john cowie
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Posts posted by john cowie
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Hi, We are planning to cross the wash under the expert guidance of Daryl the pilot, from Boston to Kings Lynn, either between May 24th-31st or July 19th-31st. At present we are the only boat going so there will be 2 vacancies. Are there any other boats wanting to join us? Our boat is a 48ft narrowboat.
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We are planning to go from Boston to King's Lynn either May 24th-30th or July 19th-31st. I am starting a new thread to ask whether anyone else is interested in accompanying us. At present we are the only boat.
The new thread is called "Crossing the wash during school holidays May/July 2025"
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Sounds great. Keep in touch and we might be able to do a joint effort effort.
Cheers - John -
Thankyou to all who've contributed here. I have to say, it's left me quite depressed! One thing..... it's very good at going round even in a light breeze. Perhaps I'll sell it to the local sailing club as a manometer.
Cheers - John
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Does Anyone out there Own One of these? - does it work? - or have we all been conned?
It wasn't cheap and it produces almost nothing.....!
If no one replies to this post, I'll assume we've all been conned!!
Cheers - John
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Hi Barry - Daryl's email is *********@********.com. He mentioned in his email to us that there are certain 'windows' for doing this crossing. So it might be worth you liaising with him regarding dates.
From our point of view, we would probably like a date sometime during the school summer holidays (mid-July to end Aug). It would suit us to cross from Boston to Kings Lynn. I think the 'Fund the Waterways' crossing is going to Wisbech which wouldn't be ideal for us.
Let us know how you get on. Cheers - John
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canal world forum are (understandably) a bit cautious about people swapping contact details..... not sure how to get round this? - anyone any ideas?
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Yes, we are hoping to cross the wash from Boston to King's Lynn in 2025. We've been in contact with the pilot, Daryl Hill, who is collecting names. If you [send me a message] I'll forward his email on to you and you'll then have his contact details and get your name added to the list.
Cheers - John
On 17/11/2024 at 09:44, Barry Anderson said:.
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I have (probably unwisely) acquired a nominally 600W VAWT which I have installed at a location where it spins almost all the time. However I am having difficulty actually getting any useable power out of it. When there was a gale blowing I managed to intermittently light a single 12V LED (2W or so), but most of the time even the small green LED on the rectifier/controller unit struggles to light. I am thinking that I am not matching the load to the wind turbine effectively. At present the load is a 15ohm 50W resistor mounted on an aluminium plate. It doesn't get warm and the green light on the controller box doesn't light. I have asked the supplier of the kit what kind of load the turbine is designed to drive but didn't get a helpful response. See the picture below. It's actually quite well engineered mechanically but doesn't really produce electricity. Any advice would be welcome.
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Many thanks for these replies. Very useful. I'll contact Hazel and see what's being planned.
Cheers = John
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Hi - we have a 48' narrowboat and would like to join a group crossing The Wash to the Great Ouse sometime during 2025. Is anyone out there wanting to do the same??
Cheers - John
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Hi BMC owners - I seem to have resolved a number of issues so thought it would be good to pass on some of what I've learnt in case it's useful
By way of a bit background, we were using oil and then the engine began stopping for no apparent reason. I decided it was time for a major recondition and took the whole thing apart for it to receive a new head (the old one was cracked), new pistons, valves, cylinders re-sleeved, new shells etc. - the whole works. A good job done and wallet a lot lighter!
Noise: The engine now was running nicely in the engine room but outside, close to the exhaust exit, it was uncomfortably loud. Solved this by buying a new exhaust silencer (22" x 4 1/2") from asap supplies to replace one that I had picked up many years ago from a scrap yard. Works a treat – problem solved.
Smoke: A recently reconditioned engine will do all sorts of strange things until it is run in, including puffing out clouds of evil smelling smoke and spitting engine oil out of the exhaust. All a bit concerning after paying so much to solve problems such as this. We’ve now run for about 150 hours and everything has settled down.
Assuming the engine’s been put together correctly, there’s really only two things to adjust: tappet clearances and injector pump timing. Tappets are a bit of a chore but stick at it and make sure all are a sliding fit on 0.015” feeler gauge when fully ‘open’.
When it comes to injector pump timing – the pump rotates ANTI-CLOCKWISE. If in doubt, confirm the firing sequence for your engine and then look at the positions of the pipes coming out of the pump to the injectors. This means that loosening the 3 nuts holding the pump on and turning the pump clockwise will advance the timing, anticlockwise will retard the timing. During a day’s boating when the engine is fully warm you can leave the steering to someone else, slacken the 3 nuts and rotate the pump a small amount and see the effect. I found that turning it clockwise (advancing it) did the trick. Nice ‘clean’ exhaust.
Diesel Bug: Prior to reconditioning, the reason the engine kept stopping turned out to be diesel bug. We know this now since, when dismantling the fuel filter, we expected to see fuel. What we actually saw looked more like engine oil. This black gunge had blocked much of the fuel system until the engine could no longer function. Since we were reconditioning the engine anyway, we simply got the injectors and pump overhauled. We replaced the element in the fuel filter, removed any water we could find in the bottom of the fuel tank (in which the bug grows) and gave it a dose of ‘Marine16’. Problem solved.
Hope this is helpful to someone.......
Cheers - John C
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All this advice is really appreciated. Many thanks. I'll definitely have a look round for a 'hospital silencer' (why the weird name?)
Also - I'm very interested in comments on tweaking the timing - I'm guessing this is referring to turning the injector pump on it's 3 studs. Does anyone have any guidance on this. Like..... which way retards and which advances? and How will I know when I've got it right? etc
The only other thing to check is tappets which I'm quite capable of doing (having owned a British Motorbike!)
Thanks again for all the help - John
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Hi - can anyone shed any light on what might be causing a noisy exhaust.
To add a bit of background.....
I have a recently reconditioned BMC1.5 and have just completed about 150 hours cruising. It's bedding in nicely, with less and less smoke and very little oil usage - we're generally very pleased with the result. However, it is noticeable that we now have an engine with a very 'crisp' exhaust note. When in the engine room the noise is about the same as it's always been. We've lined the inside of the engine room with acoustic tiles and it's been very effective at muffling the noise.
However, when you are outside the boat, opposite the exhaust, it is a different story - it's really quite loud!
Question is..... should I expect a recently refurbished engine to have a much louder exhaust note? Perhaps I should think about changing the silencer? I think the existing silencer is one that I picked up from a scrap yard and has always done the job well. It's cylindrical: about 18" long and 8" diameter.
I would be very grateful for any thoughts on this. If a better silencer is needed, then what sort should I be looking for? - and where would I get one?
Many thanks - John
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Many thanks - I'll be able to sleep easy now!
John
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This photograph is to be found on the CRT website (No.BW192/3/1/36/1/5 - link included below). It is entitled: ‘Tipton Green Toll House on the BCN’ and says ‘(the picture) shows the octagonal toll house in front of a bridge’ implying that its location is Tipton Green.
I'm pretty sure this can't be correct - on the upper part of the Tipton Green Canal, between old and new main lines, there were only two bridges: Elliot Road Bridge, which has Lock 1 beneath it, and Union Road Bridge, which has only one towpath. The lower portion, which became the Toll End Communication Canal, only had one road bridge (Alexandra Road) which had Lock 5 under it.
Fellow anoraks will understand that we can't sleep easy until we know where the picture below is located. Please let me know if you can help.
https://collections.canalrivertrust.org.uk/bw192.3.1.36.1.5
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Hi - when we put our house with end of garden mooring in Worcester up for sale, we were expecting to be trampled in the rush. Instead, the silence has been deafening.
I can honestly say that having our project tied up at the bottom of the garden has been as close of heaven as one would wish of get - so why the reluctance? We have had many viewings, but almost no one from the boating fraternity. And, of course, trying to describe the delights of life afloat to those not that way inclined is just met with bewilderment.
There have to be boaters out there who would like to be our successors as we vacate this property, so does anyone have any thoughts on how to find them?
Any thoughts gratefully received.
Cheers - John
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Hi - looks as if we are heading down the tidal Trent at the beginning of August to reach the Stainforth and Keadby from the midlands canals. It can't be that difficult - it must be a regular trip for many boaters. However, there are things that concern me like: - what's this about navigation lights? vhf radio ?? phoning locks to give notice etc. Is this all serious requirements or can we get away without?
What's this about tides - I think I know what they are, but what's the best one to catch?
It seems that it's a bit more than 40 miles from Cromwell to Keadby. Is it possible to do this in a day? In which case will there be enough water to get into Keadby lock?
All these questions - is anyone out there a regular who can tell me what to do?
Cheers - John
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Hi - I never thought the subject of the oil level would create so much interest. However, having paid a visit to Calcutt Boat who know all there is to know about these engines, I now have the definitive answer.....
The dipstick tube is located on the starter motor side of the engine about half way down and the top of it is 7.25 inches above the bottom of the crankcase. The dipstick itself slides down into this tube a distance of 12 inches at which point it hits the bottom of the sump. The min mark is 43mm from the bottom of the stick and the max is 53mm above the bottom of the stick. (sorry for mixing my units).
Hopefully this has put a lot of minds at rest
Cheers - John
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Thanks to Mikexx for the offer of Droitwich. Someone did mention that some dipsticks touch the bottom of the sump. I've got the offer of some advice from Calcutt Boats who've been using bmcs for years. If I get a definitive answer I've let you know. If not I'll arrange a visit and lie around in your bilge with a tape measure.
Cheers - John
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Hi - does anyone have a bmc1.5 close to Worcester? Would you mind letting me have a look at your setup and make measurements?
Cheers - John
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Thanks for all these replies.
The sump seems to be non-standard - its not got the same shape as the one in the manual. So I can't just put in 7-8 pints.
Tony's idea of looking out for someone with a bmc and comparing dipsticks and heights is a good one but I thought I would ask you lot first!
cheers - John
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Dear fellow BMC 1.5 owners,
I would be very grateful if someone could lie down alongside their engine(!) and measure as accurately as possible the distance between the bottom of the crankcase and the oil level. I guess the least painful way of doing this would be to place the dipstick against the side of the engine and mark opposite the max and min marks and measure from these to the top of the sump/base of crankcase.
The reason for doing this is that my engine was originally bought on ebay and came with a dipstick hole on both sides and a selection of dipsticks with markings in many different places. I am not sure they are even off the same engine.
Your help would be greatly appreciated
John
Crossing the wash, Boston to Kings Lynn, either w/c 24/5/2025 or w/c 19/7/2025
in General Boating
Posted · Edited by john cowie
Would anyone like to bring their boat with ours across the wash on the above dates? The actual date and time would be decided by Daryl the pilot based upon tides, weather etc. We already have a full crew on our boat so sorry, no room for passengers.