Topic: My African Queen! (Read 44222 times)

ooyah/2 · « **Reply #50 on:** March 19, 2013, 08:42:02 pm »

Quote from: hammer on March 19, 2013, 05:51:13 pm

No one has answered Derek's question dose he need a stop valve between the pump & clack?? If like me you use a hand pump to fill the boiler through a separate pipe. Maybe ?? I find there is not enough pressure initially to close the valves in my system, so I fitted a stop valve. I have a check list ( this is a habit from my pilot training) when preparing to sail, obviously the valve must be opened after filling when there is enough pressure.

Hammer

If I can come back to your original post if you are using a hand pump to fill your boiler and the pump is of the type with a ball valve in the suction side and a ball valve above on the delivery side and you are delivering into the boiler via a ball clack valve there is something wrong with the valve seats if you are having trouble and have to install a screw down stop valve on the line, possibly they need re- seating.
The only time that I would use a stop valve in the delivery pipe would be if there was a positive head of water above the pump and a pipe into the water supply.
If you shut down the burner allowing the boiler to cool at the end of your run the vacuum created by the cooling process will suck water from the supply( an on board water tank or water from the lake ) and hydraulic lock the boiler then a stop valve is recommended.

Derek didn't ask about a stop valve he asked about an in line valve which is not required.

George.

ooyah/2 · « **Reply #51 on:** March 19, 2013, 08:53:49 pm »

Quote from: pettyofficernick on March 19, 2013, 06:39:07 pm

I am sure George said the pump was not self priming when I first got it, I may, however be mistaken, but during tests, I did prime it first with a syringe through the suction side....

Nick,
You are quite correct I did say that the pump wasn't self priming the reason being that at the time I had no idea of your experience and as I had made a vertical pump for another member, as opposed to your horizontal pump, which has the valve box about level with the cylinder covers of the TVR which normally is above the water line giving a negative head of water.
The Nitrile balls being hard rubber can dry out in between sailing days and will not lift the water unless you flush it thro' with water to wet the balls and I didn't want anybody that I had made a pump for being disappointed in thinking that the pump wasn't working.
As Jerry has said with a positive head of water the pump is self priming and glad to hear that the pump works so well.
With your's and Jerry's set up using pond water when you lift the boat out of the water and shut down the burner all the the vacuum in the cooling boiler will do is suck in air.

George,

muleears · « **Reply #52 on:** March 26, 2013, 09:19:24 am »

Nick,
I have had some luck finding figures on ebay, you can search for a particular size. In fact I found two figures of the proper size there for my current project. They are "Evel Knievel" bendable figurines. Evel was the motorcycle daredevil who tried to jump just about everything in the '70's. I guess the only drawback is my crew will be twins!

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #53 on:** April 16, 2013, 01:00:01 am »

After a couple of weeks away in sunny Weymouth, work has now recommenced with the fitting of the servos for my bowden cable control system for the engine. After much cursing and gnashing of teeth it now works a treat. If I was to start the job again, I would have been more careful with the cable runs, I did not leave enough room at the servo end and ended up with the two ends too close together and had to do a lot of juggling about to get the servos in without having too much inner cable exposed, as the cable just bends without doing any work. An object lesson in why it is best not to glue first and ask questions later. Still loads to do, lag the boiler and pipework, finish off laying the deck, with the sections either side of the engine removable for access to pump, filter etc. Build benches , boxes etc and make and fit 30 odd brass ribs and gunwhale support gussets. I have, at last got my etched brass triangles for the deck edge/gunwhale supports made , ordered and recieved within a week, and what a nice job they are, I also got twice as many as I ordered as they charge by the sheet rather than by the number of parts.

SailorGreg · « **Reply #54 on:** April 16, 2013, 11:05:55 am »

Coming along very nicely Nick. Out of interest, where did you get the brass supporting knees? (And why brass rather than wood?)

Greg

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #55 on:** April 16, 2013, 12:27:46 pm »

Hi Greg, The original AQ was made of steel, so to that end, I am adding ribs made from 1/4 x 1/4 brass angle, with brass knees to support the 1" wide mahogony top deck. They are made from 22thou brass, photo etched by a firm called ppd ltd in Scotland.
Regards,
Nick.

http://www.ppdltd.com

muleears · « **Reply #56 on:** April 16, 2013, 11:12:18 pm »

You have two servos controlling the engine? One for the throttle and the other for a reversing mechanism of some sort?

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #57 on:** April 16, 2013, 11:20:42 pm »

Good evening Cal, yes, one servo controls the regulator, the other is for reversing the engine......

muleears · « **Reply #58 on:** April 17, 2013, 02:33:54 am »

Another newbie question; you mention a "bowden cable" system. What exactly is this? To the uninformed (me) it looks like two flexible cable pushrods. Are we talking of the same thing just using the vernacular from our respective locales? Or is a bowden cable some special type of setup?

tigertiger · « **Reply #59 on:** April 17, 2013, 03:08:07 am »

Quote from: muleears on April 17, 2013, 02:33:54 am

... a "bowden cable" system. What exactly is this?

A Bowden cable is a type of flexible cable used to transmit mechanical force or energy by the movement of an inner cable
The linear movement of the inner cable is most often used to transmit a pulling force, although push/pull cables have gained popularity in recent years e.g. as gear shift cables. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowden_cable

SailorGreg · « **Reply #60 on:** April 17, 2013, 07:17:36 am »

Quote from: pettyofficernick on April 16, 2013, 12:27:46 pm

Hi Greg, The original AQ was made of steel, so to that end, I am adding ribs made from 1/4 x 1/4 brass angle

http://www.ppdltd.com

Ah, didn't realise the AQ was steel. Bending the brass angle to the right curvature for the ribs must be a tricky job. I assume you anneal it first then bend to fit, but doesn't the upstanding part of the angle buckle as you bend it? Never tried it myself, and have no plans to, but intrigued how you do it.

Greg

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #61 on:** April 17, 2013, 08:33:32 am »

Good morning folks, Cal, another example of a bowden cable would be found on a bicycle operating the brakes and gears. Greg, the ribs are only going as far as the floor, they will be about 2 1/2 inches long and the bend is only slight, yes, I will anneal the brass first, and if I need to, I will make some profiles of the inside of the hull out of 10mm ply or MDF, around which I can torture the brass angle to the correct shape. I am going to fire the engine up later to give the cables a final test 'in action,.
Have a good day everyone,
Nick.

muleears · « **Reply #62 on:** April 17, 2013, 10:37:37 am »

Quote from: pettyofficernick on April 17, 2013, 08:33:32 am

Good morning folks, Cal, another example of a bowden cable would be found on a bicycle operating the brakes and gears. Greg, the ribs are only going as far as the floor, they will be about 2 1/2 inches long and the bend is only slight, yes, I will anneal the brass first, and if I need to, I will make some profiles of the inside of the hull out of 10mm ply or MDF, around which I can torture the brass angle to the correct shape. I am going to fire the engine up later to give the cables a final test 'in action,.
Have a good day everyone,
Nick.

Nick! make us a video of the test. I for one, would love to see it in action!

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #63 on:** June 05, 2013, 08:49:43 pm »

Good evening all, back to the African Queen after more wrist operations, the machinery is now more or less ready, and painted, just a little rust here and there to finish it off.

SailorGreg · « **Reply #64 on:** June 06, 2013, 07:32:33 am »

Nice job Nick. It's looking suitably grimy already, although the TVR is still a bit shiny! Looks like you have used Jerry's technique on the pipe insulation, with polyfilla or similar over the string. Is that right?

Glad to hear your op went well - and that your AQ can now make progress.

Greg

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #65 on:** June 06, 2013, 07:41:54 am »

Morning Greg, I can't bring myself to paint all the brightwork, I think it would be murder to remove in the furure if \I wanted to use the engine in another boat, It lifts in and out as one unit, after disconnecting the cables and water feed,. The pipe lagging is just string fairly loosely wound around the pipework, sealed with 'Tippex' and painted black. I had thought of using Gerry's method, but, anything remotely messy and I just do not mix and the Pollyfilla may have ended up on the moving parts of the engine, and I didn't fancy a big clean up job. Operations on my hands were a waste of time, I wish I had left well alone, worse now than before they started....

Jerry C · « **Reply #66 on:** June 06, 2013, 08:43:57 am »

Looking bad there Nick. I know what you mean about the paint on the shiny stuff, it broke my heart to paint it but I'm over it now. Having had a close look at the boilers of the small boats at Coniston I realised they are not all polished brass and mahogany. They get quite cacky at times. On the subject of pipe lagging, I did mine with the pipes off the plant so no mess. However I think yours is more in keeping with AQ. Good job matey. Sorry about the surgery, I had one of those steroid injections in my left shoulder a fortnight ago and though it hurt like billyoh at the time it's done the trick and allowed me to progress with the physio. I'm going to ask her to do the other one tomorrow. Reminds me of a story I heard about Rooney and Beckam at World Cup time. Rooney had injured his foot but told Sven that if he gave him a cortisone injection he could probably play the second half. Sven said it was a good idea but he'd have to run it past Beck first. So he put it to Beck and he threw a wobbly saying, "if that little fat soandso gets a new car, I'm getting a new car!"
Jerry.

Bernhard · « **Reply #67 on:** June 14, 2013, 07:24:18 am »

Hi...Nice work
Here is mine..Regards Bernhard
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lpoo5kngjQ4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #68 on:** June 14, 2013, 08:21:52 am »

Wow, I don't think mine will come out any where near that, fantastic!

Jerry C · « **Reply #69 on:** June 14, 2013, 08:45:57 am »

I'm always left feeling inadequate when I watch one of Bernhards movies. Can you hear the frogs, cicadas and monkeys calling in the trees? Can you smell those dirty bilges and the occasional whiff of cheroots? He always sets the bar higher for us to jump.
Jerry.

pettyofficernick · « **Reply #70 on:** June 14, 2013, 08:49:05 am »

I could even smell gin! Speechless.....

Bernhard · « **Reply #71 on:** June 14, 2013, 04:15:13 pm »

Many Thanks for your kind words
Ohh yes

you can do that,,,no problem...thats easy to do,,,more problems to do a clean boat,,,
the boat you build is just the right size,,,this billing ..is on the small size 70cm...
keap up you good work
Regards on the water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMBXVb97N0o
Bernhard...

SailorGreg · « **Reply #72 on:** June 14, 2013, 05:23:04 pm »

Lovely video Bernhard - it gives us all encouragement to see your boats operating. Thank you for posting.

What is the music you used?

Greg

essex2visuvesi · « **Reply #73 on:** June 14, 2013, 08:51:46 pm »

Quote from: SailorGreg on June 14, 2013, 05:23:04 pm

Lovely video Bernhard - it gives us all encouragement to see your boats operating.

And a feeling of inferiority :)

imsinking · « **Reply #74 on:** June 14, 2013, 09:11:00 pm »

Quote from: Bernhard on June 14, 2013, 04:15:13 pm

Many Thanks for your kind words
Ohh yes you can do that,,,no problem...thats easy to do,,,more problems to do a clean boat,,,
the boat you build is just the right size,,,this billing ..is on the small size 70cm...
keap up you good work
Regards on the water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMBXVb97N0o
Bernhard...

Bravo , beautiful boat (ship

) is it a single cylinder engine ? is there reverse/stop on this type , just out of interest , this sort of quality's WAY BEYOND my capabilities

Bill

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Author Topic: My African Queen! (Read 44222 times)