Good decision to check the boat this weekend before the cold kicks in

oGaryo

oGaryo

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On the boat at present and have needed to remove the meter section from the shore power lead temporarily as the shore power junction box had tripped. All working fine without the meter inline.

The problem is that one end of the stubby lead has a leak into the connector (seal's gone) so I'll be popping into the local trailer shop to get a replacement in the morning.

Worth a trip down to check things over so you can sleep easy over xmas and new year, no shore power = no tube heaters :encouragement:
 
Or get an alert system to text you when the power fails. I had a similar problem last Thursday, I got a text message from my boat camera that the electrical power had failed, after several calls to the marina to reset the pontoon trip, it became obvious I had a fault. So Friday I went down to the boat to investigate and found that water had dripped onto one of the tube heater connectors. It appears that the strong winds had driven some rain into the engine bay air vent, it was only a small amount (bilge still dry) and typical it dripped on to the connector. Relocated the connector and made sure everything was fine and power restored. I now feel quite please in investing in a text alert system and saved risking the cold doing any damage.
 
Went down on Wednesday to check the boats. I am out at Hamble point with my dad's boat beside us. Electrics box tripped as my dad's electric lead had filled with water and was tripping entire box (for 6 boats.. Oops )- he had a spare lead so swapped it and we fitted the connection in the box so it won't be out in the elements.

Having been to our local brilliant electrical shop they had some electrical fitting sealant (raytech wonder gel) on the counter £16 a tube - seemed a superb product and so suitable for filling up all voids.. So a tube purchased today to waterproof lead for good. But highly recommended in case anyone else had the same problem!
 
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Firefly625 said:
Went down on Wednesday to check the boats. I am out at Hamble point with my dad's boat beside us. Electrics box tripped as my dad's electric lead had filled with water and was tripping entire box (for 6 boats.. Oops )- he had a spare lead so swapped it and we fitted the connection in the box so it won't be out in the elements.

Having been to our local brilliant electrical shop they had some electrical fitting sealant (raytech wonder gel) on the counter £16 a tube - seemed a superb product and so suitable for filling up all voids.. So a tube purchased today to waterproof lead for good. But highly recommended in case anyone else had the same problem!
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like that idea James. what's the name of the shop, presuming it's in Soton?
 
oGaryo said:
Worth a trip down to check things over so you can sleep easy over xmas and new year, no shore power = no tube heaters :encouragement:
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No tube heaters = no need for shorepower = can sleep easy without the need for a 170 mile round trip. :) :D
 
oGaryo said:
On the boat at present and have needed to remove the meter section from the shore power lead temporarily as the shore power junction box had tripped. All working fine without the meter inline.

The problem is that one end of the stubby lead has a leak into the connector (seal's gone) so I'll be popping into the local trailer shop to get a replacement in the morning.

Worth a trip down to check things over so you can sleep easy over xmas and new year, no shore power = no tube heaters :encouragement:
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..

Drained down machinery equals no water to freeze equals no need to have tube heater, equals no leccy bill equals no need for shore power equals no need for blown gasket outing the supply equals no need for a special visit to check the heater is still adding to webbys current second bandwagon to pontificate about...Next time i see a 2000 post about mmgw in the lounge i shall call you a very rude name.
 
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tinkicker0 said:
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Drained down machinery equals no water to freeze equals no need to have tube heater, equals no leccy bill equals no need for shore power equals no need for blown gasket outing the supply equals no need for a special visit to check the heater is still adding to webbys current second bandwagon to pontificate about...Next time i see a 2000 post about mmgw in the lounge i shall call you a very rude name.
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Tinkicker, some of us use our boats over the winter, so it is not really practical to drain then down every time we are on board. Tube heaters are a sensible and efficient way of keeping the water from freezing.
 
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oGaryo said:
like that idea James. what's the name of the shop, presuming it's in Soton?
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Gary, sorry no not in soton, in Byfleet ! But a google search and it looks widely available, but lots of folk charging circa £25, but some are around the £16 mark, I have not looked for it at tool station or screw fix but may be an idea. Product is Raytech Wondergel.

I did winterise both my engine & my dads before being lifted with 50/50 antifreeze mix so I too am not overly worried about a freeze. More concerned of the interior getting damp so dehumidifier running on low setting and tube heater in engine bay and boat to reduce damp, all on thermostatic plugs.
 
sarabande said:
can you let us know the name and type of the system please ?

TIA
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Thermotxt, works well. I've one serving the engine room (one heater) and one serving the cabins / heads (two heaters). Remote thermometer sensor means you can measure temp at particular locations. £10 Orange PAYG SIM gets you 400 texts; so when you're lonely not only you can talk to your boat, she'll talk back with a status including (well, limited to) temperature! And if the power goes off, you'll get a txt!
 
rafiki_ said:
. Tube heaters are a sensible and efficient way of keeping the water from freezing.
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Sensible, possibly. Simple is perhaps the best description

Efficient, it is certainly not.


Trace heating and thermal insulation would be considerably more efficient because the heat would be delivered directly to where it is needed and the insulation would minimise heat loss. Low heat loss = increased efficiency!
 
sarabande said:
can you let us know the name and type of the system please ?

TIA
Click to expand...
The one I use which is also a security system is Alertpal (also known as Minder), they are around £140 (many sites advertise them at £250). As one of the other posters mentioned, thermotxt is also good as it monitors temperature, and a new one on the market I see is envirotxt. Here is a link to the products BUT you can get them cheaper elsewhere!
http://www.tekview.co.uk/news/alert_pal_gsm_security_camera
http://www.tekview.co.uk/news/thermotxtuk_tempmonitoring
http://www.tekview.co.uk/news/envirotxt
 
I have an old, spare iPhone with a 3 unlimited data sim that I leave on the boat to stream tv programmes and films to my tv. On that I have an app called iCamSource Mobile which allows me to connect to the camera on the boat phone from my regular phone and see what's going on. I have the phone pointed at the clock on my microwave so can see if ever the power gets disconnected.
 
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