cheesegas

It’s 12v but use a DC-DC converter if running from the boats 12v system, avoid connecting it directly as it goes up to 14.4-14.8v. Some routers seem to be fine with the variation, some die within a week or two.

I agree that the threads are similar enough to fit, but as mentioned above, the way it seals is different to both a tapered and parallel threaded pipe connection. I've got a spare Shurflo hose tail somewhere, I'll dig it out and get a photo - the tail fits into the pump without sealing on the threads or a face, it kind of clicks in between plastic flanges.

The Shureflo pump is a weird one - the fittings don't seal on the thread and they don't seal on a mating face either, which is why I'd recommend using only the Shureflo fittings. Hard to describe but there's two concentric raised rings on the fitting, and the male bit on the pump fits snugly between the rings to form the seal. My boat had someone put a BSP tap tail on the pump with a lot of PTFE tape which leaked constantly until I swapped it out for the Shureflo part.

Perfect, don't attach anything directly to the pump except those Shurflo 1/2" to NPT hose tails. The thread on the valve will most likely be BSP tapered, so you'll need something like this to go from 3/4" BSP-T female to 12mm male hose barb. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225312832551 BSP taper threads seal on the thread itself rather than a washer, so you'll need to wrap a couple turns of PTFE tape on the threads.

Is it a Shurflo pump? Use the 1/2" female to hose tails which it comes with - the thread isn't a 1/2" BSP or BSPT thread, it's 1/2" NPT which means nothing down the plumber's merchant will fit. BSP will kind of go on but may leak. Once you've fitted the 1/2" NPT to 1/2" hose tail to the pump, you can then fit a 1/2" hose tail to 3/4" BSP female adaptor to the water tank outlet. Join the two with a short length of 12mm food safe hose and stainless jubilee clips. This has the side effect of isolating the pump's vibrations and making it quieter too. I'd recommend changing the gate valve for a quarter turn ball valve though, the gate valves have a habit of seizing or leaking when shut.

Can't remember where but some kids on a 1st floor balcony threw a couple of eggs at me, which hit the boat whilst I was mooring. However, when I was their age I was a dab hand at egging, so I quickly dispatched a dozen eggs back at them through the open doors and then swiftly moved on.

Of course. I was just saying it's more common on newer boats than older boats. Still pretty uncommon compared to the 'standard' shear mountings and flexible Centaflex etc coupling though. Surprisingly, the best setups I've seen were on old oil rig lifeboats; hefty thrust bearing bolted to an aluminum stringer glassed in securely, then a good 1-2' drive shaft with CV joints at either end. The Pythondrive setups prioritise distance from gland to engine and have a tiny 3-4" drive shaft.

Yep, it’s quite common, more so on newer boats and lifeboats. There’s a few off the shelf systems you can buy, the most common is probably Pythondrive. You get a thrust bearing which bolts to the hull and takes the lateral force from the propeller, and a short shaft with car type CV joints on either end to connect the engine to the propshaft. The engine is then free to move in more axes (perpendicular to the propshaft) and the mounts can be softer as they dont need to take any thrust forces.

I'd rather have one, if only because it's under a cruiser stern and lifting the boards above the engine always results in a bit of grit etc falling into the engine bay. The intake end of the manifold is also perfectly positioned to suck in belt dust from the alternator It's a full cast iron block and head so yeah, probably quite top heavy. I haven't tried adding weight to a point lower than the mounts but I'm not sure how feasible it is to get weights down there because clearance is quite tight.

To be honest the replacement is so small, made completely of rubber and mounts directly onto the intake I can't see it resonating at all. Should be delivered today so I'll fit it and see how it goes. The existing filter assembly has a thick steel bracket that bolts to the manifold into blind threaded holes, then the canister is bolted to that with a short flexible hose to join it to the intake. One of the bolts sheared flush with the manifold and my stud extractor can't get it out so I think it's easier to scrap the whole assembly!

I do generally chat with fellow boaters on the towpath - and of course there’s nothing wrong with running a genny on the towpath at 7pm. As mentioned in a previous thread, I’ve been on the receiving end of snobbery from brass polishers with a house and a home mooring for their boat so I’m a little biased, admittedly. It does however become obvious over time; those with a little 150w panel to keep the starter battery happy and shiny paintwork are more likely to run a genny than someone with 1000w of solar on the roof. I spend a couple months of the year on the upper Thames and I try not to moor near those without solar as there’s a good chance they’ve moored up around lunchtime and by evening their batteries are failing so the genny is turned on. Nothing wrong with that, I just want a nice peaceful getaway with no genny/engine drone. I have had a couple of aggressive encounters with people running their engine into the night so I nowadays choose to not engage with them…

As a CC’r I look forward to the promised foreign holiday paid for with all the money I’ve been saving? Any idea where the form to claim is? (side note; it’s mainly non-CC’rs I see in summer with a genny/engine running at 7pm because they haven’t got enough solar to run all the landline creature comforts they’re used to having whilst hooked up to shore power in the marina…)

It does seem to be a high frequency, low displacement vibration so this might work, but as you say, there's no suitable strong mounting points nearby without welding something on! The chap at R&D actually suggested a weight above the mount that's most lightly loaded - I've tried this with both my own 80kg mass and varying cast iron ballast weights on top of the gearbox but movement is in the wrong axes. Appears to be the reaction force spinning the block in the other direction to the crank each time a cylinder fires, so the weight would need to be high up to have an effect... It's got a fairly hefty cast alu camshaft cover but I don't think its bolts would hold up to a weight on top!

Another update... Got the mounts fitted, as the studs are captive and very long I had to chop an inch off to get them in without having to lift the whole engine at once. Did it by lifting the back and then the front with a bit of scaff across the gunnels. Took a while to get it aligned! Started the engine, idle set to 1000rpm warm which means it idles at 900rpm for a while until it warms up. Good points is that the resonance off idle has gone and it's much much quieter as the vibrations aren't being transferred to the hull! In gear or out of gear there's no resonance off idle now. However...as the mounts are softer, the engine does vibrate a lot more throughout the rev range, whereas previously it would only noticeably move around the resonance RPM band. These vibrations are being isolated by the mounts, but the engine visibly moves a lot more. There's a new resonance almost at redline which think I can live with. Movement appears to be parallel with the crank so it's not bouncing up and down and it's not enough to rattle the propshaft around in the stern tube. I'm not sure of the effect this has on the lifespan of the Centaflex coupling and gearbox output shaft bearing though! The vibrations were enough to shear two of the four M8 bolts (again!) holding the air filter assembly to the intake manifold within a few minutes, but this is a recurring problem I was having. It seems that the assembly, which is quite a heavy steel affair, has a resonance at 1000rpm, so at idle whilst the engine barely moves, it's waggling around like a mad thing. The intake hose and filter bracket gets in the way of changing the alternator belt and the filter elements are expensive so I'm going to bin it and replace with a pleated cotton K&N style filter mounted directly on the intake I think. Partial success!

Non-blue and blue Isuzus have a BSPT thread for the oil and temperature sender. It's easiest to fit a combined sender/switch as Tony said, KUS do one for about £30 which is pretty reasonable. It is however only available in UNF, metric and NPT threads so you will need an adaptor. As far as I know, no Isuzus use NPT threads as they're more of a US thing. It's common for there to be a BSPT to NPT thread adaptor in there which allows fitting of a more common NPT threaded sender. Be careful though as NPT and BSPT threads are similar and an NPT male thread will appear to fit in a BSPT hole but it'll leak and might damage it... Ebay is a good source for all sorts of adaptors to go from BSPT to various other threads, be patient whilst searching as there's so many options on there!