Slow Week

Its been a slow week this week.  Monday was a sad day as it was my friend and neighbor's funeral.  There was one bright side to it though.  Due to road works he was actually late for it.  This is very apt as he never lived his life to the clock at all.

The rest of the week just disappeared really.  My wife works at a school so was off for half term so I spent more time with her doing things that needed catching up on really.

I have done a bit on the boat here and there mostly involving preparing to power the boat up.  Here is the wiring all coming together ready to be put in to the various fuse boxes and consumer units.  There's still a few more wires to come in yet but this is pretty much it.

Yellow is 12v lighting, blue is 240v power black/red is 12v supplies
+ cables for satelite TV dish and CCTV wiring.

I have run a CAT5 cable from the helm to the AV area where the main PC will be.

I have also put in the exhaust and water separator for the generator.  This makes a wet exhaust quieter.  Seeing as how the genny will be used mostly while we are stationary it makes sense to do this as much for our possible neighbors peace and quiet as well as ours.

Other job done this week was the fitting of the inverter / charger.  I decided to put this in the engine room as it keeps the 12v wires as short as possible and should be cooler.

Kitchen Delivered

The lorry turned up today with the kitchen.  The company I chose is Frinton Kitchen & Bathrooms.  The designer and owner Graham was very interested in helping with this unusual project and its design oddities. 

More on this when I fit it.

The rest of today I have spent just tiding up.  The area around the boat has become very cluttered with stuff which is mostly junk and general detritus.  Also the engine was stored in the back garden and around this a lot of leaves and general garden stuff had accumulated.  It looks a lot better now.

As well as building the boat I have also done the steel work for a small extension we are having on the front of our house.

These photos are from a while back, and the project has moved on a bit, but because we have been waiting for a hand made solid oak front door to match the one in the picture works have come to a halt.  So while in tidying mode I set about tidying up after the builders too.  

I don't like tidying but I like when its done.  So not a very interesting day, or blog for that matter. 

The Big Lift

The day has finally come for some serious lifting to be done.  Armed with a proper bit of kit and a plan we set too. 

Andrew once again with is all terrain fork lift

First in was the generator.  This was the one I acquired last year. Its a Vetus GHS8 8 KVa or 6.5Kw.

Surprisingly bigger when in place

Next in was the big one, the engine.

If you look closely you can see the mounts I made yesterday

Gently does it

Easing it in

Vetus DT44 114hp

 In safely, ready for final positioning

My mounting size calculations were spot on :-)

Then it was time to put the batteries in.

The forklift delivered them to the rear deck

It was then simply a job of manually lifting them in to the battery box.  You will see 2 M10 ring eyes screwed into the terminal threads.  Obviously a non conductive strap was used.

6 x 2v cells 1000Ah

And now the you can see why the rollers were necessary.

Out.For service

In. And under the storage lockers secure against the bulkhead

Ignore the watermark.  The true date is 17/2/11

The Excitement Is Mounting

Today has been about prepping for the big lift.  That is the generator, main engine and domestic batteries.

All of the above need mountings made.  First off I had to modify the generator.  I have decided to mount it on additional isolation mounts to reduce cabin noise and vibration.  The genny comes ready to mount to a flat surface and already has engine mounts.  Its just me with my over engineering hat on.

I first removed the original mounting flange.

Then I welded on the pre drilled replacement mounting flange and isolation mounts.

Next it was time to make the main engine support mounts.  The main engine needs to be angled slightly downwards to enable the drive shaft out at the designed height.  Its only about 5º.  I mocked this up on the packing crate the engine came on.  The flexible engine mounts would take up the angle but its better to have them mount perpendicular to the hold down bolts.  This required a sliding bevel to take the angle then transfer it to the mounts.  

The front mounts are 50mm taller then the rear to angle the engine.

The angle can be seem here as well

Last on the list was the battery box mounts.  The battery box needs to move with the batteries in to service the batteries.  I have mounted this on 500kg appliance rollers.

 

 

Out so batteries can be lifted out

In for normal operation

The battery box was made a couple months ago during a lull in works.  Its made of ply and has be been covered in GRP with a flo-coat finish.  The batteries will just fit in the box with about 15mm all round to spare.

Starting To Load The Engine Bay

Yesterday I painted the top coat for the engine bay,  

With that nice and dry this afternoon I started to load the engine room with the equipment.  The various brackets I made and fitted can now be seen.

First to go in was the Mikuni C/H heater and associated exhaust fuel and wiring lines.

 

 This is the fuel delivery pump and the electronic fuel shut off

Next in was the toilet tank, engine battery and under the exhaust pipe is the self pump out pump.

 

Followed by the latter end of the exhaust system, 

Finally after fitting all the tank connectors the calorifier was put in place.

I have secured the toilet tank and the calorifier with 25mm ratchet straps and the battery box will be secured the same way.

Its Been An Exhausting Week

I have spent the the best part of 30 hours this week down the engine 'ole.  I am shattered. Its a small space to work in and you are always ducking and bending.  Everything is sharp and hard and always right in the way when you hit your head, or knee, or shin or elbow.......... you get the picture.  Standing back and looking at what has actually been done really don't add up the that amount of time and certainly if I was given a time sheet for it I would be questioning it big time!

So here it is ready for paint.

This side has the mounting brackets for the fuel filters, raw water strainer, and a protective chanel for the tiny copper tube for the Mikuni C/H heater.

This side (port) has the toilet tank locators and restraint point, start battery tray, self pumpout pump mounts, the exhaust water lock muffler and exhaust outlet spigot.

Calorifier fixing

Domestic battery bank restraints

Port side from a different angle

And finally the exhaust spigot from outside

Still Down The Engine 'ole.

Having planed where its all going to go, today I've made and fitted all the necessary brackets, supports and braces.  Next job will be painting the engine 'ole.

I have ordered some 1200lb appliance castor's for the domestic battery box.  To service the batteries will necessitate them rolling back about 250mm to lift them out.  Remember the batteries weigh in at 325kg!

Also ordered are the isolating mounts for the generator.  This is going to be tricky as the generator is 565mm high the mounts are 35mm and it has to fit under a 600mm.  Seems as with all things with boat building related another modification is coming up.  The generator does have isolation (engine) mounts already but the supplier has calculated their mounts will remove 96% of the vibration.

Down The Engine 'ole

Back form skiing now.  Before I went I finally managed to seal the leak in the Port fuel tank.  A successful pressure test (see here for the specs.) was undertaken. This time I racked it up to 1 bar just to be sure. This is just under 5 times the test pressure requirement! 

Time to get started on the engine bay.  The cover has made the area waterproof so I can get on with work whatever the weather.  Since the cover of course its not rained, but I'm not complaining.  While I was away my wife said the winds were really high, and the cover and frame took it.

I had a fair bit office work to do Monday and other obligations Tuesday so didn't get started until mid afternoon each day.  First job was to get the engine bay sanded again!  Surprisingly despite the previously repainted floor having been flooded and then frozen, the paint was well attached over the bulk of the area.  Today I got a full day :-)

I had a rough plan of where things were going to go, the list is quite long. Engine of course, waterlock muffler calorifier, domestic battery box, generator, black water tank, diesel C/H heater, fuel filters, intake water strainer, black water tank air vent carbon filter (stops smells), self pump out pump, standard pump out outlet engine start battery, and all the necessary pipework thats going with it all has to be considered.

The calorifier, battery box and black water tank are in position now, and the rest has to fit around it.  Apart from the waste water tank everything else has gone or will be going pretty much where I had visualised it.  If you look back I could have saved my self a bit of work, but hey ho, its worked out for the better.  The tank was going to be vertical in front of the engine, but now its horizontal on the uxter plate.

I also have a lot of yellow boxes of Vetus stuff.  I know Vetus tends to be expensive but I have to say I am extremely impressed with the design and quality of everything I've touched so far.  All of which has very precise fitting instructions, and in some cases fitting tools as well.