Recent content by oilybilge

Wow ... complicated. Thanks, guys! I knew I could rely on you. One of the reasons I was asking is that the CB recommended by Lofrans costs £118. OTOH if it's protecting the motor as well as the wiring then I'm thinking it's just a case of 'suck it up'. I wouldn't feel confident about...

I'm installing a 500w Lofrans X1 windlass. They recommend fitting a 35 amp circuit breaker. Can this be right? By my calculations the motor will be pulling around 40 amps under normal use, so wouldn't the CB be tripping the whole time? Or is there something I'm not understanding here? Cheers!

That one is pricey, but you can get similar ones on Amazon for £30.

I've read that the big cockle dredgers in the Thames Estuary turn off their AIS and nav lights so the others can't follow them. Which is terrifying. I wonder if night-time trawlers do the same.

Yeah, I've had the same problem with fishing boats outside Harwich, albeit in broad daylight. They come charging towards you when you're sailing, they're not trawling or constrained by depth, and you have no way of knowing whether they haven't seen you, or whether they have and are just being...

70 watts with a Victron controller. It lives between the hatch runners but can be placed anywhere on the cabin roof. Plenty for the laptop, phone, ipad, autopilot and 110ah battery. When I visit a marina I don't even bother plugging in.

It's worth saying that you can make the pypilot control as simple or complicated as you like -- that's the beauty of it. I've just built one, and the control panel in the cockpit is literally going to be three buttons: engage/disengage, port, and starboard. If I want to do anything more advanced...

I was on my boat on the River Alde today, I booted up my AIS system to make sure it still worked ... and saw ships most of the way over to Holland. So I guess it still works.

Wow, so many great replies. Thanks guys. Yeah, I'd wondered whether turning the nut was better than turning the bolt, so I might give the extra-long bolt trick a try. Cheers!

When I'm working on the boat by myself (ie, nearly always) I find one of the trickiest jobs is re-attaching the deck fittings after cleaning or painting. You have to screw the bolt from above and simultaneously hold the nut down below in the cabin. So I was wondering about getting some flanged...

I bought this one (Brennenstuhl Moisture Detector MD) to measure moisture in my deckhead: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003CSNV2Q?ref_=pe_27063361_487360311_302_E_DDE_dt_1 22 quid, and as far as I could tell it worked just fine.

Thanks OceanSprint. Never knew that. It'll be useful for adding the locations of seasonal buoys to the charts

Same here. Used to slather it on my prop before launching, but last year I forgot. Didn't notice any difference. I do use it on my engine though.

If a 'boat alarm' went off on a nearby mooring I wouldn't go and investigate. I'd just think the owner a tosser for fitting one.

While you're at it, it's worth removing the stainless steel tube that connects the heat exchanger to the salt water pump, and checking for limescale build up. I found loads this year at the pump outlet. It's easy to do, on the Beta 20 anyway. Just hose clips and the plastic clamp on top.