JohnB

Boat behavior is enormously variable and it would be completely wrong to give a prescriptive value of wind speed for safe navigation. We have had some truly atrocious handling hire boats and come to that also steered other boats that were just as bad ! One morning at Ellesmere some boaters were saying how difficult conditions had been with the wind the previous day, We on the same stretch of water had had no problems at all and we had been thinking that it was one of the better handling boats we had hired. So its as much the boat and experience dictates the conditions one should go boating in.

You will, I assume, detach the timing gear via the access plate on the front timing cover and then pull the injector pump back leaving the gear itself in timing case. Here are a couple of hints. Pack the gap between the gear with rag so that an errant setscrew does not disappear into the works! The timing gear "should" remain in mesh with the rest of its train BUT it is possible that the peg to support it may be damaged. (I think this is mentioned in some manuals) I made a wooden chock to secure the gear on an engine where the peg was missing. I hope that is clear otherwise please ask. Not to awkward a job to do if you can get a reasonable access to the front of the block.

Yes a solid shaft would be normal BUT that can be a pain to line up so we used a cardan shaft.( and anyhow our engine centre line was different from the prop shaft.) The dive shaft was indeed specially made and several checks were made by the firm including propensity for whirling and included a card board liner tube to stop the drive tube ringing. {they had a lovely display of failed drivelines they had renewed for clients!} I think there is a concern that a floating shaft may "collapse" with end loading if the ends are far out of alignment. I am sure that is not a real issue with our boats. I do know (another story)of Kelvin gearboxes have used a cardan shaft that slides to and fro.with the propshaft. For completeness I just checked engineering specs for using grub screw secured collars to provide axial support and these work remarkably well . We too had a PRM 160 on our 3.152 and on the 2"dia. prop shaft the thrust bearing was fixed by grub screw secured collars. Well within design loading spec. and That too has done lots of hours.

I was advised by the driveline specialists who did our drive shaft that end loads on universal joints are not a good thing and that a sliding joint was appropriate. The axial thrust from the propeller should normally be taken by a thrust block fixed to the hull and this is achieved using an appropriate pillow/plummer block and bearing combination ( I think ours was calculated for about 5500N). As an alternative PRM gearboxes will take end thrust but this will need an accurately aligned solid shaft John

Please consider carefully the removal of the lithium battery. That is probably the best way of supporting a decent inverter and using 240v cooking appliances. One can replace the energy much better in a shorter time than lead acid. I am, in fact considering adding lithium to our set up to be able to make more use of mains cooking equipment when traveling -We think it better to have a more resilient alternative system to the diesel cooker. Please ask if you need more advice... John & Kathy

We have had one of these Oven/Hob units on our boat for about 16 Years. And we really do like its function BUT there are issues with its design and serviceability. We don't live aboard but do travel for months at a time and Kathy takes cooking very seriously. At present we also have an induction hob and are considering bringing the air fryer and/or Remoska for use when long term traveling. I won't at this point go into the detail of how I have tried to sort out better functioning but if you can cope with the servicing and have a secondary facility it "should" be OK. John

I used Foamalux ( foamed PVC, comes in sheet form and many colours) for the deck head lining in our shower cubicle. It has served well for a good few years. We used it at work for casings etc. for experimental scientific equipment. The material will warp round nicely (maybe a bit of heat) to make excellent linings for the port holes. Hope that helps John

In order to put another D3.152 back in... You are so right, they are a lovely engine and it has taken us over most of the inland system BUT The existing engine seems to have had some "questionable maintenance", maybe a training unit, before we got it and it now needs a thorough overhaul. Anyways I have a newer engine which will be a better bet when it's been through the workshop. I "just" have to get the details sorted so there are no nasty issues when I do the swap away from home!

Err... do you think one of those would fit in along with the engine or should I use that instead.

Thank you both. It will fit, the timing cover will clear and stripped down nothing else sticks out. I am only contemplating this as I shall have to move off our home mooring to a less convenient boatyard to do the work. and the likely slot will be during the cold bit of winter...

I am organsing the swap of the engine in our traditional engined narrow boat. It could go in through the roof BUT for convenience I would like to "part" it through the 18" wide Doors/hatches. I wonder if it is feasible to handle the basic unit manually.... Does any one have an idea of the weight of a D3.152 without Flywheel,bell-housing and other removable ancillary bits? Thank you John

Our current quite mature engine has served us well but is going to need a serious rebuild very soon and we don't want to be doing that when we should be travelling..... Sooo. We have an ex forklift engine to overhaul and then do a direct swap with our present unit. We are also doing the "tweaks" to make it properly suitable for marine use. The 3HD46 (the marine version of the D3.152) was fitted with a manifold cooler and, at this point in process we could add this into the build.... Given that we have had no issues with the existing set up (an expansion box hung from the roof of the engine room with a flex coupling onto the exhaust manifold) I am trying to decide on what is to be gained from the necessary extra modifications. Does anyone have any observations or advice please ?

The Nene has been "silly" for the last fortnight, the stretch above Orton is well up and there is only 5ft or so clear under the gate at Alwalton lock! It seems that they have been clearing the upper reaches to make room for this band of weather.

Yes it came on just after we left Wansford station mooring and were passing through the next lock, but there was no chance of passing Alwalton as the weir below was chucking it out many feet into the air! and there is a right big whirlpool over the shallows. and it's still on a week later:-( There are two of us still stuck here --- Not sure how we will cope if this coming weather dumps a lot of water.