AIR HEATER SAGA CONTINUES

I bought ten metres of insulated ducting to carry the warm from the heater to the cabins. The ducting is a central tube of heavy duty wire wound plasticised foil covered with insulating rock wool and a outer coating of plasticised foil. It came in a box one metre long from which it sprang out like a jack-in-a-box!

I had to lay it out throughout Lady Cate. This involved clearing out cupboards, uprooting panelling and cutting holes through bulkheads.

The silver snake got everywhere!

Then, disaster. I asked for a 12V heater but got a 24V one. Cock up in despatch over in China. As you can see the fuel pump is 12V.
I am waiting for a 12V heater to be sent.

AIR HEATER, DREDGER, VELVET SCOTERS

12 02 16

Air heater

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The heater has arrived from China. It’s far smaller than the old one and, at 5kW, twice as powerful.

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Problem: it won’t fit in the cupboard space of the old heater as the burner air inlet and the exhaust have to fit beneath or on the side of the heater and run outside the living space but there is insufficient headroom as the air inlet outlet level is right at the top of the cupboard. 

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Big re-think and I’ve decided to fit it high in the wheelhouse on the bulkhead astern. Mounting it high up will mean that the circulating inlet air will be taken from the warmer used circulating air and re-circulated, making the heater more effective. The burner air inlet and exhaust will pass through the bulkhead to the fresh air outside. I’ll get some anti-vibration foam sheet to make a vibration free mounting. Both the burner air inlet and exhaust have silencers. The fuel pump will have to work harder to lift the diesel up from the tank, but this is within spec..

I’ll get a marine surveyor round just to confirm my ideas are OK. I don’t want the insurance survey due next year to tell me that I’ve got to change it all.

The warm air ducting is a bit of a challenge. Some of the old system is still there. Must decide whether or not to replace it with new. Tony has found some insulated ducting 100mm dia. as against the plain 80mm dia. standard ducting. Decisions, decisions.

A little move and a little dredger

Simon is expanding his marina by dredging a bit each winter, so Lady Cate has had to move along to a temporary mud berth. It is right by the river with far better views. The electricity supply is through a cash meter. That’ll drive home how much I am using! I’ve loaded up with 20p pieces.

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Here is Simon on the marina pontoons as he takes them across to park out of the way on the mud on the other side of the river. See the little dredger top left, ready for action.

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The dredger is a little monster, very aged and rusted all over. I’m intrigued to see it work for a few minutes. I suspect its noise will drive me quite mad quite quickly. I must plan some trips away!

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The dredger drill bit is out front just breaking the surface.

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This is the drivers cabin. Boys’ toys!

More anon.

Velvet scoters

Great delight! I’ve not heard of this bird before, but I saw four this morning. Had to look them up in the reference book and got a 100% recognition. No doubt. It helps to boost the case for the suspected Scoter chicks I referred to a blog or two back.

Google images

Shelving, varnishing, air heater progress and weird weather.

27 01 16

Galley shelving

 

Yesterday I completed the installation of some extra working storage space in the galley.

   

I’d had the idea ages ago. The crockery storage on the left looks nice and it would be a small job to fix a shelf on top of the main strake running above the basin. The problem was getting the strip mahogany. No one had any. The nearest would be in Colchester. 

Then good luck struck as I was clearing out Rafiki. Pop had used two beautiful pieces of mahogany as legs for his work table in the studio. I took slices off them using a circular saw (I knew that workshop training some 50 years ago would come in useful one day.) varnished them up and stuck them in place with screws and glue. Looks and works fine.

  

                                                                                        Must get the camera flash working!

 

Varnishing

Lady Cate has lots of varnished wood both topsides and insides. Preparing the wood for the galley storage got me started. Varnishing will be an endless maintenance chore, which I don’t mind, as it is restful work. Apart from the shelving I’ve practiced on a few areas in the wheelhouse. Makes a dramatically shiny improvement.

Can't get going on the outside until the weather's better. April is the earliest they start.

 

Air heater

At last I’ve ordered and payed for (PayPal) the air heater from China, $590.00 including air freight. Can’t wait to get going. I’ve been lucky with this mild winter.

 Weather

Although very mild it has been very windy, regularly up to force 7. Lady Cate rocks about happilky at her mooring, which I love, though I can't say why!

Bye for now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

10 01 16

I’ve just returned to Lady Cate. A huge blood orange sun was setting over the westerly woods lighting the undersides of the clouds above in lusciously rich shades from rose to apricot, set off perfectly by the blue sky above. Reminds me of the bright colours in Turner’s work where you look at the painting and can’t believe the colours of the sky can be so bright. But they are! Across the river a large flock of birds, which I don’t know, were settling in for the night chattering away to each other. A perfect evening.

The old house – Rafiki

I had been clearing out the old house and tarting it up a bit. I had thought it would be sold by now but it was looking very tired so, before Christmas, Tony and I spent a vigorous week painting most of the interior walls to great effect. Here’s hoping.

Healthy on board

Now here is a strange phenomenon. Like many an old git I was told by my doc that my blood pressure was too high at c.160/100. When I moved on to Lady Cate it went down to c. 130/80 and has stayed there ever since! What to make of it? Any ideas?

Air heater

As Mike had warned me, the old gas fired air heater in Lady Cate was completely caput. I’ve sold it for spares for £27! 

Knackered!

I’m getting a new diesel fired heater to replace it. (So I’m rather pleased we’ve had such a mild winter, so far.) They are v expensive at some £1,250 but there are copies available from both Russia and China at about £400.

Whilst there have been doubts about Russian and Chinese quality, in my experience those days are long gone. Russia used to make a great SLR camera called the Zenit-E at the height of the Cold War, still collectible today. In my many years working with Russia I saw some very sound engineering businesses with good quality control. And their launch rocket’s still going strong!

When I was looking for a special aluminium product for UK supply the Chinese produced the best sample of an aluminium structure, far better than the British sample, sad to say.

So I don’t think I’m taking a risk.

So I tried ordering a 5kW heater advertised on eBay from Russia. All went well until I tried Paypal which resolutely refused to allow me to pay. After a call or two I found out why. Paypal told me that, because of US sanctions on Russia they are not allowed to pay in to Russian companies. Ah well – China next. Simon, the Marina manager, has given me the name of an importer.

Email and Windows 10

I have at last succeeded in downloading Windows 10. BUT it’s knocked out my email completely! Having a hell of a job to get it going again.