Independence | Upadates & Cruising

[spearfish2018]

"We had no issue with the port transmission – we did have issue with the upper helm ‘fly by wire’ ZF Micro Commander no longer being ‘in control’ of the port engine.

That is to say inputs to the throttle arm on the upper helm station (for the port engine) were ignored by the ‘control box’ in the engine room. As a result, the port engine returned to idle, and then increased RPM for a short while and then back to idle and then back to an increase – all without any input from the actual station on the upper helm. This is why the decision was taken to shut down the port engine and return to harbour on our starboard engine.

I have tried to replicate this issue three times and have not been able. I have talked to local boatyards who have wanted nothing to do with it. After consulting with the manual, I am going to do a full system restore and re-program and see how we get on here. Long term I want to rip the whole thing out and get some good old fashion Morse controls and cables direct between helm and engine and loose the electronic bit between. "


You were not in control of the Engine/transmission ,ergo you did indeed have a transmission issue -fact
Engine and gearbox do not co-exist separately they are a package along with many other vital components

 

[londonrascal]

How can you have a problem with the transmission when the transmission was working but the electronic link between it and the upper helm was not - therefore it was the data link which was screwy not the transmission. If I had an issue with the transmission we would no doubt be going nowhere and I would be in for many many thousands of pounds to have a new gearbox or at best a re-con of the existing one.

 

[londonrascal]

Day Four:

All good things have to come to an end, and here is the final part of this series which covers Independence's preparation for her passage to Great Yarmouth (well Brundall but that is inland rivers so I will stick with the salty stuff for now) and first up is the we finally get to launch the Williams RIB.

Before we launched it though there was more work to be done onboard and in the water - Dan suited up and prepared to dive under the boat to make a through inspection of her rudders, propellers, hull, antifouling and Anodes but also to get an accurate measurement of her draft. A couple of issues were found once he had surfaced and the footage had been reviweed (and sorry such footage is on my laptop not saved with me here so I can't share that) but the following was found:

• Anti foul in very good state - very little growth
• Anodes in very poor state and require changing
• Port propeller has two 'chips' taken out of one of the blades
• Draft is 5ft 2"

Damn that is a lot of boat in the water - fine for Breydon and the Yare but will the Marina have enough depth? Well we will just have to see as everything is paid up and planned now. I will however need to get the boat lifted to have the propeller seen to and Anodes. I suspect Good Child's will be a good bet, they seem to allow work to be undertaken on the boat by your own hands and you pay for lift out and in, and hard standing etc - doing that will keep the costs down if they are able to lift a boat her hieght and weight of course.

Charlie had been over to the Marina Reception and got permission for us to moor at another berth in a different part of the Marina to launch the RIB. Launching is perhaps not the correct term, you see it takes a lot of time, care and effort to get said RIB into the water. We duly set sail for this berth, but I had to do this evolution from the inside helm - this caused me a great deal of issue and trepidation, so much so I had to get 'verbal' about this situation I found myself in an muttered "bloody hell" - with communication from all sides though it went very well.

Once moored at the new berth, time was taken in preparation for the RIB launching, which is posh talk for figuring out what was what with it, getting some lines to keep the RIB in check as it descended etc. Once that was all done it was time to hook the lifting straps up to the crane and away she went. I was 'driving the crane' we had Pete and Brain down below to guide it with long lines and Charlie to check clearances and deal with things as the Jib of the crane moved around. It is a tight run thing between the top of the radar arch and crane Jib when one lifts the RIB out of the cradle and all this going on 15 odd feet up in the air with nothing to hold on to. Health & Safety would have a field day with the boat!

Once the RIB was clear of the upper Sundeck I began to move her out and over the port side into 'clear air' and as that happened so our list to port grew and grew - no creaking, straining or anything else to concern us however and before long the RIB was lowered and in the water (it floated too which was a bonus). Now far from a lovely blue skied, sunny hot day where you can enjoy this to its full it was cold, raining and a nice breeze had developed. I had not paid enough line out either so Charlie had to have a bit of a 'leap of faith' into the RIB and annoyingly with camera roiling he made it perfectly. Not even a trip and a slip.

Time to start the engine - on the third attempt it fired into life - well, some of the cylinders did anyway, but after a bit of load and revs they all came to life and it was running perfectly smoothly. Of course this was serious work and it required Charlie to have a play serious trial of the RIB to ensure it was all working. Let us just say the thing is like a rocket ship - zero to up on the plan in about 30 foot. I reckon I can get from Brundall to Norwich in all of 10 minutes lol.

Fun time over with it was time to get the RIB back up - which went a lot easier and faster - the rain now had got ever heavier and it was taking its toll on everyone - everything was wet, everything you touched was wet, you were wet - but we still needed to get fuel so it was time for the short hop to the fuel pontoon. I had figured out the change over from upper helm to lower and back so this short move was done from the upper helm - and all was behaving itself doing what I wanted when I wanted it to unlike our sea trials. We came alongside and after a short time a young woman was there to fuel her up - how much would it take? Well the lads all had their best guesses - I knew it would not be anything like I am used to when on the Broads.

During the fuelling process Charlie was down below checking the tanks I was up top seeing the litres flow (and cost rise) the thing is it just kept on going and then, all of a sudden the pump clicked off - phew! Under £300.00 I thought, but then Charlie announced with a cheery manner that no, the port side tank was filling up slowly but we would need to put more in on the port side. I put a brave face on and the fuel hose was duly moved over and the fuelling commenced once more. I could not bare to watch the counter on the fuel pump - so rather than simply look away I decided it was time to loose my glasses, and so I duly did by means of hitting my head on the side canopy and somehow dragging the glasses off as I backed away and into the water they went. The lady looked up and cheerfully told me "they were gone" - I acted all cool as if it was just a £1.00 pair of reading glasses that I had lost, but no it was my only pair and now anything much more than 6 feet in front of me was a blur.

Total litres used amount to 359 - and with the 60/40 split that worked out to £360.00 give or take a few pence. We then left the fuel pontoon, turned the boat and headed back to her home berth. I was getting more confident - all was going really well, and then Charlie joined me up on the fly bridge "leave the thrusters alone" and so it was we headed back to the berth and the crew were working like a well oiled machine - calls were coming up from below, Charlie would really this to me and say things like "Port ahead, starboard astern" and then "right all stop now port ahead" she came round and we backed into the berth all was going swimmingly. I then seem to have caught the super smooth throttle control that has barely any detent with my coat sleeve and I really do mean I must have brushed it, because the next thing I hear "woah woah stop" as the boat headed back into the pontoon. Thinking this was a repeat of yesterday where the command unit was doing its thing I just shouted "I have no control" and shut down the engines. It was only after we determined it was my error but it just re--firmed how much I dislike the controls that one can shift between ahead and astern with the lightest touch. There is simply no resistance.

Back alongside the crew finished their jobs, and we called it an early night (and thankful we were after the hours over the previous days we had put in). We headed back to the usual 'Weatherspoon' for our dinner but Pete had wanted to try something else for a tipple after - the Cider House - umpteen stupidly strong ciders were on offer, but thankfully a Cornish Ale was too for Charlie and I while Brian stuck to his Fosters. There was live music too - which usually would be a good thing but they had set the P.A up as if they were playing to an Arena and the volume was simply too loud, that said as the evening wore on the volume seemed to settle (or we got deaf) and despite a bad tooth ache that attacked Charlie, we all had a great evening. Pete especially.

You see Pete is adventurous when it comes to drinks, forget any mass produced rubbish it has to be fine, strong Ale or Cider and goodness knows what percentage his pints were but by the end of the evening he was unable to communicate with us - well he could, it was just we were not able to understand the new language coming from his lips. Somehow we managed to get back to the Marina, down a flight of uneven, wet stone stairs, onto the pontoon, to the boat and onboard and all without he or anyone else ending up in the drink. Dan was staying onboard tonight - another adventurous one is he, deeply independence and enjoys nothing more than to pay a few hundred pounds and be dropped off in woodland with nothing more than a back pack for 4 or 5 days and be self sufficient - kill your own food, make your own shelter type stuff.

Suffice to say the film of choice that evening was about the US Coast Guard and rescuing ships in storms - proper good it was too, Charlie stayed awake for all of it, Pete on the other hand was now broken. Once it was done and everyone returned to their cabins, it took Charlie a good ten minutes to get Pete up and in his berth - it did not last long, he got up and I found him lost in the galley having taken a wrong turn and ending up there instead of the heads.

Day Five:

And so it was here, the last morning - time for the last few odd jobs to be done, and the Yorkshire crew prepared to depart for their long drive home. I also was visited by a chap from Esper who are the local agents and installers for Eberspacher. They were really pulling out all the stops to fit the visit in and if I wanted to go ahead get the heating system installed prior to our departure on the 2nd February. Well I have to say he was very good, but also they are clearly used to people who are not so, how to say "rugged" as the likes of those who have been brought up on hire boats. I wanted a heater - it did not have to be the best, biggest and most fancy but he was shocked "you don't want inline air duct silencers?" he asked, and whenever he came up with an issue about where a duct run may go or an outlet could be placed my attitude was 'well here will be fine' - I could tell Charlie was itching to either help out, direct, or otherwise generally sort the whole situation out. He did so disappearing into the engine room and when the issues popped up with how to run a duct from the engine room under the galley sink to go aft, the chap was unsure how they could drill a hole without casing too much of an issue to the plywood veneer under the sink - I did not mind, Charlie was typically to the point "Well I could do that with my multi-tool if I had it with me" - you got to love him.

Yes, if I had more time, we could get the parts save money on their procurement and then cut holes and pull ducting through ourselves and save costs. But that takes time, time we don't have and my view was 'doing something now is better than nothing' so went ahead - but then being me I could not help myself after the event tweak the install a bit more, so now it is a programmable LCD 7 day timer, a larger D5 heater and fully lagged ducting. They wanted a £2,000 deposit mind because they had no details of me and knew come 2nd Feb we are off - they did not want to pull put the stops, install the system only for me and the bot t sail away never to be seen of again without being paid. They have to date one thing left to do - drill through he side of the hull to mount the skin fitting for the exhaust - so they are on track to have it all in place come out departure.

With that sorted, it was time for everyone to say their goodbyes and head on home - Charlie, Pete and Brian duly left around midday, I stayed on to clear up, hoover, dust, strip beds and the likes so at least the next time I am down just before the rest of the lads arrive, there is less to do and the boat is clean and 'ready to go' as possible.

It seems strange to think all this time has come to an end in Plymouth - it had become a sort of 'second home' getting to know the area, the places to go and shops to visit and so on is coming to an end, and soon it will be the last journey down to the Marina and a whole new adventure to begin. How exciting!

 

[East Cardinal]

You may have read on other posts that I have an inerrant mistrust of electronic engine controls. If they're going to fail, it seems always to happen at the worst time. Play d'eau has Hynautic hyfdralic conmtrols for throttles and gears, and they are brilliant.

http://www.seastarsolutions.com/products/controls-and-cables/hydraulic-controls/

All the best when changing - you won't regret it.

I wouldn't be so quick to replace the elecro mechanical system. A very quick google and it appears to be a decent system to me. Five different control positions and optional remote controls. A system reset and revert to factory settings with some further testing would be worthwhile. Especially if you haven't experienced the problem again.
Hydraulic systems can also break!

 

[MapisM]

Long term I want to rip the whole thing out and get some good old fashion Morse controls and cables direct between helm and engine and loose the electronic bit between.

I always sympathize with anyone who prefers, as I do, mechanical to electronic levers. :encouragement:

That said, beware: retrofitting mechanical with electronic controls is always possible and relatively easy (silly cost aside), but the opposite can be hard, because it's necessary to snake cables from both helms to the e/r, and there are minimum radius requirements.
And if by chance you have electronically governed engines (maybe not, I can't remember - but just saying), it might even be impossible.

Besides, what happened to you strikes me as a minor software glitch, that might as well never happen again.
Sorry if it was mentioned and I missed it, but did the lower station still work normally when the upper one didn't?

 

[sharpness]

Top marks londonrascal to the time and effort you put into this thread. Look forward to seeing the updates for the voyage to brundall.

You may have already seen this, but link below is for pdf showing details on all Traders. Has stats for yours and draft says 5ft 4in, so your diver was pretty accurate with the measuring tape

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...FjABegQIDhAB&usg=AOvVaw2otYc78DejB-hapPuxxSou

 

[bluetooth]

+1 going from Morse KAD 43 to EVC KAD300 I wouldn't want to go back. Just learn the deft touch !

 

[londonrascal]

I do have the remote control - its not really something you can call a 'remote' its pretty hefty with a heavy gauge cable coming out of it (not tried it yet) but you can operate the engines - to full RPM I might add - and have control over both thrusters. This is something to give a try some other time, for I would be more nervous using it to stern moor than anything else especially as the controls are not very easy to operate while you hold the control box.

The system is indeed very comprehensive, well trusted and installed on many boats, but it is like anything subject to all manner of issues to creep in over time and unlike a mechanical system which might just get stiff, have a cable that needs to be changed etc chasing a stray electrical gremlin that only turns up every now and then will be most frustrating.

 

[KevB]

Looking forward to updates on the journey.

 

[wellf100]

well done Robin. Great write up / vlog. Looks like a fair few man hours let alone £'s gone into getting this far. What's the plan for the journey?

 

[londonrascal]

Passage Plan

For those who are following this thread I have some rough times for you with regard to bringing Independence to Norfolk.

Firstly there is a good chance that we will have suitable reception from shore for data (if not all the time then at some times) and using an App for AIS tracking could then provide websites like http://shipfinder.co/ with our position and so on so people would able to follow our progress. However this is subject to me setting up the App to begin but if I manage this - I will post an update as the details of the boat to follow.


Presuming all goes as it should and the weather is being kind this is the plan:

• Friday 2nd Feb sail from Plymouth to Weymouth (85Nm)
• Saturday 3rd Feb sail from Weymouth to Brighton Marina (92Nm)
• Sunday 4th Feb sail from Brighton Marina to Ramsgate (79Nm)
• Monday 5th Feb sail from Ramsgate to Great Yarmouth and onto the Broads (81Nm)

We must book Haven and Breydon Bridge lifts 24hrs in advance and we really need to be coming in on a rising tide or close to high water so we have good depth under us. High water at Great Yarmouth on 5th Feb is 13:45 so that means an early departure from Ramsgate on the 4th.

I will have various people joining us along the way between harbours as 'day guests' and people in Kent who will be tracking us from shore with high power camera's (if weather is good) and further others filming our arrival into Ramsgate. I may also have a chase boat filming some of the passage so a lot of planning has gone into that side of things along with the usual things most would do when planning for such a trip.

What nobody has thought about is victualing! Oh and there is a sweep stake underway as to how much fuel overall I will consume. Estimates vary for a mere 500 odd litres (ha) to over 5,000 - I personally reckon it will be high because we won't be hanging about if conditions allow.

 

[East Cardinal]

Fuel use>
My guess 2150........................is there a sweepstake?

 

[londonrascal]

There is a sweepstake, but not on this Forum. Its on another Norfolk based Forum

 

[n.herring]

If you go for it 3200 litres
If you take it easy say 10kts1400
litres, good luck enjoy the trip, I would have a night on the quay at Yarmouth and go up river with the tide in the morning, Neil

 

[Oscar24]

When in Weymouth I can recomend the fish and chips from Bennets on the quay,
Very very good.
Best of luck with the trip

 

[stelican]

If you go for it 3200 litres
If you take it easy say 10kts1400
litres, good luck enjoy the trip, I would have a night on the quay at Yarmouth and go up river with the tide in the morning, Neil

He is going to Norfolk not the Isle Of Wight

 

[pks1702]

He is going to Norfolk not the Isle Of Wight

Unless he means Town Quay at Great Yarmouth best of luck with that - prepare to repel boarders :encouragement:

 

[n.herring]

Ok clever ! I didn't bother with the "great" i thought using that amount of diesel it might be obvious. With that draught not sure how far he would get up the Yar.

 

[MrB]

With that draught not sure how far he would get up the Yar.

I was thinking that also, will you actually get her to Brundhall? :ambivalence:

 

[Bigplumbs]

Just a comment trying to be constructive:

I think your posts are way too long and also your videos. I started reading this thread but don't have the time to carry on given the length of each. I am sure others are fine but as the Dragons say I am out

Dennis