Ratkatcher

Are they related to Dick Turpin? Thank goodness Wheaton Aston is only a mile or so from my mooring

LadyG, A couple of months ago I bought my current boat, likely a bit older than yours-to-be, (and for a little less money) it was a well maintained one-owner from new boat. Being a little bit sensible I insisted on a full survey as I didn't really fancy any big projects in the immediate future. The hull sides were very good with minimal pitting, the base plate was a different story with a 'rash' (surveyors own word) of pitting along the length of the base, some deep enough to warrant overplating. There were a couple of other relatively minor issues that needed addressing 'in the near future' but otherwise a nice boat for her age. The survey allowed me to negotiate £8K off the asking price - the overplating etc. cost to put the boat mainly right. (She is being completely overplated - bottom and sides to the waterline) Prior to 3 trips through the Harecastle Tunnel the boat was beautifully presented in paintwork and fresh hull blacking... (but that is another story) So spending £700+ prior to purchase proved a worthwhile expense. Like many others have said before, the boat chose me (I had looked at quite a few in the past too) as soon as I boarded her, now I am waiting patiently to get her into her slot for overplating and only doing little trips out until then, but once all is done that will certainly change! Just as an aside, there is no shoreline connection on the boat so Galvanic Erosion was not suspected... May I suggest you have a survey done, just in case?

I know this is quite a bit later than originally posted... I put the ebay plugs in the engine last Friday, having sat for a little while making sure the plug holes were really clean (surprising how much carbon had built up!) and applied a liberal coating of copper grease to the plug threads they went in almost effortlessly. Saturday morning, outside temperature about 11c (so the engine was nice and cold) apply heaters for 30 seconds and try to start engine, white smoke, lots of good speed starter rotation but no start. Another 30 seconds worth and the same result. The engine did start after cranking for about 20 seconds with the typical cloud of black smoke rapidly clearing to normal (no smoke) running. My guess is that either I blew a fuse with the new (lower resistance) plugs or made some other newbie error. No current clamp meter to check if all is well so I'll have to lay my hands on one. The operating manual for the Thornycraft 90 shows a fuse in the line but gives no sensible indication of where it is located - happy days Hopefully next time I am at the boat there will be one of the neighbours around and I can ask then to turn the key to heat while I play with the plugs...

Thanks very much for the suggestions and advice, they are much appreciated. When I go back to the boat (only had a couple of days there last week) I'll take note of the idle oil pressure when the engine is hot and post it. Thanks for the information about coolant temperature - Tich has 'keel cooling' so this may not be working at its most efficient, likely to be compromised further when she is overplated later this year I imagine! I shall ask Martin Kedion for advice at that time. Tony, there is a Crossland oil filter fitted and I have a replacement of the same type waiting to be spun on when I change the engine oil. Where might I find the relief valve? The service manual for BMC 1500 shows a picture of 2 nuts indicating which is the one to undo but as the illustration give no indiocation where to look for this it is a little less than helpful. (maybe I shold just crawl around in the engine 'ole until I notice something similar!) Again thanks for everything so far to everyone.

Trad stern, Richard - all of the guages are just the right height to attract attention That and as I am still really a 'newbie' with only about 100 hours cruising so far I am still getting used to how Tich behaves. Worry level is lower thanks to your comment and 20w50 was going in next time anyway, if the temperature is below -10c outside I'll light a tea-light under the sump -perfumed of course!

Currently 15w40, Bloomsberry (came with the boat) I did read in the manual that 'standard' was 20w50 and was planning to go that way next time - will post back if it makes any difference. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks, Richard. She seems to run ok, but reading about others with much higher oil pressure I worried just a little. David

One for the gurus... The oil pressure on my engine only gets to around 40 psi when cold and drops to between 20 and 30 when it reaches normal operating temperature (70c when just poodling along and around 90c if sustained high speed - about 4 mph...) Engine revs at normal speed are only around 700 RPM, higher speeds around 1000/1100 RPM. (I think the Hurth gearbox has a 1.5:1 ratio) Engine oil is about 100 hours old and will be replaced (and the filter) in the very near future. Can anyone suggest where I might start looking to solve this please? The engine 'meter' shows around 8500 hours but the previous owners appear to have been meticulous about servicing so I don't believe it had been abused over time. Thanks in advance.

Something else to catch on the rudder.... Looks like the biggest bit of rubbish didn't remain in the canal for long though

We went through the Harecastle tunnel 3 times (masochistic, I know) and had this tiny LED Floodlight sat on the roof of the boat lighting up the tunnel just in front of the rear hatch. It stayed in place on all but the very lowest part - it helped a lot, but not quite enough to compensate for my lack of experience, some paint scraped off both sides of the poor old boat on those trips! This floodlight was bought from Amazon, but I think other sources have the same thing - it really is very small with a wide beam. (and rechargeable too - great for night time excursions with the dogs)

I didn't know where to post this... Taken last year walking the dogs

Thanks for that Mrsmelly, we had been Googling waterfowl and not came up with anything similar! I'll bet the Cavapoo Spandles were pretty little dogs Neil - we have 2 Cavs (the pedigree kind, and they are very pretty - probably a biased view though )

This pretty one was swimming with the Mallards on the Shroppy yesterday. Does anyone know what he is? Thanks

THe longer route via Fradley Junction looks like it can be completed in around the same time scale, without a massive amount of locks... As the sacrificial chines no longer exist on Tichitoro minimising the number of locks is a better bet. I think this would be the route to take but would still appreciate having assistance along if you are still willing.

Thanks for the offers everyone, as soon as Martin has confirmed the dates I'll get in touch with you. I'll take a look at the longer, but less locks, route, thanks for the suggestion! The original CanalplanAC route was based on days up to 5 hours long (all those locks!) as I don't really mind long and easy days but locks take it out of me a bit as I'm not as fit as I used to be...

I will be moving Tichitoro from her home mooring on the Shroppy (Near Brewood Visitor Moorings) to Martin Kedion's works on the Grand Union - a little jaunt of just over 50 miles and 91 locks! This is anticipated about September (whenever Martin has the free space so a firm date is yet to be set) and the journey should take around 9 days to complete. In advance, would anyone here be willing to help me make the trip? My wife can't do this one as she must be the chauffer at both ends and will be looking after home and dogs. Food & drink aplenty offered in exchange.... Any offers of help would be greatly appreciated thanks! David

Strange but the ebay ones were very reluctant to go into my engine, the thread appeared larger so for now have not fitted them. But while I was sitting in the engine 'ole I spent a happy hour or so cleaning out the glow plug holes with a 4mm long drill bit and just a little cussing... Having removed enough hard carbon to have me searching for any missed diamonds and then replaced the original glow plugs there is already a noticible difference in starting from cold, 45 seconds of heating and the engine starts in a few seconds, very encouraging! When I am next at the boat I'll have a go at getting the ebay plugs in again, just to see if I was being a little too cautious. For now well pleased anyway.

Brilliant! Have a greenie

I am tempted to send the other supplier's plugs back, they look like they were pulled from an engine or 2 and look (and measure - I used my coil building deck to measure resistance on the plugs) as tired as the ones already in my engine! The ebay ones are new, shiny and under 2 ohms resistance so should glow a lot brighter than the champion ones, which could mean easier starting... That and they were only £15 (a bit less) compared to £72! A refund is going to be requested I think.

Both original Champion glow plugs and the ones from ebay have arrived. The ebay ones are in individual boxes and very clean, I'm impressed, if I hadn't left my multimeter on the boat it would have been fun to compare resistance of the units. Will fit one of the sets when next at the boat (after a good cleaning of all the plugholes) and hope that they help

I put a DAB headset in my car to replace the broken FM radio, added a signal amplifier to give a little compensation for the 'FM' aerial incompatibility and found that reception (particularly in the Welsh Valleys where I then lived) on DAB was not particularly predictable, often being non-existent. I did try one of the on glass DAB antennas but found the result to be the same as the car aerial. Result was that DAB head unit was removed and replaced with a conventional FM one, apart from a couple of known dead spots it works - particularly where the DAB unit just sulked... Maybe Wales doesn't count for the magic 50% as it is almost unpopulated in comparison to much of England Even if there are so many beautiful views to be had! The DAB unit will make its way onto the boat in the near future, replacing the (still original - and working) LW/MW pushbutton unit onboard.