HappyBunny

what Bizzard says .... I got a 2m offcut from a steel stockholders in tamworth for £10 .... it is slightly thinner than actual flue pipe, 1mm I think, so maybe won't last quite as long? .... but much cheaper than flue, especially from chandlers

Hmmmm .... beware Marston Doles .... don't stray off the towpath ..... Other than that, the Oxford is right up in my top five canals, with a stop at the off-side moorings at Kirtlington Quarry a must ..... an SSSSSSSSSSSSI of immense oolitic interest .

Hmmm the Peep Show stag weekend episode comes to mind .... "isn't that a kingfisher?"

what sort of a rabbit do you think I am?? mmmm pilchards ..... well, I got to King's Langley no problem, no lost keys, no knocks or clunks .... plenty of smiles ....Berko is a lovely town BUT .... mmmm pilchards ..... Check your engine mounts!

there is a part of me that agrees .... yes ... but i was after some variations on a theme .... just did these for my supper .... and they were luvverly .... thankyou

Well, for those of you following the progress ....... a very very nice man, by the name of cereal tiller, called today .... he furtled in my bowels and jiggled my lump around until my shaft was hard, straight and true, he offered a flexible coupling .... which was willingly accepted. he coaxed a perfect union .... and then, of course, started clamping down on things ..... thrust bearings tightened .... grubby screws wound down he pushed my button ... there was no instant spark .... (it is a BMC in winter) .... but slowly the heat rose and everything started to spin in peaceful purposeful perfectly aligned motion .... and joy of joys, he might see me again to ram something in my stern gland Don't you just love the "finbar saunder's" potential of the back end of a boat .... my puerile sense of humour is so easily, and irrationally, tickled by the scope for double entendres that a boat offers proper test run tomorrow but it would seem that the failure of one rear engine mount had caused excessive movement, and its opposing mount had then worked its top nut off compounding the problem ..... shaft from gearbox no longer where it should be .... strain on coupling too much to handle .... taperlock cracked .... blah blah blah .... whilst i am no expert, i have lived with big diesel engines for years and am a confirmed petro-sexual... but I had not particularly noticed any unusual knocks or clatters .... and if i did, I just turned the reggae up .... What have I learnt? well I shall add a few more things to my weekly checklist ..... and am, yet again, amazed at the generosity of people on this forum in terms of their time and knowledge .... i know loads more about my drive train specifically, and my BMC generally .... all the proper names for things .... met some new friends, appreciated some not-so-new friends and got to know Berko ... great place keeping everything practical crossed for tomorrow ..... and no pilchards were hurt or consumed during the repair of this boat

not enough sunshine ... and don't like running engine for hours just to keep my usual pint of milk, smear of hellmans and a jar with two black olives in cold ... especially at the moment as it appears to be jumping around more than an e-coli bacteria in a blender ..... and winter time means no quantity of food hangs around long enough for bacteria to even start a chat-up line normally, let alone breed, as I have to follow my "pork pie and toffee" (*) crisp diet religiously from october till march to keep enough weight on to stay warm * you eat as normal, and wedge a pork pie and/or a toffee crisp down as often as possible in between

Ok ... so I had my first of many (hopefully) christmas dinners yesterday .... turkey, gammon and all the proverbial trimmings .... with my son, and came back to the boat with a large bunny-bag of leftovers I usually get a few offers as people think, quite rightly, that I am a sad, lonely, feckless rabbit with limited culinary abilities, freezing to death on my boat who needs feeding up have just done the obligatory turkey sandwich, with lashings of mayo and thinking i should use the rest up pretty darn quick due to this mild weather and having the fridge off at the moment. Just wondering if anyone has any new / different / special recipes for christmas leftovers apart from the usual curry/soup/pie recipes?

Indeed ... I retrieved the missing nut from the primeval swamp that lies beneath my engine earlier .... and tomorrow is another day

Gosh .... truly a flexible friend ... thank you ... think I need to sort the engine mount issues though .... couple more pics for anyone into flexible coupling porn .... and maybe this will finally shame me into getting the dank hole that is my engine bay cleaned up

Hmmm ... well after consuming a large quantity of pilchards .. procuring the necessary parts ... and Chris from Batavia very generously spending some time here this morning .... we reached a point where the new taperlock slid onto the shaft .... the bafflingly oversized key fitted into the slot .... and with great excitement offered it up .... only to find the the bit with the propeller on didn't line up with the bit coming out of the gear box .... by quite a long way Closer inspection of the engine mounts revealed that the cause of the problem lies there and the engine has slumped meaning the shafts are out of alignment ..... .... so i am now waiting for the phone to charge and start ringing engineers ......

We'll have NO cat food on board Herbidacious .... no sir-ee ....... I am no crazy cat lady .... a few tinnys on the other hand ..... I have a mental image of you Richard, verniers in hand ... rifling through the kitchen cupboards ..... but useful information no less thanks

Hmmmm ... "i'll have a fishy on a little dishy" ..... looks like pilchards on toast for second breakfasts... and lunch ... and dinner ..... fortunately, I am very partial to small fishes, always keeping a minimum of two tins in my storecupboard (along with a few, well five, of those part baked loaves, just in case .... ) .... but I buy from poundland or BM home bargains ... 2 for £1 ... BUT any excuse to go for a blat on my little KE ... and as my wayward son has finally gone corporate and started working for "the man" ... in the "experimental kitchens" at Sainsbury's no less ..... I shall be shopping there in future .... as an aside, it all sounds a bit Heston Blumenthal to me .... experimental ktchens now where are my tin snips ..... i am a bit "old skool" when it comes to feeler gauges, preferring the rizla paper method So I hope to have the parts in my sweaty little paws later today .... tomorrow I shall be attending a support group for those who have addiction issues with small fish ... and eating what I hope will be the first of many "with all the trimmings" festive lunches (not a pilchard in sight) .... and on monday .... i shall be on it like the old car bonnet .....

yes, it would appear that, even if you know what you want, have part numbers, the fact that you have titties means that they have to talk to you as if you are a complete cretin and be as rude as possible ..... or maybe bearing suppliers are just like that with everyone .... a little customer service training would definitely be helpful

Hmmm yes, i like the old chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and the pretty lights, and the goodwill, and the eating, drinking and making merry .... but tend to do it on the 21st .... as for all the commercial hype and ritualised, meaningless, present buying nonsense .... AH BUMHUG ..... or was it bah humbug

Ah yes .... and you Well, like Blanche Dubois, I have always been amazed at the kindness of strangers .... and not so strangers ....... a welcome visit from Batavia, and his fancy measuring gadget (but don't tell anyone!) confirmed that the shaft is very worn .... and the taperlock mechanism in the fenner coupling beyond bodging with even industrial quantities of loctite. Not only is it in two pieces, but the threads on the locking grub screws worn to practically nothing ..... So, after phoning round some distinctly unhelpful local bearing suppliers, it would seem that the taperlock bushes are like rocking horse poo .... but Richard suggested Chris B, who had more success .... and, hopefully, now the required parts are making their way to the home counties .... and soon into my greasy paws As she will be coming out of the water next year for blacking, i am hoping to delay replacing the shaft till then, and maybe beef up the coupling at the same time (I know you CAN do it while still in the water, but to be frank, I find that prospect a bit alarming ) . Hopefully, by jiggling the shaft back a bit, i may be able to fix the new taperlock onto a relatively unworn section of shaft .... and get underway again relatively soon However, I am a little out of my comfort zone on this. so if anyone is knocking around Berkhamsted at a loose end on Monday, and fancies getting down and dirty in my engine bay, or just telling me I am proceeding correctly .... they would be massively welcome .... I may have chance to do it on Saturday but have visitors coming at some point ...... Bunny

actually I loved Marston Doles ..... but it was a long way to the nearest road .... as Richard will vouch .... in Berkhamsted this time no, you are making 4 .... that is me with my little KE 100 on the front deck .... think I passed you yesterday but I have forgotten what the original problem was ...... ... oh yeah .... she dropped her key .... and hey, I know loads of proper names for coupling thingy bits now .... and have an intimate knowledge of, and love for, the inner beauty of the fenner fenaflex