Emergency Welding for Sailors (2 Batteries + Jumper Cables) | ⛵ Sailing Britaly ⛵

[@willihahn8067]

Freaky. ... better than i ve expected. ...cool idea. Will put some of these welding pins on my boot

[@SailingBritaly]

If it was an emergency and I had to do this for real, I believe it would work well with some time & patience. We have a grinder on board which we can run off our inverter so I could weld, grind, weld, grind until we got a good strong weld. I hope to never have to do this but I like having options like this in my back pocket. Cheers, Chris 👍

[@tiborkiss9186]

great video! My welding looks similar - but i cannot blame the equippment...:(

[@SailingBritaly]

🌟 Hi Tibor, thank you very much and for your support over on Patreon. You make these videos possible! Very best regards, Chris 👍

[@SailingBritaly]

SUBSCRIBE ➜ bit.ly/Subscribe⛵ Download our printable PDF about this technique here ➜ bit.ly/BritalyWeldingPDF Help us plant more trees here ➜ bit.ly/BritalyTrees Thanks for watching - we look forward to reading your comments below! Chris, Rossella & Emma 😊

[@gorway7]

My first welder that my father bought me when I was a young teen, was made by SP and was a transformer less welding gun that ran off 2 car batteries. It was basically a large solenoid with a rubber handle and heavy lead attached, a coil with a floating spring loaded shaft in the middle that had a brass chuck on one end to clamp the welding rod. As you struck the work piece the shaft would jump back a millimetre or so and break contact momentarily like a vibrating motion but this gave it like a pulsed DC that helped to stop the rods sticking. Don't know if these are still available or if anyone remembers these. SP went on to become a big manufacturer of hobby welding transformers. It took a bit of getting used to and was a bit crude in that you had no current control so you had to find which gauge rods worked best and stick to it. However at 14 / 15 I learnt to weld with that thing and was building carts and fixing bikes for many years till I bought my first second hand welding transformer. At the time, it was cheap, I think under £20 for a whole kit with welding mask, cables, clamps the lot. Something like that would be a useful light weight emergency welding solution to carry onboard.

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you for sharing Peter, I have very happy memories of helping (or perhaps hindering!) my father do manual work too. Seagull engines and BSA motorbikes were a common sight when I was growing up. Learning from your parents is much more pleasurable than from teachers, in my experience anyway. There are some impressive welders on the market these days. We had a welder come on board a vessel to repair a massive sheave wheel off a hydraulic launch and recovery system we were using to launch a couple of tons of ROV of the ship. It was a massive job and this Dutch bloke rocks up with a tiny little inverter tick welding machine that looked like a toy. He did a beautiful job on the repair in a very short time (with many, very neat, passes) and I was gobsmacked at how much could be achieved with such a small and lightweight bit of kit - with a skilled operator of course. We did a load test, and put everything back together really quickly and were operational again in no time... Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Chris 👍

[@ethanhowe103]

It's one thing for people to post video of beautiful places they've been, and views from their deck, or parties they've had on board or whatever, (and all well and good if you do because I enjoy those too) but this kind of video is what we REALLY need. This could be invaluable to people like me who want to sail eventually, and might not know all the problems I may need to contend with out on the ocean. So thank you very much for posting helpful, instructional videos like these.

[@netpackrat]

I am glad somebody made this video, well done. While it is clear that you are no welder, it is also clear that you won't let that stop you from making a field expedient welding repair so you can get back under way. It should probably be noted that it is of crucial importance that the welding electrodes be kept sealed and dry; moisture can wreck the shielding material and make it much more difficult to get a decent weld. They sell dry tubes designed for storing rods, or since you probably don't need that many, maybe vacuum pack them to take up less space. Either way throw a desiccant pack or two in with the rods before sealing them up. Some practice and/or lessons on dry land with a real welding machine would help a lot, so you can get a better feel for the correct motion used to strike the arc, and how to properly hold the rod and maintain the arc as you run a bead.

[@SailingBritaly]

I never let not having experience in something stop me from moving forward. The best way to learn anything is to just go ahead and do it... My first project of welding anything (after a couple of hours of instruction / practice) was to make a 'boat lifting system', out of steel box section, which I then used to lift 26 foot boats and work under them. Using a proper welder is a lot easier than using batteries, but there is no way we'll be carrying a welder offshore so I like to experiment with things to be more prepared for whatever might happen in the future. Great point about keeping the electrodes dry. Cheers, Chris

[@mikeforte8045]

Chris, does the package of electrodes say use DC+ of DC- ? It appears the entire rod is glowing red... most 308L electrode say DC+. Try swapping the polarity, it may weld better. Always check the parameter specs on the rod package...

[@roderickmchardy3650]

i think you may be wrong there,, dc + even more power goes throo the rod so it will heat up even more

[@mikeforte8045]

roderick mchardy , depends on the type of Rod he is using and what the manufacturer specs say...just noticed the whole stick was glowing red....

[@ericfarrar6607]

@@mikeforte8045 While there's every chance that you're right, I'd just like to point out that lots of cameras pick up a lot of infrared wavelengths, making stuff that's just really hot look red hot. Could be either.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Mike, these were 316L electrodes, (1.6 mm). I believe they are DC- electrodes but I only bought 20 of them and they were shipped without any manufacturers packaging, so this is difficult for me to confirm. They were visibly glowing red hot at times so this technique could be improved with A) Larger diameter electrodes, or B) By making a simple current-regulating device out of a coat hanger and putting that in the circuit (more coat hanger wire = more resistance and therefore less amps [the coat hanger wire would get hot so this would to be allowed for] The length of wire in the circuit could be adjusted by clamping it in the desired position along its length) I was happy with getting some good runs after a quick trial: there is lots of room for improvement and if I get the time one day (or ever have to do this for real) then I'm confident with some tinkering very good results would be possible. Cheers, Chris

[@berendotto]

Its better than I expected it to be!

[@SailingBritaly]

Yep, and this was just a quick first attempt. This could definitely get you out of a bad situation at sea...

[@flyingdutchman6984]

I've heard of doing this before, but never seen it done. I can see how this information could come in handy. Thanks Chris.

[@SailingBritaly]

Thanks Jacobus 👍

[@desertsailorii]

I re-posted this episode on SV Seeker. Was well received. If you haven't seen it, it is an all steel 74' junk motor sailor.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi there, we always appreciate people sharing our videos so thank you. SV Seeker is a fantastic project and Channel. 👍

[@airlincoln]

Wow, great video, especially for someone like me who has never welded before. Now I understand the basic principles involved.

[@steveschubert8845]

Dude.... We'll have to call you McGyver from now on. Very helpful n practical. Thanks

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers Steve 👍

[@RaySmythe53]

My thoughts exactly!

[@dcbourbonireland]

The addition of the bolt and the inductance is the solution I was looking for thanks

[@SailingBritaly]

My pleasure buddy

[@drwindsurf]

Very cool idea Chris...but definitely one I will practice at home before I try this on a boat - even in an emergency :)

[@waynemazan7485]

very good.. much better with the inductor...

[@SailingBritaly]

👍

[@brettjohnson6247]

This is brilliant. Really useful idea.

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers Brett, it is one of those things which is handy to have in the back pocket. Chris 👍

[@randyowens2717]

Impressive!

[@SailingBritaly]

👍

[@giuliom8520]

Great video!

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers mate! 👍

[@mikeforte8045]

3/32 rod only needs about 90-100 amps, 1/8 approximately 125 amps

[@johnperry7534]

I’m amazed I was a farmer but didn’t know that would work thanks Great job! Smart

[@SailingBritaly]

Thanks John 😊

[@ruaraidhmcdonald-walker9524]

That's amazing!

[@SailingBritaly]

⛵️🛠👍

[@versatec1]

Thats life saving information...Thanks

[@tombarker3608]

It is good that you are thinking and practicing ways to repair your boat at see. Rossella and Emma are counting on you. Hi Emma my internet cutie. Safe travel you three.

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers Tom :-)

[@stefanor8187]

Chris, you can do magic! You can really protect your family, bravo! Ready to cross the oceans? Fair winds :-)

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you Stefano! I like to think that I would be able to find an answer to any situation, but I hope to never have to resort to such desperate measures. I am committed to always learning new things and experiments are something I have always enjoyed. I am glad to be able to share some of these with other like-minded people via KZbin. Buon vento! Chris 👍

[@iainlyall6475]

that scared the crap out me :-) but good info none the less.

[@SailingBritaly]

😂

[@Medwaydroneexploration]

Not the tidiest looking weld but if it works and gets you out of trouble that's all that matters, still not bad considering the set up of the welder tho! I never realised you could link 2 batteries and use them as a welder, something new learnt there 👍😊

[@SailingBritaly]

🌟 Hi Garreth, this was a quick mess around on my part, if I had time to dedicate to perfecting this then I'm sure I could get good results, but time is something we are really struggling with at the moment! p.s. We have just driven from the UK to Italy as I'll be looking for offshore work soon, so everything is on hold at the boat, including giving you the little gift we have on board for you. Very best regards, Chris 👍

[@Medwaydroneexploration]

@@SailingBritaly Practice makes perfect mate, as I say if it gets you out of trouble then it's all good :) Do you ever stop to rest and sleep?! your always on the go! haha I was going to call you tomorrow as I have a business idea with the drone I wanted to ask your opinion on as i've now done my PFCO would it be ok to message you on whatsapp tomorrow? I won't take up too much of your time. All the best, have a lovely time in Italy hopefully see you all soon.

[@SailingBritaly]

Rest is a word which we are not familiar with any more... We always make time for our Patrons / friends though, so fire away on WhatsApp whenever you like! Very best regards, Chris 👍

[@LittleBoatAdventures]

Great video Chris. Something every off shore sailor should know 👍

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers 👍

[@pierremartin592]

What I expect is that you protect the boat roof to prevent burning marks on the gelcoat

[@almath9987]

Thanks chris, have heard of this before but don't carry any jump leads (or multiple) on the boat. Have had problems with my alternator on my last boat. After a night at anchor had to borrow a battery from a other boat to start the engine then return. Most sailboat engine don't have a lot of electronics and smaller engines have hand crank, my yanmar 2gm20 did but i thought it would be less work to borrow a battery than hand start that beast! Good experiment but i would rather carry duck tape to fix a hole after all if you are out in the ocean it will be the rig you need to fix🤯 i have welding certificates from when i was a appreciate but even then i was hopeless at aluminium welding. Still appreciate the video as said have heard of this before but never seen it in action. Carrying rods jump leads and visor is lighter than a welding plant 👍 How fast is Emma growing up talking now soon she will be able to help with the jobs around the boat.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Al, thank you for your comment. Battery cables could be borrowed from the boat to use in place of the jump leads. This is covered in the little PDF ebook I wrote for people to print off and keep on their boats. Durafix aluminium welding rods (or similar brands) are handy to carry for aluminium repairs, all you need for those is a propane torch. Cheers, Chris 👍

[@andreasvogel9049]

Hi Chris, great idea I think. In case of an emergency I'd definitely try it out. Could you put a little wiring diagram on the link list, just to be safe. Thank you very much for your very informative and positive videos. I really love your channel. Please keep on posting. Big hugs to Emma.

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Andreas, there is more info in the PDF download I wrote about this - it is in our 🗝️TREASURE CHEST🗝️ on Patreon with a load of other goodies. You can get access to it all for $3 per month if you're interested. We wouldn't be making these videos any more if it wasn't for our Patrons (we have spent more on camera gear recently then we have been paid by KZbin). The PDF's in our treasure chest could save you $$$$, so it's great value! Here's the link: bit.ly/TREASURE⛵ Cheers, Chris

[@TampaTec]

that is amazing!

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers mate! 👍

[@ckh2815]

Remarkably useful.

[@nickmartinxxx]

That's actually pretty cool, thanks

[@johansoderberg9579]

Those lightweight handy 140A inverter "transformators" for welding may be run from a 24/220 V inverter. That may improve the chances to get a nice weld dramaricly!

[@sailingtheworld2021]

excellent emergency information!!

[@SailingBritaly]

👍

[@corujariousa]

Go MacGuyver! Nice video! It would be perfect if you had Emma on it. :-)

[@pmstorm]

Amazing!

[@SailingBritaly]

Cheers Paul 👍

[@nsw1959]

Great ingenuity! A bit of advice: store the rods in as dry an environment as possible.

[@SailingBritaly]

Thanks Rich, absolutely, dry rods will definitely help get a good weld. (Although with this quick attempt the electrodes were glowing red hot, so that would probably dry them out pretty quickly! 😂) I'm confident that with some more time to refine the technique, and with time grinding and re-welding, you could get good results with this kind of set-up. Cheers, Chris 👍

[@bar8kronic]

Hey guys Would love to see a video on your new solar arch install, boats looking amazing fair winds

[@SailingBritaly]

There's more info on our DIY solar arch coming soon. Cheers, Chris

[@deislanddave]

Not a very good welder but you know that. Some thoughts though. First is heat. You're going to end up with some nasty hard spots from the welding unless you temper which will lead to fracture under load. That is NOT a permanent repair. You can do but you'll need a better understanding of metallurgy. Not hard - cheap books for home/farm welding. Second is that there is a lot of aluminum on boats. Different rods and much higher skill requirement even if you have MIG or TIG. You can stick weld aluminum but you have to develop the touch. I welded a soda can back together as a final from welding school. I don't think I could do it today without punching through.

[@pagegreer700]

Is this some thing you have recently run into from some one else's experience and decided you needed as a emergency option? Seem like a tip that been real world researched. Bourne out of being a father. Cool , looks like lots of great advice from experienced welder I look forward new experiments for helping cruisers being prepared!

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Page, I just like to gather knowledge in an attempt to be ready for anything. This is the kind of thing I hope I'll never have to do for real, but what's that saying: prepare for the worst, hope for the best! Chris :-)

[@JoaquimHenriques_1]

well done, very useful

[@SailingBritaly]

Thanks Joaquim :-)

[@spyglassfreowestaus2733]

Brilliant I love the disclaimer Keep up the great vids

[@frankd2301]

You are McGyver 👍

[@cbrucewarren]

did you try welding Al?. since that is likely to be what needs fixing not stainless...i.e. mast/boom

[@SailingBritaly]

Stainless gooseneck fittings do break occasionally, although you are correct that aluminium fittings fail more often. Fortunately, aluminium brazing rods make that an even easier fix. If anyone reading this hasn’t seen those yet, check out the videos here on KZbin. This is another very handy thing we carry on board Britaly.

[@tiborkiss9186]

I am going to our boat in a few weeks to do some repair. One of our lifeline post base broke - as the bot is on a mooring buoy, I may need to use your technique to fix it. Wish me luck.:)

[@SailingBritaly]

Good luck with fixing it Tibor, there is a PDF download I wrote about this in our TREASURE CHEST on Patreon: Print it off and take it with you to the boat in case you ever need it (Now or in 5 years time when you may be out at sea with no internet and the memory of this video has faded...) Very best regards, Chris 👍

[@PaulusPHM]

That does Fly , good chopper work. Echo Echo Bravo

[@SailingBritaly]

Whisky Tango Foxtrot? 😉

[@PaulusPHM]

@@SailingBritaly India Lima Oscar Victor Echo Yankee Oscar Uniform Romeo Sierra Alpha India Lima India November Golf Charlie Hotel Alpha November November Echo Lima Kilo Echo Echo Papa Uniform Papa Tango Hotel Echo Golf Romeo Echo Alpha Tango India Delta Echo Alpha Sierra

[@HuyNguyen-ib6iq]

Your video is great 👍

[@sarascott2217]

When are u going to start sailing

[@SailingBritaly]

We already have... editing the videos is the challenge around our day jobs and being very busy people and parents.

[@robertadamsmetaldetecting6324]

Very good DIY video! In an emergency I would/will give a go at this.

[@jostscheel7361]

👏👏👏Great!Thx

[@cbrucewarren]

why not put batteries in series to have larger current supply

[@MS-ig7ku]

Bring gloves and proper eye protection number ten too.

[@clayfarnet970]

👍👍👍

[@SailingBritaly]

👍

[@lubberwalker]

Thank you. I had no idea this could be possible. Thinking of preparing for stuff going wrong is something I have in common with you. Is there any particular rating or type of stick to get hold of?

[@SailingBritaly]

Thank you Ellul, it's people like us who bail out the naysayors when the chips are down... I tried 1.6 mm rods, but without a current limiter (a coathangar could work for this) they were runnig hot, so the next size up might be a better alternative. I have only had one bash at this (this video) but I' confident good results could be obtained if the need arose. Cheers, Chris 👍

[@liamirelander4221]

U could just go to harbor freight and get one that runs off your generater

[@SailingBritaly]

We don't have a generator and have no plans to get one. We are already struggling with room on our boat with all the tools and stuff we deem essential, so finding somewhere to store a generator (plus fuel and spares) and a welding setup is not practical for us on our 35 ft boat.

[@josuehernandezmago]

Mate that's handy. Thanks ! Question. Do you need the coil only in the positive or both?

[@SailingBritaly]

I only had it on the positive, but this whole thing was rushed so it's not as if I spent a lot of time tweaking things. I'm confident good results could be achieved with more time - we just don't have any of that at the moment. Cheers, Chris 👍

[@rogerlloyd1292]

Hi I am curious where did you pick that idea up RAF? or is it your own?

[@SailingBritaly]

There was none of this malarchy in the RAF, it was all very much by the book. The only two exceptions I can think of were the time I made a seal out of a foam earplug, which when compressed in a fitting allowed me to put 3000 psi of Nitrogen gas into an aircraft (we were in the desert and the only pressure guage we had had been sent out with a missing seal) and the time I lengthened the thread on an incorrectly-sized bolt to repair a helicopter undercarriage (This was for a single flight only and we were 300 miles North of the Arctic circle at the time). I didn't do any welding until I became a boat dealer- rather than pay $$$$$ for a crane, my father-in-law taught me to weld and after a couple of hours of practice I made a 'boat lifting system' out of box section steel which we then used to lift (and work under!) lots of boats...

[@davidrandolph8420]

Might be ugly but will get you to a port or home

[@SailingBritaly]

👍

[@roderickmchardy3650]

that is a great vid,,,,,, the rods are prob 306 as opposed to 308 ( never heard of 308 , 309 for dissimliar ) the rods look like 2.5 and yes current should be more like 90 ish , god knows what you could wrap the cables round to get it down to that but , hey ho , that looks like a good enough weld and a few minutes with the grinder will have it looking a whole lot better ( obv you can weld a little bit because without a basic knowledge of the process and technique even this would not be achievable ) ,,,,,,, ,,, but an important thing which you did not mention is to protect your eyes ( and skin , clothing and boat surfaces ) from the slag which on stainless will " ping " off and for sure end up somewhere that it is not supposed to . ps,, that baby is not a baby any more,,, tempus fugit and all that

[@SailingBritaly]

Hi Roderick, the electrodes were 316L, 1.6 mm. I welded for about an hour whilst filming this and got a couple of good runs. I only had 20 of those electrodes and didn't spend a lot of time tweaking anything. If I was doing this for real out in the middle of an ocean I would have more time on my hands and more of an incentive to improve the set-up. The current going through the electrode could be altered by using a coat-hanger as a homemade linear rheostat, by attaching the jumper cables (or battery cables and hose clamps stolen from the boat if you're really winging it and don't have jumper cables) in such a way as to shorten or lengthen the amount of coat hanger wire in order to alter the resistance and therefore control the current flow. I could have a lot of fun in perfecting this and making a really pretty and strong weld after some experimentation, but we always come back to the same problem in our life and that is an acute lack of time... Thank you for watching & commenting. Chris 👍

[@notj5712]

With the whole rod glowing like that, there's way too much amperage. Not sure how to reduce it, but it would improve the weld I'm sure.

[@SailingBritaly]

As per another reply here, you could use a coat hanger to reduce the current flow - lengthening or shortening the amount of coat hanger wire in the circuit to adjust the current. I'd love to experiment with this to perfect the technique, but I don't have the time. Cheers, Chris

[@d-rot]

I'd go up a rod size or two and see if that helped.

[@FrancescoCallipo]

Nice video, be careful filming welding actions can ruin sensor of your camera...

[@SailingBritaly]

Thanks for the heads up Francesco. We go through a lot of cameras on this channel! 💥🌊⛈️

[@frankd2301]

could you do it with one 12 volt?

[@georgeh9967]

yes but only on thin metal

[@JonMadsen70]

:)