springy

I too wear a drovers hat from NZ, occasionally to keep the sun of my neck but mostly to keep the rain off my glasses - makes it easier to see oncoming boats through the downpour ! Springy

Hi I'm pretty sure that the ducted air box - coming from the left side of the engine as viewed from the gearbox, in the area of the cylinder barrels is the hot air outlet. The inlet - which does usually have a coarse mesh over it to stop large items getting sucked in - is around the flywheel. It is important to ensure that the hot air is ducted outside - otherwise it will be drawn back in and cause overheating, it is also important not to reduce the outlet duct area or add obstructions - they are frequently on the small side compared with lister's specifications - if you are going to make it out of flexible ducting you should try and make the total cross-section area greater than the existing. The lister manual recommends 390 sq cm Outlet (a hole 15 1/2 inches by 4 inches) and 503 sq cm Inlet for ducting up to 6 ft long provided there are no other obstructions such as wooden slats or wire mesh - all those holes in the deck board serve an important function. springy Iain can type quicker than me

Hi Chris A neighbour of mine had a similar problem - turned out to be poor welding where the rudder tube meets the deck plate, there was never any sign of diesel leaking and the problem was erratic - sometimes there would be water in the tank, other times it would be ok - it turned out to depend on the nature of the cruising he'd been doing - when using full rudder and high engine revs the water forced up the rudder tube was being forced into the tank & causing the problem, he does have a fixed sealed ball bearing race at the top of his rudder shaft rather than a plain sloppy fit sleeve which allows most of the water to just gush up onto the deck. Definately worth a look - particularly if you have a sealed bearing at the top. springy

Pixie dust is ok if you can get the real stuff (there's a lot about that aint) but dont try using fairies wings - the fairies will go balistic. I feel you need to positively support the bottom of the flue in the top of the stove - wedging & filling with fire cement may give way when the engine has been running for a few hours due to the vibration, resulting in the flue dropping into the stove - possibly messy at least and potentially a disaster if the stove happened to be lit at the time. One other possibility occurs - does the stove have legs/feet that you are going to involve in bolting it down ? Are they removable ? if so assemble flue to stove first then raise/jack up & fit legs, if not removable you could arrange the flue length so that it required say 1/2 inch thick spacers under the feet to give the correct height - again assemble stove/flue, raise to position & then slip spacers under feet & bolt down. cheers springy

Hi Chris Looks like a similar setup to mine - if the flue pipe O.D. is 4 3/4 and your collar I.D. is 4 1/2 then you would need to fit some sort of adaptor / reducer - which fits over the O.D. of the collar (circa 5 inch), and inside the flue pipe, & then packed with fire cement. This does mean that any tar running back from the outside chimney is directed down the inside of the flue & back on to the fire. Don't know what the rubbery looking stuff is - sealant of some sort but I think to get the flue out you will have to unbolt the collar from the roof and remove it. I would suggest cutting the rubbery sealant away with a stanley knife first & then gently tap the reducing collar (the black ring) with either a mallet or rubber hammer (it looks like its vitreous enamel - if you use anything hard you'll knock the coating off) to break up the fire cement - at this stage you should be able to move the reducer relative to both the flue and the roof collar. Once the reducer is free you can then remove the roof collar from outside - you'll probably have to get a large screwdriver or a cold chisel inbetween the roof and the roof collar to break the seal, lift of the roof collar and then lift out the reducing collar & deal with the flue as required. Hope this helps springy

On the shroppie a couple of years ago passing an ownerships narrowboat :- Is your engine ok ? - It sounds like its only running on three. Reply :- Last time I looked I'd only got one ! (in fairness it was a 15hp Bolinder, it also begs the question what does a 3cyl hit & miss Bolinder sound like ?) springy

Well done to all of you! Dont you just love it when a plan comes together ! Springy

Hi Gas St is in the Centre of B'ham & they should have no problem in getting there in a full day, and once there they will have a vast choice of eating establishments (and night clubs on Broad st) and good, if a little noisy, moorings, however if you need to be on the way back to lancashire by 4:00 then it is unlikely that you would be able to meet them there, I would guess at something like 4-6 hours from the bottom of the 21 to Factory Junction depending on how things go and how hard they work. On the other hand if they dont set off till 10:00, and stop for lunch half way up the flight, then probably they would be best stopping either at Malthouse or outside the BCLM for the night. Springy

Hi If they're going up Wton 21 & then have three more locks then they are probably heading towards Birmingham and probably going down Factory Three (although there are two other routes they could take involving three locks). Just before factory locks there is Factory Junction which also has (one of few on that route) a Canalside pub - The Barge and Barrel - On the Corner of Hurst Lane (A4037) and Factory Road, no idea if they do food, but your parents Must go through Factory Junction whichever route they are planning to take into B'ham - either straight on to factory locks or turn right onto the old main line and then either down Brades Locks (3) or Smethwick (3) still heading for B'ham. I Guess you've no certainty on where they were expecting to moor ? Hope this helps Springy

Alternatively you could fit an external, adjustable pressure switch - I have a "square D" external pressure switch on my system and simply ignore the switch built in to the pump body - particularly useful if you cannot adjust yours. This also has the advantage of being able to adjust both the cut out pressure and the cut in pressure independently to make best use of the accumulator. springy

It will need a BSC to get a Licence, however if its on "old" offline moorings it may not need a licence as long as it doesnt leave the moorings. Springy

There is a PDF on the HNBOC site in the downloads section (extract from one of the newsletters), though the instructions are pretty much as already given. Using a square boat nail prevents the mop head spinning on the shaft - with a round nail or a screw the mop head could rotate on the on the shaft which makes it difficult to get it to spin fast enough to spin out the water. springy

Hi alan I have an 1800 to which I fitted a Calorifier, using a slightly more complex setup but which I find works well. The main difference involves adding a second thermostat in line after the outlet from the water cooled manifold and taking the feed to the calorifier via a T junction before this thermostat. Sounds complex but it was fairly simple to achieve in my circumstances and produces a system which allows the engine to warm up properly before diverting heat to the calorifier coil. The mariniser had used a fairly crude "home made" manifold with a 2" outlet on the bottom (mariniser unknown - this was fitted when I bought the boat) which was plumbed to the skin tank using 2" reinforced plastic pipe - a situation I was not happy with as the pipe became very soft when the engine reached normal running temperatures. Most of this I replaced with 35mm Copper (available from serious plumbers merchants not normal DIY outlets) using short peices of rubber hose to join the ends to the skin tank and engine. The additional thermostat is as fitted to some Volvo car engines (440 series IIRC) which actually fits inside the hose and has a higher opening temperature than the standard BMC 1.8 (IIRC 92 deg C where the BMC is 86 deg C). So from manifold outlet (2") -> Rubber Hose (2") -> T Junction (2" with 1/2" Branch) -> Rubber Hose (2") with 92 deg themostat inside -> 35mm Copper "Solder Ring" fitting -> 35mm Copper -> Skin Tank. The feed to the Calorifier comes off the 1/2" Branch. The 35mm "solder ring" fittings provide a good ridge for the hose clamps. Sequence - Cold start - both thermostats Closed -> water circulates around engine block only. - Warming Up - Original thermostat in head Opens -> water circulates around engine, manifold and calorifier coil. - Full temperature - Additional thermostat opens allowing water to circulate around the skin tank as well. Restriction provided by second thermostat means that circulation is maintained through calorifier coil. I realise that this is a little more complex but a) it saved messing with any conections actually on the engine, means that the engine reaches and maintains its proper running temperature quicker and therefore runs cleaner, and c) produces piping hot water in the calorifier. The Calorifier return goes to a "T" moulded into the "bottom hose" i.e. between the skin tank outlet and the water pump inlet - a suitable hose was found by simply mooching around a scrap yard looking at car engines until something usable was spotted. Taking the feed from below the manifold also removed problems I would have had with high points and venting. I've been running this setup for 10 yrs + and am very happy with it. Hope this helps Springy

I also have one of these - Box/Filter/Pump excellent. Float switch u/s - after the second one failed I used a bit of stainless sheet to adapt the mounting points & fit a Rule Float switch. No problems since. Springy