Practical Boat Owner - January 2016

Readers share their thoughts and opinions

Letters Photos are appreciated, letters may be edited. Email [email protected] or write to us at the address on page 5.

PEYTON’S PICK FROM THE PAST

Taken from Practical Boat Owner April 1985

FALLING FOUL OF ANTIFOULING REGULATIONS?
■antifouling paint regulations (PBO November), I suspect that any new regulations may be onerous. Re your news story about new
EU regulations often begin with a beneficial idea, but my experience would suggest that they then lose sight of the fact that practical
people affected by the outcome should have some part in formulating them. I was one of the worst-hit victims
of tributyltin (TBT) in antifouling paint, which was both tested and used in the Yealm estuary in the early 1970s, 10 years before the
active ingredient was named on the outside of the tin. TBT has an LC50 (lethal concentration for 50% of the population) for
oyster larvae of one part in
Spec speculation■get a fix’ (PBO November) and the Your useful article ‘14 ways to
photo of a hand bearing compass being used reminds me of a brief cautionary tale. A few years ago, while practising using my hand
bearing compass, I was getting quite strange and unexpected bearings. I soon realised that there was a tiny magnet in the centre
of my spectacle frames which was used to secure the ‘add-on’ shades that came with my glasses. Holding the compass close up
to the specs caused the huge aberration in the readings, so I had either to try without the glasses or hold the compass at arm’s length.
Brian KingBy email

PBO’s David Pugh replies:You’re not the first reader to report problems with hand-bearing compasses – and there doesn’t
have to be a magnet. One reader said he found that the steel frames of his glasses had a similar effect.

10 thousand million, and I was owner-operator of probably the best commercial oyster hatchery in Europe. In 1974, everything

in my hatchery died between April and August, when I had a full order book. I thought it was an unknown disease so

I closed down, hoping to restart after decontamination, but I lost my leases and let down many customers.

Maritime Organisation banned TBT antifouling worldwide, about 10 years ago, I was already 65 By the time the International

and no longer capable of rebuilding my business somewhere else because the River Yealm was crammed with

little-used yachts. The ‘Crown

Fishery’ where I had nursery rafts is still open water, but the current harbour authority now seems only to serve leisure

boating interests.operating successfully in the UK, suggesting that the water quality However, other hatcheries are

is at an acceptable level. Oyster larvae are used to test the toxicity of suspect seawater so there’s no point in arbitrarily banning

copper if the best test organisms are OK. Copper’s LC50 for oyster larvae is about four parts per million. TBT’s, as I said before, is

1 part in 10 thousand million – so copper is more than 10,000 times less toxic than TBT. Tony Maskell

Newton Ferrers

Practically being ignored again

they had never seen anything like it. A discussion took place regarding circuit breakers, which were specified at 100A. It appears

that the builders had instead used

a 125A fuse in a pretty inaccessible position. The current draw from the winch in a ‘no load’ situation would only be tens of amps, so the fuse

would offer no protection.switch for the winch. Water must have got into it – whether rain or The culprit was the operating

condensation is impossible to tell. The micro-switches used here make no pretence of being waterproof, dustproof or having

any sort of IP rating. They are simply covered by a black ring sealed to the deck which has a soft ‘rubber’ inset clamped in that you

press to power up the winch. On dismantling the cover, all that was left of the switch was corrosion, and what was left of the slide had

shorted across the two terminals so the contactor that feeds the main power to the winch had closed.Although Harken were very

helpful, it still cost £1,700 to get a new motor and gearbox. Luckily, the winch itself was undamaged. I subsequently fitted the

missing circuit breaker where it could easily be reached. I have since had to replace two

bit after releasing the tended to run on a more switches, because the winch

winch and windlass manufacturers £40. Isn’t it time that both of charge, and the other button. One was free

looked at alternative switches? A heavy-duty waterproof reed switch should be considered, but there appear to be a number of other

types of waterproof switches (IP67) available as well. The switch covers seem fine, but I feel a belt-and-braces approach is needed.

Phil Stanton, by email

Powered winches: a very hot topic■ Re Chris Mardon’s letter ‘Perish

the thought’ (PBO November), I also had a powered-winch problem four years ago – although in my case, the pain was more in

the bank balance than personally.on my boat smell burning coming from one of One day in January 2011 I arrived Mascot and could

the cockpit lockers. I have electric winches on the boat, and as the photo above reveals, a winch motor had clearly become very hot.

The contactor (out of sight) had also suffered from heat damage, and there was heat damage to the red power cable above the motor

and the top of the locker.response, and they replied that I got onto Harken for their

Phil Stanton’s burnt-out winch motor. INSET On dismantling the cover for the operating switch of the winch, all that was left was corrosion

‘... And just dump it – don’t come back with anything else that might be handy’