Tony Brooks

It certainly looks that way and I think it may be the wrong handed (not rotation) alternator, because we can see the adjustment bracket attachment when it would normally be underneath the alternator. However, I don't think the OP should worry at this stage unless it starts eating belts. Now you draw my attention to it, something also looks odd with the alternator brackets mounted on the engine and distance pieces on the bolts. I don't think they are standard and might be the hangover from a dynamo.

Given the state of boats before the BSS. and cars before the MOT, I would question that statement. People have to recognise the hazard and mitigate it by maintenance. Unfortunately many don't. Example. In a Thames lock, along with a small GRP cruiser with a Ford petrol engine, plus a horrible stench of petrol. Having talked to the owner, it was clear that he was completely oblivious to the danger. The cause was a faulty carburettor needle valve together with a worn throttle spindle, so when fuel flooded from the jet onto the throttle butterfly and out of the worn spindle. I have noticed this on a number of boats and many more cars. I also suspect many owners would not recognise deteriorating fuel hose and minor fuel leaks. This is why the Thames Launch regulations mandated up draft carburettors with a drip tray fitted with a gauze flame arrestor.

I suspect some may not have absorbed your comment about needing lost of cranking two weeks ago. Then it is injecting fuel, it should at least try to start, so if it is not, then despite the ambient temperature, the air in the combustion chamber is not getting hot enough. That points to low compression (worn engine, valves being held open) or lack of glow plug heat. Try turning the engine over by hand and compare the force needed to take it over compression with the other engine. Otherwise, check there is a gap on all the valve clearances and then get a compression test done. This all assumes that you have not been messing with injection timing, valve timing, or valve clearances. A further thought and long shot. The skew gear that drives the injector pump drive has an oil strainer and oil jet located below the manifold at the back port side of the engine. If not regularly cleaned, especially the strainer, the jet blocks causing the skew gears to wear. This gradually messes up the injection timing. So it might be a good idea to pull the strainer and jet to ensure they are clear and in good condition.

Not really. Diesels do not make much CO because they always run very lean in petrol engine terms. The amount of piston blow by, which is what you are venting, in a fair engine is not that great, so it further reduces the amount of CO that gets vented. A 1.5l engine at 1500 rpm will draw in a bit less than 750 litres of air a minute, so say 700, depending upon the volumetric efficiency of the engine, so much of any of that small amount of CO vented into the engine room will get drawn into the engine. It really is not a problem. On a very old and badly worn engine, smell from the fumes may be a greater issue. If you are really concerned, take the inlet manifold off (four nuts) and get it drilled and tapped to accept a hose tail, so any oil mist goes straight back into the engine, but I would not bother.

and the OP has yet to quantify the amount of white "smoke". Clouds or wisps.

Not so easy if it won't start.

Yes, looks fine to me.

My feeling is litres per hour is the easiest for most boaters because many have hour counters and know how much fuel they buy, so I suspect you might sell less than two.

As long as there are n nasty smells (rotten eggs), or hot spots on the battery during charging, or liquid/mist flowing from the vent port, then an explosion is unlikely unless you do something a bit silly, like disconnecting the charger while still turned on so it creates a spark. I suggest that is fairly normal behaviour. As the charging current a battery will accept from many charging sources rises the charging voltage gets depressed and as the current falls the charging voltage increases. I think that battery was flatter than the other one so allowed more current flow at first.

Sounds as if some glow plugs may be burned out. Normally I would say take them out and put them across a 12V battery to see what happens. If you are getting clouds of white "smoke" - not a few wisps, then you should have fuel being injected, but not enough heat in the cylinders to ignite it. The problem with 1.5D plugs is that if they have not been taken out every couple of years and the holes decarbonised the pin ends jamb in and snap off as you try to undo them, so if you have a clamp type ammeter use a cable between each glow plug and the battery to see how much current each are drawing. If you have to take them out, then the best way is to "worry" them out. Tighten one flat (1/6 turn), then loosen the same amount and after every three sequences undo them another flat, but they are likely to still snap.

The cheap consumption readouts as found on cars are not, usually, flow meters. They are simply pulse length and frequency counters because the fuel pressure is known and the injector orifice size is also known, so time and frequency and pulse length makes it a trivial ECU calculation, it is really all software (firmware?) based and not a physical flow meter. I doubt an add-on for our mechanically injected diesels would be a cheap development - it will probably require two flow meters, plus calculations and display.

I would try spirit wipe (panel degreaser), but it is just a guess - or cheaper for a test area, try nail varnish remover.

I don't think that the OP has actually stated that he paid the marina. This is more likely a private or off site brokerage sale where there are monies owed to the marina by the vendor, so they may have a lien on it, thus a fraudulent sale. I wish the OP would be a bit more forthcoming in respect of the circumstances of the sale and who the money was paid to. On the basis of what he wrote, this could be a third party selling the boat and the marina seeking to protect the actual owner. We see a few each year where adverts have been lifted from proper sites and buyers are scammed of a lot of money. If there is any fraud, then doing as you suggest might make the OP subject to prosecution for theft. This needs resolving properly and not by internet advice.

Yes, got it in one. In theory, you could block the rocker cover breather and rely upon the one on the side cover, but as this is an older engine and BMCs do seem to like to vent fumes I would not, just direct both hoses into the milk bottle. As you say, there is not much oil, but it is enough to wet the filter mesh/foam and then trap loads of hair and dust. Actually the mesh or foam in those filters is supposed to be soaked in oil and allowed to drain before fitting, specifically to catch dust and hair, but as boats tend not to be used on dusty roads it is easier to leave them dry. Some Vetus and older Lister engines do not use an air filter, only a silencing box, so it is no big deal.

Yes, that would do, but I would use a T piece, like a Yorkshire T with stubs or pipe soldered into it to join the two hoses that you have and the use the other stub to run into the catch bottle. I would not run any 1.5 breather into the air cleaner nowadays because they tend to drip oil.

Yes, asking for oil leaks, especially on an older engine.

But the only way you will find out for sure is to "get on your bike" to visit any sites that you identify and talk to the moorers.

Thanks, so more a valve to keep a degree of pressure in the fuel system than a NRV, although it will act as such - like the valve in the BMC 1.5 filter heads on the return pipe. Just for information. There are "add on" NRVs on the market that are supposed to allow the use of flexible leak off pipes, but the BSS does not seem so keen on metal leak off pipes as they once were.

They seem to be all over. Some on the South Oxford, south of Fenny Tunnel, some on the GU/Oxford west of the Puddle Banks, and some on the GU North of Calcutt locks, that I can remember. I can't be any more exact than that. I would suggest Google Earth will give you the information you seek. Just blow the map up and follow the canals. Try this for the GU one https://www.google.com/maps/@52.2782573,-1.344255,113m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDYxNy4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D