Bee
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Posts posted by Bee
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You will get lots of opinions, many negative. There is much to think about, Personally I would say that building a boat to a particular label is not the most important thing, it is just a label. Narrowboats are obviously built to suit narrow locks and crossing the channel is pushing the envelope but given very good weather almost anything can cross the channel so that is the real limiting factor. I personally would not bother with electric. Charging points across the channel are very scarce and you might find serious problems with anything over a few hours using more power than the batteries can cope with, tides, currents and distance can halve your range. Diesel tanks must have good access to clean them and a proper fuel filtration arrangement too. There are narrowboats happily wandering around the quiet waterways of Europe but there are waterways that we avoid because they can be uncomfortable and Bee is a much more suitable boat. A well built conventional narrowboat would be my choice if I had to do it. Don't forget about Brexit and all that stuff and lastly I would stick a decent inflatable on board in case it all goes wrong.
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I think there were stern wheelers on the Rhine until quite recently (?). the wheel was not like the Mississippi image of the wheel but buried ender the stern. Quite how the rudder arrangement worked I've no idea, must have been a bit unresponsive I'd have thought.
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Hooray! Now these freeloaders will have to pay their way. Oh, Hang on, now I can't afford a licence either. (Just a comment, my boat is not in the UK)
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Personally I would do pretty much as Tony suggests, Buy a brass 'Tank connecter' from Screwfix, clean up the surfaces so they are clean and flat, fix a bit of in 15mm copper with a hose tail on it, fix and forget, I wouldn't worry about trying to get a tube right down to the tank bottom, the last couple of inches are neither here nor there as far as capacity is concerned. As for capping off the disused pipe it depends on what is on the end of it, if it is threaded then a trip to a plumbers merchant should provide you with a cap of some sort.
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Donkeys years ago near Manchester some youths flung stones at me and the boat as i approached a bridge, i was drinking a beer from a heavy pint glass and instinct took over - hurled the glass at them, luckily missed and the glass sailed off to somewhere unknown. I still flinch at the thought of where the glass went and hopefully it missed anything important. I had a shorter temper in those days...
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It is always said that you cannot put epoxy over bitumen. I think that for the actual, real, answer you need to get in touch with the technical dept. of, for instance, Jotun. I think that it is a bad idea but on Bee with bitumen down to the waterline then epoxy below it seems that the epoxy has stuck to the bitumen but the bitumen has not stuck at all to the epoxy (which is red so that is how I can tell) Maybe paint technology has come on a bit- who knows
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6 hours ago, john.k said:
there is a Fenner coupling thats basically a small tyre clamped between steel flanges ,which I d imagine could deal with considerable misalignment without needing more than one coupling ...still need a remote thrust bearing.............Fena-flex..
I have one. The shaft on Bee is about 12 foot between the gland and the gearbox, the engine is a Beta 43 and it wobbles - as it should - the shaft has a Python drive and hefty thrust bearing near the stern gland and three or four pillow blocks supporting the 1.5 " shaft then a Fenaflex up against the gearbox. The Fenaflex will not take thrust, the tyre squashes or pulls apart depending on whether ahead or astern but its Ok for a wobbly engine so it doesn't wreck the output shaft bearing, the real thrust is taken by the Python drive thrust bearing and there is another pillow block between that and the conventional stuffing box. Not all of that is needed on a boat with a short shaft but Bee has been many miles over about 18 years and the stern gland and packing is still original and perfectly fine. There is no stress on the gearbox and no strain on the stern gland. It sounds expensive and complicated but it was all second hand and done to make expensive stuff last. It is a bit heavy though and the inertia when going into gear makes the PRM box clunk as it engages - nothing is perfect but Fenner flex couplings are v. good things.
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These engines share a lot of parts when you don't expect it and then when you expect them to share parts they don't - the good old days of Brit. engineering!
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Absolutely wonderful pictures. Thanks
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I wonder if its possible to fit a couple of shock absorbers to it? I'm thinking maybe from a scrap washing machine or something? Might be possible to take one each side from a handy nut on the engine to a bracket on the side of the boat, Of course there will not be any handy brackets or bolts 'cos that's the way it goes but it might just work.
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ASAP stock all sorts of hose but when I did the plumbing on BEE I used this Plumbing Hose 13mm (Per Metre) (asap-supplies.com) for everything and its been perfectly OK for years, You must use proper hose tails but its been fine for hot and cold water and it is much easier for those really awkward places that you really don't want to try in copper or anything non bendy. Obviously not for central heating but worked great on BEE
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There has been a couple of us with Beta lift pump problems recently, engine cutting out etc and other problems so I had a look at the Beta manual and this is what it says...... ' The fuel pump will only lift fuel through 0.25 metres, if this is insufficient then an electric fuel lift pump must be fitted' That is only about 9" so unless the tank is built into the counter, sits on the swim or something like that then the thing is always going to be struggling. This probably explains why brand new Kubota pumps are on E Bay, someone is fitting them to mowers or small plant and changing the mechanical pumps for electric.
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You have been unlucky for some reason. It might have nothing to do with your problem but the canal in pic. 5 has a bit of diesel floating on it, you might have a pinhole in the tank (?) My guess is that water has got into the tank, either from the inspection plate (Very sensible to fit that) or the filler cap or some sort of problem with the tube that the rudder shaft goes through. I fear that you might have to take the inspection plate off and have a good look and clean the thing out again - this might give you a clue where the water is coming from. Water in fuel is a sod to sort out. Personally I have not got much faith in fuel additives and my experience with cloudy fuel is that it will not burn but it might just damage the engine as it is incompressible. Good luck!
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You can get a visa that gives you up to approx 6 months and if you do as we do, spread your visits out a bit you can get a couple of weeks extra as the days 'drop off' the early months and you can add them to the later months. It is not ideal and takes a lot of working out but due to the f*****g stupidity of brexit it is the best that we can manage.
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That's tricky, I think I might consider fitting an electric fuel pump if all else fails, simple in/out hose connectors and a bit of dodgy wiring. If you find something that you can buy online then you can get it posted to me and I will drop it off, Sorry, can't think of an engineer but Limekiln chandlers in Stourport might know of someone, not too far to travel. PM me for address etc.
Might be this one in Fuel Lift Pump for Kubota D905 D1105 D1305 430D V1205 V1505 Replaces 16285-52032 | eBay in which case the pipes have been cut off. Electric pump might be the way forward
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That one that I mentioned on E Bay is fitted to a range of Kubota engines.
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Kubota D1703 Fuel lift pump NEW | eBay, this might be the one, if its not there are others on e bay, i have one to fit to my 43 as it has the same problem but it cuts out after a few minutes, Can't say if your diagnosis is right as I won't be at the boat till later this month but the drained filter is the same sympton. Fingers crossed.
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Might find placing a sandbag on top of it helps. Not entirely joking, these things can be really hard to solve.
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Is that a damp issue below the left hand side of the front door? Looks like one of those difficult to trace and fix leaks to me. Personally I have always used carpet, it is a warm surface, it is insulating in itself (especially with underlay) it is not expensive unless you choose something special and it is virtually disposable, when it gets dirty you can replace it. Its all a matter of taste but it makes sense if you have to get the floor up.
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1 hour ago, Mike Todd said:
T
But also remember the old boatman's trick of 'humping' over a sill by using engine power, firstly to push the stern down/bow up and then the other way. Works far more frequently than the HN problem.
Gets under low bridges too, push back end down to get the wheelhouse under the bridge then cross your fingers that it doesn't all go horribly wrong......
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Bee is coming out of the water sometime this summer, time to grovel about under 12 tons of boat propped up on bricks and old gas bottles. I will probably be using Jotun 90 but before I fork out cash on the stuff has anybody got any comments - good or bad - on their experiences with Jotun. Thanks
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Depends on its original thickness but I reckon that if you examined it carefully you would find some deep pits. If you can lift floorboards it would be an idea to have a look, especially along the side to bottom joint - might be perfect but its best to know. Shotblasting would be great but failing that then hours with every tool in the box might be enough, Epoxy is the current best treatment and you might have caught it just in time - fingers crossed!
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A lot to be said for Belgium, reasonable mooring costs and inexpensive licence but to get to the North of Holland its a bit of a slog and some travelling across or along serious commercial waterways. ≥ Ligplaatsen - Marktplaats is a place to start, Marktplaats is a sort of e bay but has a section on 'Water sports' and thence to 'Ligplaats' i.e. lying place or moorings, I'm not sure what the rules and regs are for boats in Holland - its been a while since Bee was there but we did spend a winter in Utrecht and it must have been reasonable pricewise. Sorry can't remember the name of the place, its small but can lift out boats up to approc 10 Tons. Google will help.
Building a Category C narrowboat!
in Boat Building & Maintenance
Posted
I had 3 narrowboats, did that for 12 yrs or so. Then a gap of some years, house kids etc. Then 15 years ago fitted out a 10metre x 3.4 metre tug and have kept it on the European canals, (Also travelled the Thames, Severn, GU to nearly Braunston, Warks. Avon,bristol Avon and River Wey) Have since travelled many miles in Europe and i reckon that is probably the best way to do it - Not the only way by any means, I did wonder about a small fishing boat at one time with rudimentary accomodation and also a Wilderness Beaver or similar but the compromises between narrowboat and sea going are very difficult. Also looked out of the window of my narrowboat near Warwick once to see Shane Acton and Shrimpy going by (look it up on Google) - buy the book if you can find it, it is inspirational.