RobP

Had another spanner session, tightened all fuel line joints and filter housiings, things have improved, but we still have the same problem, just not as pronounced. Started from visitor moorings at Torksey and she was sluggish at first running the last Km down to the lock, but managed to get from Torksey to West Stockwith on Friday out on the remaining flood managed 3mph against the flow, 6 - 7 mph in slack, and got into WS lock against the ebb, so the power is there once she clears her throat.

OK - latest news. We left the mooring at Bardney, turned and went to the lock/san station, and it ran fine from the off. Stopped for 10 minutes to water & de-toilet & walk the dogs, then started up again and lack of power! Normal service was resumed in a couple of minutes, and we were off - but this time she would not rev over 1500rpm in gear. Popping into neutral and revs ok. I am begining to suspect an intermittent fault in the governor?

*sometimes* the prop turns with the engine in neutral. Anyway, today I are mostly geting oily. I found that one of the hoses from bearbox to oil cooler was not tight, gearbox oil was low, and also there was diesel on the outside of the fuel filter, so gave that a tweek. Not planning on moving for a couple of days, so will report back if this sorts the problem(s)

No, but some slime - like frogspawn, Not opened the old fuel filter, no.

No, if we pop the clutch it revs OK, only in gear (forward and reverse)

We have a Lister LPW4 engine which has had a problem since June, The engine starts and runs fine, burns no oil, smokes a little when cold then clears up, and uses under 1l/hr Recently when we first set off it will not rev over 800rpm for a few minutes, Then it will suddenly burst into life and the engine revs start to climb and whe is back to normal. It started on the Chesterfield canal, and we put it down to weeds and short cruises + long moorings with engine only charging batteries, but is has contiinued. Yesterday we had a tricky manoevre getting off an angled pontoon mooring in high wind at Boston, and I had to run the engine in gear still tied up until the revs came up before even attempting to move off. We then cruised for 5 hrs to Bardnay, no problems, but this morning, moving from the lock area to a pontoon, che resumed normal non-service. I have cleared the water trap, replaced the fel filter, and put some injector cleaner into the tank, no real improvement. Any ideas?

Doing a lock flight Hekla does not like sitting on tick over for any length of time, and the temp. creeps up from the normal 70-80C to 90C+, oil pressure drops from 1.5bar to under 1, the oil warning light starts flashing, and tick-over revs drop to a point where the engine is 'hunting' and sometimes stalls. Pop the clutch button out and leave the engine on fast tickover (1,000 rpm) and she is fine. Engine is a Lister CanalStar LPW4A

We were there in April, spent the first night at the basin, stopped off between bridge 8 & 9 and visited the pottery there, then carried on and moored just below Hazelhust Locks. Our biggest problem was 2 asian couples taking photo's of each other and they thought it a good shot to be standing on our boat!

We've had Hekla since January and have clocked up 396 hours using 346 litres, so that works out at 0.88 l/hr, with a mix of moored, canal, and river - including the Trent in flood against the flow.

Pity the question wasn't asked a few years ago, I could have suggested moorings on the Sankey Canal in St.Helens - known locally as "The Hotties" as Pilkingtons dumped waste hot (clean) water in. At some point someone had dumped some tropical fish in there, and we used to catch them and flog 'em of 6d each to pet shops.

We are also in a similar position as you, we have 3 dogs (manic field spanniels!) and are planning on living on the cut, although we haven't yet sold our house. You costing look, if anything, a little high to me, as I have consistently arrived at around 300 to 400 per month + a set-aside for maintenance and contingencies - that is with residential moorings, allowing £2k to £3k pa, which seems realistic outside of the South East. Speaking to people who already live aboard, they agree that is a realistic figure. Regarding boat length - 57 ft is known as a 'go anywhere' as that seems to be the minimum lock length in the UK system.