Recent content by ALPHORA

Had to buy a new glow plug for our diesel cooker. UK Distributor price was £42 with a two week wait. When the new one arrived I realised it was nothing out of the ordinary and checked the maufacturers part number and sourced one on ebay for £6.50 delivered the next day, identical unit as fitted...

Is it possible to modify the Icom 801E to operate on Ham frequencies and use winlink?

Thanks for the advice about getting oil out before varnishing. Might try giving a good clean with white spirit or similar, and see if that lightens the colour a bit. My problem might be the build up over the years. I do like the ease and speed of another coat of oil.

I have a teak interior that has been oiled for many years and is getting darker and darker. It does collect dust and soon goes mouldy in a winter damp spell. It is however very easy to recoat with a rag and teak oil. I am tempted to go for a satin varnish. Is the International Woodskin one of...

I have been hoping to do a qualifying passage sometime in the next few months. Being based in North Yorks I was thinking of a trip across the N Sea, round Heligoland and back. This would cover the required distance overall and being offshore for the required time and distance. Would it qualify...

Thanks for that Angus. I will have a look at the depth unit as well as the compass. I have gone back through the log and the only electrical issue of note (that I had forgotten about) was a couple of years ago when I saw that all the instruments and the plotter started flashing on and off...

Thanks for all the suggestions . I will have a look at the fluxgate compass next time I am on board and see if there is anything amiss then try to understand the replies regarding data capture. The one that really confused me was when the depth display changed into an autopilot display. I know...

Angus, the idea of a data logger sounds superb, if you have time to oblige I will be forever indebted. Were you thinking of something to transfer data to a laptop for analysis? I have gone as far as I can with my limited knowledge of digital electronics. I was getting to the point of swapping...

Strange happenings with our electronics. The system is all raymarine, with a C120 plotter linked to ST60 instruments via Seatalk. The instruments are log, depth wind, and 4000+ wheel pilot, radar, and an ST70 repeater. The heading alignment on the autopilot has taken to resetting itself to...

I own a Tayana 37 which has a similar sounding chainplate set up as standard, and as standard they leak. There is a lot of information on the Tayana owners website with a selection of 'cures'. Some have tried moving the chainplates outboard which does work, but can cause problems with the...

It might be worth another go with Araldite. I repaired the plastic radiator on my citroen about 5 years ago and it has been fine so far. I abraded the bits to join with fine wet and dry then washed off with acetone before glueing. I have found that the 5 minute version seems to stick to plastic...

One thing you might check is the fore and aft movement of the shaft. You said the shaft rotated freely, does it still rotate freely if you pull the shaft as hard forwards as you can as you try to rotate it. Also have you checked to see if you get the same results going hard astern.

I have just rebuilt a Nanni badged Kubota. I can confirm the quality of the Kubota engineering, first rate all round. The spares seem to be available, even for quite old engines. The prices quoted were horrendous from most of the 'Marine' dealers I contacted. I sourced most of the parts needed...

I have been told that work on the lock gates has started and they will be out of action for an estimated 8 weeks, might be worth a phone call to the marina office

I have looked at several small 240v AC microwaves in the past. One thing I did discover is that the labelled 'cooking' power is probably close to the microwave output power, the input power is often 25% higher. It is worth looking at the small print as microwaves do not appear to be very...