kendo

Hi Tony. Just popped in to thank you for taking the time to explain what is involved. Thankfully, an engineer is coming out of semi-retirement to assist us in getting it in properly. feeling much more confident after your explanations though. Appreciated.

ahh.. Thanks for clearing that up. the welder asked if it would be going straight on the bed, or on wood. which surprised me. but now i understand. my concern with doing this, is that it would make the whole boat shake more. would that be the case? i noticed that the rubber feet on the DV20 were mostly there to stop it shaking around so much. but assumed they also reduced vibration through the hull? if you were mounting this engine, which method would you choose? rubber feet, or direct? the saving of 277 english pounds is attractive, but not if the boat is going to shake in neutral. i was going to renew the plastic thing in november, because it's done many miles (and six years). do i need a Bukh specific 'flexible coupling', or are they standard issue kit? the marine engineer who helped us on our first refit is no longer available, so i really appreciate the advice Tony. cheers..

cheers for the advice, Tony. the new engine is coming from Dorchester, so i feel awkward about sounding out somebody i didn't purchase it from. it comes with a number of (no cost) optionals, which now better informed, i can discuss with the vendor. thanks for that. because of the expense and age of the boat, if possible, i think we will scrub round the aquadrive, if possible. (in november, we'll also be craning, surveying, plating and blacking. all of which will spank the wallet a bit). sorry for my ignorance, but does this mean without the rubber feet? or 'direct mounting' as our DV20 was? (straight to shaft, via plastic coupler, without aquadrive).

yeah, we did look at the pros and cons of the DV24, neil2. it looks nice a nice improvement. as a 'drop in' replacement, it would have been considerably less faff to install. but it would still have been underpowered for what we are asking it to do. thanks for the thought, though. thanks for the reply, Tony. your 'bed' doesn't look too dissimilar to ours, which is good for the confidence levels. cheers. we don't have an aquadrive. but there is a good bit of shaft down there, and all the measurements stack up (so far). the DV20 raised supports will have to be cut off, so we already have a welder lined up for any fiddly/new bits. on the issue of feet, where can i purchase "different strength mounts". i was under the impression that Bukh just did 'rubber feet for the DV36'. (all one size/strength). ? thanks for your help. much appreciated.

heard nothing but good things about them. great. hope he still has it. he's been a big help previously. spoke to Nick Alsop a while back. we're a coles morton hireboat too. he rebuilt our gearbox (told us it was pre 1980). for some reason, our boat was sold on with a DV20, instead of the more usual DV36. don't know why... but it left the boat a little underpowered. that's why i'm fairly confident (fingers crossed) a DV36 will fit OK. thanks for the reminder though.

Hiya. we're replacing our DV20 with a DV36, and would be very grateful if owners of DV36's could post a photo of the support that their engine is resting on. we have access to a welder, but hoping our existing support/sump tray is up to the job. a picture of an existing installation would be tremendously helpful. oh... it's going into a 53ft coles morton narrowboat. thankyou.

Hello.... Dump through master race reporting in. It's one step up from a medieval privvy. Can be a bit whiffy in high summer, even with bio tank treatment. (When the ball valve is opened). But if something breaks, you can fix it yourself. No power requirement is a big plus. And the fact you can use the MK1 eyeball to determine when the tank needs emptying. Not for the faint of heart though. Like the person above said, it came with the boat. If we had lots of spare cash, I might think of installing a macerator. But after the many horror stories I have heard, probably not. I like the Fact that it is a simple system.

Hey everyone. Still about. Still floating. Basically, I ditched the studio and got myself an ipad. Some fantastic synths, instruments and DAW available for it. No more worries. Cheers.

Very brave of you to say this, crafty carper. "Eastern Europeans" are plundering the thames to death. Gangs of them all night, every night. (6 rods to a person). It's well known. Nobody says or does anything, because the English are pussies scared of being declared racist and/or non PC. Sad state of affairs, really. Very sad.

Hi Mike. It's always been "pants". Which I'm not sure is 'working correctly' or not.It heats up the water for washing up, but standing under the shower has always been touch and go. Edit: manual mixer taps. And pump descaled 'not too long' ago.

Hambledon. Power turned off. Six hundred wheel turns just to open the gates. Culham. Takes 20 minutes to fill. even if the lock needs just one inch of water. My pet peeve.... Railings by steps... Making rope trailing a pain when singlehanded. @Magnet man... That sign is a classic.. Just what our boat needs... Cheers!

Hiya.. We have a rinnai too, and experience exactly the same thing as the OP. hot water for 10 seconds......pump kicks in...... Cold water...... recently fitted a brand new heating element, in case it was scaled up. Didn't fix the problem. Pressure out of the hot tap is "pants" (a pathetic piddle) compared to the cold tap. Makes showering something of a challenge. Our water pump has no adjustable flow setting. Looking to replace that next, maybe. (Though cold water flow is perfectly adequate). Sorry not to have any answers.

Top tip. Thank you. (Had the same problem).

Hi everybody. We did eventually get it fixed. (700 quid + new battery bank). If it blows again, Oxford cruisers (near eynsham) are the people to speak to. Sending it back to Holland for every fault, sucks the big one.

Yes. Labrador. Loves it.

That looks neat. Our pipes are exposed and heat the whole length of the boat. We like them like that though.I can't help but feel you will be wasting some heat by boxing them away? But I hope you have a cosy winter. Edit: remove superfluous picture redisplay.

You got to drill the holes out with a hole saw. Gutted when I found that out. They do one with the holes already drilled. But alas, I didn't find that out until I'd parted with my cash. The boiler slots in on top of the grate. No need (or room) for the rear fire brick.

Thanks Paul. It's good to know more about the company. We love every dent, ding and scuff on ours. I'd love to know what our boat was originally called. I'd be much obliged if you could have a look at our Blog (sumoboat.blogspot.co.uk) and see if the hull shape rings any bells. Our bow is different to all the ones I have ever seen pictured. You're right about the steel quality. Still going strong, after all these years. I'm glad mr Coles is still with us. Like his boats. Cheers...

where's that, Paul? interested... Different window positions, sadly. And the front stable door is central. It's all steel with no windows. That looks like a Coles Morton boat I saw on the 'UK hippy' forum a while back. (I don't hang out there, it turned up when I googled 'Coles Morton Narrowboats'. Still floating. Turns like a dream. Respect to Mister Coles.

Hi Quebec. Just a quick post to back up what you've said. I went with vactan only on our water tank, about two years ago. Still fine. Well chuffed.

Yeah, the Bounty is directly across the river.

Agreed. But worse than that, the marina dwellers now have to walk to the pub.Which is a disaster!

5 posts above, I mentioned that the roof came from an old police boat. Built in 1906. It used to be a dockyard mail boat with a tiller. Converted to wheel steering, it's been the Bourne End marina tug for many years. The engine was beefy enough to shift narrowboats around, but it's mainly plastics there.