Bargebuilder

With a Springer, the first thing I'd be asking as a potential buyer would be for sight of a recent hull thickness survey, its value would be heavily influenced for many buyers by this. In my opinion, spray foam insulation is the best way to insulate steel, so that's a real positive, but having fitted out from scratch myself, I can see that there is a great deal of time and money still to be spent. It's a great start though for a keen DIYer, so good luck with finding the right buyer.

Maybe that's a bit harsh on Flogas. Even Calor have a returns policy requiring a refill agreement if you want a refund, and even with one, the statement below from their website indicates that Calor won't give you all of your deposit back. "If you have your Cylinder Refill Agreement paperwork you will receive a 25-70% refund of the original CRA cost depending on how many years ago you purchased the gas bottle."

If that's correct, many people will struggle to even prove the boat's age. I've only ever sold using a well known website: brokers don't always deserve the percentage they demand. I've never been asked for evidence of an RCD, even on quite recent boats.

Thank goodness we are not in Europe then... Thanks for the links; very interesting.

No, they definitely don't.

Well done you: I'm guessing you got a good deal. There must be lots of boats in the UK without evidence of an RCD certificate. Do you think we'll go the same way as Europe, strictly enforcing the RCD requirement rules? Is there an age limit? Perhaps our enforcement of the re-engine regulations is as lax as our RCD enforcement and people just do as they wish without declaring it.

That's excellent advice: don't bother going inside and asking as you'll just get blank faces.

If that is the cost too for an engine in a new build, as a proportion of the total cost, I suppose £2000 is insignificant. I wonder though, if a traditional engine would stand any chance of passing the test for either emissions or noise.

When my wife and I passed through the lift last summer, I went downstairs into the museum and tapped on the window to get someone's attention. I asked for the next available slot and there was much confusion amongst the staff. Eventually he phoned headquarters to see if we could be accommodated, and indicated that that is what I should have done. Having made me feel like I was being something of a nuisance they let us straight into the lift, in fact I had to run to fetch the boat! Good luck!

That's tough for those businesses who specialise in re-conditioning traditional engines. Clearly, whoever formulates the rules, consider that standing behind the flue stack of a traditional engine is not a wise thing to do.

I wonder who needs to be convinced that a new boat is a historic replica and what they insist on for it to comply? Can one re-engine a used narrowboat with a traditional engine and if so, how is a used boat defined?

That would make sense. Do think then that nobody has ever tested traditional diesel engines for particulates and other emissions, so making a comparison between them and more modern diesels is impossible due to a lack of legitimate information?

Forgive me, are you saying that traditional engines can be installed in new builds with no need for emissions tests, or that they are, but nobody bothers? I don't think you can be saying that people no longer opt for traditional engines in their new boats.

I tend to agree: it's hard to imagine that years of work to improve efficiency, completeness of combustion and reduction of emissions, has resulted in diesel engines with exhaust that's more harmful to human health, not less. If traditional engines have to be evaluated for emissions before they are allowed to be installed in new build boats, it's reasonable to assume that someone out there has some results of such tests; they would be interesting.

Is the reason for asking primarily to protect the environment, or to protect the skipper from having to breath in particulate laden exhaust? If the latter, it may be that a wet exhaust would reduce particulates released to the air, flushing them instead into the water. The other advantage of a wet exhaust is that the gasses are cooled and so their volume is reduced which reduces noise where they exit the boat. Even from a dry exhaust, eventually particulates will settle somewhere, land, water and most worryingly, your lungs.

What was the voltage of the battery before you started charging it? A flatish battery may be dragging down the voltage. Were the engine revs high enough for the alternator to be able to achieve its optimum output?

Does your Vetus stern gland look like the one in Richard 10002's picture? I have one that also drips but it looks very different.

It's been suggested that the exhaust of modern boat diesels is actually more dangerous to health than that of vintage/traditional diesels. The claim is that modern engines, although emitting visibly clear exhaust which is not as choking or pungent, the particulate matter size is dangerously small, whereas traditional engines presumably only produced large, visible particulates, which it is suggested are safe or at least safer. Could this be the case, or is it more likely that traditional engines produce more particulates of all sizes.

On 10/07/2022 at 18:23, MtB said: Yes I have proof, thank you for enquiring It would have been great to have seen some proper research, but I suspect that there isn't any.

I think we all read and understood what you said.

In your previous post on the thread to which you were contributing you wrote: "I’ve stood behind the stack for my lovely JP2 for 30 years and I’m still here…..and I’m not going to give it up anytime soon." So I assume that you were talking about narrowboat engines.

Oh but you did, and I quote: Have you considered the environmental impact of making a new engine every few years along with the ECU etc and the rare metals that needs so you can feel green??….maybe ask those in developing countries where the minerals are mined how they are getting on and how their environment is?

So are your saying now that ECUs are currently not used on the small diesels fitted to narrowboats, so the use of such metals is not an issue and no damage is caused to the countries where such metals are mined because a narrowboater buys a new diesel engine?

They also fit steam engines and electric motors.

Why not indeed, it's your choice as to how healthily or otherwise you lead your life. Not wishing to breath in diesel exhaust is rather different for being green. I've never had a boat engine with an ecu, even recent ones: what sort of proportion do engines with ECUs make up amongst narrowboat diesels? I doubt that the amount of rare metals in narrowboat engines is of much significance, apart perhaps for those boats powered by batteries and electric motors which may have more.