Timleech

When you undo the padlock, lock in in place under the hasp. Tim

http://www.nhsc.com/ works fine, not much about boats though http://www.nhsc.org.uk/ isn't working for me, I expect that's the one you meant Tim

Phew!! Tim

I very much doubt that it came from Whaley Bridge. It's a wide beam 'thing', definitely with prop & rudder at either end. I had the delightful job of sorting out a failed coupling on the bow propellor a couple of years ago Tim

Quite a few people run Lister JPs in narrow boats on permanent high compression, largely because that gives a cleaner exhaust, but they are a bigger engine so probably won't be working quite so hard. The JP book suggests high compression below something like, IIRC, 50% load which is easy enough to establish if it's driving a generator, less so with a propulsion unit. They did produce a 'permanent high compression' version of the JP, the JK, but that was fitted with big end bearings in a fancy alloy in place of the standard white metal. Probably with the sort of load factor and average number of hours run in a pleasure NB you'd be fine, but no-one is likely to guarantee that for you Tim

It's not a new idea, there have been tunnel tugs in the past with centrally-mounted engines (including Bolinders) with a clutch and shaft from either end. A simple 2-stroke like a Bolinder is well suited to that sort of job, since it will run equally happily either way. Tim

I believe it was Market Harborough, one of the last they built and possibly finished off after they closed down. Yes, it has hydraulic drive with a propellor and a rudder at either end. Tim

This thread died before I joined here, a reference to it by Carlt has brought it to my attention & I feel qualified to make a couple of comments. Actually she was originally built using galvanised spikes and, rather unusually, galvanised bolts for knee fastenings. My one quibble is that Malcolm insisted on fitting 3" thick bottom boards, when she originally had only 2" boards. Saturn worked as a Hotel Boat for the best part of thirty years, and during that time I and others replaced virtually all of the original timber with the exception AFAIR of the bottom half of the stem post, some odd bits of bottom strake and maybe one or two bottom boards. In some cases we were replacing the work of a 'real' shipwright done during her earlier hotel boat years, partly because he was determined to work alone (in case anyone learned his secrets!) and could only therefore manage short lengths of planking. This work was all done with the constraint of having to be refitted and ready for the following season, often working within the confined spaces of the passenger cabins. During one winter we replanked almost a complete side along with the stern post. Another time we replaced almost the entire bottom and much of the keelson. The priority was always to get the job done as well as we could in the time available but she was a working vessel with history rather than an historical artefact. To me. she now represents a fine replica and it does annoy me when it's referred to as a 'restoration'. I have some sympathy with Carl's view that she would have been a good candidate for 'rolling restoration', I did have some affection for the old girl after my years of involvement but that has gone completely now. Tim

Only because they closed the locks Tim

The larger lock at Eastham will take vessels about 80' beam. Dunno about higher up. Tim

Even simpler no drilling method, just hold your pencil on top of a block of wood Tim

Weelll.... I'm not sure that I agree with that. They were fitted by commercial operators into working Narrow Boats, that'll do for me. Not a Narrow Boat exactly, there was also the National Coal Board tug Fred whose 2L2 was later fitted into the Monarch and is now in the Alder. Several Leeds & Liverpool Short Boats were fitted with 2L2 engines, I don't know whether they were 'original units' or not but certainly during the boats' commercial lives. Tim

I didn't say originally fitted though some may well have been. Those which spring immediately to mind are the Princess Anne (2L2 fitted by Elements during WWII, I believe) and the Ibis/Ibex, whose 2L2 was removed by British Waterways in the late 1960's and wrecked by dropping on the scrap pile (heathens!). They were perhaps more expensive than their competitors and maybe just slightly more sophisticated/vulnerable to abuse. I remember Nationals being described by someone who ran them in working boats as 'blacksmith engineering', maybe a bit unkind to them but maybe it made them better suited to the care of the average boatman. Tim

The Gardner is intrinsically a much easier starter than an RN, probably also better fuel economy. Did someone say they were 'not a Narrow Boat engine'? There were a few working NB's fitted with 2L2 Gardners, probably the ultimate NB engine in my book. Tim

I've no experience of this, but I did once own a 4-cylinder National engine (double the usual Narrow Boat National) which had been a wing engine on a barge. I believe the main engine had been a larger model of National, which had a small petrol engine with friction drive onto the flywheel for starting. The 'barge' was actually the last (allegedly) Billy Boy to be working, finished its days as a sand barge on the Clyde. Sorry, no help to you Tim

Ships diesels often run on much heavier oil, which has to be preheated. If you want to see an engine which is pretty much as Dr Diesel intended, go to the Internal Fire museum just north of Cardigan and see the 1912 -ish 25 hp Sulzer. http://www.internalfire.com/modules.php?na...age&pid=138 The website is well out of date, the Sulzer has been up & running for a good while now The museum is well worth a visit for anyone remotely interested in older engines and machinery generally. The Wikipedia pages for Akroyd Stuart and Diesel are worth reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Akroyd_Stuart http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Diesel Tim

Diesel used 'air blast injection' where the fuel injector used a blast of high pressure air to overcome the cylinder pressure and get the fuel into the cylinder, not into the inlet manifold. His patent of 1892 covered injecting fuel into the cylinder at the end of the compression stroke (apparently - I haven't actually read the patent!) Because the pressures in the Ackroyd engine were lower, it was easier with the technology of the day to arrange solid injection, much like comparing the fuel sprayer system of a Bolinder with that of a true CI engine. Tim

IF it has reduction gear and a properly matched propellor, 18hp should be more than enough IMO. If it's been squeezed into a shallow draught boat with an undersize prop, then it's more doubtful and the best answer is to try to arrange a good long test drive, preferably where there's some deep water in which to play. I don't know what the spares situation is for the FR range. Tim

Well I didn't, for one. Surely Milton Keynes is a more recent invention than the Compression Ignition engine? Wasn't Ackroyd Stuart's engine a surface ignition engine, think Bolinder etc, rather than pure compression ignition? Surely Diesel's original scheme was to provide a cheap power source using home grown fuel in Germany, in fact he was sponsored by the German govt which encouraged him to develop an engine which would run on coal dust? Tim

The vast majority of canal boats built in recent years have the dollies and studs just plonked in place and welded around. Not something I was too happy about when I first saw it done, considering the lengths which were gone to with working Narrow Boats, but it seems to work. Tim

Careful, we'll be back to tying up in locks soon I've done a lot of singlehanded boating in the past with no centre line, no thought of having one. They can be useful for pulling a boat in to the side. Tim

You would need more than 10mm bar for that to be stronger than an M24 eyebolt, but nothing wrong with the idea. It's often done with a loose ring through the U bar. I suppose a lot depends on what your intended use is for the centre rope. Almost anything will do for just controlling the boat manually, personally I'm not a fan of tying a boat up by the centre line, other than just as a temporary thing while the proper lines are put out. Tim

Interesting that they quote a 'break load', whatever that is, of 12 tonnes for the 24mm eyebolt. SWL for a 24mm eyebolt is usually quoted as around 2 tonnes. I wouldn't want to be putting forces greater than that onto the coachroof even with a spreading plate (internal or external). Tim

I don't think I would do it that way. I'd cut off the thread, weld the eyebolt to a piece of plate with drilled & countersunk holes at the corners (and between if you want belt & braces), then drill & tap your roof for suitable countersunk screws. Paint the underside of the plate thoroughly, then screw it down onto a bed of Sikaflex or equivalent. No disturbance of your lining (make sure you won't be drilling cables!), less point stress on your roof plate. Tim

I think the concern with the Titanic was (or is currently) that the steel used for the rivets wasn't as good as it should have been. 43A is just AFAIAA decent quality, certifiable, bog standard mild steel. Tim