MoominPapa

OK, how's this as a reason for not botching the job: it you have a big leak, the diesel will just squirt out. If you have small hole, the diesel will spray out at VERY high pressure. Easily high enough to inject diesel straight through the skin of any bodily part you accidentally get too close. Injecting diesel into flesh kills it, potentially leading to amputation. I'd for hate Bones to end up with fewer. Bah - you get that problem too? MP.

Going the other way, we did Blisworth to P'borough in three days. We were booked through Stanground at 12, and arrived at Bill Fen at about 6.30. No low-flying was involved. Having just done Ramsey to the Ouse, the hard bits were not what I expected. The tide made a level at both Slater's Lode and Denver, so we sailed straight though. Only had to stop to buy a license. We were let out when the tide was flowing inland, so the scary turn out of Salter's Lode was simple. On the other hand, Well creek was dificult. It's narrow and shallow. We're 2'10" and I think we were on the ragged edge. Paul at SL said that President, the steam NB which went through the week before needed assistance from a Landrover and a long rope. (and at Whittlesey too). I'd not like to meet anything golng the other way along there, or low water levels. The Ouse is fun, but large bits of the Wissey involve a prop-full of blanket weed on every bend. Dead right. MP. ... and don't assume that because you got under a particular bridge last time, you'll be OK this time. I got caught out by that! MP.

No chance of falling off the edge at the moment, there's far too much water, You know that posh whitewashed farm bridge on the way to Benwick? The one with the "low bridge" signs that we sail under without a problem? Well the chinaman's hat from our stove chimney is now on the bottom underneath it, much modified in shape. The rest of the stove chimney is looking a bit alternative, too. The engine exhaust just made it, but I probably could have stopped in time for that one - it's further back. Good news, though. I've just sunk your mudweights to the bottom of the Nene OC just down from the junction with Popham's Eau, and they're mooring us wonderfully. Good job, I'd need serious superhero powers to get ashore through the shoulder-high reeds to put some pins in. Posting from Melaleuca's new ship's computer - which I've called "Holly" in tribute to Red Dwarf. Cheers, MP. When's the CWF Bill Fen banter then, chaps?

Congratulations, looks like a great boat. Have a great trip back to the flatlands, and let us know when your're approaching Flood's Ferry: the denizens of Bill Fen will emerge and do a fly-past! (or, you could come and vist and drink beer.) MP.

"I am the milkman of human kindness, I will leave an extra pint." MP.

Cracking toast, Gromit! That's perfect. Many thanks. MP.

Not a 3G dongle. I'm trying to connect an old PCMCIA wireless card to a "Pringles can" aerial so that I can talk to a base station on the far side of the marina. Sadly, wifi RF sockets seem to be an instance of the Connector conspiracy and getting the right one to connect to both the card and the aerial lead is proving difficult. MP.

Wow! Who's a clever Clanger! Maybe I should try that with the wireless network connector thingie I bought there and which doesn't (connect). MP.

now there's posh! MP.

The mutts nuts mooring scheme on the Nene seems to consist of two long scaffolding poles (for bow and stern) attached to the ground some way back from the bank with hinges so that they can pivot up and down. At the boat end, each pole has a 50mm trailer hitch which mates with a 50mm ball welded/bolted to the boat a gunwhale height. They allow big changes in river level and positively stop the boat getting deposited on the bank during floods. I think if you had something like that you could moor on the Nene and not worry. MP.

Yebbut, it only spends 24 seconds in the engine heating up again! Actually, increasing the circulation rate improves colling system efficiency because the water is hotter close to the outlet from the skin tank, so more heat is being transferred to the outside there. The only downside is the extra power being put into the system by the pump to move the water faster. That all ends up as heat too, but it's normally small compared to the amount of heat being moved, I think. MP

At Bill Fen on Saturday there were two pairs, each with four or five little ones. The cobs were incredibly aggressive towards each other. I watched them circle at necks-length for about twenty minutes, like prize fighters, then there was an explosion of flying water and feathers and the loser was left comprehensively dunked. Apparently, earlier in the week, another cob which tried the same trick had to be rescued, half dead, by the RSPCA! I would seriously advise the owners of anything smaller than an Alsation to keep their charges well away. MP.

There must be something about FR2Ms and Australian farms. The folklore is that Melaleuca's was discovered "under a potato sack, in the corner of an Australian field" by her (Australian) builder. I've just made email contact with him, so I'll be able to get the true story. MP.

Bad news: it's an unshielded nuclear reactor. MP.

That's important for the original poster, who has an HA2, and so probably a 2G box. The answer to the original question (before the thread drifted.....) is therefore "90wt oil in the reduction box, reverse box shares engine oil." MP.

The FR manuals I have show two different epicyclic boxes: one for 1, 2 and 3 cylinder engines and one for 4 and 6 cylinder. The designs are basically the same, but one is just "bigger" than the other. Wider gears, meatier casing, etc. It's possible that the bigger box also has more planet gears in the reversing unit, the drawings weren't clear to me on that. The most obvious difference is that the reduction casing for the "big" box has a water-cooling jacket. Maybe that's the 6G? My understanding is that when in forward, almost the entire contents of the box is locked together and rotates as a unit, so your rumble might be bearings rather than the gearset. It might even be possible that the bearings are standard units of a still-current size, making sourcing new ones possible? MP.

All ball or roller races, I think. How does the 2G/3G/6G designation work? Are they the design with epicyclic/brake band reverse, (which I have) or the one with separate forward and reverse clutches? I have manuals that cover all the variations, but I've not seen the 2G/3G names in there...... Sorry, I don't have any gearbox spares. MP.

That's good information if the original query is really about the Lister-Blackstone 'box, as fitted to the JP and FR series. From the "non-hydraulic" wording, I get the feeling that the OP may be talking about the later LM100/LH150 series, which are different. As a matter of interest, the JP/FR box did come in hydraulic and non-hydraulic versions. The hydraulic one was the same box as the manual, with a hydraulic ram bolted to the gearchange lever externally, and a hydraulic pump bolted to the engine! BTW, I've always used EP90 oil in the reduction box of my FR2, because that's what the previous owner left as top-up supply. Is that OK, or should I be using non-EP oil? MP.

The river Nene is closed to navigation with a strong stream advice. In addition, the river is blocked by a fallen tree at Rushmills. MP.

OK, thanks Gibbo. I'll wire it like that and stop worrying. MP.

I current have one of these: clicky which, despite having outputs for three battery banks, is connected only to my domestic bank. The boat is not live-aboard, and over the winter it's likely that the engine will be run only rarely. More often, there will be people aboard (we have lots of "jobs" to do!) and so there will be shore power connected maybe one day a week; our marina discourages leaving shore power connected to unoccupied boats. I'd like to make some arrangement to keep the engine battery topped up over the winter time and I'm wondering about the best way to do it. I've poked around inside the charger, and as far as I can see, there's just a diode-based split-charge circuit connecting the three output to a common switch-mode charger. It's not obvious how battery voltage is monitored, but given the intructions insist on using the "battery 1" output first, my guess is that one is monitored and the others just take their chance. I'm concerned that just using the "battery 2" output will overcharge the start battery. The domestic bank is 660Ah, versus 150Ah for the start battery, and when the charger is running the domestic bank is likely to be much more discharged. If the charger regulates to bring a discharged domestic bank up to 14.4v, that's likely to push too many amps through the start battery. This version: clicky would seem to be the ideal solution, it has a trickle-charge output for the start battery, but that's not what I have. I can see these choices: 1) Don't bother. 2) Just connect the start battery as "battery 2" 3) Connect the start battery to battery 2, but with a power resistor in series to reduce the charge current. 4) Use some other method to get a trickle charge. Please could the battery gurus advise? MP.

I hear it suffered a nasty Moomin infestation over the winter quieter now, though. MP.