Calling Sealine 218 owners

sneddon said:
Things to do - 22? Not bad - we've had our new boat over two years now and the list is longer than that.
And we bought her because nothing needed doing!
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This is my 11th year of ownership and the list of jobs just gets longer and longer. More get added to the bottom than get ticked off the top every year.

I think this is why most sane people don't keep their boat that long. Buying another boat is the only way to get back to a short jobs list :D
 
Rob
Just spent 3 days trying to figure out the electrics on my 218-this forum is ace in getting advice. A neighbour intoduced himself to me the other day-has a Sealine 28 in his back yard just up the road and is an electronics whizz so he kindly came round tonight with his meter to find out why my AUX on the cockpit was not working, amongst other things. Found out my aux battery was knackered so not supplying enough power to light a candle, the engine battery is just holding its own and my VHF was dead-so now more expense-and I haven't even had her out on the water yet!!! By the way, I have an RCD panel in the cupboard under the sink which controls 13amp sockets, calorifier, and engine heater. Seems there are variations-probably put in by previous owner-my boat is 1991/2.
Question- have you got an outboard auxillary engine? If so, what have you got and is there enough room for the tiller when it is fitted to the transom?

Cheers
 
The expense never stops.

We bought a relatively new boat (2003) under the impression it wouldnt cost loads to maintain. How wrong where we? Very very wrong.

Wouldnt change it for anything now though.
 
CX54WEK said:
Wouldnt have been so bad but we where coming up the lock, we sat and watched the boat coming up knowing full well it doesnt go through with the nav gear on the top then drove straight into the gate!!!!!

Then the week after did a similar thing going the opposite way on the road bridge at the opposite end. Nothing like having an audience when things go wrong.
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I went through the Glory Hole got to the lock(wait for it)and then put the mast back on before smashing it to bits on the Guillitine gate :eek:
 
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Hi CelticTemple

I think you're right. Lots of variations around. I think one reason is the 218 was such a simple little boat in so many ways it was relatively easy to bolt bits on! Which is why, when you buy one, the electrics can be all over the place!

Snowgoose came with a lumpy old Yamaha four-stroke which started off the aux battery, via pos and neg cables through the transorm. I took it off because it was hellish heavy. It also came with a little Yamaha two-stroke for the dinghy which I've used for pottering around the marina.

The four-stroke was bolted to the bathing platform mount and didn't get in the way of the dinghy because I mounted the dinghy so the narrower bow sat over the bathing platform mount.

I'm very aware of not having a second power source in the event of an engine failure - so I'm saving to get the four stroke serviced so I can either sell her and get something better - or use her.

I've included a couple of pics (I hope!) of Snowgoose on one of her small jaunts to Holy Loch. I've also included a pic of the main distribution panel - although I have 13 amp sockets which allow me to run a little heater in the main cabin, a travel kettle, a tube heater in the engine compartment and a battery charger when using landpower.

Rob
 
Hi Yankeebloke

One final thing re: adding to the 'to do' list: I'm gradually getting towards the point at which Snowgoose can get back in the water. Hopefully the damned engined will start and the screws will turn.

But halfway through January my Dad objected to paying £1.00 a day for electricity to run the tube heater in the engine compartment. So, at his behest and despite my objections, I disconnected the power cable.

There then followed a series of cold days. Despite having drained the water system (yes, you can guess what's coming) there was residual water in the calorifier. Which (I think) has frozen, expanded and split the tank.

At my last look a calorifier cost around £400 on average. And now I'm scared to fill the water tank again, in case it leaks all over the engine compartment. Am I going to have to re-plumb the system to bypass the calorifier? And, if so, does anyone know how?

Rob

Rob
 
Bypassing the calorifier is easy enough, you just disconnect the 2 pipes and join together. The difficult bit will be knowing which 2 as there will be four pipes coming off the calorifier, the other 2 will connect to the engine somewhere. On mine it would be the top and bottom one but yours could be different. Maybe post a pic or trace the pipes?

Once you have done this you will obvously just get cold water out of the hot tap until a new calorifier is fitted.
 
robmatheson said:
One final thing re: adding to the 'to do' list: I'm gradually getting towards the point at which Snowgoose can get back in the water. Hopefully the damned engined will start and the screws will turn.

But halfway through January my Dad objected to paying £1.00 a day for electricity to run the tube heater in the engine compartment. So, at his behest and despite my objections, I disconnected the power cable.

There then followed a series of cold days. Despite having drained the water system (yes, you can guess what's coming) there was residual water in the calorifier. Which (I think) has frozen, expanded and split the tank.

At my last look a calorifier cost around £400 on average. And now I'm scared to fill the water tank again, in case it leaks all over the engine compartment. Am I going to have to re-plumb the system to bypass the calorifier? And, if so, does anyone know how?

Rob

Rob
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Oh dear,

So not paying £1 per day (which seems a little steep IMO) to heat her will now cost £400 upward to fix her. There is a moral in that story somewhere.
 
bust calorifier

Yup - the moral being: never offer to 'help out' on your Dad's boat. :(

I'll have a go at tracing the pipes to bypass it. Ho hum.

And yes £1.00 a day is steep. Used to cost nothing - until Quay Marinas bought the yard, with big plans for turning into 'lots of smart apartments, shops, cafes etc.' Would you be surprised to learn the only things that have changed in the last two years are the charges? Upwards (of course). Meanwhile - boats get broken into, the pontoons are knackered and the staff are still working out of a collection of Portacabins.
 
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Hi Rob
Sorry for taking so long to reply. Boat looks good-same colour canvas as mine. Never thought of putting dinghy on back like you did-food for thought. How did you attach it? I have same distribution panel as you. Fitted new VHF/DSC radio yesterday but had to rewire slightly to get power to it as wires from old radio were dead! Got it hooked up to antennae- Mine is about 2 metres long-and all I got was a nice lit up radio but no sound, nothing, so I assume that the antennae may be the problem now-does it never stop-and I have to hook it up to the new chartplotter which has bare wires coming from it for the DSC radio while the radio has a nice little socket (looks like a pin socket) attached. I should have been an electrician-could have saved me a fortune. But once that is done, I am ready to launch as I finished the antifoul on Friday-Oh and I need to fill up with water and make sure there are no leaks-did I tell you when I connected the boat to main supply at home, I inadvertantly left the calorifier on for 3 weeks with no water in the system!! That was over the ice spell so maybe I have no element left!!
 
Attaching the dinghy

Started thinking about putting the dinghy on snap davits but, as you know, the 218's got a vertical lip on the edge of the bathing platform so that would have meant bolting on waterproof blocks, then putting the davits onto them - which seemed like work Instead I got two O-ring mounts and bolted them vertically to the transom, about four or five inches in, from port and starboard. Then I got two lengths of rope, long enough to reach from the transom to the D-rings on one side of the dinghy when it was pulled up alongside the bathing platform. I chose the dinghy's starboard side, so the narrower bow would sit above the outboard mount on the bathing platform. I attached carbine hooks to either end of each rope. Then I attached one carbine hook to the starboard D-ring on the transom and the one at the other end of the rope to the corresponding D-ring on the starboard side of the dinghy, towards the stern. I did it again it again for the port D-ring on the transom and the remaining corresponding D-ring on the dinghy's starboard side, this time towards the bow.

So that's the bow and stern D-rings, starboard side of the dinghy, attached to the transom O-rings.

Next thing is to raise the dinghy vertically and hold it in place.

I got a snap-shackle block and tied it to the vertical stainless steel pole, on which the radar arch instrument pod sits. On the port transom (just left of the bathing platform door) I bolted a K-clam midi cleat (the kind with two little grips through which you can pull a rope one way, but which will clamp it the other way).

I got a length of rope (roughly six metres I think, so I could cut it to length if I needed to) and attached a carbine hook to one end. Then I pulled it through the shackle and ran it through the transom K-clam cleat. I attached the carbine hook to a D-ring at the centre of the PORT side of the dinghy, then pulled the rope, hoisting the dinghy's PORT side out of the water and vertically into the air until it lay against the transom. The rope was locked in place by the K-clam cleat.

Ta-daa! I won't vouch for its security in a high wind but it certainly seems to work most days. If there's anything that's not helpful - or clear (probably) - just let me know and I can take some photos.

Electrics are a bugger aren't they? I'm usually not TOO bad - but I tried to remount the stolen TV I got back a couple of days ago. I have NO idea how to do that. Can't even work out how to get power to it. grrrrr.

Good luck with the launch! And with the water filling. Let me know how it goes
 
Finally got the chance to get back to Rothesay Bay after a few busy weeks.

New carpet is in!:)

Bildge pump now wired for auto (direct to battery) and Manual (switch panel in cockpit):)

Shower bildge float switch replaced! :)

Fridge working again!:)

New speed log sensor fitted, tested and working! :)

Next sunny day the covers come down and off we go cruising!
 
Good grief!

You've been busy! Well done! How many things left on the 'to do' list now? Since Snowgoose went back in last week I've been out twice - to stretch her out a bit and to practise my berthing using some swinging moorings in the Gareloch. Great weather both times and I haven't hit anything - yet. Post some pics of your first cruise if you can. Good luck and have fun!
 
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