Concerto
Well-known member
Should have left a few weeks ago for my Round Britian trip, but many technical difficulties have delayed me.
The upgrade to have pressurised hot and cold water with a shower took far longer than planned. The parts were ordered shortly after the Southampton Show from ASAP, but stock arrivals meant the last bits arrived in January when it was too cold to work on the water. The shower drain should have taken a couple of hours to fit, but took 4 days as I to access under a shower tray against a bulkhed. This meant cutting a slot for my hand to support the fitting with hose attatched but I could not get it to seal properly. When I started the main hot and cold pipework, I have over 500mm (20") of glassfibre and plywood to drill trough with a hole cutter. Despite wearing knee pads, I sucumbed to housemaids knee.
Then I found a small leak on the water tank and there was a problem removing as one bolt was impossible to reach and a new access hole had to be made. This was a pig of a job as the filler piope and vent are in the transom. When refitting I used new hoses. All of this spanned 4 days. More details in this thread. Any ideas how to remove this difficult bolt.
The calorifier was to be mounted behind the engine and in front of the water tank. It was only then did I discover that the lower half of the bulkhead was 12mm and the top was 6mm with a joining strip of 12mm plywood over the joint. The upper portion would not have supported the weight in rough weather. This meant the whole water system had to be move under part of the quarter berth. Now all my hoses were not long enough, so more had to be ordered and I also found the delivery of Jubilee clips was never completed. Progress was slow as I hate working under my body, especially at arms length in the quarterberth. As I went to fit the galley taps, I found the tails had been omitted from the order plus I needed 4 extra Jubilee clips. These were ordered on a Friday morning for delivery on Saturday to the marina. These parts did arrive on Saturday at 17.50, just before I was to leave for home, thanks Yodel.
Now was the time to fit the new fridge unit to the cool box. The compressor was to be mounted, in protective box I made, the sail locker just aft of the galley. The shape of the cooling plate meant it had to be fitted on the inboard fore and aft side with a 35mm hole required through the bulkhead. Numerous measurements were made to ensure I missed the gas pipe, I started the hole from the cool box, the work top is quite high so I was on a wooden box and working blind under part of the counter. I started with a 6 mm drill to check it was in the correct place, but it did not pass throught the glassfibre moulding, the 40mm of insulation and the 12mm bulkhead. So I used the hole cutter to open it so the drill would have extra access. Changing back to the 6mm drill, it still did not appear in the sail locker. I was puzzled, so I minimised the amount of shank in the chuck and tried again. Bingo, a small amount of drill had appeared in the Danbolin paint. So, I decided to use the hole cutter from the sail locker. I forgot the drill had come out through a conduit full of cables due to the paint. I cut a lot of cables and managed to joint them back together and only 2, which I thought were lighting cables, might be switched on rejointing. More details here. What is this? Later I removed the old conduit and fitted two larger conduits to accomodate the numerous chocolate box used in the joints.
All of this meant I needed extra switches on the electric panel. I had ordered a new electric panel, upgrading from fuses to circuit breakers. To be honest the wiring is a complete rats nest, thanks Westerly, and nothing was labelled. As each cable was disconnected, it was labelled with a Dymo label. The connection for all the negatives was massive so I added a new bus just for them and all the cabin lights were put in a large chocolate box in a container to stop any potential shorting. There was also some additional 240V wiring for the fridge compressor to work on shore power when connected and a switch to turn it off if not required, plus the immersion heater and separate switch. So a nice easy job to wire it all in. Some wires have been joined using Wago clips and a short extension wire as there was insufficient original cable to fit easilly on the new panel. I have one negative wire that no longer has a connector, and needs to be checked. So far only one cabin light is not working and the stern light is not working even though the bulb has not blown. I may just fit a new cable to the stern light for speed.
Once all the plumbing was finished, I filled the water tank. I tested the shower pump, it worked. Then I checked the fridge unit was working, it. Finally I turned on the water pump, it worked. Unfortunately, most of the joints leaked. Off went the pump. All of the Jubilee clips had been tighted with a 7mm socket on a screwdriver handle, but this was not enough. So I transfered the socket to a small ratchet handle and tightened them all up and tested the water pump again. A lot less water leaks but not perfect yet. I had forgotton the check the galley taps and loo taps. I found the galley cutlery tray caught a lot of water and was partially filled, but the loo taps were dry. Repeated tightening of the Jubilee clips stopped almost all of the leaks except for a couple under the quarter berth and the galley taps. Eventually the quarter berth fittings were dismantled and I replaced the PTFE tape with extra layers. Refitted and now there was only a very slight weep, which finally stopped with repeated tighening of the Jubilee clips. The galley taps was a different story. They are difficult to get at as the counter is 36 inches above the floor. The access is via the cupboard underneath and it is a long stretch with limited room because of the sink. Then I had the bright idea of removing the sink for better access. One of the 4 stainless steel holding clips had rusted and would not budge, no matter what I tried. So back in the cupboard I went. I should mention you lie on a 12mm edge of plywood, then I used a section of the cabin floor to save my back. I removed the tails off the taps, resealed them, refitted the hoses - they still leaked. I tried this several times, but they kept leaking. I got soaking arms trying to fix it. I could not see how they continued to leak. The following day I decided to try changing the Jubilee clips. The ones supplied were slightly oversize and could not clamp tight enough. The smaller ones fixed the leaky taps straight away. It looks like I may end up changing all of the Jubilee clips to a smaller size.
Oh, I do love working on boats. Every job always seems to take 3 or 4 times longer than I expect, before any addition problems. So in the morning I am fitting the 3 new ships batteries, filling up with diesel, and moving down river for an early start on Monday morning heading for Woolverstone Marina near Harwich. Next stop will be Lowestoft and I will celebrate the Jubilee Weekend in Wells. Remember, I am heading for the Shetland Islands, not the Caledonian Canal route. I still have not yet had any time to test fly my new drone, so aerial photos will have to wait a few days.
No doubt I will find a few new jobs that require some attention in the coming months. I will try to post where I expect to be, so if you see Concerto, come over and have a chat. Videos will be posted regularly, which should entertain and be informative, plus make a few of you want to do a similar trip (yes, I know I am not the first, but it is my first long distance trip). I expect to return at the end of September.
The upgrade to have pressurised hot and cold water with a shower took far longer than planned. The parts were ordered shortly after the Southampton Show from ASAP, but stock arrivals meant the last bits arrived in January when it was too cold to work on the water. The shower drain should have taken a couple of hours to fit, but took 4 days as I to access under a shower tray against a bulkhed. This meant cutting a slot for my hand to support the fitting with hose attatched but I could not get it to seal properly. When I started the main hot and cold pipework, I have over 500mm (20") of glassfibre and plywood to drill trough with a hole cutter. Despite wearing knee pads, I sucumbed to housemaids knee.
Then I found a small leak on the water tank and there was a problem removing as one bolt was impossible to reach and a new access hole had to be made. This was a pig of a job as the filler piope and vent are in the transom. When refitting I used new hoses. All of this spanned 4 days. More details in this thread. Any ideas how to remove this difficult bolt.
The calorifier was to be mounted behind the engine and in front of the water tank. It was only then did I discover that the lower half of the bulkhead was 12mm and the top was 6mm with a joining strip of 12mm plywood over the joint. The upper portion would not have supported the weight in rough weather. This meant the whole water system had to be move under part of the quarter berth. Now all my hoses were not long enough, so more had to be ordered and I also found the delivery of Jubilee clips was never completed. Progress was slow as I hate working under my body, especially at arms length in the quarterberth. As I went to fit the galley taps, I found the tails had been omitted from the order plus I needed 4 extra Jubilee clips. These were ordered on a Friday morning for delivery on Saturday to the marina. These parts did arrive on Saturday at 17.50, just before I was to leave for home, thanks Yodel.
Now was the time to fit the new fridge unit to the cool box. The compressor was to be mounted, in protective box I made, the sail locker just aft of the galley. The shape of the cooling plate meant it had to be fitted on the inboard fore and aft side with a 35mm hole required through the bulkhead. Numerous measurements were made to ensure I missed the gas pipe, I started the hole from the cool box, the work top is quite high so I was on a wooden box and working blind under part of the counter. I started with a 6 mm drill to check it was in the correct place, but it did not pass throught the glassfibre moulding, the 40mm of insulation and the 12mm bulkhead. So I used the hole cutter to open it so the drill would have extra access. Changing back to the 6mm drill, it still did not appear in the sail locker. I was puzzled, so I minimised the amount of shank in the chuck and tried again. Bingo, a small amount of drill had appeared in the Danbolin paint. So, I decided to use the hole cutter from the sail locker. I forgot the drill had come out through a conduit full of cables due to the paint. I cut a lot of cables and managed to joint them back together and only 2, which I thought were lighting cables, might be switched on rejointing. More details here. What is this? Later I removed the old conduit and fitted two larger conduits to accomodate the numerous chocolate box used in the joints.
All of this meant I needed extra switches on the electric panel. I had ordered a new electric panel, upgrading from fuses to circuit breakers. To be honest the wiring is a complete rats nest, thanks Westerly, and nothing was labelled. As each cable was disconnected, it was labelled with a Dymo label. The connection for all the negatives was massive so I added a new bus just for them and all the cabin lights were put in a large chocolate box in a container to stop any potential shorting. There was also some additional 240V wiring for the fridge compressor to work on shore power when connected and a switch to turn it off if not required, plus the immersion heater and separate switch. So a nice easy job to wire it all in. Some wires have been joined using Wago clips and a short extension wire as there was insufficient original cable to fit easilly on the new panel. I have one negative wire that no longer has a connector, and needs to be checked. So far only one cabin light is not working and the stern light is not working even though the bulb has not blown. I may just fit a new cable to the stern light for speed.
Once all the plumbing was finished, I filled the water tank. I tested the shower pump, it worked. Then I checked the fridge unit was working, it. Finally I turned on the water pump, it worked. Unfortunately, most of the joints leaked. Off went the pump. All of the Jubilee clips had been tighted with a 7mm socket on a screwdriver handle, but this was not enough. So I transfered the socket to a small ratchet handle and tightened them all up and tested the water pump again. A lot less water leaks but not perfect yet. I had forgotton the check the galley taps and loo taps. I found the galley cutlery tray caught a lot of water and was partially filled, but the loo taps were dry. Repeated tightening of the Jubilee clips stopped almost all of the leaks except for a couple under the quarter berth and the galley taps. Eventually the quarter berth fittings were dismantled and I replaced the PTFE tape with extra layers. Refitted and now there was only a very slight weep, which finally stopped with repeated tighening of the Jubilee clips. The galley taps was a different story. They are difficult to get at as the counter is 36 inches above the floor. The access is via the cupboard underneath and it is a long stretch with limited room because of the sink. Then I had the bright idea of removing the sink for better access. One of the 4 stainless steel holding clips had rusted and would not budge, no matter what I tried. So back in the cupboard I went. I should mention you lie on a 12mm edge of plywood, then I used a section of the cabin floor to save my back. I removed the tails off the taps, resealed them, refitted the hoses - they still leaked. I tried this several times, but they kept leaking. I got soaking arms trying to fix it. I could not see how they continued to leak. The following day I decided to try changing the Jubilee clips. The ones supplied were slightly oversize and could not clamp tight enough. The smaller ones fixed the leaky taps straight away. It looks like I may end up changing all of the Jubilee clips to a smaller size.
Oh, I do love working on boats. Every job always seems to take 3 or 4 times longer than I expect, before any addition problems. So in the morning I am fitting the 3 new ships batteries, filling up with diesel, and moving down river for an early start on Monday morning heading for Woolverstone Marina near Harwich. Next stop will be Lowestoft and I will celebrate the Jubilee Weekend in Wells. Remember, I am heading for the Shetland Islands, not the Caledonian Canal route. I still have not yet had any time to test fly my new drone, so aerial photos will have to wait a few days.
No doubt I will find a few new jobs that require some attention in the coming months. I will try to post where I expect to be, so if you see Concerto, come over and have a chat. Videos will be posted regularly, which should entertain and be informative, plus make a few of you want to do a similar trip (yes, I know I am not the first, but it is my first long distance trip). I expect to return at the end of September.
- One for the Jobs I never want to do again thread of a few weeks back!
