hughc

Although the photographs show a modern fuel filter I do have the Kelvin fuel filters which will come with the engine. Regards, HughC.

Having managed to take some photographs I can expand the information a little. The engine no. is 33595 whic dates it to around 1967/68. I ws going to fit this in Judith Ann but then decided taht an AS2 would simplify cooling in a wooden boat. All bearings, including gearbox and water pump, either scraped and fitted to Kelvin limits or replaced with new. All ball races including gearbox thrusts replaced.New Flywheel bolts.. All gaskets including head and exhaust manifold. Piston liners and rings. Most fastenings. Starting valve spring. Injection pump. Refurbished injectors including spare.Injector pump coupling and spring. Petrol taps. Cam followers. Gear box lead inserts. Rear Mounting feet nuts. Starter U bolts.Injector pipes. Starter. Hand start and gearbox chain.Magneto impulse. This was a ground up rebuild starting with a bare crankcase.I completed the rebuild a couple of years ago and was going to fit it in Judith Ann but then decided to use an AS2 to avoid skin cooling on a wooden boat. The engine came via the previous owner and, I believe Kevin Whittle, from a Scottish fishing vessel.Engine no.33595 which puts it around 1967/68. Hugh

Kelvin K2. Electric and petrol hand start. Full rebuild with photographs. £8500. No offers. Regards, HughC.

Of course Crystal used to supervise Foxton on her own, but then she knew what she was doing. The flight ran well and I do not remember any one disagreeing with the adbvice she gave. Regards, HughC.

Lister HR3 very low hours ex-standby engine. Borg Warner 2:1 box on flywheel end connected via genuine Lister bell Housing. This engine is on full length heavy gauge steel beds ready to be welded into boat. Electric Start. £1500. Regards HughC.

Do not take as gospel truth what many people will tell you. I suspect that many of the nay sayers have never owned a wooden boat and have obviously made up their minds on the oft repeated opinions of a few key board warriors. If you would like a more balanced,view warts and all, please pm me. Regards, HughC

There was Magpie Line whose boats we used to pass at Boot Wharf in Nuneaton, run in the 70's by a lady called Maggie Panter I believe. Regards, HughC

It is good practice to fit a day tank with a sump that can be easily drained. Fill at the end of the day and check in the morning when any water can be seen and drained. In my experience other contaminants will find their way into the sump ready for removable. The one we have which has served us well for many years has a capacity of about two gallons . Regards, HughC.

Read 'The Piercebridge Formula' by Raymond Selkirk (ISBN 0-85059-621-1). This proves, certainly to me, that the Romans used pound locks and carried out other navigation works on rivers in this country. It is a well argued and well writtten account not least because it shows how the remains of these works, often unrecognised , can be found. Regards, HughC.

Some years ago I believe that the Derby Motor Boat Club wanted BWB to re-open the side lock at Beeston to avoid the problems of air and water draught through Nottingham.It would be a simple and cheap restoration as the river is still navigable almost to the old lock tail. Regards, HughC.

Going down through Stenson on the T&M last year we were told by a volunteer that he wouldn't raise both bottom paddles because there was an agreement with the live aboards in the layby below the lock. They had, he alleged, complained of turbulence if both paddles were raised. Does any one know if this is true and, if so,why? The same man was encouraging young children from families at the cafe to operate gates. It was noticeable that other volunteers present were keeping well out his way as he performed for the audience. I did notice someweeks ago that one bottom paddle here was out of order and wrapped round with CART's ' in your face' tape. Regards, HughC.

I have just completed a purpose built adaptor to marry a Borg Warner 71C box to the flywheel end of a HR3. It is a much better engineering solution in my opinion than mounting the box on the gear end of the engine. The larger engines drove from the flywheel end and Lister made a whole series of housings of various SAE dimensions to carry mounting plates for a variety of driven units. The HR3 which has very low hours is now for sale and if any one is interested please PM me. Regards, HughC.

The remains of the flash lock just downstream of Exeter bridge are visible, or were a couple of years ago. It is a bit of a scramble but the stone work is still there. I remember having a discussion with Ike Argent when he said that he had worked through this, I think to the timber yard just above the bridge. Regards, HughC.

I have always believed the old adage that if you think you understand quantum mechanics then you are not studying it deeply enough. In some situations entangled particles will, I am led to believe, when returning from a higher to a lower energy state emit more energy than classical thermodynamics predicts.The difference is very slight but that is all it needs to be. In the long term this will affect every aspect of technology. This does not I think mean that the laws of thermodynamics are wrong only that they deal with the net effect of large numbers of particles. There is a new kid on the block 'quantum thermodynamics' which I find even harder to follow than the classical route. HughC.

What a catty remark. HughC.

I believe that this story is based on the concept of quantum batteries. If instead of moving ions around these are replaced by electronic bits that are either charged or not. Felix Binder, quoted in New Scientist, has shown that if these bits are 'entangled' the amount of energy needed for a full charge scales with the square root of their number and not linearly as in classical batteries, including lithium ones. Apparently this means that a quantum battery with 1 million bits would be fully charged in the same time as a 1000 bit classical battery. I assume that this supposes the same charge acceptance rates. The scaling of this concept to produce a usable battery will take some years however. Regards, HughC.

Tracy Tools usually stock left hand drills and taps. Regards, HughC.

We have the Kelvin F4 ex Willow. It has been fully restored and is in good running order. It does as BillH says run perfectly well on paraffin/kerosene. A further F4 that has been the subject of Tom's incredible restoration, detailed in the vintage engines section of this forum, is now running and about to be fitted into Heyford. Regards, HughC.

It would be interesting if some one could say what the fuel consumption of a fully loaded narrow boat is or was. To say that the ex-working boats used as leisure craft, which in the main only reach a 3' water draught at the very tip of the skeg, is not a fair comparison. Regards, HughC.

For those of us blessed with tanks that use the base plate of the boat as the bottom of the tank the best way to siphon is to wait until you are next in dock. A day tank with a sump also mitigates some of the problems. Regards, HughC.

On the 18th October 1939 after over 2" of rain had fallen in 24 hours the embankment at Weedon breached. Looking at the photograph in David Blagrove's, 'The Waterways of Northhamptonshire' the breach seems at least as serious as the Middlewich one.The civil engineering was probably based on different materials but, because the canal was vital to the war effort, a temporary channel was laid and traffic was running again in a few days.This might be a solution but it was probably based on empirical engineering rather than too much mathematics. Regards, HughC.

We recently bought back Meteor, stripped of all its camping gear, and also have Heyford. Both are at Langley Mill. What killed the camping as far as we were concerned was the increasing cost of insurance on what was only ever a marginal operation financially. Insurance companies seemed to think that taking parties along the Trent and Mersey had the same level of risk as crossing the Atlantic. We learned a great deal by watching Graham Wigley at work. Truly a master of his craft. Pun intended. HughC.

These people are not engineers. Mechanical engineers have professional qualifications.Are RCR 'engineers' members of any professional engineering body? If you claim to be a medical doctor when you are not then this can be a criminal offence if you practise as such. There is no such protection for the engineering profession. The majority of people who call themselves engineers are at best 'technicians' and one wonders at times just how much training they have had to perform even this limited role. Regards, HughC.

I think that it is either a J or a K series Kelvin. Perhaps that is included in the price. Regards, HughC.

Goods were transhipped into river barges just by Brindleys Bank aqueduct on the Trent and Mersey. These operated downstream to a works where the main road crosses the river. Regards, HughC.