That was a year that was..

[stillp]

6 hours ago, Trumpy said:

I’m going to test try an 8mm helicoil with a unf tap and stud as they are probably the same ,  
 

They are not!

Pete

[Trumpy]

22 hours ago, Bfg said:

The studs tapped holes into the thin walled rim of the trailing arm are very close to the edge.  Even though you imply that you'll do a test try (..not into the trailing arm itself) - Roger's offer is very generous, and expedient - I urge you to take it Dave.

Try a 5/16" bolt in a 8mm nut and you'll see that they are not  probably the same.  Then you'll be obliged (by the size of the 8mm threaded helicoil's hole you've made) to go up to the next size ..by buying a set of 16. 

Pete

Hi folks , 

Many thanks for the suggestions and concerns. 
I’ve now used an 8 mm helicoil with an 8mm stud . Makes sense really as the metric 1.25 thread is coarser and of course the nut shares the same size spanner/socket . I have marked the stud and nut to remind me ( or inform the next owner) that the nut is specific to that stud . The stud has screwed in nice and firmly with a dab of stud lock so should torque up nicely. 
Thanks again Roger for your kind offer btw. 

Regarding the 5/16 and 8mm being the same , my idea was using a unf tap to screw the m8 helicoil into which would then set the thread pitch as unf . ( which is a dumb idea because the unf thread is finer and the coil can’t compress) 
Both 5/16 and 8 mm use the same drill  size . 
I agree It would’ve been a daft thing to try to do though just to retain a 5/16 stud . 
Although there only feels to be minimal play in the old shafts ujs and splines there feels considerably less movement in the drive line so hopefully I will notice the difference, 
Just need a nice day next week for a test drive now . 
Thanks all , 

Dave 

Edited November 28, 2022 by Trumpy

[Bfg]

Nothing from me for a week !

..yep I haven't been out in Katie  since the short test-drive subsequent to my replacing her half-shafts.  The traffic around here, especially at the weekends and anywhere near shops seems to have quadrupled.. what a weird world we live in.  That, and many of the historic sites I'm interested in visiting are closed ..from November onwards - I've instead had an eye on each day's weather forecast, for when I could get on with (outside) painting under the boat. 

In the meantime.., when the forecast expected wet, I got on with clearing out many years of stores from under the boat, a situation I made worse when forced to move home at short notice. . . 

  

^ I'm not someone to throw something away until I know I won't need it - the space underneath the boat / between the hulls looked like this.

^ I finally got it down to an anchor, a barrel of wood, paint supplies and a tall work trestle.

After, grit-blasting to remove the old and flaking anti-fouling (almost 4mm in places) I'd fitted a skirt around the boat - so that rain water would drip off that rather than run down and under the hull.  The objective was to allow the hull's fibreglass to dry out properly, not least because she is a 50 year old boat and was last osmosis treated in 1995.  After Katie  was back on the road, I set to sanding the under-water hull and painting it with two coats of epoxy primer. I then filled any imperfections with epoxy filler and applied another two coats of epoxy primer, sanding down inbetween each. The white line beneath the blue strip was painted back in with two-pack gloss white paint., and then it was all left to cure for a while ..until last week. 

  

^ Inbetween forecasted rain, and taking advantage of the still mild temperatures, I masked up the waterline and painted on two coats of interlayer / barrier / sealer  ..a waterproof coating that is also a tie-coat for the anti-fouling paint going onto epoxy.   That was Jotun's Vinyguard Silvergrey 88, and it went on very nicely indeed. Such a pleasure to work with - that I'll try it on steel to see if I can use it on the cars.

Only the anti-fouling to go on now..  I'm using Jotun's SeaForce 30M which is a copper oxide based product generally for commercial use.  

To those who know boat maintenance, to apply anti-fouling at this time of year would seem pretty odd, but I've just been allocated a berth for next year in the marina (Fox's - Ipswich) and I can't afford to miss it.  The wider beam of a catamaran (14ft in this case) doesn't fit well into most marinas - whose pontoons are economically spaced to take two mono-hulls, typically 10 to 12 ft beam maximum.

So, run with the opportunities as they arise. .

The met-office weather forecast for Ipswich, this coming week, is that the temperature will plummet - so I was getting desperate ..as to when I might get this painting done.  If I miss this break in the weather then quite plausibly - it may not be until March or April before we get dry and mild weather together at the same time. 

Today.. job finished ..re-masking and one coat on yesterday, and a second layer of anti-fouling done today.

The boat, Barbara-B  (named after me mum) now has a beautiful red bottom again. . .

  

^ awkward, but very careful masking, just a mm or two above the grey tie-coat layers.

^ at last, peeling off the masking tape (as soon as the painting was done) and the waterline edge looks good.

^ Today's daylight was depressingly dull all day, so that even at its brightest I needed lights under the boat to see what I was doing. 

But, my mood this evening, having got that finished, is bright and shiny 

..well I say finished..I still have to jack the boat up, move the supporting blocks and then paint under the keel in those four places.  But compared to reaching up, or down under, to roll heavy and dull paint, for four hours solid each time - that's nothing. 

I think I'll take a day off tomorrow !

Pete

[Hamish]

Well done Pete. Looking good. 
but a catamaran!!!

that’s double the work 

[PodOne]

Looking good Pete got to be worth a few days off!

Andy

[Mk2 Chopper]

Very smart, nice masking too.

Gareth

[Bfg]

2 hours ago, Hamish said:

Well done Pete. Looking good. 
but a catamaran!!!

that’s double the work 

I like two slim    ..rather than a rotund one with a heavy dangly bit hanging down ! 

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2022 by Bfg

[Bfg]

Cheers Andy.  but I'm only allowed one day off a month .. I'm retired and still have a hundred and fifty years worth of unfinished projects to complete   ..and then enjoy 

Cheers Gareth, not perfect but nor is the surface of the sea ..and it's had far longer to practice than me. 

 .. Tbh I'm pleased - she's beginning to look ship-shape again.  Next job is to get a new high-pressure pipe for the jet wash and to clean the decks off (..yet again !) and then I reckon she deserves a her topsides compounded and polished. 

Pete

 

[PodOne]

So Pete when's the expected launch date?

[Bfg]

On 12/5/2022 at 7:20 PM, PodOne said:

So Pete when's the expected launch date?

Good question.. who knows Andy..  I'm not rushing, but to secure the berth I wanted to be ready to drop her into the water at the marina's convenience. 

The boat yet needs recommissioning, new water and gas systems, replace the rigging, engine hasn't been used in years, etc, etc etc. but those things can be done with the boat in the water.  I just like being on her even when just sitting there. In the meantime I need to get a boat survey, for insurance purposes. 

Its too cold to do any epoxy or painting on the boat, and too cold for me to work on the car, or trailer, in the polytunnel. So this week I'm hibernating with a monstrous, authoritative but difficult to read, book on The English Castle 1066-1650  by John Goodall.  Everyone to their own eh ! 

Unfortunately the old cottage I now rent (the downstairs of) is both cold and damp, with night storage heaters &/or mobile electric radiators.  Even with just heating the one room I'm in, is I think going to cost a a king's ransom this winter ..and so I thought I'd share with y'all a purchase just made < here >.  It's a desiccant dehumidifier, and not cheap but is pretty quiet and of relatively low power consumption.  It was enthusiastically recommended to me, by my friend Steve, who lives on a sailing boat down in Fox's marina ..which is very much more damp and cold than here - he's just bought one and after just 90 minutes the humidity in his boat's cabin has dropped from 90% to 55%   He tells me that his old dehumidifier wouldn't get it down that low even after 9 hours. 

Aside from the debilitating discomfort, humidity on the windows and walls, being unable to dry bedding and clothes (..and the salt and pepper grinders being too damp to work !) I relate being cold and damp with the arthritis my dear ol nan was crippled with.  I don't want that. 

£175 is a lot of money, but if feeling dry saves on the power presently being consumed by the electric heaters, then it may pay for itself over the nest four months. This sort of unit is small enough to be portable to go from one room to another, to use in the boat and even to sit inside the Triumph, in the polytunnel under its car cover (with drain pipe led out). I'll let you know how I get on with it in a couple of day's time. 

Pete

p.s.  I ordered it with inclusive of 2-day delivery from the Marine superstore, which cost £5 more than Steve paid from Fox's chandlery (who are hoping for new stock next week)..

   

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Bfg
link fixed

[Bfg]

 

 

 

 

[Ali King]

And a merry Christmas to you Pete, and thanks for all your informative and amusing posts.

PS: I guess we have to supply our own commas and/or full stops if we are to understand what you like to know?

[PaulAnderson]

Well done on getting a dehumidifier.  I bought one after reading this forum article  back in 2015.   Unfortunately, her indoors likes to keep it in the house for drying laundry and it certainly does a good job of that.  With the current energy bill crisis (one of several) I have noted dehumidifiers being mentioned in multiple online press articles recently, as a cheaper way of drying clothes than tumble dryers as well as minimising damp and mould generation.

Paul

[Bfg]

It arrived yesterday morning ..despite my not paying for 24 hour delivery. On this occasion ; the Marine-Superstore's standard two-day delivery (inclusive in cost on over £100 purchases) turned out to be next day. 

 

On 12/13/2022 at 2:49 PM, Bfg said:

Unfortunately the old cottage I now rent (the downstairs of) is both cold and damp, with night storage heaters &/or mobile electric radiators.  Even with just heating the one room I'm in, is I think going to cost a a king's ransom this winter ..and so I thought I'd share with y'all a purchase just made < here >.  It's a desiccant dehumidifier, and not cheap but is pretty quiet and of relatively low power consumption.  It was enthusiastically recommended to me, by my friend Steve, who lives on a sailing boat down in Fox's marina ..which is very much more damp and cold than here - he's just bought one and after just 90 minutes the humidity in his boat's cabin has dropped from 90% to 55%   He tells me that his old dehumidifier wouldn't get it down that low even after 9 hours. 

Aside from the debilitating discomfort, humidity on the windows and walls, being unable to dry bedding and clothes (..and the salt and pepper grinders being too damp to work !) I relate being cold and damp with the arthritis my dear ol nan was crippled with.  I don't want that. 

£175 is a lot of money, but if feeling dry saves on the power presently being consumed by the electric heaters, then it may pay for itself over the nest four months. This sort of unit is small enough to be portable to go from one room to another, to use in the boat and even to sit inside the Triumph, in the polytunnel under its car cover (with drain pipe led out). I'll let you know how I get on with it in a couple of day's time. 

Pete

p.s.  I ordered it with inclusive of 2-day delivery from the Marine superstore, which cost £5 more than Steve paid from Fox's chandlery (who are hoping for new stock next week)..

   

 

Update  / feedback  (15th December) and important features to me were ;

• it's a desiccant dehumidifier, which operates from 1 deg c through to 37 degrees.  The condensation dehumidifier, I used to have ..in the garage before I moved home, used to freeze up in low air temperatures, and then turn off while it thawed.  In winter, let's say below 6 degrees air temperature that could take a long time. In cold foggy weather is when I wanted to keep the contents of my garage dry.
• Lowish power consumption of 300 or 650 w according to fan setting.  I'm using it on the low fan setting because it has the noise of a fan heater, and like one of those the lower fan speed setting is tolerable but the high fan setting is I find noise intrusive. 
• it has three humidity settings. the lowest offers a relative humidity of 60%. the mid setting aims for 50% relative humidity, and the highest setting is aiming for 40%..  Naturally the sensors would turn the device off when those relative humidities are reached, So on the lowest setting the device might cycle into standby mode which consumes 30w of power. NB. Relative humidity measures the density of water vapor in a space relative to the temperature in the same space.
• The water tank is just 2-ltrs (think family size milk cartoon) despite the unit's rating at 8-ltrs /day.  A pipe can be fitted (not supplied) to drain elsewhere or into a larger pot.  The unit does have a timer on it for ; 1hr, 2hrs, 4hrs, or 6hrs, otherwise it stays on.  I might only guess that if one were to set it for 4-hrs (1/6th of a day) then that ought to be sufficient ..unless it's a really damp environment.  It has a level sensor which turns the unit off when full ..rather than it flooding out over the floor.

I received it midday yesterday and turned it on in my lounge, where I hibernate during the day during this icy spell.  After four hours, on mid settings, I emptied just a little more than 1 pint out of it (..using a half pint beer mug as a measure).  Tbh., I had expected more, as cold tends to feel damp to me, but outside air temperature was so cold that ingress of dampness through the walls, would have been low. 

As I sat down in the evening to eat, watch a movie and then to read my book, I moved the dehumidifier (emptied) to my bedroom for another four hours, when I went to bed (and turned it off). I visually checked the level through the pane and guess there was perhaps half-a-pint of water in the tank.  I did not bother draining it. Perhaps psycho-somatic but when I went to bed the air felt nicer. I'd not thought of it as clammy before, but I guess that's what it comes down to.   

This morning I got up and turned the device on mid-settings again, in the bedroom, as I settled back into the lounge. 2 hours later I checked and emptied the tank of over 2 pints of water. This would have been mostly condensation from my breath through the night.  Drying the air from clothes and bedding has got to be a good thing. I've put it on again in the bedroom, simply because I relate it being dry in there as being healthier.

So there we are. I've not tried it in the car yet, which is parked in the zero-degree polytunnel (with its grp Surrey-lid in place) under a car cover. But as the internal volume of a TR4 is tiny - I couldn't really expect a lot of moisture to be extracted.  However, it would not be much of an effort to place the car on a ground-sheet, and to close the sides of the car-cover - so as to use ..like a carcoon, with the dehumidifier to dry it out within. 

Of course the distilled water from the (filtered air) dehumidifer might be good for ice in your Christmas spirits, for household plants, for lead-acid batteries, for screen wash or radiator refills, and perhaps for beverages and cooking too. Bonus 

Pete   

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Bfg

[ianc]

The dehumidifier which I purchased over a year ago operates like a freezer in reverse (i.e. no desiccant), but only down to about 10 Celsius ambient since the water extracted would freeze inside if temperature fell any lower.  It cuts out automatically when it senses that the ambient is too low.

The extracted water can either fall into an internal, removeable bin, or one can connect a hose running outside the garage, which is what I have done.

At the moment, with ambient temperature around or below zero, no point in attempting to use it, of course.  Apart from the fact that it's far too cold to work in the garage - but humidity in Oxfordshire currently is pretty low, so no condensation on the TR.

Ian Cornish

[Nigel C]

I'm using a very old dehumidifier that I got from an old friend of my dad's who was moving into warden controlled living. I didnt realise at the time what I had as it has a storage tank of over a gallon! Over the years I've had it I've done a couple of rebuilds to keep it going (micro switches/drainage holes/leaks etc) and its still going strong.

The main workshop is 6mtrs X 10mtrs and on an average it can shift a gallon in 3 days, If I go out in the car it can be full in two days, if the car goes back in wet I can get a gallon in 24hrs!

It also "takes the edge off" the cold in the garage; noticeable temp change if it gets full and switches off. I run it continually from sept to march.

I bought another newer one (for the other garage) which boasted 7ltrs a day only to find it has a stupid 1  1/2 ltr tank. I don't want to use the drain pipe idea as it will freeze up.

[RobH]

For preventing condensation you don't necessarily need to go to ultra-low RH levels - just enough to have the dew-point lower than the temperature of the car metalwork.   That is easy as the temperature falls and is still easy if it stays cold.

For instance, at an ambient of -6degC and 60% RH, the dewpoint is at -12.5degC so there is a very good margin.

The problem comes as things warm up, because metalwork can't warm at the same rate as the air.   If the air gets up to 10C but your car is still at down at 0C then with 60%RH you would have condensation because the dewpoint is now nearly 2.6C.   

There are useful calculators here: 

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/dew-point

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/absolute-humidity

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by RobH
typo and added second link

[Motorsport Mickey]

1 hour ago, RobH said:

For preventing condensation you don't necessarily need to go to ultra-low RH levels - just enough to have the dew-point lower than the temperature of the car metalwork.   That is easy as the temperature falls and is still easy if it stays cold.

For instance, at an ambient of -6degC and 60% RH, the dewpoint is at -12.5degC so there is a very good margin.

The problem comes as things warm up, because metalwork can't warm at the same rate as the air.   If the air gets up to 10C but your car is still at down at 0C then with 60%RH you would have condensation because the dewpoint is now nearly 2.6C.   

There is a useful calculator here: 

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/dew-point

 

 

 

 

+1 for the omnicalculator, I have the app on my phone.

Mick Richards

[PodOne]

Hi Pete 

I'm glad you seem to be seeing some benefit at home from using it.

I'd suggest you keep it in doors its doing you more good than looking after the car! 

Andy

[SuzanneH]

1 hour ago, PodOne said:

Hi Pete 

I'm glad you seem to be seeing some benefit at home from using it.

I'd suggest you keep it in doors its doing you more good than looking after the car! 

Andy

+1 there is a lot of pneumonia  about at the mo…….!

[Bfg]

Thanks both,

yep the dehumidifier is staying in the apartment for the time being. With air temperatures outside being what they are, there's next to no humidity out around the car anyway. 

[Bfg]

After two weeks of freezing weather, over here in Suffolk we're back to sunshine and mild temperatures - so doors could be opened again.!  And like so many households - in preparation for Christmas.. washing had to be done.

It's too damp to finish my painting the anti-fouling under the boat's keels, so today I opted to work on Katie.  My most recent trips out, first to Norwich and then to our local TSSC meeting highlighted two electrical faults which each need to be urgently addressed. One was that the indicator's tell-tale light sometimes continue to flash when the indicators are cancelled, and the other being the windscreen wipers only work a couple of swipes and then stop ..and despite fiddling with the switch will not resume.  When I got in after the club meeting I tried again, but this time I manually helped the wiper arm to move. It then swept the windscreen.  From having gone through the wiring connections, I know that both the indicator and the wiper switches are 'iffy. My good friend Rich has used spares which I had hoped to pick up from him at the last meeting ..but I didn't make it. 

In any case I'd not yet checked the wiper motor, nor lubricated the cable mechanism, so that's what I started on this afternoon. . .

    

^ Katie's  wiper motor installation.  I wanted to remove it completely so after recording the wiring connections ; I removed those, I undid the large nut which attaches the drive cable, removed the hex-head set-screw with its big washer, you can see, which attaches the motor's black mounting bracket to the bulked shelf, and two set-screws ..reached from inside the car (under the dashboard).  Those three set-screws each have captive nuts, but on this car - the one on the bulkhead-shelf took a 10mm ring-spanner and the two inside - a 7/16" socket.  With the wiper arm's lifted off, so their drive-spindles can freely rotate, the wiper motor with its spiral cable can be withdrawn, leaving the cable's outer sleeve conduit and the wiper's wheel boxes in place and undisturbed.

^ The wiper motor's gearbox top-cover has four set screws (1/4" AF socket) which when relieved give access to the worm-drive from the motor, and the crankshaft which operates to push and pull the drive cable to the wiper-arms.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was not caked up inside, with 50-year-old grease, as has been every other classic car wiper motor I've pulled apart.

The drive cable had a hard kink though, just where it went into the wiper motor, so I bent that straighter by hand. Then, very carefully, I prised the little-end pin of the crankshaft up and out of the cable's end. The greasy drive-cable was put to one side, but again I was happy to see the grease on it wasn't at all hard-caked.

The (sorta of reddish) wire from the motor to the gearbox's top cap is for the wiper's parking. Its rubber insulation is cracked through in several places and so will be replaced.  I cut the wire near the cap's connection - I'll un-solder it anon, but in the meantime it meant that the gearbox top-cover could likewise be set aside.

  

^ After some cleaning up, around the outside, to prevent grime from getting inside, I removed the motor's two end-cap hex-head (long) set-screws for access to the motor's brushes.  I've seen very much filthier and the brushes are serviceable, but one electrical connector was rusty and the armature was not exactly shiny copper clean. 

 

^ with the parking wire to the gearbox cover cut, the motor's field-winding can be withdrawn (with the wire) from the gearbox. The armature's worm-drive can then be pulled out / unwound from the crank-wheel. Beware the armature brushes, the two insulation T-eyes (orangy colour) and the tiny spring, which can drop out once the armature is removed.

^ Turning the armature in my fingers, I used a scouring pad (wrapped around the copper contact surface) to clean it up.

^ next up was to clean the crud out from inside the field winding, to visually check things were in good order, and again I used the scouring pad to clean the contact faces onto which the contact brush arms seat.   

All in all, a little fiddly and time consuming, and before you know it.. the daylight had gone. 

I thought better of faffing around like a blind mouse, so packed up and made myself a cuppa tea ..and washed my hands before emptying the washing machine.  A bachelor's work never ends 

I hope to replace that wire, and finish this off tomorrow.

Cheers, Pete

 

 

 

[stuart]

Thats not actually the correct motor for a TR4a Pete, thats a single speed motor whereas you should have a two speed version. Easily spotted as they have three wires emerging from the top of the motor.

Stuart.

[Bfg]

Thanks Stuart,  yep I knew it was a single speed, and if a 2-speed was standard spec for the TR4A - then that accounts for the extra wires in the loom and the two-stage switch.  Still, if I can get it to work reliably  then I'll be happy to live with a single speed.   It does seem very much more "period"   ..and goes well with the screen undemisters. 

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by Bfg

[Nigel C]

saw this and thought of you....only thought mind you!....great work on "Katie" and and thanks for all your write up's... Merry Christmas