Category: Essentials

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Floydtilla BSS Certificate – Passed

Floydtilla’s BSS certificate is due to expire at the end of April 2025, so it was time to book a test, we have added a few new bits and pieces to the boat in the past 4 years including our new solar panels – it is always a worry when you do the planning/install yourself.

As with the last test and survey we booked Tom Keeling from Small Craft Services to do this for us. Two days before the appointed day, I check with Tom that everything was going as planned, and we headed of the next day to the boat, to be ready for his visit.

Tom arrived very promptly at 9am, he first explanied the procedure and then we started at the stern looking in the engine bay, where he carefully explained what he was looking for, checking the fuel tank for rust and damage, the fuel lines, filters etc, before then checking the batteries and our new battery wiring and solar install (he noted the fuses etc) everything seemed OK, except the batteries could slide sideways in there mounting, We already had a ratchet strap over the top of the batteries, but within a few minutes we also had one install around the sides as well.

From the Engine bay we moved inside and checked the Fire Extinguishers, we have three mounted in the boat, and I have three extras for just encase (could not resist the Lidl special offers, they are two lower rating, but better to be safer?).

From what I remember of the discussion each extinguisher has a rating i.e. 8A/50B that you will find on the body label of the extinguisher, you need to add up the number of ‘A’ and the number of ‘B’, combined between you extinguishers they need to exceed 21A and 144B together, this is dependent on the length of the boat, at 61ft we need a minimum of 3 extinguishers in total.

Next we are on to the gas supply and the Gas locker was expected and the pipes inspected for the correct type, we only have a gas cooker connected to the supply and near the kitchen area is a test point to which Tom fitted his Manometer. after a few minutes all seemed to check out OK. Then Tom slid out the cooker to show me and to check the pipework was correct.

It is amazing how quickly and hour and a half went by, Tom is a mine of useful information and advice and I am sure I missed out lots of things he inspected along the way, but I now feel very confident we are safe onboard and also not a danger to others.

BSS Examination Report
BSS Examination Report

The cost of this inspection including VAT was £260 (which includes a £72 charge by the Boat Safety Scheme for the certificate.

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New Macerator Pump Fitted

A couple of weeks ago we visit the Marina fit more new curtains and measure the roof to find the best options for solar panels. Unfortunately we found the toilet was not working as expected, it would flush, but after flushing there would be more water in the bowl that expected, and after a second flush it would increase again.

We tried cleaning the toilet and using a plunger to push the water into the tank, but we could not resolve the problem and so had decided put it off to another visit, when I would have more time and tools.

On the way home I decided to texted Steve Cowham, who had come to our rescue fitting the water pump in the summer, I have poorly thumbs and am trying to save myself from further operations, luckily Steve was able to take a look and soon called me back.

Tecma 12V Silence / Elegance Macerator PumpHis suggestion was that the Macerator Pump had probably worn out, having been an X-Black Prince hire boat for 12 years, it would have been well used. He was happy to fit one for us and recommend we order one from Midland Chandlers the part we needed was a “Tecma 12V Silence / Elegance Macerator Pump” part number TG-224.

This was ordered and shipped directly to Steve via the marina, at £249.50 they are not cheap, but they need to work.

A few days later it is all fitted and working, we will be back to the boat soon and I am sure we will be testing it.

Steve, don’t forget to send us the bill, thanks 🙂

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The Hull Blacking Experiance

We decided we should get the hull blacked, as we did not wish to leave it too long and end up with more problems. I had checked around on the boat forums and Facebook groups so I had an idea of the costs involved.

We had initially planned to get the boat hauled out and do the work ourselves, all part of the boating experience, so we went to the Marina office to ask the costs etc, by the time we left we had decided to let them do everything.

We even went for 3 coats for extra protection. The cost including everything was estimated to be about £1200.00 Inc VAT.

After our chat I was very sure they would do a better job than me, far quicker, and with much less pain and effort on my part. The plan was they would move the boat to the slipway, load her onto a trailer and pull he out to be placed on blocks.

Stripped, ready for painting

After they cleaned up the hull ready for blacking, they noticed some pitting about midway along the hull, nothing major, but would recommend checking carefully next time. A recommendation was to fit some slim extra anodes fore and aft of this area, as you can see below. Fitting these cost an about £275 on the final invoice.

Blacked with extra anodes fitted

All looking good, she is ready to go back in the water

Back on the trailer

Slipped back onto the trailer and heading to the slipway

Back in the water

Now back in the water, it is an impressive trailer

All done with a tractor

As you can see, all done with the trusty aide of a tractor.

The final bill was £1507.70 including the new anodes.

Droitwich Spa Marina did an excellent job as far as we could judge, passing on the notes about pitting gives us more options for when we do this again. I must thank them for all the pictures and care they took with our boat.

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Batteries and Battery Monitors Part 4 – Battery Monitor & The Shunt

Our Battery Monitor

I have installed a Victron Energy BMV-712 Smart battery monitor, but there are many other options from other manufacturers, see the listing at the end of this article.

I selected this one as it gave me the opportunity to connect to my onboard Raspberry Pi which I am using to give some smart boat features and provide live location tracking for my website in the future.

Our Battery Monitor Display
Our Battery Monitor Display

The battery monitor comes in two parts, a display which provides a readout of the battery status and a means of programming/setting up the system for your configuration.

The Shunt

Victron Shunt
Victron Shunt (c)Victron

The second part is called a shunt, this needs to be placed, in our case, on the negative side of the battery bank, so that everything must pass through it to reach the battery, there should be no other connections to the negative side of the batteries else your measurements will never be accurate.

A shunt is a resistor of very low but known value that is placed in parallel with a voltmeter so that all the current being measured flows through it. The voltage drop across the shunt’s resistor is measured; this voltage drop across the shunt is proportional to the current flowing and can then be calculated using Ohms law (Current = Volts / Resistance).

Shunts are rated for the maximum current they can measure, in our case 500A which at 12V is 6000W, more than enough for our boat.

Basic Battery Monitor Wiring
Basic Battery Monitor Wiring

The battery monitor also has an extra cable that connects to the positive side of the battery bank to power the electronics and the display, but also to measure the current battery voltage, we have an extra wire connected to the starter battery, so we can monitor its voltage as well.

Peukert’s Law

To then calculate the remaining capacity of the battery, the monitor uses an adaptation of Peukert’s Law** which can be used to calculate the capacity of lead acid batteries at different rates of discharge.  As we discussed earlier, the discharge rates affect the battery capacity.

** Developed by Wilhelm Peukert (1855-1932) Peukert’s law is used to calculate the batteries deliverable capacity at the current given rate of discharge, His law describes the batteries capacity at a constant discharge until it reaches its cut off voltage, below which you can damage your battery, this constant is called ‘K’, for example K=1.25 is used for our flooded lead acid batteries. There are however some limitations to this law as it does not consider the batteries temperature or age. I expect each monitor manufacturer modifies this to consider these extra factors when displaying the results, our system records each battery charge/discharge cycle.

The capacity of a battery falls at higher rates of discharge because the chemical reaction within the battery reaches its maximum speed for the given plate size and therefore the voltage drops. If left to recover, that missing capacity will return.

Using these calculations, a battery monitor can calculate the available power remaining while the battery is in use (under load) and as that load changes or even as the battery is charging, it can display the current State of Charge (SOC).

Now you know what is happening?

Armed with this information, you can then decide how you want to operate your boat and if you will need to start the engine to charge the batteries. One of our future projects is to work out the size we need for some solar panels, and we will use the data from the battery monitor to help calculate the size system we need, but that is a topic for another day

Battery Monitors Suppliers

Victron – www.victron.com
NASA Marine Instruments – www.nasamarine.com
Advanced Yacht Systems – www.advanceyacht.co.uk
Simarine – simarine.net/
Votronic – www.votronic.de

Safety Disclaimer

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Batteries and Battery Monitors Part 3 – The State of Charge (SOC) Calculation

The State of Charge (SOC) Calculation Lead Acid batteries

Voltage only gives a rough estimate of State of Charge (SOC), the table below is just an example, the voltages can change significantly when the battery is under load, in most canal boat there is always something using the battery, our fridge while efficient is always on, so to measure this properly you need to have the battery disconnected  and allowed to rest for up to a couple of hours (Not always the simplest thing to arrange).

Capacity % Resting Voltage**
100% 12.70 V
90% 12.50 V
80% 12.42 V
70% 12.32 V
60% 12.20 V
50% 12.06 V

**Note: Example Only – typical lead acid battery. Best to check with your battery supplier if you use this method.

For your battery monitor to be effective you need to get the battery to a known state of charge to set a base/synchronisation point for future calculations. This is typically done when the battery is at 100% State of Charge (SOC).

Original Battery Setup
Our Original Battery Setup

You can tell when a battery is fully charged by looking at the battery charger. When you charge a battery, the charger will start at its maximum current; this is known as the boost phase, during this, the voltage of the battery will increase to near the gassing voltage.

What is Gassing and why is it so bad

Gassing is basically very bad, as gassing mean that the current applied to the battery is not being used to transform the plates back to their fully charged state but is breaking the water down to Oxygen and Hydrogen, which is a highly explosive mixture, try to remember back to school science lessons and electrolysis.

A smart battery charger will monitor the batteries internal resistance so then when it reaches near 80-85% charged it will switch over to the next phase known as the absorption phase. The last 15-20% will take a lot longer for a battery to absorb. It was explained to me much like the seats in a cinema, when the cinema is empty it is easy to find a seat, but as the cinema fills up the available spaces are harder and harder to find and fill.

The Float Phase

Once charging is complete the charger will switch to the float phase, where the voltage is kept at a point to maintain the battery capacity, this is often referred to as trickle charging.

State of Charge (SOC)

With the battery now at 100% charged, we have our known State of Charge (SOC). A battery monitor can use this to calculate what usable power is available while monitoring further charging and usage of the battery.

Safety Disclaimer

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