A Kind Of Hush

I wouldn't say our engine is particularly noisy, indeed as its getting a few hours on it it seems to be getting a bit quieter.  We had no soundproofing under the 18mm deck floor.  We have a local firm  

who specialise in acoustic and thermal insulation.  I've know the owner for many years and contacted him for some advice.  He offered a 43mm laminated foam panel with 10kg man made lead type core wrapped in heat reflective foil as a solution.

The process started a few weeks ago with me making and supplying templates as TAP will make to exact size rather than just buying it in slabs as is the norm from chandlers.

 Starboard floorboard underside

Last week I got a call to say the panels were ready and today I fixed them under the floors.  The backing is self adhesive but I decided to add some mechanical fixing too.

Engine hatch before

Engine hatch after

I did some dB checks with the trusty iPhone db meter yesterday while we were on the move and will do some more tomorrow when we move again.  I have to say though just with the engine on tick over there is a noticeable difference.  Of course the engine is not the only noise source, a fair amount of prop against water is present too so a static test is not really valid.

On another noise note I've had an annoying metallic buzz at 1050rmp and again at 1900rpm which can be heard in this video.

I think I've now solved it.  There's a plate covering the turbo and I think this is the cause of the problem.

I have put it back with a few dollop's of high temperature silicone in the hope this will stop the vibration.

RESULTS

First off the vibration has stopped, so that's cured.

I wish I had done some more noise comparison tests at different RPM as the difference on general cruise RPM is measurably better:-

Before

After

But this really isn't the whole story as I later found out.  The sound proofing actually works better the louder the engine gets, so as the RPM and prop noise builds, the sound insulation damps more of it out, so its much much quieter when the RPM is higher and the prop thrashing more.  Now its much quieter when its working harder something I didn't expect.


Another test I never considered measuring was the generator.  The genny is already cocooned but with the new under deck sound insulation the difference is very noticeable.  I will be going back to TAP to see if they can help with quieting then Mikuni CH boiler.


So in conclusion:-  Well worth installing.

 

A Blast From The Past

It is 30 years since I last adjusted tappets and that was on a motorcycle.  So I had to buy a set of feeler gauges, something I never thought I'd be buying again.

Look proper tappets

The inlet ones needed closing up a bit and the exhaust ones opening a bit, but in all cases it was only fractional.  However its amazing how much quieter it is after.  In fact I think the engine is running in a bit now and is getting quieter anyway.

I also checked the gearbox oil which was clean as a whistle and still at the correct level.

I had an annoying bit of water coming in on the floor of the port engine room bilge.  I was convinced it was rain coming in through the engine air vents but it was curious that it's only one side.  I had to modify the intake vents.

However, while running the engine after the tappets I noticed a trickle of water from the normal spot where it runs down off the counter. There was only one place it was possible for water to come from and that was the exhaust outlet.  I tightened up the exhaust clamps but that didn't work so I repositioned them and re-tightened which cured it. So now I have a dry bilge at last.

 

Time for a repaint I think

Another annoying problem I've been having is with the generator start up.  The power on relay was not always latching on, but a wiggle on the remote plug would normally get it going until the next time.  All indications were a dry joint on the circuit board so I removed it from the genny to expose the board and a bit of wiggling produced the fault which turned out to be a bad connection on the fuse.  So that's another one sorted.

I've also re-routed the water inlet so the generator gets its water from the secondary strainer as well now. 

All I need now is some reliable periods of dry weather to do some painting outside.

50 Hour Service & I got Gongoozled

I did the first 50 hour service today at 54.7 hours.  This required engine oil and filter change and three diesel filters. I haven't needed to top up the engine oil in the first 50 hours so it seems its not using any. :-)

This was the water and gunk collected from the 2 pre-filters.

Not actually a great amount so that's pleasing.  The service book says to do it at 125 hours then every 125 hours but I think I will stick with doing it ever 50 hours.  Its easy to do anyway

The alternator belts needed adjusting the lower one more than the upper one.  I run out of time today and have still to do the tappets but the engine sounds pretty quiet, indeed more so after the oil and filter change. The oil was in very good condition just a very light charcol colour.

Engine mountings we checked and found to be tight and a general check of the engine found nothing loose.

I checked and toped up the oil in the generator.   This is using a bit of oil, but it runs a lot more than the engine and a lot faster, 3000rpm where as the engine seldom goes over 1200rpm.

All that done I needed to empty the toilet tank and fill with water so it was time to take the boat out solo.  A quick blast up the river to turn around and then off to the services area.

Avalon on the service point

Mission accomplished!  It takes a little over 2 hours to fill the tank, so I set it filling after doing the pump out which takes 10 minutes. 

I decided to moor on the town moorings instead of going back to the home mooring.  Inspired by my new found confidence I  decided to see if I could moor in between a NB and plastic cruiser a gap of about 70'.  As usual this sort of manoeuvre attracts an audience.  A very slow and careful approach saw me in to a round of applause from the on lookers.  So now I have officially been Gongoozled.

Down To The Finishing Off Jobs

Forgive me readers for I have sinned. Its been nearly a month since my last blog.  I am now just doing the last few little jobs that have been hanging around.

I had the final bit of skirting board made by DW Wood Mouldings and fitted them along with the final bits of plinth.

Same both sides

I have fitted the rear door vents.

 16g SS special order, nice and thick

Still need varnishing

I have fitted the front button.

Ready for some bumping now ;-)

And finally I've fitted a warning LED to the dash to confirm the alternator parallelling is locked in.

A horrible job which I didn't photograph was the removal of a spill of 2.5L of tar paint in the chain locker.  I decided it would be better to let it dry then use a hot air gun to melt it into manageable slices.  It worked but took about an hour and the last bits in the corners was a real job.

I have decided to move the inverter inside under the rear stairs.  I have had a couple of comments about it and I was a little unsure if it was a good idea when I decided to put it in the engine room  I will probably do this next week.

Spa Quality Water & Yet More Paint

A week or so ago I went to a boat show and was very impressed with a drinking water filtration set up. In the source tank was water with Elsan Blue which is very powerful chemical toilet fluid. It's deep blue as frankly stinks pretty bad and has some right nasty chemicals in it to deal with the contents of a chemical toilet. The water delivered post filter was crystal clear and totally without taste. Even my friends dog took some and they wouldn't if it had chemicals in it. OK I know dogs will drink the stinkiest dirtiest water but never with anything chemical in it. Fitting was pretty simple. I needed to drill a hole in the granite work top for the tap and cut a T into the cold water supply. Whole job done in about and hour and a half.

As our tank is new we are still getting a very slight taste of the coating and as its a large tank and at the moment we are not turning it around that fast I felt it was a worthwhile addition.  I am quite happy to drink the water straight from the tank, i don't find it that bad but Deb likes a cuppa and its not good when making tea.  She wanted a present from the show so I killed 2 birds with one stone. ;-)

 20mm Diamond Core Drill

 The Tap

The Filter
www.purewateronline.co.uk/Nature-Pure.html

Before all this I looked out of the window and consulted the weather forecast and decided it was worth at least starting some roof painting. Keeping a watchful eye on the sky I pushed on and about 3 hours later had a coat of paint on. The surface is very textured and this amount of roof used 17L of polyurethane floor paint.

While we were away last week my laser rev counter arrived so today I was finally able to calibrate my tachometer. So another job crossed of the list. 

I'm not sure how this blog will post as I have done it on my iPad and it's certainly of WYSIWYG and the photos are also done with the iPad. It might be worth checking back as I may tidy it up on the Lappy with camera photos.

I have now tidied it up a bit as it wasn't that good.

Unusual Boat

This boat moored up next to us last night.

There is much talk of wrapping as a way of  "painting" a narrowboat, or indeed any boat.

www.maidoffibre.com

I had a very close look and even close too its difficult to see the joins.  As this is a printed design its camouflaged to a great extent.  I think if it was to be done as a single colour it would have to be done in a continuous strip or the joints over the windows at the shortest point.

The windows have also been done and from the outside they look covered but on closer inspection it can be seen they are full of small holes.  The owner said looking out was different.

A Few Days On The Move

Its half term in the UK and what with a wedding last weekend 

and the Jubilee and a boat show on Monday, we finally kicked off on Tuesday with the intention of going to St. Ives which we think is a delightful town.

The distance from our home mooring is about 24miles so having kicked off quite late following a lay in and supplies shopping we decided to stop early evening about half way along.

Very remote

At the first lock we had to go topless, its the law!  Well actually its because the lock runs under a road and the headroom is restricted.

 Deb gives this a good scale

Look at the water line. This is going in

This is the headroom after the rise

So on to the next lock.  Sometime seals can be seen here but not today. This is an easy lock hardly any level change at all but still it involves the whole process.

All was going well until we reached the next lock at St. Ives.  The river guide says the lock is 91' x 12'7''.  Now you would think that us being a mere 60' x 12' would fit easily.  NOPE!  we got well and truly wedged despite going in at a snails pace.  There is a jutty out part as can be seen on Brian's photos

The far end of the 3 rails. We were coming in the other way

It took Deb on the power and me and 2 other burly chaps to free us.  Words have been had with the publishers of the guide.

So we turned around and have now moored in a lovely spot near a pub.