Expensive Crystal!?

-
I was up really early today as Rob was due to comearound 8ish to finish of the kitchen, so I wanted to sheet up the carpets and floors and take things off surfaces and out of the cabinet that he's going to put the drawers in.

I'll be so glad when the gunnels inside are done with the new oak pieces he's sourced. The ones in here at the minute just look such a mess!

Anyway, he text me at the time he was due to arrive to say he couldn't make it! Grrrr. I wasn't happy after sheeting everywhere up but he is coming tomorrow instead so its not really a big deal.
I needed to be up early anyway as I also had my MRI scan today which wasn't a nice experience at all! Its probably a good job he didn't come as it meant I could just come home after the scan and rest rather than having to clean shit loads of mess up!

A lot of people say its being enclosed in the machine that's the worst part of an MRI, but that didn't bother me - it was being able to feel vibrations coming from within my body whilst in the machine that was weird! I cant really explain it! At least its done now though.

Whilst in the engine room the other day when the batteries were being topped up I freaked out at a sight near the weed hatch...



At first I freaked out as I thought it was something mouldy!? It looks really disgusting. However, its not mould or something that's died and is rotting... It's like hard crystals and I'm not sure what it is or where it's from!?

I wonder if these crystals are worth anything!? Could I sell them and make a fortune!? Could I be the next " Waterford Crystal" company!

Seriously though its a little bit concerning. I'm guessing it could be something from the hydrogen gas that's released from the wet batteries when they're being charged as its at the back of the battery bank, but I can't find anything definitive on the web!
It must be a reaction of some kind from something.

Perhaps a more experienced boatie will be along shortly to tell me!

We really need to focus on getting the engine room sorted this year. It's in a right mess with being pretty much neglected all winter. Needs a good scrape back, primed and painted properly. We also need to get some storage in there sorted as there's stuff everywhere!

Comments

  1. Anonymous6 January 2013 at 23:59

    Looks like the right color for battery acid. Be a bit careful it will eat through your clothing if you get it on you (and burn your skin). I could be very wrong though. LT.

    ReplyDelete
  2. One Thing After Another7 January 2013 at 13:02

    Thanks LT . It's what I suspected and I'm guessing its perhaps from the starter battery as that ended up knackered overnight the other week and I did think I heard a bang of some sort whilst the engine was on just before we had that problem with the starter batt. We're going to clean the crystals up and then keep an eye in things.

    I don't think it's one of the leisures as we've not noticed a drop in performance or anything but we will keep our eye on it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Les Biggs8 January 2013 at 17:04

    i would say perhaps if not now then at some time in the past one your batteries have been on a high charge. Is one perhaps over filled and bubbled up through the cap.
    Check water level in each, if one is low this could be a sign of a bad battery.
    best thing to check is the state of charge with a hydrometer. Also check voltage of each battery when NOT connected to each other with a meter.They should all read about the same

    ReplyDelete
  4. Les Biggs8 January 2013 at 17:07

    PS
    One bad one can be hidden by the good ones so not easy to spot any big changes in performance.

    ReplyDelete
  5. One Thing After Another8 January 2013 at 17:23

    Hi les

    Thanks for your comments. We have tested the batteries a few weeks back actually and they were showing as fine. We do think its the starter battery as that was years old. We will clean the crystals up and see if they appear again in the next few weeks. If so, then we know it must be one of our leisures.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Geoff and Mags10 January 2013 at 17:14

    Hi Lewis.
    Had a dip into the blog the other day, looks interesting so will give it more time when I have some!
    Use boiling water on the battery acid spill,it will have nicely removed the paint and etched the steel ready for repainting. Every cloud, eh!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

TO POST A COMMENT, SIMPLY TYPE YOUR MESSAGE IN THE COMMENTS BOX BELOW (IT MIGHT BE ABOVE THIS MESSAGE DEPENDING ON HOW YOUR BROWSER DISPLAYS THINGS!)

THEN, SELECT "ANONYMOUS" FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU BELOW THAT AS THAT IS THE EASIEST WAY TO SAY HI TO ME!

DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE YOUR NAME ;)

Popular posts from this blog

Where Can I Begin?

-
Image
It's been nearly 9 months since I last blogged and I can't actually believe it's been that long - feels like it was just a few weeks ago really. At this stage then, I'm not sure if there'll be any readers out there, but I suppose if I want to carry on chronicling life on the boat, I need to make a start somewhere! I think the reason for the lack of blogging is, in part, because I was boring myself (never mind anyone else that reads it!) and it was starting to feel a bit too personal. I seemed to be detailing my life over the internet for anyone to read and I suppose in some ways, I was starting to get a little uncomfortable with that. However, that's what blogging is, I know! It's a diary of sorts, which is obviously only one 'facet-of-a-diamond' in terms of "our life", but still somewhat a diary and not what I initially thought would be just a way of referencing what we had done or had fitted (etc) in the boat. I have missed blogging somet
Read more

Make use of time, let not advantage slip - William Shakespeare

-
Image
Even on Boxing Day we manage to find time to do some "boaty" jobs! We basically finished off the wiring-in of the new small inverter that we've fitted on a 12v cigarette socket directly to the batteries for the TV and aerial. We still had the thick cable hanging down the wall to the sockets which looked a bit of an eyesore and I couldn't bear it any more! It all looks neat and tidy now and we've really noticed an improvement with the battery capacity. With everything we usually have on, using the main inverter was taking around 10-13% out of the batteries an hour, which was way too much! With this new inverter we are only using around 3 or 4% an hour which means a lot less engine running time ! It's fantastic. I think this also shows that it WAS the main inverter that was using the battery capacity and the batteries aren't knackered after all! So if there's any people out there who are planning on getting a new inverter or are fitting a boat out etc, D
Read more