Peugeot 106

And I thought David was being Pedantic………….! (I’m not an engine expert and my expertise with English may be even lower)

I hope the OP bears this in mind if he swaps his Bukh36 for a National 2DM

Pedantic is an insulting word used to describe someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise especially in some narrow or boring subject matter. if the cap fits………..! (No offence meant)

Agreed. I did mention that going too fast at tickover ( I called idle) was one of the constraints. Since we don’t know how overpropped he thinks he is we can’t judge where he is on the power band and I’m pretty sure that too much overpropping is not good as you will go too fast at tickover and lose power at your top revs. I’m always told diesels like to work but don’t suppose reaching full power at 1000 rpm will do them much good. All I’m suggesting is that he doesn’t rush in and buy a shiny new prop at considerable cost without taking decent advice

Sorry I can’t remember at all. I think I spoke to the MD. I’m usually pretty good at keeping notes on helpful suppliers but this time have failed miserably. They were definitely recommended by Crowthers on both the websites I remember thinking how pleased the new company must be. Unfortunately Hotmail forced me to delete all my emails up to last year or I could have searched on that. Basically the guy said that if you’ve got a hull like a brick (I have and so have plenty of others) there is a definite maximum speed that you will get out of it that won’t be related necessarily to 1.35 and the sq root waterline length because it’s a brick not a displacement hull. That doesn’t preclude you having a lot of fun in it but you must be realistic. My theoretical max would be 6.75 knots. I get 4.1 in deep water. There is nothing we can’t do that other narrowboats do with a bit of forethought ie an avoidance “punching” spring tides or red boards. We rarely get overtaken on canals i thought we had the wrong propellor and should be going a lot faster until I got some advice. After 4 years and hundreds of miles I have no desire to go any faster or alter anything

You can melt them by not clearing out the ash pan and letting it build up to the bars which are normally fire resistant chrome alloy. I know this because I once had to cut some with an angle grinder. No need for a vacuum cleaner though I’m sure it was fun!

When Crowthers closed they recommended me to another company the trouble is i can’t remember who. They did a prop sizing and said they could alter my pitch or supply a new one but talked me out of it explaining that I wouldn’t go any faster with a new prop. A smaller prop turning fast does much the same as a larger prop turning slower ( within reason) they said that engine installers don’t like overpropped boats and won’t guarantee them as people can damage them ( especially hirees) if they keep pushing the throttle open after top revs have been attained They were of the opinion that reasonable overpropping was of benefit in some respects if the throttle operator knew about not over throttling. At the end of the day it’s the speed your hull will reasonably achieve which is not necessarily theoretical hull speed if you’ve got a bluff bow, short swims, shallow water etc. BUT you don’t want to go to fast in idle Maybe somebody on the forum can tell you who was recommended by Crowthers. They told me what prop I could go for and also gave me good reason not to bother. When you talk to people about RPM make sure you distinguish between engine and propellor RPM. Most gearboxes are 2:1, 2.5:1 or 3:1 I believe so there can be a big difference. The ratio should be on the gearbox nameplate and is normally different for forward and reverse. ( the propellor goes slower than the engine!) sorry if I’m being long winded but I have thought I had similar problems to you. I am an enthusiastic amateur though and not an expert good luck

The prop can be repitched within reason by a propellor refurbisher if this is the way you want to go. It may well be worth speaking with a manufacturer/ refurbisher now so that you can get an idea of what they have, what prop size they think is applicable to your boat and what they can do. When you do get it out of the water if all your ducks are in a row you may get a very quick turnaround. i don’t know what your new tacho readings are but a fair few of us are happy with a degree of overpropping. In my case my engine will get to 3000 rpm out of gear but in gear 2200 is the max It is reassuring to get advice off Norris but all I’m saying is make sure you know of all your options before you come out for blacking Thanks for reporting back

Now that really is what is called a perk. And I’ll bet the 9 tonnes delivered was a generous 9 tonnes

I for one sometimes wish I was. Most of his lashups seemed to work

yes but if the pump in the bucket fails you are stuffed if the object of having two pumps is to allow for redundancy Or simply a hopper higher than the skin outlet so that the hopper gravity drains with each pump separately pumping into the hopper. Then either pump can fail. As drawn won’t work without non return valves which are an added thing to clog unless they are integral (inbuilt) in the pump which I very much doubt.

I was hoping that if soldering the flux would clean inaccessible crevices and drag the solder in. It’s cleaning the crevices where the damage probably is that I see as the problem. It’s a case of hopefully a tiny piece of filler in a tiny hole solving the problem. I can’t see a large patch of any type of glue being much help as capillary action will always help a leak in any cracks. With my pinhole the welder kept applying more solder but it still leaked. When he stripped it all off and got a tiny bit in the right place it never leaked again. But the flux gassing off could be a big problem as Alec says. I hadn’t considered that but maybe there is a way round it i’ve had success with wood cracks with Captain Tolleys Creping Crack Cure. It works with capillary action. It may be worth seeing if they have any advice. The problem with any glue is that it needs meticulous cleaning and abrading. With epoxy and stainless dinghy fittings I have had success by degreasing the surfaces and then sanding them with wet and dry sandpaper using the resin as the lubrication. But you need the correct temperature it would be useless at today’s ambient temperatures. I think you need to find a decent fabrication welder, show him photos and at the end of the day leave him to choose whatever method he’s happiest with. In my experience some of these welders are pretty ingenious and not as rip off as you would expect. Find one that likes a challenge. Mine had several goes to seal my pinhole good luck. Lots of people don’t mind living with small leaks but I’m not one of them

MAPP torch, correct silver solder and flux? If you have access. Not my area of expertise but worth spending a few minutes on Google. If you can run some solder into the seam where it shouldn’t flex. I had a pinhole leak in a steel pipe and it was fixed (by someone else) like that. Stainless is I think more awkward but not impossible with the correct solder and gravity may well be on your side please note I am not pretending to be an expert just offering an idea for investigation. I’d probably take a photo round to a fabricating shop and get their opinion

Makes sense. When I made my trip we started the engine on deck. I remember that as none of us could work out how to start it until we were told about the air. We all felt a bit silly and were glad it was only a practice. On the one I saw seawater was injected into the exhaust - the injection bend was badly corroded too. I didn’t know from the photo whether the picture is of the engine in its new or old home or what mods had been carried out so thought it was worth mentioning as the manifold I saw was supposedly ex lifeboat ( and the same colour!) it had probably been reinstalled in a yacht or launch in its second life and altered to seawater cooling pedroinlondon you are now in expert land for these Alpha engines with Steve. Although others have excellent knowledge on a wide variety of engines and other boats bits Steve is your specialist on this forum for Alpha’s. just remember you can’t be lackadaisical with the servicing with these engines. They are excellent engines but won’t stand the abuse of their forebearers. Happily most of the the bits are readily available at a reasonable price (compared to some other marques) Good luck

Another thing I’d check if it’s had seawater cooling is the exhaust manifold. I’ve seen one off a lifeboat that looked fine until it was cleaned up when it was discovered that corrosion had got the inside of it and it leaked when pressure tested. It was seawater cooled I think and the seawater was piped into the exhaust after the manifold. I’m not sure how long or under what conditions it had been stored after being taken off the life boat. Yours is probably fine but I thought I’d mention it. Around 50 years ago I worked on semi submersible drilling rigs (wildcat wells) in the North Sea and we once took a lifeboat out for a spin. It was absolutely terrifying. The worst bit was being winched back on board. It’s a long way down and even further back up when it kept swinging into the rig leg resulting in a hole in the lifeboat The engines were started on compressed air stored in bottles on the boat in case electric starters sparked and BOOM….i presume they had flame arrestors in the exhaust. Happy days and very happy money!

That’s the one. Suggest you read up about oil changes and hydraulic tappets. These are different from most other engines. I use Premier 10W40 API - CC oil as advised by ex Lister Engineers and the manual. For the LPW direct injection which you have the oil change is I think 250 hours or it may be 500 hours with a bigger filter. Check the manual. Mine is LPWS indirect injection which is the same as yours but indirect injection and the interval is only 100 hours as it runs dirtier on start up apparently. I have been told that regular oil changes and oil spec are very important with these engines because of the hydraulic tappets though I’m sure others will have different opinions. I don’t see the point in risking it and stick to the manual instructions Agreed whole heartedly. It’s a bit like smoking. We all know the odd people who live to a hundred and smoke 50 Woodies a day but most have gone long ago……… PS I think it’s a good engine!

Suggest you ring Richard or Sue at MES or Keith at Sleeman. (Plenty of others are available!)

It’s Lister Petter LPW 4 cylinder 40 bhp build 48 (marine build) built in 2007 also known as Canal Star or Alpha. All spares Manuals etc available from Richard at MES Midlands or Sleeman Hawker Dorset and others. Manuals and Parts List also available online FOC

Good luck with it. It looks like fun. Don’t forget to clean the filters!

If it was left on continuously I don’t fancy its chances after an hour never mind 9months. They are not rated continuously so if you want it to run for any length of time you need to monitor the temperature of the motor. If you want to be pedantic mine was used daily for normal showering, washing etc for around at least 250 days. My view is that the Shureflo should be considered a consumable but they are not expensive and very easy to change. When I empty my water tank for winter I pump out around 20 litres at a time and give it 10 minutes cooling before pumping a further 20 litres. I also point a fan heater on cold at it At the end of the day some bits of my boat will outlive me but others won’t. You pays your money

My Sureflo has started to weep from the body after at least 9 months continuous use over 4 years. I have bought another to replace it. It is worth having a shop around on eBay. My replacement was around £100 and is a direct replacement. Mine is properly mounted with flexible pipes adjacent to the pump as per the instructions but I’ve heard that they are prone to leak from the body anyway and a leak detector or lunchbox (or both) sounds sensible if like mine it’s buried in a locker

When I was in a lad and Vickers at Barrow was in its hey day they reckoned that if Vickers took back everything belonging to Vickers there wouldn’t be a boat left floating in Walney Channel. And some had pretty exotic metal prop shafts. One of the local Bars had a notice saying. “Please don’t ask for a sub. Try Vickers” Goodness knows what other foreigners were made there