boatbodger

Antifreeze needs to be added at the same concentration as what's already in the system. . If it's not it won't mix evenly with the rest. On my boat I drain the whole lot, engine and skin tank and then refill with premixed 50% solution. I mix it in a 20 litre plastic container . I then have reserves at the same strength to top up if needed before next change, usually 2 years. I do the same with the radiators & pipework on the eberspacher system too.

Before we had a narrowboat, we got stuck in Hurleston lock in a 25 ft centre cockpit Dawncraft . Changing the boat seems a bit extreme unless you were hoping to visit Welsh sections regularly. What about craning out and in again if it's just a one off ??

Agree with all aforementioned, should be standard shaft. We used to have a Dawncraft 25 foot centre cockpit, is yours centre or rear cockpit ?

Hi all, Thanks for your kind comments earlier on in the thread. Window now replaced. To be honest drilling out the pop rivets was much easier than removing old screws as on the last boat. Now looking forward to 10 days or so away from end of next week.

Hi, Just having a general gripe. On Tuesday night my boat was broken into for the 3rd time in about 13 months. We have been on the inland waterways for 27 years and never had this sort of problem before. The first time the person broke in via the rear hatch, turned on the gas, cooked himself a meal. Then left taking with him a case of lager & full tin of sweets. I say him,'cos I'm sure had it been a lady she'd have done the washing up. Not left the pots stacked in the sink! This week the breaker & enterer surpassed himself & smashed a window to get in. The boats either side suffered the same fate. And in January 2 boats other than mine were broken into. Last year there were a couple of other break ins also. We're on a BW mooring on the Coventry canal. We've moored there for about 15 years now and never had these sort of problems. Up until a year or so ago there were a number of live aboards. But the council planning enforcement officers swooped, we think following complaints from a neighbour. They all moved away so security is now very limited. I have spoken to the local moorings enforcement officer to see if we can beef up security. And I've suggested what we really need are people on site (preferably with dogs or geese) Do any members know of any motion activated cameras which would work on low power. show decent results if activated at nighht in the dark and don't cost an arm or leg. What really annoys me this time is the 36 rivets I've got to drill out to remove the frame etc etc.

Thanks for the response Tony. I have been speaking to William Webb at T.W Marine, it was he who recently serviced my injector pump. And I cannot praise him too highly for his helpful suggeestions and advice and the wealth of knowledge he's willing to impart. It was really a question of do Bukh's respond to revolution adjustments slowly compared with say a Lister which is what I'm familiar with>. Once again thanks for the response. Peter.

Hi all, The last 2 boats we've owned have had Lister SR 3 engines. The current boat has a BUKH DV20. I have a couple of issues to resolve. Firstly, the engine takes far longer than the Listers to increase or decrease in revs, it seems to wind itself up and down. I don't know if this is due to the large flywheel or a fault. Secondly I have what I think is a sticking centrifugal governor. I've followed the fuel system and had the injector pump, Injectors & lift pump serviced . And am confident all the fuel delivery side is fine. The engine starts O.K, better now I've installed a cold start unit. But if you let the speed drop too far. The revs drop to about 300 rpm and then won't pick up again. The only course is to stop the engine, re-start it and all will be fine till the next time. Usually problems occur when reducing revs to change from forward to reverse gear and vice cersa. So having to switch off the ignition, switch on again, restart and give it a burst in reverse before you hit the boat you were trying to moor behind can be a bit tricky. What I'd really like to do is see another BUKH in action. I live in Derby and could travel anywhere in the midlands. I'm pretty sure I can sort the stickiness but I'd really like to hear another one running. If any BUKH owners can help please PM me. Thanks in anticipation, Peter.

[Hi Mark, It was www.flokatirugco.co.uk. We also picked up a leaflet.

Stovespares.co.uk near Torquay may be able to help you, they do carry Aarow spares, hope you get it sorted.

Whilst working through the stop lock at Hawksbury some years ago, an American lady, part of a group nearby. Asked my wife why the difference in levels was so small ? "Traffic calming " said my wife, whereon the lady went off & happily relayed this to her companians.

[Hi Mitch, I am very sorry you have spent so much money to end up so dissatisfied. I believe the solar industry is now full of sales people who were previously selling vacuum cleaners, water filters etc., To illustrate, some months ago I was asked to look at a proposal for an off grid power supply via solar panels. The quote the customer received from an alleged expert in the field was around £12000. This was to supply & install 20 80 watt panels , feeding into 3 yes 3 110 amp batteries. However even had a suitably sized battery bank been installed, they had failed to take account of the large holly tree subject to a preservation order. Which screened from the sun most of the roof on which they had proposed to mount the panels. I think you have some major installation issues to sort. My own measly little 125 watt panel fitted flat on my boat roof has been giving about 5.8 amps during peak sun hours over the last week or so. Good luck. Peter.

I don’t think it’s got anything to do with the cold water in the system slowing down the rate at which the burner pot will heat up as Boatbodger suggests. Hi, According to Lockgate Stoves the same would apply if there's a pump or on gravity system, suggesting it's not to do with the pump. When I first fitted the refleks I ran it as heater only, without radiators. The way it burnt was considerably different once the wet system was connected. Peter.

No David, we already had the pump fitted, the stove seemed to be burning o.k but the radiators wouldn't get hot. By turning off all but 1 radiator, you're reducing the amount of water circulating through the system, thus allowing the water to get hot enough to heat the 1st radiator in the circuit, then when you open the next radiator it will initially cool the system for a while so you have to wait for the heat to build up again, before you can open up the next one and so on. I used to feel thr temperature of the flow pipe out of the boiler. And open the next valve when I reckoned it sufficiently hot, immediately though, one would feel the flow pipe go cooler until the heat built up again. As I said previously I was ready to chuck the whole thing in the water, but first I decided to go and see Mike @ Lockgate Stoves and he it was who described how to get the system working. In his own words "they're a bit touchy feely, till you're used to them. " And I can honestly say his advice worked. Peter.

If the pipework CONTINUALLY RISES from the boiler through all the radiators, then falls back continually it's a gravity system and shouldn't need a pump. However even with a pump the radiators can be troublesome to get heat to initially. The Refleks works on the basis of the burner pot being hot enough to vapourise the fuel dripping onto it. When you insert a coil of water into the stove you change the characteristics (the water in the system slows down the rate at which the burner pot will heat up). We installed a refleks about 6 years ago but couldn't get the heat to circulate through the rads properly. Advice from Lockgate Stoves the suppliers was to turn off all the rads except the first one, then once that's hot open the valves to the next one & so in. It worked ! And an expensive item which was about to be thrown into the cut was saved. We had a pump fitted, ours was a 12 volt Brolin pump which only uses about 80mA. I know of someone with a wide beam dutch barge who runs 12 radiators off this pump. If you've 230v A.C and no shortage of power you could of course use a domestic C.H pump as has been suggested, but such a pump will drain batteries much more than the Brolin. Hope you find this helpful. Bear in mind that these stoves are designed to be left running for long periods, so once you've heat running through the system you can forget about it. not turned on & off daily like a home C.H system. Our system was used to heat the boat during day & evening, then at night we'd switch off all the rads except the bedroom and open the flow into the calorifier to give us a tankful by the morning. Until you're used to their behaviour they can be a bit fiddly to control.

P.S we also have a gas fridge, standard flued Dometic which set us back about £650 when we purchesd it 3 years ago. Also had gas friges on the previous 4 boats. Coincidentally I had the BSS examination carried out on our boat today and no probs with said fridge.

I'm with sueb on this one, but it's all been said before. Personally we can manage from March to November on solar only We have tv hi-fi dvd computer etc,. etc,. The rest of the year if aboard we run a honda 2.0i for about 1-1.5 hours per day (in the morning when the noise is less likely to annoy.) We don't live on board full time, we manage about 6 months out of 12 in ususally 2 x 3 month sessions. We do have a washing machine which the Honda manages fine on an economy setting, we also have a 60 amp charger to charge batteries for the no sun periods. But as said we never need to March-November. We aren't hippies or techno shy. We have had boats for 25 years, this is our 5th one. We have ensured we purchase equipment which uses the minimum amount of power. Usually this costs more to purchase, that is our choice. We wish to use less fuel to reduce weekly outgoings. Finally we have a real dislike of being moored next to anyone who runs their engine or genny for hours a day just to keep the batteries topped up. So we make sure we don't put others to the same inconvenience. If you're on a landline then great, use all the equipment you like. If you've got to recharge daily for extended periods using engine/genny, think about your neighbours or sell the boat & go do something else.

Kookie, You won't rot your hull from connection to a landline if you use an isolating transformer as previously stated. It has to be your easiest solution for maintaining power. Some people run their engines for a couple of hours a day and some people don't like it. We don't like mooring next to people who run engines for long periods daily, we use solar panels which provide adequate power most of the year when not travelling. But there are numerous people who will tell you they are an expensive waste of time. However we are quite happy with their performance. Boatbodger

I bought mine direct from ; www.ingfabolin.se . On the site click on 'pump', there's an English translation. I think I paid about £120 plus postage about 4 years ago. Regards, Pete.

Hi there, When you say ciculation pump I assume you mean heating circulation. If so I recommend A Bolin pump, very reliable & miniscule current draw. Also very quiet running, we have ours running for months at a time when the oil heating's on. You'll find them on the web. Regards, Pete.

Hi Tom & Sophie, Our 2 year old Dometic fridge also packed up a few weeks ago. I traced the cause to a bit of crud which had come down the aluminium flue and was almost blocking out the flame. I dismantled the pilot jet, blew it out & hey presto. On previous fridges I've also come across the following 1) coolant not circulating, remedy: disconnect and turn upside down for a couple of hours, then turn right way up and do not light for another couple of hours. 2) The insulating material around the centre tube got damp and we had to replace it with a similar non combustible wadding as the dampness was preventing full heat up of the system. Obviously I would not condone unskilled persons messing around with gas appliances. Good luck & I hope you sort it. Peter.

I feel I must add our own experience to the topic. We have a 125W panel. We have been back on our boat for the last four weeks and to date have not run engine or external generator to charge batteries. We have a central heating pump running 24 hours a day, plus the usual water pump, shower drain pump, radio/c.d player and T.V all making their own demands. We have some L.E.D lighting and are looking to increase the amount. One panel doesn't supply sufficient for the laptop so I run the small genny daily when needed to receive & send e.mails which are all work related. However where possible I charge my laptop battery in the car via an inverter. Before we had solar we used to run our genny daily for approx 1 hour, which used about a gallon of unleaded per week this cost has now disappeared. Yes I could run my engine to charge batteries, personally I dislike being moored next to a boat running engines daily just to charge batteries. If I want engine noise I'll open my car window. There are people nearby who run engine 2-4 hours daily, then heat milk in the microwave off the inverter. All our equipment has been sourced with a view to minimise load. As far as my wife & I are concerned the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Happy boating everyone

Ernie, Our 60ft narrowboat has a lockgate refleks. Which @ 4.2 KW total, provides more than enough heat. And when burning continuously we consume about 40 lts per week. We heat a 30x 24 inch cast iron sectional rediator in the lounge area plus 2 more rads, plus a circuit of 28mm pipe in the bedroom, at night we turn off 3 rads and swap over to calorifier. We've also found that when lit for a long period it's less likely to coke up. But needs cleaning after you turn it off & before relighting. The longer the chimney the better and the type of down draught terminal fitted also makes a difference. Hope this info may be of some use. Best regards, Boatbodger. p.s We found it a steep learning curve before we could drive the stove properly and it nearly ended up in the cut at one point

I purchased some from RS Components that went around the 6 inch diameter Air outlets on my Lister SR3. You could easily string 2 together if one wasn't long enough. Can't remember how much I paid though Peter.