DRR67

Just to let you know the phone number has now changed, and it is now 03030 404040. A very helpful young lady has confirmed that the locks are on winter hours and operate 0800 to 1530, and that the last boat will be at 14:45.

Thanks to all that replied, I didn't expect so many replies and some of them are even helpful Fair point about the revs, thinking about it 10,000 sounds a bit high, but there was a big friendly 10 on the dial, so it probably was about 1,000 rpm. Still, the comment about the water-skier made my wife laugh. Not sure why 1,000 rpm was considered too fast for going past moored boats. There was practically no wake off the front of the boat (if that is the correct term) and there was no wash from the rear of the boat hitting the parked boats. The survey is being done end of the week, weather dependent, so it might be later before I find out what has made the noise, but plenty to look out for.. Thinking about what has been suggested, a slipping belt could well be the cause, I am hoping for that rather than anything more serious or the suggestion that it is a 'singing prop'. For those who have experienced a 'singing prop', where does the sound actually originate from. I know it has been described as a result of the prop hitting a resonant frequency when going through the water, but what part of the prop - prop shaft - engine actually does the 'singing'. Does the noise sound as though it is outside off the rear of the boat - or inside the engine compartment? Dave

Hi, We have been looking at buying a narrowboat for some time but with our only experience being hiring, not owning, we are understandably cautious about making such a big purchase. We looked at a boat today we are really interested in, a 58 ft, colecraft hull with a beta 43 engine. We went for a test drive and at about 10,000 rpm the engine sounded really quiet and smooth - we were going fairly slowly no faster than people walking on the tow path - but I guess that this was because there were a lot of boats tied up that we were passing at that point. As the boat accelerated and the revs increased, the noise from the engine bay below us changed at one point to a high pitched whining, a sort of (wee-wee-wee-wee), but accelerating past this point the engine then sounded more engine like and normal. I asked about this noise and was told it was nothing to worry about and normal. The engine has recently been serviced and it has done less than 1200 hours. I don't really know if this noise was the engine (possibly not), if its not the engine could it be the prop shaft rubbing on the stern gland - does this happen ? We are going to arrange a full survey on the boat, but if anybody has experienced this before it may either put our minds at rest or put us off the boat. Thanks, Dave