Thursday 30 June 2011

Shiny Stuff

I have been working with the pram cover maker to make the stainless steel tube frame to take the cover.  Normally he contracts this to a SS specialist.  He normally makes a light alli tube frame as templates then the SS guy does his bit.  Between us we have made the frame combining his know how and my metal skills.  This has saved over £500 in labour. So under the white cover at the back I now have a fully collapsible frame.  IMO the SS guy is on a nice little number.  The 316 SS tube was a dream to work. 

 The screen frame

 The front screen will be a self supporting structure.
More on this when it gets fitted

 Port side


The other shiny bits added are the mushroom vents.  Its one of those jobs I have held back to when I had nothing much else to.  Currently I am waiting for the internal doors and frames and the front doors.  I should get these next week.

6 fitted and one to do later once the hatch is finally fitted

If you look closely you can see the 3G aerial behind the 3rd vent.  The yellow bit is a cover blocking off the hole for the gas fire flue.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Alarmed And Connected

I have now installed the alarm system.  Its a wireless setup which can take up to 16 sensors.  Currenlty I have 4 door break sensors and 4 passive PIR and a smoke detector.  The company is also devoloping a flood sensor which will be handy for the bilges and can be added to the system.


 This is the kit  As you can see it does a lot of clever stuff especially the GSM facilities.
Also installed is the 3G wireless router with exteral 9dBi aerial.  I hadn't planned on this when I put the lounge wall up.  I was rather chuffed with myself that I managed to find and dill into the 2" cavity from outside on the roof on the first attempt.  Once this was done it was simple a case of tracing the wire down.


See here for the full spec and Here for the aerial

Both of these devices will run directly from the 12v supply and draw a tiny amount of power.  The modem will only be on when we are at the boat, the alarm of course will be on all the time.  Standby draw is 0.5a

Thursday 23 June 2011

Yet More Rudder

Been doing more rudder again today. The top end this time.  As I have now fitted a Schilling type rudder I want to have more than 35° movement each way which is how the boat was designed with a flat rudder.  The problem with this was the side of the port fuel tank was just on the limit of the 35° to starboard.

 This is the rudder lever up against the tank wall

So to get the clearance needed to swing the arm over further means borrowing space in the fuel tank.  I'm so glad I have a plasma cutter. Cutting this out with any thing elses would be very difficult indeed.


I forgot to photograph the insert that I have made to close the tank with the borrowed space but here it is welded in place.


I know the welding is less neat than I usually do, but in my defence it was done in a very tight space with very poor access and even worse visibility with a welding mask on.  

Because this now forms part of the fuel tank in nedded to be pressure tested again.  With the aid of some soapy water a few small parts of weld were found to be porous so needed welding up.  I have no idea why but closing a porous weld needs 10 times more weld than you ever think, so hence the splodgy bits of weld here and there. Anyway the tank again passes the required presure test, in fact it held 7psi for over an hour before the pressure was released.

Here's the finished item with the lever fully over to nearly 90°

And finally this is the access I had to work with!

About 450mm x 150mm

Tuesday 21 June 2011

A Bit More Rudder

This is the rudder progerss so far.

 The bottom bearing cup and spiggot

 Using coins to give the right spacing for welding

 The space created for the weld

The plate welded which bolts on the bottom of the rudder

Disassembled

The rudder mounted ready for the
rudder shaft to be connected at the top

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Lets Build A Rudder

There is a sister boat to mine.  The owner reported that the rudder design he felt was poor and needed improvoing.  The rudder that comes with the boat is a plain flat one.

A bit of reserach came up with several designs that are better and give more turn for your buck.  In the end I decided to go for a type know as a Schilling, or Fishtail rudder.  It has several other names but these are the most common.  Having read a great deal about them and the maths involed I came up with my design.

Here is the whole rudder in parts form.


Once all marked up I tack welded the parts together so I could drill them all together.

The small parts are the attachment parts

Then the drilling.  The large holes are to take the rudder stock pole which is 50mm.


Once drilled I tack welded the parts together.  When making things it like this it's best to tack it all just in case it need altering.


Once its all together its fully welded.


Once the supporting ribs are in place the outer skin needs attaching.  This a 4mm sheet of steel and its best forced over the ribs cold to prevent any distortion that heat might cause.  The flow over the rudder would be affected by this.  This is a slow and gentle process using g-clamps to ease it into place.

1st side done

The inside

 This is the finished rudder

The two smaller parts earlier will be used later on the rudder pivots and will bolt on tho the top and bottom of this part.  This is to enable the rudder to be removed if the the drive shaft needs drawing out.  More on that soon.
Also on the go at them moment is the construction of the pram hood.  Again more on this as there is something to show.


Thursday 9 June 2011

Lappy Working

My laptop is now up and running again so I can upload some pictures.  The  iPad is good but there's no easy way of directly getting camera pictures on to it to blog.

I have been working on the kitchen fitting and made some temporary stairs.  Fitting the kitchen has been pretty straight forward accept for turning the corners of course.

Port side

Starboard side

There's also another 2 units to go along from the side panel which forms the side for the integrated washing machine.  The cooker will be opposite the stairs and then another curved end unit to form the walk through.

All the domestic water service is now installed accept for the final connections to the taps and appliances.  The 25-40psi pump I have installed under a kitchen unit. 

Yes I can easily get it out again! 

 Kitchen sink unit

I am really pleased with the stairs I made using the calculator a while back see here they have worked out perfectly in fact.

Temporary steps. The final ones will use the same stringer

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Back Now

We have been away on our narrowboat for a week and a bit for a some of R&R.

I have started fitting the kitchen since being back. Pictures a bit later on as my lappy hard drive has gone west and I can't upload from m iPad.

The only real news ATM is my nest of Blue Tits have fledged while we were away.