Billypownall

Well our Oyster Sam y65 did not fire up after all. The installers did not put a plug on the aerial lead so we could not connect it to the Satellite Box. Can you believe it. £1200 and no connector. To make matters worse we had an abortive trip into Tamworth where both Curreys and Comet said they did not sell them. Back home Maplins had hundreds. At least the dish did it's gyrations and locked onto something but who knows what. Maybe better news this weekend.

We hope to fire up our new Oyster Sam Y65 Automatic Dish today. Fingers crossed of course we'll let you know how we get on. At £1200 we know it's expensive but if it works it will be worth every penny. It looks neat and folds very flat.

Oh dear I ask about lagging a silencer and finish up in contraversy over whether a boat built in Poland can be British. That seems to be where bargeeboy is coming from. Interesting point. However in any case I simply said that the boat was delivered from Poland and made no mention of who built it. Shall we call it a Polish Narrowcraft Boat. With regard to the lagging of the silencer I do thank the responders to my posting all of whom make good sense. My worry was not about burning myself on the silencer because as bargeeboy says it is tucked under the gunnel and well out of the way. I was concerned about the heat generated from it and whether it would make the engine space too hot. Barrus say there is no need for it to be lagged and the boat is supplied without lagging so I will bow to this and see how it goes. I think free advertising on this site may be frowned on but I cannot let this matter drop without saying that so far Narrowcraft have got a very satisfied customer. They derserve credit where credit is due.

I agree there has been little trouble in Nottingham that I am aware of. The suggested moorings on the canal near Sainsburys are fine. You can moor on the Victoria Embankment on the Trent just above Trent Bridge on the South Side of the river. Mooring rings here with eating houses and the Trent Bridge Inn nearby. I would not recommend the city side of the river.

New boat just delivered from Poland. Very pleased so far with the way it's been built and also pleased with Narrowcraft who sell them. However I am puzzled over the very large hospital silencer in the engine bay. Should this be lagged with the asbestos like bandage as it was in our previous boat ? It seems to me that the engine bay is going to get extreemly hot. Does this matter or are other things in there such as the batteries going to suffer ? t

No one seems to have replied to gaggle on this interesting subject. We have bought a new LCD T.V. which like Gaggle's has a transformer in the lead to take 220 down to 12 volt. Like Gaggle can I buy a suitable lead to go direct from a 12 volt plug to the T.V ? Is there any problem with pos. and neg.? Having an exteral transformer does that mean the set will have no internal regulation against an overvoltage i.e.when charging the batteries. In the lead supplied with the set there is a further two small cylindrical items which the cable passes though. What are these for and do they need to be incorporated in a replacement lead? The advantages of running this T.V.without using an invertor are obvious but I wouldn't like to risk damage to the T.V. Any further advice appreciated.

This topic has been raised many times before but unless your prop.size is way off it will not make a great deal of difference to your fuel consumption. If you are cruising at about 1500 r.p.m.evrything is fine. Your engine will be enjoying it and you will be getting decent charge for your batteries. Plus 1600 rpm you want more pitch on your prop and less than 1400 you want less. Thats how I see, it no need for measurements.

I hope you get the best out of the boat Scottie. Buying your first boat is always an exciting time. This boat buying beats me. Seems a totally different ball game whether you are buying or selling. We are pleased to have just hopefully sold our boat at a price which makes those at Devizes very expensive. Perhaps they are going for a lot less than the asking prices. I love to change a boat after about 4 years but after what we have lost this time I think those days are over. All the feed back I have been getting shows buyers are not queueing up to buy boats and I am surprised by your experiences.

I think I have read your comments about higher revs using more fuel Yoda some time ago and you may be right. However the increase is very small and hardly worth considering. When our boat was delivered with a 42 h.p. engine and a 17x12 prop. we were using 1200 r.p.m. for about 3.6 m.p.h.and were going too fast past moored boats on tickover. Furthermore we had no end of flat battery trouble. We fitted a 17x10 prop and found real benefits. No more battery trouble at all. At our 1400-1500 rev.for cruising our two alternators really bang it out. The engine feels much smoother and definately quieter. Some of this is due to a faint but annoying transmission whine at about 1200 r.p.m.which disappears at about 1400. As to fuel cunsumption I have noticed no difference. In any case this forum started by querying fuel consumption from various engines. I think modern small diesels are very economical and our fuel costs are a tiny percentage of our year's running costs. I am not very technical but I think prop size should be matched to a cruising speed of about 1400-1500 rpm,say just under half the potential maximum r.p.m. of a modern diesel engine. Surely that cannot be far wrong.

People on this site are always helpful Bob. All the advice you have been given makes good sense and you will have a great time. Stratford is a real tourist trap but after all it's earned that position. Be sure to take the open top bus tour which starts from the canal basin. Welcome to the best that England has to offer.

If you are going to fit a Vetus why not go for the 42h.p. We have this unit in a 57' with the 17" x 10" prop. Seems an ideal match. The 38 h.p. unit would be OK but I think 33 h.p. will leave you underpowered

This statement about raising the fuel consumption has come up before and yet we noticed absolutely no difference at all. Surely the engine is not working as hard at the higher revs so why should the consumption rise to any degree? I do feel anyway that the engine itself would rarther have a few more revs on than being like climbing up a steep hill in top gear in a car.

Steelaway can I ask if you mean overpropped as I think this is actually the case. The cruising speed of most narrowboats is way under the peak torque revs of most engines. Since we fitted a a new propellor on our boat with less pitch and increased our cruising revs benefits accrued all round. Smoother quieter running and much increased charging from the two alternators.

I am sorry Onion but your posting makes no sense to me at all. Just where is Chinese Steel classified as appallng ?? I was in the metal business for many years and some British Steel was not so hot.I imported millions of pounds worth of Steel Castings from India without any quality problems whatsover.In any case a few impurities in the steel is not going to affect the integrity of a narrowboat to any degree. For narrowboats I think it is more the question of how well the steel is rolled. As for Polish boats only lasting half as long as boats built in the West I consider this to be simply rubbish. The Polish have been building boats such as North Sea Trawlers for years and they have an excellent reputation. Much as I regret to have to say it I think Polish narrowboats are a credit to their builders. I would not recommend the English builder of our last boat to anyone.

I think something is wrong with the insulation on your calorifier Neil. Our boat calorifier appears to be a normal small domestic type which we have further insulated with loft insulation. After 14-15 hours the water is still hot enough for three showers and a bit of pot washing.

Your figures concur more or less to what Dor and myself were faced with on our boats. I stand to be shot down again but I still think your engine is not revving fast enough. I am sure it would be better for it to be running faster. Is your situation like driving your car up hill in too high a gear? Further of course is the battery charging sitiuation. Assuming a 2-1 ratio on your pulleys I dont think you will be getting much charge from an alternator running at 2400 r.p.m. Lastly I do think it to be a false assumption that an extra 2-300 r.p.m. makes an engine a noisy beast. As I've said before ours seems much smoother and if anything quieter.

Charles I suspect that in our case the alternator is putting out about it's maximum at about 1500 r.p.m. Its just that according to my ammeter the charge quickly falls off below 1500.

I agree with all you are saying Dor as I have been through all this. We also have a 57' John White hull with a 42 h.p. Vetus.The boat was supplied as yours with a 17 x 12 prop. The figures you give are correct. The boat was going far too quickly on tickover and 1200 r.p.m. was a cruising speed. At this speed the 90 amp alternator was only giving out 25 amps. I was also told that modern diesel engines would be better for revving a bit faster, We went down to a 17" x 10" prop.and were delighted with the result. The boat in tickover goes quite fast enough and we find that about 1000 revs is just nice for passing moored boats. According to our GPS 1600 r.p.m. is 4 m p h and we run at about 1500 normally. Charging rate at 1500 r.p.m. is three times the rate at 1200 and 70 amps. The engine is very much smoother with no tiller shake and is a great deal quieter mainly because the higher revs eliminated a faint but annoying transmission whine.I got slanged off on this forum some time ago for suggesting that most modern engines were overpropped. Of course boats must vary but I still think this to be the case. Last but not least it was suggested that higher revs lead to higher fuel consumption. I unfortunately did not keep a record before we changed the prop but feel that there is not much difference and in any case fuel consumption is that small as not to be a consideration.

I have been reading these postings about the Technodrive gearboxes with some interest. I took part in the last round of these some time ago. I was concerned about their clunking when put into gear on delivery of our boat. The agent Access Marine gave assurances that they all do it and in spite of this,in his own words,the gearboxes were bullet proof and gave no trouble and that he had never had a gearbox fail. After four summers use and something approaching 900 hours this has proved to be the case. However I think according to my dipstick the oil level is overful. As catweasel said when I first changed my gearbox oil I put .8 of a litre in. The ATF level is hardly visible on the stupid chrome coloured dipstick but was over the top mark. I contacted Vetus about this and on their instructions had to e-mail a photo of the dipstick to Italy as they had concerns that the wrong one was fitted. However they did confirm that my dipsick was correct. It was suggested that I had not drained the gearbox completely although I had. I am convinced that something is wrong here. After experimenting I found the clunk in my gearbox is less when the oil level is overful in fact hardly at all going into reverse. Of course I have no idea how much the box is overful and I won't recommend anyone to do the same unless told it cannot do any harm. I feel there must have been problems at some time hence the change from engine oil to atf in the gearboxes. The handbook says engine oil and clearly marked on the gearbox is atf only!! As catweasel says the Vetus Mits.is a great trouble free unit. Maybe the gearbox is also trouble free but not so great.

Can I use water from a de-humidifier to top up my batteries?

There is a lot of tosh being said again on this topic. Not least that a modern diesel cruises at 1050=1100 revs. If it does the boat is totally overpropped and the engine is not going to last long. A modern diesel should in fact cruise at not less than 1600 rpm and slow down to about 1000,say just above tickover. I bet Machpoint really has battery trouble if cruising at 1100 which means his alternator is probably doing about 2200 and not producing much. This topic has been done to death but I do think moored boats expect too much of passing craft and some passing craft dont respect moored caft. Six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Hello tafkam. I am sure you are in for an enjoyable and easy cruise if you keep to your plan. You will have no problem in getting to Kilby Bridge and back including Market Harborough and the Welford Arm. I recommend both. You will want moor at Braunston. Food average here maybe better at the Nelson Arms by Braunston Locks. Stop at Crick and walk to the Red Lion. Good and reasonable last year. We have eaten well at Welford and Market Harbotough but cannot remember the names. Sounds like a nice plan to me.

Hello Jack.. You have certainly picked the easy trip from Napton. With only four locks each way there cannot be many more lock free miles on the system. However you will enjoy the route I am sure. Suggested stops are Braunston where you can moor before the marina and turn round in its entrance before continuing up the North Oxford. Moor as you enter Rugby and do your shopping at Tesco. Good moorings just short of Newbold Tunnel and good pub with nice food at a reasonable price. More good mooring at Ansty and Hawkesbury junction. From here down to Coventry for a visit ( I would not moor for the night here)before returning to Hawkesbury and so on up ther Ashby. Moor by the first road bridge and take a short walk to the Corner House for excellent food and two for the price of one (or was last year) There is not a lot on the Ashby except peace and quiet and some lovely countryside.Have a great time. Next year try the South Oxford like you say lots of locks but easy.

Just the sort of reply I expected. However I would say you are not a hypocrite who is a person who pretends to be what he is not. You make no pretence. It would be nice though to think kindly of you.