Battery bulkhead

[Bevan Hill]

Hi Andrew,
I was wondering if you are able to supply a new bulkhead board which is mounted between the batteries and the engine in my R21ec, Queen Bess? It is warped from heat damage. I discovered it after my house battery developing a dead cell and am assuming the two incidents are linked. I noticed the battery was flat and I had the boat on shore power and after substantial charging found it was not lifting the battery level. It was only on taking it to a supplier to test it that I found it had a dead cell. I have concluded that the charger just continued to attempt to charge and only succeeded in producing excessive and substantial heat. The bulkhead, being some form of white plastic board then surrendered to the weight of the attached coolant overflow tank and sagged substantially. I have yet to find if the same type of plastic board can be sourced here in West Australia because it would be easy to make a replacement. However if you could supply one it would be worth knowing what the price and the shipping cost would be so that I could consider the alternatives.
Thanks in anticipation.
(P.S. We still wait to hear that you are planning a visit. You'd be aware that the two red 27s now grace our local waters enhancing the Ranger profile hereabouts.)

 

[Irish Mist]

I use a similar product up here and it is called Starboard It comes in different thickness
Perhaps if you search that name you may find.. Also the factory may respond with a different name. Is very easy to work with I'm sure for the time being a piece of marine grade plywood with a nice coat of white paint would work fine
Good luck

 

[mlull]

You can also go to a hardware store and get a cutting board made of the similar stuff and cut it to your liking. That's what I did and bolted it to the existing bulkhead. Works just fine.

 

[knotflying]

You can also go to a hardware store and get a cutting board made of the similar stuff and cut it to your liking. That's what I did and bolted it to the existing bulkhead. Works just fine.

And you can also use it to cut your meat and vegitables! 😀

 

[Speedbump]

Our Battery Bulkhead has also deformed. It happened (or was noticed) last year.
I lived with it all season and monitored engine/battery temperatures. Nothing jumped out as unusual.
If it was from some high temperature event, we never found the cause.
We still are using the factory batteries and do not see heat/charging issues.
It is currently part of our winter refit to swap out and I will continue to watch temps closely.
Do you intend to increase the thickness or stay with the factory design.

 

[Andrew Custis]

Hey there,

Happy New Year. If you need any parts, we would love to assist. Your best bet is to contact me direct on my Ranger Tug email with a couple of photos so I can ensure we get you the right parts. I have an idea of what you need but we have changed things around quite a bit on the boat. Also, please include your hull id# as it helps me identify the age.

Thank you!

Andrew Custis
andrewcustis@rangertugs.com

 

[Don Cardinal]

Bevan:
I am curious if your boat electrical appliances , inverter and battery charger are rated at 120 volts AC. @ 60 cycles (standard in US) or are they rated at 230 volts as in Australia? Does Australia use AC or DC current and are they 50 or 60 cycles. If necessary, is a converter used to make the change? I tried Googling ac/dc in Australia and found out that it was an Australian rock band.lol
For engine room temps I use an indoor / outdoor thermometer mounted in the wheelhouse with the attached sensor routed into the engine compartment. They usually run on one aaa battery that lasts months. I chose an area away from the exhaust, moving parts and electrical equip. These thermometers are cheap to buy, about $20.00 US. They have a memory that will record the highest and lowest temp in the wheel house and engine room until you reset it. Real time temps are displayed all the time on the LCD screen. I saw one the other day at a local hardware store that has two remote sensors which will give you three different zones. I will probably buy that soon. The warmest I have seen in my engine compartment was about 110 deg F. However that depends on the placement of the sensor but it is a good mental referance point. It is also nice to look at it in the winter months to see how cold it got in these areas while you were away. My tug is on a trailer and the other day I saw that the engine room got as low as 26 deg F. about - 4 deg C. Glad it is winterized.
I would like to hear from you on the voltage questions.
Good luck
Don,

 

[Tugalong]

Don

Australia uses AC.

The Australian domestic single phase standard is 240 volt and 50 Hz, the 3 phase standard is 415 volt and 50 Hz. 3 phase is mainly used in industrial applications, but some air conditioning units used in domestics are 3 phase.

 

[Bevan Hill]

Thankyou one and all for some very helpful responses. With respect to the electrical issue, Tugalong is correct that we run on 240V. However on acquiring the boat I checked carefully regarding the charger and found that it had a 'global' specification and could equally handle the Australian circumstance. I trust I was right. Don's comment about the local temperature made me shiver. Here in 'the west' we have a mediteranean climate quite similar to California but with more rain, so never have to worry about 'winterizing'. (As for snow, What's that!!! We boat all year round.)The suggestion of installing the capacity to monitor temperatures inside the engine compartment is worth considering. Thanks 'Irish Mist', It was good to get a name for the material. I will explore if it is readily available locally. I did consider simply making a replacement with marine ply, which I could do, but the perfectionist in me preferred to restore the part to original pristine appearance, and thanks Andrew for your reply. If I can't source a replacement adequately here I'll come back to you with those details.
Cheers all, Bevan