magnetman
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Posts posted by magnetman
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This topic got me going so I took off the rocker assembly.
To find this:
So now I know what was wrong! New rocker shaft ordered and a new arm rather than just the bush. That's quite nasty.
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11 hours ago, David Mutch said:
Thanks Magnetman. I have checked valve clearances and had a good listen to the top end and tappet chests, so I don't think it's that, although the sound kind of fits.
Curious to know what you mean by the screws being soft?
I guess something else in the top end could be the cause of the smoke, e.g. valve stem oil seals, but the smoke is definitely more white than blue, and it's only at high revs, so that one is lower down the list of suspects.
The ball ends were not properly hardened and had mushroomed over. In one case you couldn't even see that it had once been ball shaped.
Also some of the screws had less thread than others. Signs of previous removal of the rockers so I guess just bad quality parts.
Apparently soft screws is a known problem in the classic car world too.
They are the same as MGB tappet screws so I bought from mgbhive website rather than random eBay made in china job.
Difficult to know without doing a hardness test on them but probably ok.
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I've got a pair of BMC 1.5s in one of my boats.
Have had a problem with one of them since I got the boat a couple of years ago. Knocking sound and a bit of smoke but not excessive.
I investigated the tappets and found that some of the screws were soft so replaced them and also I recently discovered that one of the rocker arms has a completely nackered bush.
Ordered new one and will be dismantling and refitting.
I'm not one to regularly take engines apart but I was surprised how much of a knocking noise badly adjusted tappets make.
With the bush inside the rocker being completely worn out it is actually impossible to get correct tappet clearance on that one. I did think it might have been a sticking valve.
Interesting to see if replacing the bush does sort it. Will also check the oilways in the rocker shaft itself.
One day all of this will be electric and just plug a computer in to sort it out
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I was making the point that the change from butty boats to motor boats involved adding the gunnels and idly wondering why that would be.
The craft performs the same basic function but has an engine in it rather than being pulled.
Of course horse boats are another topic but it seems that butties copied horse boat cabins then when the motors came there was a rethink and side decks were added.
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I did add a little bit to my post before I saw yours.
Also I suppose the cabin height and bridges comes into it.
ETA working boats with short cabins won't get the wobble problem. Good point though about a modern craft. Could be problematic.
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9 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:
I think you were right first time - it would be stronger as a box with the roof as the top flange and baseplate as the bottom flange.
But that would be harder to model - for an old fashioned type like me - and crucially it brings into question whether you have actually designed a viable boat rather than a container.
Other than the perceived requirement to be able to walk around the boat on very narrow side decks I can:t really see a major problem with doing a narrow boat without gunnels.
The old butty boats had no gunnel beside the cabin.
Not sure if anyone has done it but it could be interesting to build a narrow boat with no gunnels but a system of steps at bow and stern for reliable and safe access to the roof area.
I wonder what the design philosophy was when it came to making motorised narrow boats and putting the side decks/gunnels on.
In modern elfin safety parlance they do look like quite a nasty risk. Much better to gain access to the craft from the cabin top.
Perhaps it was a structural addition deemed necessary due to the craft being motorised.
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That makes sense but would it be stronger than if the whole thing was a box section?
Maybe it would. Box section is not very strong is it.
It is interesting to consider where the failure would occur if a narrow boat was secured front and stern and jacked up in the middle until it broke in half.
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Bloke I know said that the tiles in his shower room moved when his 50ft all steel widebeam was dry docked.
Boat seemed to have twisted or bent somehow on uneven supports.
This seems unlikely but it is possible I suppose.
It would be quite interesting to do the maths and work out how much force would be needed from under the vessel to cause it to buckle lengthways.
It is a sort of channel section in a way but the gunnels must introduce a weakness structurally.
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I've always found that whenever anyone attempts to assist me things go wrong incredibly quickly because my way of doing it was technically correct and manageable without assistance.
If you get it right in the first instance the only outcome of someone else getting involved is that it will go wrong.
Obviously in larger systems there is a need for more operational units so it could become complex.
This is where automation will be a real boon in future. So much conflict can be avoided it will be a wonderful world.
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It would be interesting to see what sort of crane would be used to lift a sea going ship.
Dry dock v crane/travel hoist is quite an interesting topic.
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Quite a good argument for single handed boating.
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I really like Mentour Pilot on YouTube. He gets right down to the details of some really grim aircraft accidents.
As long as you can ignore the sponsorship and occasional adverts the content is very good.
Example. The Keg'erth air disaster.
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My P4 has a Perkins thermostart system in the air intake. At this time of year if you don't energise this preheater it will crank for ages and ages before starting. I mean ages, starter motor very hot and wires to starter even hotter.
It's usually wired to the ignition switch but if not then at least on the P4 there are two brass pins just below the air intake which are the electric connection for the preheater. 20 seconds of 12v on these pins makes it start up immediately even in winter.
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Not sure if Chris Bennett still posts here but he had a Perkins P3 on narrow boat Baldock. He might have a manual.
Quite a few P3 engines around on boats so I would expect someone to be able to provide a manual. I've got a P4 on one of my boats but no manual for it.
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I've seen it done at Highline yachting at Iver on the Slough arm but this was a long time ago. They may not do it anymore.
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Having had all the variations I prefer the 5a plugs / sockets. The 2a ones are a bit small and feel tinny.
Another useful low voltage DC arrangement is the old Hella plugs/sockets. Rated to something like 15a they are a nice alternative. I think if I was doing a fitout I would put these in preference to the 5a white stuff although they are very nice.
Also available in brown bakelite of course.
The hella type : eurocarparts £4 for the socket. 16a at 12v
Also available as surface mount
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There used to be a woman moored near rickmansworth for years who had 9 cats on a narrow boat. She emptied all the cat litter into the cut and it caused a shallow spot just above Lot Mead lock.
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A bloke on my countryside mooring had a major problem with carbon monoxide recently. He is new to the whole thing. I went on his boat and having inspected the fire noticed that the (moveable) baffle plate had moved (!) Forwards and completely blocked the flue.
I can't remember the make of fire (arada?) but it is a small modern one. The baffle plate can move forwards and backwards and I reckon with engine running and boat being used it can easily end up in the wrong place due to vibration.
So I pushed it back against the fire bricks and there is for now no problem.
I did also suggest the fireangel CO monitor with the digital readout. Handy kit that is.
And be extra careful when burning wood on t'fire.
CO is bad news. Damhikt but I had overexposure years ago and it is beginning to show up as a health problem. You need to avoid this.
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I noticed that Laurence Hogg was mentioned.
Got me thinking. He was incredibly knowledgeable and had a lot of hard copies of very useful stuff related to canal boats.
What happened to all of his stuff?
It's sad if it all ended up getting binned. One would hope that this sort of knowledge base would get looked after. Possibly by a museum but I know they put things in drawers and frequently sell them off.
His boat plan diagrams must be somewhere.
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On 06/01/2022 at 09:19, fittie said:
Interesting, but most of those cans look as if there are of the FMC pattern but still would like to see one on a GU boat pre WWII if poss. In the last picture the lamp on the floor is all one colour but what colour...primer? I've seen this last picture before, is it during BW days?
Not a lamp but mid 90s some old buckby cans turned up out of a shed somewhere and were for sale at Cosgrove. They were painted in a simple light turquoise primer.
I don't know what the RAL colour was but as I remember it they were more or less this colour.
Looked to be original paint for storage. Probably not that exact RAL number I think it was a bit lighter but that's similar to how I remember it.
Might tie in with some other detail from somewhere. Don't know how old the cans were but the one I bought had a couple of small holes in bottom from storage so I think old. I did not keep it, it went with one of the boats when sold.
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Funny description of the scottish MFV being under restoration. No it isn't it is a sinking wreck like virtually all of the other old MFVs which are not kept on top of all the time. Needs to be broken up and taken away.
The only way you could restore it would be out of water and replank it which will never be worth it. It will be up and down like the Assyrian empire, costing local tax payers money in the process.
Get rid.
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On 04/01/2022 at 16:08, steve.sharratt said:
Thanks for asking David.
It is an interesting boat. A private build by a talented fabricator who just decided one day that he would build a narrowboat. 62ft long tug that is fully riveted (not fake) with lovely attention to detail. She has a Lister JP3. The portholes you can see are all reclaimed from a 1960s ferry and reclaimation is the theme throughout. The pinched bow is exaggerated and I suspect could have been quite handy in the early 40s slicing unwary u-boats in half! It was launched in 2014 at Shepparton and moved to a mooring on the Thames in Richmond where she sat until I bought her last year. I am putting some finishing touches (toilet, hot water etc) and plan to start cruising early this year. I could write pages of detail but I wont put you through it. I suspect this is the sort of narrowboat people will either absolutely love or absolutely hate. 😍🤮
Steve
Nice item.
It will have been well executed and have some seriously good quality stuff on there.
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I bought my first nb in 1993 from Pyrford marina on the Wey. It's a TingDene marina now.
Done the Wey a dozen or so times since then, on a visitor basis.
It's a nice waterway, an interesting view into the operating model of having strictly no cc ers and also quite high costs for visitors. And only one way in/out. Could work for other canals I reckon, with toll houses. NT do a good job on the Wey. It's manicured but not extremely manicured. They do police it and have active lengthsmen which is a Good Thing.
Last time we were on there was about 4 years ago on one of my boats which is 40ftx9ft and I think it was about £100 for a week.
It's pretty, slightly pointless but a nice enough change from the normal waterways one sees.
The low bridge is Broadford up the top end of the navigation and it's around 6ft air draft.
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Erebus did have an Ailsa Craig single when I looked at it in 1995. It was a really nice little engine I wonder what became of it. Boat also had a nice Taylor's gimballed paraffin cooker.
A little Sabb would be quite nice. I'd have thought the Bukh okay though.
Maybe change to dry exhaust and skin tank cooling to get the "right" noise .
Funny little boat 5ft8 wide. Hmm how she rolled.
BMC 1.5 smoking at higher revs
in BMC
Posted · Edited by magnetman
Does seem likely yes.
The screws which were nackered were shorter than the standard ones which was a bit odd. Less threads on them.
Sorry if I've hijacked the thread a bit but this problem did cause a very significant knocking sound and that was one of the complaints the OP had.