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Herdwick

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    London
  • Occupation
    Retired
  • Boat Name
    Skippy
  • Boat Location
    London

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  1. Thanks for all of the comments and advice. We took the boat out of the water to black the hull, and I scraped and wire cupped out the gas locker while I had it out. What a mess. Tons of rust. Rather than take any chances, I had a new bottom welded in and improved the drainage hole in the process. I can now sleep at night knowing it will outlast me. And after an eight day cruise, the bottom of the locker is dry as a bone.
  2. Thanks for all the replies and advice. At least I know I wasn’t giving it not enough rpm’s. I over did it if anything. Without spending money on a new prop or gearbox or stern modification, I can live with it have a max speed of 2.5mph. It is what it is. But can I still manage the Ribble Link?
  3. We are on the Lancashire Canal. How shallow is a shallow canal? I think the Lancashire is mostly 5 feet deep ish? In the middle? yesterday I timed again, going bang on at 1500rpm, took exactly 25 mins to go one mile (in between Galgate and Garstang). I should have measured our prop when it was out of the water, and this is the only pic I have. I looked at the other narrowboats that were out of the water and thought they all looked about the same size. But when cruising we are constantly having to let other boats pass us - so others are able to go faster, just not us. That’s the biggest problem really. If everyone else were as slow as us I probably wouldn’t mind. But then there’s that Ribble Link that we want to cross to get to the rest of the network!?
  4. Newbie question. Our new to us 35’ flat bottom narrowboat will only seem to go approx 2.5mph. We have only been out a few times, and previous owner said to cruise at around 1500rpm. Even if we go to around 1800rpm it is still only around 2.5mph - based 25 minutes to go from one mile marker to the next (and not having to slow for boats or anything). I know our boat has a Nanni Diesel 3.75 engine. I have no idea about gearbox or prop pitch etc. Is 1500 or even 1800 rpm babying it? Should I be cruising at higher revs? 4mph seems like an unachievable speed with this boat. Am I doing it wrong? side note: if 2.5mph is max speed, would I be able to do the Ribble Link? Thanks
  5. Just to be sure I’m doing it right, you mean snug up the two nuts a little? 1/6th of a turn? There are two nuts on each side, I only have one spanner - does one need to be loosened first (while holding the other in place)? Or can I just turn them both at the same time? (Making equal turns on each side of course)
  6. Probably. It was out for 17 days. Bilge was dry as a bone before going back in the water.
  7. Newby question. My stern gland now leaks, but didn’t leak at all on last few short trips. Before taking our recently purchased narrowboat out of the water to black the hull, the stern gland didn’t leak at all. Well, maybe a few drops after three hours cruising. Now after going back in the water it leaks quite a bit. Maybe a cup of water in two hours cruising. Before going back in the water I did turn the greaser a few turns. Could I have over done it? How much should it be turned each time? When I first checked after cruising and saw the water in the engine bilge, I could see grease coming out around tue prop shaft. Is that normal? Why would it not leak before and now suddenly leak a lot? Do I need to tighten something? Or? The pic was taken today after one hour cruising. Last night I mopped out the water and wiped off the excess grease that came out of front and back of greaser collar thingy (technical term, Lol). Any advice is appreciated!
  8. I scraped out and wire cupped the inside of my gas locker. My plan is to give it one coat of red oxide primer, then two coats of bitumen blacking. I am starting to wonder if that is a good idea? Instead of bitumen, would a couple coats of regular oil based paint better? thanks
  9. Preparation question: After power washing, what should I use to wire brush rusty areas, water line, etc? Angle grinder or drill? Wire cup? Twisted or crimped? Any advice is much appreciated.
  10. I bought the blacking kit from SML which came with two 5L of Ballistic Black and also 1L of thinner. Does the Ballistic Black need to be thinned? Or is the thinner just for cleaning up? I read somewhere that some people use thinner on just the first coat? Thoughts? Help and any instructions on thinning (if it is needed?) would be appreciated. Thanks
  11. Thanks everyone. I ended up ordering the 50’ narrowboat blacking kit from SML that includes 10L of Ballistic Black. They have an offer that included everything needed - after vat and delivery it was only £93. I’m booked in for the lift out end of May. Fingers crossed for good weather!
  12. That 12.7 is in the dark. During the day it shows up to 13.9. Thats with the new batteries. With the old, it would also show 13.9 when sunny, and quickly drop when sun went down even with the charger on. It would go down to 10.5 by morning. Lol I was never sure if the charger was working, but with the new batteries it seems to be holding at 12.7 (sometimes 12.6 or 12.8) at night with the fridge on and the charger on. The previous owner never used the charger (didn’t even know it was there as it’s mounted under a cabinet out of sight) and ran the engine in morning to recharge. I suspect he killed the batteries a while ago.
  13. The old batteries would be dead each morning and the fridge red low voltage light blinking even with the 10amp charger on. I didn’t want to risk killing the new batteries, so hadn’t ran the fridge yet since installing them. Last night did first trial run with the new batteries: The new batteries seem to be holding at 12.7volts (per the solar controller reading) throughout the night - with the fridge on AND the 10amp charger on. Next time we overnight on the boat I will see what happens if I don’t turn the charger on. How low can the batteries safely get without damaging them? 12.2volts? Or? Thanks for all the comments and advice!
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