster pipe' down the hole. Turn on the shut off tap & direct the jet from side to side thus scouring the sludge from the bottom of the tank whilst the 'Pump out machine' is still working. I do this twice a year to banish holding tank smells !!! Tony

HI Techcare, Depending on how the Combi Charger is set up, you may find that the Combi & the Alternator try to fight each other. What could happen is that the Combi senses the Alternator input as an over voltage & then tries to shut down This happens on my system & I have to 'tweak' the Alternator Controller Output Voltage to try to get a balance. Tony

Some BT's have an overheat sensor coupled to a warning buzzer. In an emergency you can still keep using the Thruster after the buzzer sounds but continued use may burn it out !!!

A good compromise is a Wallas diesel Hob plus a Microwave Oven with a Grill Element.

Hi OldGoat, Thank you for all your help, I have been doing a bit of internet surfing (mainly among the RV & Sailing Forums) & the general consensus is that using a modified sine wave inverter is usually OK (but slower which i already knew) but any with digital clocks can give problems. My idea was to look for a microwave/grill unit with a 'clockwork timer & a transformer powering the magnatron. As you so rightly say it may be that the cheaper/smaller Microwaves are powered by 'switch mode power supplies' which will not like the MSW supply. I will have to try to get more detailed specifications on suitable units before parting with any money. I probably won't be using this until next year so I have got a bit of time for searching, but if a suitable unit did come up I will grab it as these will now be quite rare. Hi dccruiser Yes mine was an old heavy Sharp unit (ran for 25 years) which I disposed off at our local council skip centre. They do have an appliance re-cycling centre but this all goes to charities & is not for purchase by the general public.(Usually they won't sell used Electical Goods even to charities due to 'health & safety issues') I now wish I had held onto my old microwave & try to get it repaired ( but I assumed that spare parts would no longer be available). Its gone now so I will have to continue my search for a suitable unit. Do any other forum members have a microwave running on a 'modified sign wave inverter' please ? Thank you all for your help Tony

Hi Top Cat When your Bread Maker failed when using a quasi sine wave supply was it the 'digital timer' that failed/melted/ or/blew up or did it have a 'switch mode power supply' inside which caused the smoke, or did you just scrap it without opening up to see what had happened. Just trying to get to the bottom of potential problem Thanks Tony

Hi Old Goat Yes you are right about the weight, like yours our old unit also 'weighed a ton'. I opened it up to see if a simple repair could be made, but it was the magnetron that was u/s. It did, as you say have a big heavy transformer. To be honest I didn't realise that the modern units had a 'switch mode power supply' which could cause trouble. I don't think that the Combi microwaves need to have 'more sophisticated electronics' as all they are is a standard microwave with a built in heater element/grill. I might try contacting the Manufacturer to get their advice on using 'modified sine wave' electrical supply. I suspect that they will say 'NO' automatically. Have any members on this Forum actually tried running a modern digital timer microwave on a 'modified sine wave ' inverter, if so how did you get on please. Thanks Tony