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Building a boat from scratch..(Sleepy Hollow) by amateur = me

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A few more jobs...

My brother finished off the framing for the kitchen cupboards, which have turned out nicely. I did the frame for the bed hole bed base. I fitted the Gardner injector pump bleed screw, which I had filed the head round, from it's original hexagonal. It fitted well and I didn't see any leaks, now I'll file another one for the other pump. I ran the engine for a while and soon noticed that it was making very nice smoke rings, but they were rather white and the engine started searching. I turned i
casper ghost

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Belfast type sink...

Before my brother even arrived with my mates set to remove this sheared bleed screw we had taken it out.. at least my Dad took it out, I think he wanted to try first to claim any glory... He just tapped a small Phillips screw driver onto the end of the sheared stud and turned anti-clockwise and out it came... Now just to bodge make the Gardner set fit. On Sleepy Hollow I helped my brother with the start of his kitchen. Fitting the rather heavy "Belfast" type sink. We also started the frame for
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Injector bleed screw trouble...again...

Only it's trouble of a more serious sort. While tightening the one screw, after having to bleed the engine before starting as these bleed screws are still leaking slightly, the screw sheared off, leving some of it's thread still in the injector pump... As the thread has a hole through it I can't even turn the fuel on so I can't start the engine... I'll have to take the pump off, which doesn't look too easy, and have a look. Hope I can remove the thread then, if not I know a cheap, helpful chap
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A couple of little jobs on Sleepy Hollow...and Casper,,,

My brother lined the escape hatch, first with carpet (the type used on vehicle ceilings. I would have left it at that as I liked the look, but my brother went a bit further and has made a removable wooden hatch for inside, which is insulated and will be fitted during the winter months.   The stove chucks out alot of heat, seemingly far more than my Little Cottager in Casper as his boat was warmer than mine. His stove is rated higher and he has expensive coal whereas i'm burning wood! He
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New video of Ruston & Hornsby in Casper...

I've finally got Casper back to it's mooring so I can continue the fitout and tinkering with the engine/starter motor problems. I've put a video of the engine, showing the odd setup onto youtube and if all works out okay it should link from here. The electric start works ok in this video but sometimes the starter motor moves out of alignment. It didn't start too well as i'm still having trouble keeping air out of the fuel lines, which is something else I will look at now. Engine is fine once
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Engine trolley...

I've bought some nice old steel wheels, which have S Corbett & Son, Wellington, Shropshire stamped on them. I've made a strong trolley for this Armstrong Siddeley engine and it's now fitted onto it. Can't start it properly yet as first i'm going to clean out the fuel tank and lines as there is a lot of crud in the fuel filter!!      
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Shed and some other junk...

The new shed was rather difficult to erect, it came in alot of pieces with each side coming in at least 4 separate sections and the roof was in 4 sections... Finally finished it today..   This picture only shows about half the sections..     I've also been shopping on the net, which I said I would stop but can't resist. I've now bought a set of 4 old iron wheels, some steel rod and oak to make a trolley for the Armstrong Siddeley engine. Bought a 12.5" steel double vee pulley for £3.20,
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McDonalds...

I have never taken my daughter to a McDonalds, for a start the nearest one is 15 mile away but i'm also not keen on fast food.. She stayed at her friend's house the other evening and her friend's parents took them to McDonalds for their tea. My daughter came home afterwards and when I heard she had finally had a McDonalds I asked her how it was, she said she didn't think they had much choice as they only appeared to sell burgers...
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A dirty job...

Today was spent cleaning out the pond in my parent's front garden.. My mum had managed to make a hole in it while she was removing some leaves and the level was dropping. This seemed a good time to empty the pond completely, clearing out the years of stuff that had built up!     We removed a trailer full of muddy stuff from the bottom, not a pleasant job... Now to reline the pond and re water..
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220 miles to pick up an old engine...

Up early this morning and set off at 6:30am, I drive for over 25 minutes before I see a single other car on the road..though it was mostly country lanes.. Back to the house at 2:00pm..driving the whole way hoping my little trailer wouldn't collapse , like the last run I did with the BSA! I'm now the owner of a single cylinder Armstrong Siddeley, diesel engine, 8hp at 1200rpm. Now just need to think what to do with it??       Had it running and it goes fine, at least it does now i've
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Engine lift...

It may not be very exciting but we are now the owners of an engine hoist.. We used to borrow it when we needed to lift something heavy but now it's ours. Now we can buy more heavy things and it also means I can move the really heavy bit of farm machinery stuck in my parent's hedge..     We also had a load of logs delivered and found child labour very useful to move them round the back of the house..., she loves it really..
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Hurleston Locks in the ice...

This morning the boat was again surrounded by ice but I had already decided that today was the day to go up the locks and I even had help with me. Luckily 2 hire boats went past and broke up the ice so I followed them. Unfortunately I was the first boat to go up the locks and the ice between the locks was fairly thick. I had trouble exiting one of the locks. I forgot my camera but my daughter did manage to get some pics with her phone..     The daughter helping with the locks.   My
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Chopping down trees...

We've had a few days of nice weather and decided that a good use of this was to top all the trees at home. There are quite a few trees both at the front of the house and the back. My brother was the person chosen to go up the ladder.. It took ages to do them and we had a rather large bonfire to get rid of all the brash. A few of the trees were just too big for us to tackle so a couple of friends were called in. One went up the trees with his chain saw and some rope, it's handy to know a tree sur
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Casper goes for a short chug...

Doorman advised me that the ice was now gone on the canal after being broken up by a few boat movements, so, I went with my dad and my daughter. The boat is now moored in a much better place. The engine started without trouble and as the weather was fine it was a good day for a cruise. Here's a short video..  
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Frozen River Severn...

The River Severn by our Hut is frozen in quite a dramatic style today. It looks more impressive as sheets of ice have drifted down the river and all got stuck here. There used to be a ford here many years ago so the river is probably shallower. Not sure if this will work but I took a short video this afternoon.  
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Hut...and Castle...

Too much snow and ice on the track down to our hut so a walk down there today. It's a nice snowy scene by the river. The track looks okay but no cars can get up it just a 4x4.   Our hut..   The daughter's hut..   The River Severn by the hut.     And just for Bones, here's a pic of the lego castle me and my brother made with my daughter...
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Cold...

It has been -12 degrees here at 9am the last 2 mornings with even colder temperatures at night. It snowed a bit the other day and that has now frozen solid. Little effort seems to have been made to clear the roads.   Our drive home from the pub!, We only just made it back before it started snowing again. Within 10 minutes the roads were covered with snow..   Delivering our Christmas cards by foot in our village.   My brother went on friday to house sit in a large old farm house
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Casper's still stuck in the ice...

Today, me, my brother and my Dad decided that we would try to cruise Casper the 400 yards or so to a better mooring so Casper is not stuck against this concrete ledge when the locks reopen at the weekend. The engine was not too keen to start, needing bleeding first, still a problem with the injector bleed screws and I also had to realign the starter motor again. I'll have to fix that properly later. With my brother sat on the front with a scaffold pole breaking the ice I set off. Only a coupl
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Audlem and too much ice...

I chugged off from my mooring several weeks ago to get to Audlem in time for Wriggley's birthday but despite that I have ended up about 1.5 mile short.. I helped Wriggley move her boat on Thursday as she has done something to her rudder and it's very stiff, by the time we had done that and had a cuppa it was too late to chug Casper the last 1.5 miles. The next morning ice was forming on the canal but as it was only thin by the boat I set off. Through the first bridge it got alot thicker and 30
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Sleepy Hollow...

There's been a little bit of work inside Sleepy Hollow. It will have a walk through, full width bathroom but with 2 doors which will enable the toilet and sink to be shut off. The doors form a corridor into the bedroom. This allows your eye to see through the whole length of the boat, without being able to see the loo. This has the advantage that heat from the stove can warm up the bedroom.       We have also boarded and insulated under the front deck, fitting an inspection door to acces
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Mooring by a road bridge...

Still having trouble with the one injector bleed screw. It's obviously not the original and to date i've had no luck obtaining another, haven't tried too hard to be honest. It meant that the engine was not keen to start. Actually it did fire straight away but wouldn't rev up for a while. The next time I went to start it I bled the bleed screw first and then the engine started straight away and revved up fine. While I had the engine running I decided to chug to, and moor, by the next road bridge
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Buckled wheel, sticky brakes and it all seemed up hill.. plus some woodwork...

The ride back to fetch my car was not easy. My bike has a buckled back wheel and some of the spokes are loose, this makes the road seem really bumpy and pushing hard on the pedals make a scary noise. The front brakes are sticking on too which doesn't help. It was only about 11 miles and took me 65 minutes but it seemed up hill the whole way.. I then helped my brother work inside Sleepy Hollow. We put up a wall between the bathroom and the bedroom and hung the door. Plenty of finishing off neede
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Casper's out for a chug...

I didn't want Casper stuck the wrong side of a planned winter stoppage so i've cruised 2 days to get the other side. The canal was quieter than I had expected with only a few boats seen and no queues at locks. The hire boats must be about somewhere as their basins were empty.. The old engine went fine, even the starter motor was working well, no leaks or troubles. It's now blowing a gale and i've remembered that every winter I moan to myself that I need to make my front doors more air tight. I
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Little Queenie Stove...

Today I fitted the Queenie stove, which is in the back cabin. It went too well and didn't even take very long. I've bolted the front feet down and later i'll weld the back foot down. I'm going to use black heat proof silicon sealant for the joints, but I ordered some and it hasn't arrived yet. The only wood work I did was to fit a door onto the little cupboard I made..    
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Flue and bits...

I'm getting ready to install the old Queenie stove in the back cabin of Casper. I got 2 45 degree bends, but as is usual they were not right. The male end was too wide to fit the standard female end. One I can use but I needed 2. Luckily my brother phoned to say that a customer of his is throwing away some flue pipe as they are having new central heating. I was given a bend and 2 straight pipes . As the Queenie has a very small outlet for the flue I have had to make an adaptor. I did this age
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