Tony Brooks

I think there is a difference but it could be overcome. The restorations seem to be in the hands of a comparative small group of people with the same outcome in view and an organisation. To reproduce this system wide would require a similar setup. Would CaRT concur? Would volunteers work happily under CaRT managers? How would then interests of existing CRT staff be safeguarded?

I am sure that is correct but I was thinking of more major projects that require more than basic DIY skills.

The cross section of skills I found amongst boaters may mean that given a suitable incentive many such skills could be readily available, in some cases it might even extend to equipment. The question is what incentive would bring such skills forward. I would suggest a discount on the license fee in exchange for xx hours of work. However that ignores the Health and Safety demands and documentation. I suspect it is those that make CaRT prefer contractors and paid staff.

If that is the case he is still unlikley to be correct. I did mine 1 x local primer, 2 x undercoat, 2 x top coat for about £200 but rather more if I had used "marine" paint, still not £500 though.

Where did you get £500 for a paint job? More like £5000 for a cheap one up to well over £10,000 for a top notch one from a well respected painter. Have you any idea how long it takes to do a quality fit out on a bare shell? I can tell you that a workman like fitout on a 37ft wide beam hire boat with two chippies and two engineers takes about 3 months and then there are the painters. If they had built the cupboards, kitchen units etc. rather than buy in it would take longer. A great deal of the £75000 you mention will be labour costs. There will also be an amount related to the perceived desirability of the builder and boat fitters. You would not expect to buy a Rolls Royce for the same price as a Skoda of the same year. I don't think you have researched the cost of boats and why some seem expensive. I also suspect you need to investigate the costs related to boating. For a 50ft boat in the Midlands think close to £5000 a year plus maintenance, fuel, toilet disposal and gas costs.

On my own boat I used to start with rather more than 50% so that over the life of the antifreeze 5 years in my case) it could be topped up with ordinary water. I never had a problem and the same with the central heating but I don't feel I can advise others to do that. But 50% still allows a lot of dilution before you get to 25% and that will normally be OK for most of the inland waterways in England and Wales.

I understand that antifreeze has a lower specific heat than water. Nothing to do with latent heat (boiling and freezing point). Here you go from Beta's website General Aftercare For Kubota Based Propulsion & Generating Set Engines, Beta Marine Recommend: Clip Engine Coolant Antifreeze Always use a Mono Ethylene Glycol Based Extended Life Anti-freeze mixed 30 < 50% with water. NB: Do not exceed an Anti-freeze mix greater than 50%, as the engine cooling efficiency will be detrimentally affected. https://betamarine.co.uk/general-aftercare/

We will disagree on that. 50% is the usually recommended maximum concentration because if you go higher the coolant looses its ability to carry as much heat away. Typically 33% is recommended by the manufacturers. I find antifreeze tends to be very searching so if you g to high you find little weeps in the system. The corrosion protection is done by sticking to the manufacturer's coolant change intervals and that could be anything from 2 to 10 years or more depending upon the antifreeze & inhibitor technology.

If it really does feed into the cooling system then it won't also feed into the domestic water part of the calorifier. However it may well feed into or out of one of the coils close to the calorifier. My guess would be to a high point so it vents any air from the coils. If the brass fitting on the little pipe in the filler neck on the engine is a blanking plug then the cap on that filler shoudl either be a solid one with no springs or a higher pressure than the one on the plastic expansion tank. Filling via the plastic tank may well leave a lot of air in the manifold heater tank. I would fill the manifold first then put the cap on and put about an inch of coolant into the plastic tank. Remember that once you are sure the problem has gone you will probably have to refill the system with a 30% to 50% antifreeze mixture.

FWIW. Unless you can find a pipe or hose linking the engine cooling system to the push fit plastic plumbing I am now all but sure those header tanks have nothing to do with engine cooling. The exhaust manifold (the box with the "butterfly" pressure cap on it) probably acts as the coolant header tank on your engine. This is the conventional way of doing it until it was realised that with skin tanks the expanding coolant could empty the header and allow air into the skin tank. l would fill to the bottom of the filler neck. Run up to temperature and allow to cool. Coolant will be blown out of the pressure cap abut once its cool whatever coolant level then that will be the full level. Fill and bleed, keep filling until no more air/gas comes from the screw hole. then top up.

I agree with you. Certainly looks like it. For the OP, what Jan has produced is a plug set into a stub of pipe. I would say definably the bleed point. It also shows its more in the position it would be expected to be in.

I don't think that is a proper stud, I think its a cut off length of studding. It also looks too course to be UNF. Not sure how you can ascertain the diameter unless the friend measures his or tells us the spanner size that fits properly.

We need a close up of that nut, a shot of whatever is below the wooden structure where we think the tank bleed point might be. Then we need sufficient photos so we can work out exactly what pipes go where and how those two tanks are r are not connected to the system. I am beginning to suspect they may be related to the domestic hot water or heating system but as I can't see the pipework I don't know. If its too difficult to get the shots then a drawing may show what is connected to what and where more easily. At one time some calorifier suppliers used a plastic car type expansion tank in place of the PRV although if this is one of those I think its been replaced.

We can't argue with the manual as long as 7/16 refers specifically to the starter motor studs. I think the threads on those engine ranged from 3/16" up to about 1/2" depending upon the location.