LEO

!976...We went up the Thames from Wallingford to Newbridge, in my pal's 16ft Dolphin.....Thames got progressively shallower, locks restricted to one locking per hour and at some locks pumps were installed to pump water BACK over the weir to allow locking a gravel shoal in the river at Enysham was I foot below the surface on the way up and 6ins above water line on the way back............It started raining on the last day of the holiday..

Interesting, Watching 'Escape to...' on TV last evening, train times to London from Newark 1hr 15 mins, I am in Chesham, end of underground Met line, time to London 55 mins......Newark sounds good, I collected my boat from a marina there 20 years ago, sold it last year, it went back to the same marina, can't be bad.

I did that to the housing when I had a 1.5, the gearbox, a Thamesway (I think) had small splines on the shaft which kept shredding, out of desperation to finish a holiday I welded the driveplate to the shaft and cut the hole to allow access to secure bolts. It proved a pretty useful mod in the end. The threads near the fingers on the picture of the damaged unit look in poor shape...........

Hi, Interesting question and set of problems, this is a canal based website and most engines we come across are 2LW'S although some boats have 4 cylinder Gardners..........would be interesting to see a picture of your engine and type of boat. There are some experts on here who may be able to help. Not sure about adjusting the relief valve and the filings in the oil must be a worry.....look forward to more info....

Agree with all comments, but the boat I had also had a JGM engine (pretty old units) with a flywheel housing which featured an almost hidden bolt at the bottom on the housing. Took me ages to find and free it' Good luck, I too used a 'scissor' jack.

Lovely boat, I sold an almost identical tug style to that boat last year (no forecabin) but with a 2LW, privately for £46K (asaking price) in a day, Tony Francis hull. Ezra is a beauty!

Hi, I purchased my boat in 2005 for the asking price (did not bother with a survey) as it was the boat I really wanted, sold it privately last year for the same amount to the first person who viewed it a day or so after the advert appeared, No offers, survey suggested a small amount of work (£5). If it's a good product attractively priced it will sell, the key word is presentation and don't fly any kites.

I posted a few days ago about a 'team' who bought a boat ( a Springer) for £13 ,800 and are gutting and repairing it, It's a series on Utube.....amazing, anyone buying a cheap boat should watch it,,,,,covers everything, even down to a cracked piston and the engine rebuild. search round for it. I think the subject boat has every known problem. Might make you think twice about buying a boat.........and the boat looked quite reasonable when purchased.

Hi, I came across this video on Utube, as title indicates, it a complete engine re-build (not sure which 4 cylinder one though) and a complete sand-blast of the hull. At 30 mins long it covers everything. The boat is a Springer, and I think I would have checked steel thickness a bit more....well worth look and for anyone thinking of buying a boat you get the chance of winning it. Just discovered there is a part one o

The BMC1.5 engine is, in my opinion a 'classic' originally seeing service in small tractors, but it is a 1930's design and has not been in production for many years. They have been used in boats for years, some well maintained, but most 'bodged' and are well past the end of economic service life. My first boat had one, it had no end of problems and took ages (and a fair bit of cash) to set it up properly, luckily I am fairly practical and ran BMC cars and have a good range of spanners including the special one needed for the cylinder head nuts. But the engines have their little 'ways' and need constant tweaking...I bought that boat in 1989 and sold it in 2005. The engine was probably produced in the mid to late 1950's' So you are buying a very old engine now...spares?. The same goes for old Lister engines......Which smoke like mad.......

Yep, Londonified is a good way of describing it and the 'open plan' look ...........BMC 1.5 probably on it's last legs, ........... walk away...

This Leo is Ok, but the boat..............................................................................been given the 'London Whitewash'.............comments about roof fair....be very careful......

I thought that, but the extra £1000 p.an is not that bad, if a maina too far away is chosen, fuel costs would eat up any savings. My pal used to live in Loose near Maidstone, it's a bloody awful journey at the best of time, no matter what time of day....Cowroast has the easiest road connections.