MarkHez

£400 to get the pump refurbed, £300 for a 13hp honda + pulleys etc, comes to about £400 and it makes it a damn sight simpler to work on in future. For negative pressure I'd use an engine driven fan instead of electrical.

Hence using a Vee belt transmission from the engine - can easily downgear it. I can't see any diesels around the 10hp mark for anything close to £250, my expertise also lies in petrol engine not diesel injection. Not that I cant teach myself, but it just makes things simpler. Aiming for negative pressure on the engine bay using fans to clear the fumes and aid the engine in cooling.

If fire gets from the stove to the petrol tanks on my boat, I'm already pretty damn fecked.

The Perkins 4cyl diesel in my Creighton has packed up (suspected fuel pump), due to it being a large engine in a small engine bay, it's bloody awkward to work on and it looks like im going to have to lift the engine out to do the pump. This got me thinking - maintenance on the engine is damn near impossible, and firing up a 40hp engine to move at 4mph seems a ridiculous waste of a big engine, so why not replace the engine with a 13hp single cylinder petrol honda general purpose engine? Transmission would be through twin A section V belts onto the current velvet drive gearbox. I'd be using a 4 groove pulley at the engine end, and should be able to run a 100A alternator at the same time as propulsion, but use an idller pulley to take tension off the alternator if required. The 4th groove on the pulley would be a spare, possibly used to run a pressure washer/water pump/second alternator through a similar tensioning clutch. The engine could be lifted out and worked on by me on my own, it would free up a large space in the engine bay (to store coal, with a shovel hatch inside the front cabin) and it opens up easy opportunities for engine swaps in the future and would also allow me to use my 5.5hp genset engine (that has spare pulley grooves) to propel the boat in an emergency, i could easily make it up to be swapped in under 20mins. Is there any reason that the BSS won't allow me a fuel swap? Can anyone think of any reasons why my plan wouldn't work? Cheers for any advice Mark

The joys of fibreglass boats with no heating

I wonder how long till those 5 boats get letters from the enforcement team saying they are't complying with the CCing rules

When I said no way of getting to water points, I meant to fill the boat tanks up in one go, 20l cans are alright for drinking water and I just use canal and stream water for the toilet.

I made a genset with a honda lawnmower engine Engine for £30 from a local farm and a 75amp alternator for £10 from a breakers, much more useful to me than a 240v genny. Thanks for all the offers of help, but I'm sure I'll be fine now I've got a way of getting domestic batteries charged. I can get supplies and things no problem (got a motorbike so can carry 20l water cans), and now I have the genny set up I have lighting (and a paraffin lamp). Boatman is a wood burning stove, I'm waiting for a phone call any day now saying it is ready! Engine is a Perkins 4 cylinder diesel, it looks to me as though the diesel pump has failed, not an easy or cheap job with the engine bay layout how it is!

That's what I've been doing, and I've coped alright! I'm CCing but my engine packed up the week before Christmas so I've had no power (until I made a generating set last week), no way of getting to water points and the heating has packed up! Still in good spirits, even though my boatman has been on order since before Christmas and I still haven't got that wonderful phone call telling me it's ready! -4c in my bedroom the other day!

The vegetation that builds up on the feeder section of the lancaster canal is cleared by a bunch of contractors from Dorset, it costs 25k per visit and they've been up 4 times in the last year.

Ahhh even though it says multifuel in the title, it adds £150odd quid when you select multifuel! Sorry about that.

https://www.directstoves.com/charnwood-country-4-defra-approved-stove.html £584 and free delivery - its the cheapest I can find by miles (about £100 cheaper than anywhere else!)

That depends if you want the woodburner model or the multifuel?

675 delivered. http://www.elyboatchandlers.com/clearance-items/morso-squirrel-1410-airwash-solid-fuel-stove?source=Froogle

I was rocked to sleep and slept like a log last night! Much prefer wind and the sound of water lapping against the hull than ice on the inside of the windows of a morning!

I call them "those awful noisy clip things that unhook themselves as soon as you turn your back", or lots of expletives when I get back home in the pouring rain and find my boat floating in the middle of the canal. Mooring pins or chains for me now! Another recommendation for the dickies padded waterproof overalls (and I agree that it can take ages going through all the pockets!) - I use them on the motorbikes and the boat and they are wonderfully warm and dry!

Looking for a bit of advice on this one, my boat (Creighton 27) is fitted with a propane fired Atwood Confort 3 Water heater / blown hot air combi. When you turn on the switch for either hot water or heating, gas is heard to enter then the flame ignites. Both the FLAME and NO FLAME lights (green and red) are lit on the control panel, and the unit blows hot air for approx 10-15mins. It then shuts off (possibly due to getting up to temperature on the thermostat, but the unit doesnt fire back up again when the temperature drops, just carries on blowing cold air at you! Any ideas?

The diskus is relatively easy to pick open, and the older ones can be opened with a biro!

Surely CRT would find it whilst patrolling the visitor moorings? (and probably try and prosecute the owner for not cruising far enough!)

I have had better results with mobile (HSDPA) connections than satellite. My EE contract is £50 a month (but with a posh phone thrown in) and allows a 20GB download limit, which can easily be shared over wifi to laptops etc.

I'm up near bridgehouse marina at nateby, have some spare lifejackets and can possibly help you out with some tools depending on what you need? Give me a PM if you want,

None of my local gas suppliers will trade up or down sizes of gas bottle, calor frown upon it nowadays apparently.

I think I saw you the other day whilst underway. Here are my 2, wave if you see me! Countessa (currently with no name displayed, bad weather has stopped the paintjob till she comes out of the water!) No Regrets (who needs to be sold )

As it happens, I liveaboard and play the bagpipes, always gets a cheer when I pipe my way past the visitor moorings! (probably wouldn't at midnight though!)