koukouvagia

During a freezing cold November I managed stupidly to run over the long line from the butty and get it well and truly wound round the blade. No amount of jiggling with the shaft worked and going in to the cut was out of the question. The only way was for me to accept a tow to the nearest lock and gently rest the boat on the cill. By this time a crowd of onlookers had arrived in time to see me neatly and efficiently free the rope. Success and plaudits all round. But then the problem. It was in the days before risk assessments and I’d forgotten to make a plan on how I was going to get back onto the boat. Memo to self. If ever you do that again, make sure you’ve got a rope to haul yourself back on board.

Yes, that’s correct. The high flame decrease screw is marked on the photo. Are you absolutely sure that the needle (9) is located correctly and that the fuel shuts off when the float rises? You can try this out before you replace the cover to check that the fuel is cut off before it starts overflowing. The height of the float is controlled by 22. If you want to PM me please do. Where are you based by the way?

I’m sorry you’re having so much difficulty with the Refleks. When they work properly – which is most of the time, they are great devices. Let me see if I’ve got this right. The diesel enters the burner base and the fire starts and burns normally for a while. The symptoms then arise which are, I’m sure, due to too much diesel entering the burner. This causes the fuel to overflow via the overflow pipe and the fire takes over and – as you alarmingly report – the case glows red. I’ve had this happen only once, when the burner went out and a quarter inch of fuel accumulated in the bottom of the burner. I should have drained this off before re-lighting the fire. If you don’t do this you’ll get the uncontrolled burn you describe. So why is too much fuel entering the burner? You must adjust the the float level. Fuel should never overflow. Then reduce the high flame screw until you get just a slow trickle. You can then gradually increase the rate until the rate of burning can cope with the diesel flowing in. This will show you if you’ve put the regulator together again correctly. http://tinyurl.com/aqgw6a

I’ve re-read the OP and the symptoms of “roaring and vibrating and starting to thump as the gases ignite..and the casing starting to glow red” all point to a fuel flow problem. Too much diesel has accumulated in the bottom of the burner and the Refleks has overheated. The thumping you describe seems to point to a steam lock – I’m assuming you have a heating coil. I’m not convinced that the the noises are “gases igniting” – this only occurs if the fire goes out and you try to re-ignite it before it’s cooled down and then it’s only a single thump. The other symptom “the miserable yellow flame” is a sign of too little diesel reaching the burner. A cause of both too much and too little diesel suggests a sticking float. Make sure the long spring moves freely. I bet that a thorough clean of the regulator will remedy matters. Welcome to the forum BTW

There are several things you can try to get your Refleks to work correctly. First, in moving the fire have you got the long axis of the controller parallel with the line of the boat or is it at 90 degrees so that the long axis is now across the boat? If the latter is the case the fuel may not flow at the correct rate. Also, is it possible that the controller is now facing the back (and lower end) of the boat, when before it was at the front (higher end) of the fire. This too will make a difference to the flow rate of the fuel. Assuming there has been no change in the orientation of the fire, you need to check the filter. It can become gunged up very quickly. Failing that you need to dismantle the controller. There is a very fine slit running up from the bottom inch of the tube which is connected to the control knob. This is where the diesel enters from the reservoir and again can easily become blocked. When I had similar symptons to you, I dismantled and re-assembled the controller without noticing the cut because it was silted up. You could also try adjusting the three adjustment screws. One controls the level of diesel in the reservoir. You should leave this one alone, otherwise it may overflow. The other two control the maximum and minimum flame levels. I’m not on the boat at the moment so I can’t remember which is which. When the adjustments are correct fuel needs to spread out evenly across the burner bottom, taking about three or four minutes to do this. I suppose you’ve checked the obvious things like a blocked flue? Also a remote possibility is that the control knob has worked loose from the lifting arm, so that when you turn the knob round, the lever is not being raised properly. Another fault I've heard of, but not experienced myself is that water forms in the loop of the pipe leading from the controller to the burner.

Is this the sort of thing you mean? http://tinyurl.com/dzguk3

I think you’ll be disappointed if you are expecting to replace a conventional bulb with an LED. I’ve found that you need three LEDs to give you the same brightness as a bus bulb. I’ve replaced each conventional light fitting with a G4 strip of 3 LEDS http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/Light_Fittings.htm ) 9 LED lights in the main cabin are, I reckon, equivalent to the three halogen ones they replace and, of course, they use a fraction of the power. Not cheap, though.

The Banter arrangements seem to evolving. There’ll be at least two local boats (Leo’s and mine) offering hospitality on the Saturday afternoon. In the evening we can adjourn to the Grand Junction Arms http://tinyurl.com/cbjema You might need to book if you want a meal. 01442 890677 PM me if you need a lift from Tring station.

I'm not sure you can. I just put a link to Youtube. Nice pics.

Don't worry, they can float. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ_NdsTBuyg

I reckon we’ll be up at Bulbourne by the early afternoon. I envisage a natter and a gossip on each others’ boats – then off to the pub for a meal and drinks in the evening. Play it by ear, really. I also noticed that they’ve got live music on a Saturday, but I’ve not been there when they’re playing. I agree about the food – it's good pub grub.

Just when you thought there was nothing new on the subject of boaters’ loos! There is a large galvanised bucket which sits under a porecelain bowl. This lifts off when you want to empty the bucket. The bowl is conical shaped and at the bottom there is a flap which closes the opening to the bucket and will retain a little of the flushing water. Now here’s the indelicate part. The flap is finely balanced with a pivot and a lead weight. When extra weight is, shall we say, “deposited”, the flap opens, cascades the load into the bucket and then snaps shut. There is a small fresh water tank built in (you can just see the filler hole for this in the picture) and a pump with a brass flushing handle. I plumbed the freshwater tank into the boat’s water supply so that we don’t have to replenish the water tank by hand. There are two drawbacks to this device (1) the flap system sometimes get jammed. I then have to ….. well you can guess) and (2) the bucket is about twice the capacity of an elsan, so it is heavy to empty. So, I’ve compromised and replaced the porecelain bowl and the bucket with the innards of an elsan, carefully preserving the historic bits for posterity.

Yes, we've got this Edwardian thunderbox in our boat. It works perfectly. The washstand, BTW, is out of a cabin of a Cunard liner.

I've just heard from BW that the possible stoppages at Grove and Ivinghoe won't be happening. However, Nash Mills will have a restriction. So - we look forward to seeing anyone coming by boat from south of Long Buckby to North of Nash Mills - and, of course, those coming by car.

I don’t think rubber fenders at the stern are very common. Sometimes people use a small go-cart type tyre. One of the hire boat firms (can’t remember which) has a sort of rubber stud mounted on a short hinged strut.

I don’t. Perhaps I should have said, “ I’m a traditionalist and I don’t give a monkey’s”. But that would have been a bit abrupt to an enquirer who was simply trying to be friendly and get a few opinions about fenders. I’ve learnt to live with the rivet-counter brigade over the years that doesn’t approve of what I’ve done to an old boat. I completely agree with you – each to his own.

You won’t offend traditionalists. Lots of working and ex-working boats have rubber fenders on the stem post. I've never seen one for sale, though. They’re usually DIY jobs, made from a piece of old tyre.

The best moorings are between the Grand Junction and Marsworth top lock. There’s usually room there at this time of the year although several spaces have been allocated to winter moorers. South of the Grand Junction – i.e. towards Cowroast along the summit there’s always plenty of room with no restrictions. I’ll have a word with the local mooring warden, but I really don’t anticipate any problem. I’ve looked at the stoppages in the area and the only definite one seems to be at Denham. I’ll ring BW tomorrow and find out about the possible restrictions at Nash Mills, Ivinghoe and Grove. It’ll be fascinating to put a few faces to names.

I have fond memories of Ken Roseblade’s yard. It was here I met Jack Monk. I wish I’d recorded all those boating stories he told me. Twenty odd years ago the site was melancholy and was known locally as Pearl Harbour because of all the sunken boats. Adding to the dismal scene you can see one of the first pictures I took of Owl. From what you say the scene hasn’t changed much. It’s such a pity, but until Leicester gets its act together, very few boaters will be attracted to the area.

Would anyone be interested in a Banter down south? I know there are quite a few members of this forum based around the Tring Summit. The Grand Junction at Bulbourne is under new management and I reckon it would be a good venue. I’ve spoken to a couple of members who are keen and I’m suggesting 28th Feb.

Rehabilitating the River Soar and the canal is going to be an uphill struggle. It will be impossible for the canal to become a focus of city life as it has, say, in Birmingham because of disastrous decisions made by city planners in the post war period. The area around Frog Island has always been a no-go area for respectable citizens and the canal has been associated with decay, squalour and poverty. Little has been done to counter this view and a large area of the city has been starved of investment and imaginative redevelopment. Similar mismanagement has blighted the area further south in that part of the city which runs close to the canal and which contains some of the city’s best features. Leicester has always been wealthy and after the war the planners were quick off the mark in modernising the city before anyone had any idea about how to do it. They took little account of Leicester’s heritage, and disregarded completely the part played by the canal. The plan, such as it was, consisted in wholesale slum clearance and the provision of a widescale network of motorways in the heart of the city to accommodate the increasing volume of cars. As a result the old human scale street patterns were bulldozed away (a hideous Holiday Inn now stands on a huge traffic island where the mediaeval cross roads of the city stood); the Roman baths and Jewry Wall are surrounded by swirling traffic while the cathedral and castle are difficult to reach and the canal is isolated from the centre of the town by a soul-less network of busy roads. I applaud the desire to integrate the canal into the city, but fear it’s too late. Potentially the canal through Leicester could be a gem, but many of the plans proposed (I admit I haven’t read them thoroughly) seem to be tinkering – here a bit of tidying up and improved tow-paths; there better access and a few more signs etc. Leicester recently has made a start in pedestrianising its centre, but while cars are still supreme, there is little hope of making the environs of the canal attractive to passing boaters.

Heart every time. I swapped a new Springer for a derelict josher 25 years ago and never regretted it. Mind you it did take 15 years to restore.