LEO

Hi P, Sounds a great trip, most of us will be confined to the canals and rivers. As you quite rightly state 'we all have to learn sometime', but the large dent on the front my pal's boat suggests that some hirers take longer to learn things than others - I think he now has a less tolerant attitude to hirers than me. cheers Leo.

Hi, Linslade does seem to be a problem area, a friend who moored there (by TesCo) in the summer, had his fuel lock throughly tested by diesel thieves. Leo

Hi - Me if it goes in the 60 gallon tank (270 litre) dedicated tank for the Kabola, The main tank will be a 60/40 split. Leo.

Hi, Did that include the 5p off per litre for spending more than £50/.

Hi, It depends on how long you are away from the boat. The only really safe way is to drain the engine down, not forgetting the raw water pump. When I had a R/water cooled BMC I made a drain tap with a polypropelene pipe leading to the bilge so thet it could be drained easily. This just left the heat exchanger and raw water pump to protect, again by draining. To avoid draining I also used to hang a small paraffin greenhouse heater by the engine, this used to run on a low setting for a week and protected the engine and R/water pump. I converted the engine to a heat exchanger cooling system and this meant anti freeze could be added to the block, which made frost protection much easier. A useful way of providing frost protection is to cover the engine with a blanket. If your r/water cooling system incorporates a gearbox oil cooler don't forget to drain that as well. It is also wise to block up ventilation holes in the engine bay. I am not sure how many degrees of frost protection these actions will cover, but should the cold weather last for a long while, complete draining would be the only option. It may well be that different protection levels are needed for different parts of the country, the weather being colder in the North (my boat was based in the south where temperatures are slightly higher). If a boat should sink due to a pipe damaged by frost, it is doubtful if any Insurance company would pay out. You should have a sea cock as close to the hull as possible and this should be turned off when leaving the boat, especially in frosty weather. A very thorough Surveyor gave me this advice when carrying out a BSS examination on the boat, although I moved mine it was not a requirement of the BSS scheme. Also make sure that the engine is properly drained down if the boat is on brokerage in the winter months and make sure that the broker and any prospective purchaser are aware of this and should only start the engine under careful supervision and if started make sure it is drained down again - otherwise you (the Vendor) will pick up the repair bills. As an aside, I was reading an interesting case where an insurance company would not admit a claim on a house badly damaged by a gas explosion because the homeowner had repairs on the gas installation carried out by a non Corgi registered person, one wonders when this attitude will be extended to boats. Leo

Not unless they are being used as 'neckties' in South Africa. Leo.

Hi, Note injectors were serviced, try some exchange ones - Gardner enthusiast do reasonably priced ones and they service pumps. They operate a mail order service. Leo.

Hi, Have been watching this post with interest, it may have been stated elsewhere, but I find that soaking a 'button' does not preserve it that well, as they tend to go out of shape quickly and also wear. The best way of preserving them is to get a lenght of tyre, trimmed aroung the sidewall and carefully cut to avoid the wire in the tread area. This is then turned inside out, trimmed to lenght, and a drain hole cut in the bottom and then fitted around the fender, the feder and tyre are then tightened with a 'spanish' windlass and the two ends of the tyre bolted together. The windlass is released so that the button expands and foms a tight fit. It is then fitted to the boat. Make sure the bolts used on both ends are fitted with big washers so that they do not pull through the tyre when in use. Fender is then sheltered from the rain, any water will drop out the drain hole. Needless to say works well no matter what type of rope used. Leo.

Hi, Throwing away your can of 'Easy Start was one of the best things you did!. Pressing the cold fuel button is the best idea this weather. Although these are 'old' engines many have been re-built and are as good as new. Gardners did have a facility for warming air when cold starting - I have seen and filmed this on a 6L2, which was hand started. This device consisted of a small hinged cup which could be filled with meths, lit and then swung into position below the air intake(s). It was not used when I saw the engine hand started in April 2007 and that engine was in a fairly original state. This weather, my 2LW will start with 1 press of the fuel button and then a quick press of the starter button. Easy start is great if you have deep pockets to pay for repairs or some one else will fork out for them, I would be wary of any statements a vendor made about an engine's stating ability if I saw it in an engine bay/room. Leo.

Interesting - I use a 1935 Parker 'Canada' Oversize, Volumatic almost every day, beautiful condition, handed down from a close relative, probably given to them as a 21st Birthday present. Leo

Hi, I had similar problems when I did a top end overhaul on a BMC 1.5, carefully re-assembled it and it started to produce lots of white smoke. It transpires it was a early engine and BMC fitted them with sharp washers under the valve springs. When compressing the valves during re-assembly these washers caught on the rubber seals that fit on the valve stems, perforating them and allowing oil to drop down the valves into the combustion chamber or hot exhaust. AMC (Blackpool) helpfully advised on the problem and suggested leaving this washer out, (which they did on their re-builds) - head off, washers removed, re-assembly, problem sorted. I found AMC very helpful, on all things BMC - they are the specialists - (no connection). I dealt with them on a mail order basis (parts usually received by return) and got all spares from them - including a water pump. The engine no helps them to identify what you need. LEO

Hi, Agreed it's a good idea to fit an alarm, but it's also worth checking that you can hear it, especially when you are sleeping. Many people suffer with hearing defects and the alarm sound may be out of their hearing range and not wake them in time. - this is common with smoke alarms. The effect of alcohol enhances the problem. The RNID recognise this fact and produces special smoke alarms fitted with vibrators to waken sleepers in the event of a fire and them not being woken by the normal alarm. It might be worth contacting them about the Co2 issue. An audiologist working for the fire brigade alerted me to this very real problem. Leo. PS - Now children forget the jokes about 'vibrators'!

Hi, Chris W raises some very interesting and wise points, which I can relate to, having gone through the last recession in 1989 I can relate to his comments - (it's no fun having to deal with repo's for several years, you hear every excuse under the sun for non-payment of mortgages but people still consider that consumer expenditure must come first). I would not buy a new boat at the moment, there are some brilliant buys secondhand. I recall a long input form 'Pav' earlier in the year............................... 2.5% reduction in VAT - Wow! get real Gordon, have you considered interest rates for savers. Leo.

Hi, This seller also advertised a 'big' Gardner for sale on ebay recently. Leo.

Hi, Kabola 'Old Dutch' with a back boiler, excellent, runs 24/7 from a dedicated 50 gallon tank, needs a good clean out about once every 3 to 4 weeks and a filter change once a year. Runs an 'Eco Fan', Economical as well. I generally leave mine on the lowest possible setting, otherwise the boat gets too hot. Leo

Hi, Sorry forgot to mention, I got over the pipe needing a right angled bend by using a 15mm right angle bend coupled to the engine outlet by hose and then from the bend to the male connector on the calorifier, All sealed by jubilee clips. These bends were standard soldered fittings but without the solder ring, I may have some if you want - let me know. Leo.

Hi, I note your problems. When I converted my BMC 1.5 the sealing nut in the block was virtually welded in, it came out eventually and I had to clear all the threads in the block with a small chisel. The replacement part was from AMC (excellent service and very helpful people), slightly tapered and did not need too much PTFE tape. The pipe bent over from this fitting and the water pump from the engine pushed the water round easily, in fact as the HW outlet from the calorifier was about 10" above the level of the engine it achieved a good head of water. The system worked really well and I never had any problems with air locks or the heat exchanger overflowing. Back in the early 1970's a friend had a boat built by Charlie Fox (March Hare), the BMC engine water pump used to pump water round a system of pipes within the boat after going through the calorifier to dissipate heat and the expansion vessel for the hot water system was an empty champagne bottle. It all worked well. Have we progressed or over complicated things?. Leo

Hi, A good guide to age can be a check on the BW reg no. details available in one of the WW books on boating. They contain lots of useful info for boaters. Leo

Hi, My hot tank was a vertical one but I did not have to drain it down due to superior construction materials used and the fact that water was taken from the top of the tank. I suspect that the tank being fitted may have an air gap at the top of it unless a means of venting it is provided. The high degree of factory fitted insulation will protect it. Leo

Hi, I was carrying out an inspection of a house off Belswains Lane, Apsley a few years ago and the back garden sloped down towards the canal which was some way away at this point. Within the garden I found a straight rockery, obviously old, formed by the coping stones of a lock or entrance to same. The house was built in the 1960's (IIRC) and I concluded that the stones formed one of the locks made redundant by the 19th century alterations. Details of this alteration are well documented in Faulkener's book about the GU. The quality of the photo's showing the current state of the mill are interesting if only to indicate the decline in the quality of design and contruction materials incorporated in the mill over the years. I think I saw you going north from Cowroast lock yesterday (Thurs). ATB Leo.

Yes it can be painted onto bare metal, but I doubt if the manuafacturer's spec allows for this. It's probably why it comes off if it is used as Paul Redshaw recommends. I would be interested to know how well the blocks are prepared before painting - does involve fine grit blasting? I doubt it, the engine is probably re-built and spray painted without too much preparation. Bear in mind these cast iron blocks were in very poor condition and 50 years old when they were rebuilt. Leo