Recent content by 2nd_apprentice

Not if we're talking about a displacement hull:

Well a 20ft boat will always struggle due to its maximum hull speed which is going to be less than 6 knots (depending on its waterline length). No point in fighting the tide really: no matter how powerful your engine, you're going to go backwards. As for the Sabb 10 hp, it does have a good...

You'll be pleased to hear that the Hull Central Library holds a copy, so no need to buy one if you feel you don't like it. No need to join the library either as it's on shelf in the public reading room. For aereas not covered I'd recommend the Clyde Cruising Club publications.

Thanks!

Fitted my rigid 50W solar panel and it seems to be working fine, yay! Luckily the Marlec manual for the shunt type regulator mentioned the need for a blocking diode if a solar panel was added to the (useless) wind generator. The sparse solar panel documentation didn't say anything about it but a...

Did I miss something or is there a reason why nobody seems to have suggested using a torque wrench?

Due to the uselessness of my Rutland 503 I had to think about this too. Chandler suggested leaving it plugged in - and indeed that's what most boats do around here it seems - but I'm not comfortable with that at all. Now fitting a 50W solar panel instead, should arrive tomorrow.

Gave up on the Lidl scraper and used a 3M strip disc/angle grinder instead:

Depends on what kind of regulator you're using to drop the voltage to 5V.

Had the Rutland checked today and spoke to Marlec, turns out there's nothing wrong with it at all. Actually it's what they'd expect in a marina. Apparently they're designed for windy high latitude anchorages. Their 48W solar panel OTOH would recharge my battery in 8 days, costing £499. I payed...

You don't say! ;-)

Aren't Scottish showers on a timer anyway? £1 for 7 minutes all the way from Kirkwall, suction cup or not.

Not to my knowledge I didn't. Wouldn't that fry ALL the rectifiers? It occured to me yesterday that you mentioned the 503 had three of them and since I do seem to get around 8 volts out of it most of the time, could it be that only two of them are working (assuming each one of the contributes...

New, bought several years ago but never fitted it. The 504 was voted "best buy" in its class by PBO some time ago, so thought I should give it a try. Had to cough up some more money for a custom mounting pole first (which of course won't fit a 9xx series generator). Given the almost unanimously...

While this isn't about marine engines I found it quite helpful, when facing a similar problem: http://youtu.be/c-VD1yx61bA