Mike Richardson
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Posts posted by Mike Richardson
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I have to confess that Kingsbridge isn't the fastest of boats. A Beta BD722 coupled to a 2 to 1 gearbox and a 13 x 9 propeller means we have several choices, We can run at a comfortable 1800 to 2000 rpm and average 2.7 - 2.8 mph which doesn't seem to hinder following boats much (We always wave on if someone wants to pass) or we can run a little faster at 2200 - 2500 which, while vibration-free, makes life less restful but does take us up to 3.1 -3.2 mph. On the Weaver I can just about get the engine up to 3400, so it appears to be the right prop. On one occasion even we had to go down to just over tickover to follow a hire boat the last three miles into Middlewich on the T&M. My GPS on that occasion was showing about 1.5 mph.
We hired on the Mon and Brec some years ago, and that was the slowest we have ever travelled, mostly down to a lack of depth I think. So it's quite possible to travel very slowly indeed if you have the inclination. However, I always try to be aware of what's approaching from behind. I'd much sooner have the speedy boats in front of me,though, it's much less stressful.
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82 next month, machinery (mine) getting a bit pernickety, so we made the decision three years ago to move moorings from Nantwich to a lock free stretch on the T&M. We can still do everything we used to do, but more slowly. We know we have to sell 'Kingsbridge' in the near future, but it'll be a heck of a wrench when it comes to it. We're still enjoying the boat, although the last year has been a bit of a trial after an operation for kidney cancer. We've only just been released from confinement by the Welsh five mile limit so we're hoping to get some cruising in before the end of the year. I'd suggest the OP goes for it.
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We liked the small Norman cruiser we met sometime in the late eighties in Macclesfield, it had it's own external bar in the cockpit complete with bottles on optics. "Pobody's Nerfect", and I seem to remember an old Dawncraft seen at Middlewich. "Cirrhosis of the River"
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Try Googling 'Hairy Worm'. I renewed the side seals on the top hoppers of my windows last year. ISTR they have an extensive stock of adhesive backed seals.
Mike
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I've renewed recently as well.
Mike
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Early in our boating days our 19ft Fairline came to an abrupt stop on the Bridgewater canal. Lifting the outboard we found about six feet of a thin ply canoe surrounding the leg. The prop and surrounding bits had gone right through the bottom of it. It was a bit like solving one of those metal puzzles that used to be found in Christmas crackers, twisting it one way and then the other to get it free. It was soggy and heavy, but thankfully the outboard was undamaged. Otherwise in later years we were stopped dead by an anorak (the clothing item) in Northgate staircase and a vintage builders rubble bag in the middle of Gosty Hill Tunnel. That was not a particularly happy moment.
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Six years (1900 miles) with a 7.5 Honda on a 19ft Fairline DeLuxe followed by eleven years (2900 miles) with a Volvo Penta (Honda) 9.9 on a Buckingham 25 worked out, on average, 4.5 to 5 hours per uk gallon. Much the same diesel consumption as I get now with a 20hp Beta in a 35ft steel narrowboat. I concur with the comments about 2 stroke motors, I would avoid them, in the larger sizes they can seriously damage your wealth.
Mike
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You might care to sight along each side of the boat to see if there are slight 'bumps' where the curved bow section meets the straight sides. I know of at least three Liverpool shells with this 'feature' that have met challenges at Hurleston Bottom lock. I have personal experience of one of them . . . . It hasn't stopped us from covering about 7000 miles around the system since 1998 without problems, including the locks on the Cheshire flight which are marked as particularly tight. In all other respects our boat has been fine, apart from the 'floppy rudder syndrome' mentioned in another thread, which was fixed by renewing the bolts and welding.
Mike
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Philip,
I've had a BD722 (20hp) in 'Kingsbridge', a 35ft Liverpool boat, since 1998. It's got 3800 hours on it and hasn't, up to now, shown any tendency to overheat. I have to admit it got up to about 88C indicated when I opened it up a bit on the Weaver on a very warm day, but for normal canal speeds it varies between 65C and 80C depending on the prevailing weather. It's keel cooled with a slightly undersized tank on the swim.
I'd like an engine that runs at a lower rpm when cruising (1800 - 2200 for 2.8 - 3.2 mph, and I wouldn't like to spend much time with it at 3000+) but it's been a very smooth and reliable engine. I suppose that having said that I'll need to call RCR the next time we leave the moorings.
Mike.
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I had a Hurth 2:1 box fail after seven years, the same symptoms, slipping in forward gear but OK in reverse. I'm not on the boat at the moment so I can't check, but I think it was branded ZF10M. Kingsbridge is 35ft, the engine a Beta Marine BD722, so only about 19hp maximum, and I guess about 8-10hp at cruising revs. I changed the oil (definitely ATF) at the specified intervals. It took a long time to fail completely, a year or two I recall, and in the beginning it would slip when cold, but behave when warmed up. I eventually got fed up with nursing it after an interesting trip back up the Weaver.
The fitter who changed it used the expression " Ten months or ten years, who knows?". My current ZF box is three years old now, and I'm not going to chance my luck by commenting further. So far so good.
Mike
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Signed: 705?
Mike
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Good news indeed.
We've never been formally introduced but often passed and acknowledged each other while bumbling around our bit of the Shroppie. Best wishes for a speedy recovery from both of us.
Mike
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I've only got a six foot swim on Kingsbridge. On the rare occasion when reversing goes well I always pretend that I meant to do it that way in the first place.
Mike
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Hi all,
We were moored opposite the Social Club at Marple a few weeks ago, I think it was this beauty that moved out of the moorings there, winded and returned to what appeared to be her usual mooring on the main line of the Upper Peak Forest. If so, she sounds just as good as she looks.
Mike
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So sad. We always enjoyed a natter with Maureen while passing through Wardle Lock. It won't be quite the same now. We've lost a real character. R.I.P. Maureen.
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Not useless at all Mike, an interesting bit of info. Who built the shells? As Hallmark were a volume producer, it can't have been just two blokes in a shed with a welding torch and a dodgy tape measure. I thought that they built their own shells.
At the time all this was going on I was still gainfully employed, and only caught occasional glimpses of the front or back end of a boat sticking out of the roller doors of the unit. When they started fitting them out in Flint there was considerable local publicity and pictures in the local papers of the shells and completed boats being moved. I can't remember any mention being made of the origin of the shells, but of course they could well have fabricated their own elsewhere. It was hailed as another welcome addition to employment opportunities in this part of north Wales but didn't last all that long.
Mike
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Nigel wrote:-
"As an aside, and I'm not convinced of the truth of this tale, but I did hear tell of a Hallmark owner who, on his first outing after taking delivery of his boat, reached the first lock and discovered that the boat didn't fit. Upon measuring it he discovered it was just over 7' wide instead of 6'10"..."
I can vouch for this. The unfortunate owner was a member of our boat club, and found that he was unable to get his boat into the bottom lock at Hurleston ( not the only boat that suffers from that problem). I seem to recall that he spent quite a lot of money on having it professionally measured, and managed to get it up the Llangollen by diligent use of an angle grinder. I think, if memory serves me right, that Hallmark offered to take it back and give him another one, but nothing came of it as they went under while he was still negotiating the deal. He gave up boating shortly afterwards.
Another useless snippet, the shells were bought in from somewhere and fitted out in an industrial unit in Flint. Also, his engine was fitted so close to the cabin bulkhead that it was very awkward indeed to check drivebelts and other bits.
Mike
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Got one of them. Try 'Centaflex' . Centa Power Transmissions. (Google is your friend
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Can I suggest finding out if the boat has been up the Llangollen before? The bottom two locks at Hurleston are a real pinch point, over the years we've met several boat owners who got to Hurleston and couldn't get any further. Seems a shame to come all that way and fall at the last hurdle.
Mike
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Had one of those on each of our cruisers. As far as I can recall the 'missing bung thing' is a threaded collar attached to the outer sleeve of the teleflex cable. The inner cable, which has a spiral outer wrap, goes around the outer edge of a gear inside the housing and the 'spare end' moves to and fro inside a length of transparent tubing fitted into the end of the existing threaded collar. I guess the tubing is there so that the loose end doesn't collect your instrument panel wiring on it's travels. I found the two lever control easier to set up on the Honda 7.5 and 9.9 outboards that we had.
Mike
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We have a 38W panel laid flat on the roof, together with a 10W panel hung vertically in a south facing window. We have 220Ah of domestic batteries together with a 90Ah starter battery, connected together when appropriate by a Gibbo Smartbank system. In summer the battery voltage usually exceeds 13V when we return to the boat, and last weekend on a murky and miserable day it was 12.7V. The two panels are doing what I wanted them to do, namely stopping self discharge between visits and helping to cut down engine running time in the summer. Obviously they won't keep up with our compressor fridge, but "every little helps"
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Ah yes, a quick burst of nostalgia!
Our first boat was a Fairline 19. Rambled all over the place from Lymm to Sharpness in it for six years until we bought a giant Buckingham 25 with full standing headroom. Great little boat, though, even though we only had a Honda 7.5 hung over the back end. Happy Days! -
A quick question - there is a gizmo on my NB engine I dont recognise and I wondered if anyone knew what it was.
It is a brass cylinder with a pull out handle on the top and a brass spout - looks like some kind of manual pump or priming device. I have given it a few pumps and nothing came out of the spout, although I can feel some resistance to the pumping. Any clues?
I have a picture, if only I knew how to put a picture on here.
I reckon Bones is right, the resistance you feel probably comes from a shut-off cock underneath the pump between the sump drain and the bottom of the pump. Mine has a brass screw-in seal in the spout as well.
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I'll go along with bottle, it's nice to have an average sort of figure to work on. My 20hp Beta manages between 4.5 to 5.2 hours to the gallon measured tankful to tankful over eight years. The dipstick is calibrated with notches marking off 10% of the depth of the tank. Since it's a Liverpool shell with a curvey back end that's as close as I reckon it needs to be.
I also have one of those fuel consumption gizmos on my Toyota, but I try not to look at it first thing in the morning and when climbing long hills
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Our first boat was a Fairline 19. Rambled all over the place from Lymm to Sharpness in it for six years until we bought a giant Buckingham 25 with full standing headroom.
David Jones Boatbuilder?
in Boat Equipment
Posted
Alron was named by ALice and RON. We first met them in 1982 when we moved from Eggbridge Marina to Nantwich. Lovely couple, we used to travel with them as we had a 19ft Fairline and the two boats fitted nicely into narrow locks. Happy memories . . .