Jump to content

hughc

Member
  • Posts

    483
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

hughc last won the day on September 29 2014

hughc had the most liked content!

2 Followers

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Occupation
    boating
  • Boat Name
    wyrd, judith ann, meteor
  • Boat Location
    langley mill

Recent Profile Visitors

5,895 profile views

hughc's Achievements

Proficient

Proficient (7/12)

57

Reputation

  1. When our children were small and we needed something a little easier to handle than Avon we bought a Holt Abbot boat which was on brokerage at Sawley. She carried the name Moonbeam but I think orginally she was .. Wyevale? The boat was 35 feet long with the same lines as Jemima. It was the fastest canal cruiser I have ever experienced and made the speed with very little disturbance. As an example we came from Sandon to Derwentmouth in a day even with three young children to look after. This was without any ill mannered shouts of 'slow down' as the boat swam beautifully and the Morris Vedette petrol engine was smooth and, from the bank, silent. I have often thought that a modern cruiser based on this design, i.e a shallow water draught but with a deep central keel and good internal headroom, would be an interesting exercise in todays conditions. We have perhaps become too accustomed to poor copies of working narrow boats which swim like noisy bricks. I last saw her on the bank somewhere on the Bridgewater.
  2. Thank you for the suggestions. To bring the story up to date we swopped spools with the original one from the 160 which proved to be no better. However looking for any way to avoid changing gearboxes we decided to fit the valve block from the 160 to see if we could narrow the fault down to the 280 valve block. Now the 160 was fitted with a trolling valve, which has worked well for twenty five years or so and was fitted to the 280 with the trolling valve spool. Every thing seemed to be working properly so we ran Wyrd up and down the yard for 1/2 an hour giving it some stick when winding at the end of each leg. The cooler appears to be doing its job and we checked oil pressure and flow. At the end of the test the box had not overheated and the change was smooth and silent. The trolling valve spool is a different design from the standard 160 and 280 having extra porting. We have yet to try the trolling valve on the 280. I can only think that the original 280 valve block is internally faulty but neither I nor Tom can see any cracks or manufacturing faults. If any one has experienced a similar fault on a 280 it would be interesting to know if changing the valve block effected a cure. Thank you all again for your input.
  3. Thank you for the replies.We isolated the cooling circuit and dropped a coil in the cut to act as the gearbox cooler. It stayed cold on both the ingoing and the outgoing. The pressure relief valve is in good condition as was the spool. The gearchange cable was changed when the box was installed and is operating as indicated in the manual and the detent is as it should be. 'Crunchy' is a definite jolt going into gear with a horrible metallic sound. The oil was changed shortly after the box was fitted to remove any manufacturing detritus. It has then had , because of the overheating, two more complete oil changes. What I don't understand is why, with correct gearbox oil pressure, there is no oil flow through the cooler. Before the oil heats up the change is as Tony says silky smooth. Having phoned PRM for advice I have to say that they were of no use whatsoever.
  4. We have been having trouble with a PRM 280 which, although supplied in 2019 has had virtually no use until last year. The box is of course out of warranty.After only 50 hours of use the box started overheating. The gearchange was becoming very crunchy and the oil was coming out black. The oil cooler was checked and cleaned although it needed very little attention. Using a PRM pressure gauge the oil pressure was within specified limits. PRM suggested an oil change and said that the black colour of the oil was because, 'the phosphate coating was wearing off.' Hm.. The engine, a Ford BSD 332, has had a PRM 160 fitted for 30 odd years without any overheating problems so the cooling system parameters seem to be O.K. All the checks suggested by the makers have been carried out without finding any reason for the problem. Has any one else on the forum had this problem and suggest a reason or cure. I will be grateful for any pointers as to the way forward.
  5. hughc

    Hr2

    I have a very low hours HR3 with a Borg Warner 2:1 box which is just taking up space in the workshop. I'm open to offers. It is probably to big but if you, or any one else is interested P.M. me.
  6. When we fitted a Ford New Holland BSD3 to Wyrd in 1989 it sat on R&D mountings. This engine is over three litres and produces 42 HP @ 2200RPM. It has an horrific nodding couple characteristic of three cylinder engines. Very soon after fitting it broke the 5/8" bolts on two of the couplings. R&D came out and suggested that we fitted much heavier mountings and a very heavy crankshaft pulley with a rubber insert to try and counteract the out of balance forces. The engine destroyed two of the mountings in short order. Ford New Holland suggested that three cylinder engines are inherently unsuitable for the flexible mounts sold for small marine use. C-power who provided the engine produced a pair of full length steel beds to fit. The engine was then mounted on hardwood beds which were bolted to the orginal steel beds with a 1/2" insulating layer of Tico composite from James Walker and Co. This totally isolates the engine from the beds as the bolts are encased in Tico tubes with washers. The Tico absorbes the higher frequency harmonics. The beds take care of much of the lower frequencies. The pulley reduces the out of balance forces. In nearly thirty five years I have never had to tighten the mounting bolts and Wyrd has spent a fair bit of time towing. The engine runs at 1000 to 1200RPM on the cut and up to 1500RPM on the river. It is worth noting that when Lister marinised this engine as the the CRK3 they had it 'walking across the yard' when mounted on temporary beds.
  7. hughc

    K2

    At Langley Mill the Norway replica is being built around what I think is the last K2 built before the L series took over.
  8. Until the restoration reaches much further up the valley where is the water to operate the staircase locks and fill the length to Stoney Lane going to come from. Since the reservoir at Moorgreen was sold off any heavy demand at Langley Mill has to be met by back pumping. This uses a pump restored and operated by the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association not CART or BW. I am fully in favour of the restoration of the Cromford having been involved in one way or another at LM since the reopening of the basin in 1973 but having waited so long for the restoration to progress perhaps a pause to perfect a more viable solution might be in order.
  9. The BSD 3 is a Ford New Holland designation. They were fitted in Ford tractors and vintage tractor dealers are a very good source of spares. The prices I have seen for in stock items are 'considerably' cheaper than Sleeman and Hawkins.
  10. There has been an interesting discussion, albeit on an inappropriate thread, about the shape of rudders and hulls. The phrase, 'a brick in a drain', referring to the way a narrow boat swims was used to suggest that improvements to the shape effects only miniscule improvements. In free water improvements to swim shapes etc. will have an effect but in a restricted flow channel incremental improvements will have a greater 'relative' effect. It is true that the average modern narrow boat has a poor hydrodynamic performance but then many seem to be built down to a price by and for a market that is more interested in maximising internal space than in how a boat swims. Have any tank tests been carried out to determine the best hull shape for a restricted channel ? Many small improvements will have a result 'greater than their parts.'
  11. We had a 20 foot forward cockpit Taylor boat in the early 1970's. Fitted with a four horsepower Stuart Turner a good headwind had a definite effect on the speed. It did however swim beautifully and was remarkably cheap to run. When the prop. dropped off after leaving Trent Lock we sailed up stream to Sawley using a large bathtowel as a sail which indicated how little power was needed to move her. When we bought it the boat's name was Gemini although I think as a hire boat it may have been called Valerie. There is a photograph somewhere on the net of what may have been this boat leaving Great Haywood lock. I would be interested and grateful for any information anyone has about her.
  12. Use a tailstock die holder. Most of the machining I do is in these three sizes to fit Kelvins and for these the die holder works well.
  13. If you have not already done so try Tracy Tools. They have supplied me with some very rare dies.
  14. We have been running a BSD 332 in Wyrd for the last thirty three years. Ford acknowledged that the engine , as do many three cylinder diesels, suffers from a 'residual nodding couple. It took me some time to minimise thisas follows: 1. Set the tickover no lower than 650RPM. 2. Fitted a heavy rubber insert twin row pulley which effectively dealt with most of the high frequency vibration. 3. Mounted the engine on full length bearers, NOT flexy mounts. 4. On top of the metal engine beds which are welded to the baseplate are bolted heavy hardwood bearers. 5. Between the hardwood and the full length engine bearers (3 above) is a full length Tico pad. The mounting bolts pass through this and are insulated with Tico tubing and washers. This has virtually removed the problem. A Lister engineer did tell me that when they were marinising this engine it would, 'walk across the yard the vibration was so bad.' We fitted these mods thirty years ago. I have never had to tighten down the mounting bolts and the engine has had only routine maintenance in that time in spite of spending many years towing Meteor. If you wish to see the engine running just let me know
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.