Denis R

Sadly not, but suitably fortified by their rejoicing, I did find the 10mm A/F spanner I dropped in the bilge whilst extricating myself, and without uttering a profanity too, so all was not lost.

Believe me, there was no Finbarr Saunders 'fnarr, fnarr', nor any Carry On "Matron, there's a blockage around the back passage" intent...

I once managed to get 'knocked-up' by Jehovah's Witnesses one Saturday morning whilst on my home mooring. Of course I had my hands down the engine hole at the time, was covered in grime due to a slightly botched oil change and had to extricate myself painfully in order to be told Good News. I'm still bemused that they thought there'd by any trade on a damp and chilly towpath somewhere slightly off the beaten track, and I'm not convinced that my suffering will be rewarded...

When I had my boat built, my non-boating friends took great delight in compiling a list of the sort of junk they expected to see on my boat within weeks of moving on. Repetitive suggestions included complete branches of trees, cracked flower pots with long dead, unrecognisable plants, various sundry items of scrap metal which at some point in their history may have had a purpose, several rusty,decrepit bikes with flat tyres; filthy 5 gallon plastic containers half full of suspicious looking liquids, numerous sacks of coal, some split and spilling their contents onto the surrounding roof and a mangy lurcher restrained with a lead made from baling twine. I've so far avoided creating such a 'Steptoe's Yard' and the roof remains acceptably clear...

A minor additional complication with removing the head on this engine is that there are two different designs of head bolts in circulation. The 11mm Allen socket type can be re-used, but the other design is a yield-point bolt and you have to bin them and fit new ones if you remove them. They're less than a couple of quid each from German & Swedish, so not a bank-breaker, but a potential problem area if you skimp and re-use them.

Jabsco Direct have got some replacement parts in stock, depending on what's failed. Clicky to Jabsco

The downsides of soldering a connection are that if you use a multi-core solder, it will often contain copper which leeches out over time and corrodes the joint, and the soldering sets up a stress raiser where the solder ends - you'll often find that wire subject to vibration breaks off at the connector.

Quick way to test for residual unburnt fuel is to disconnect the fuel feed and let it go through the start up sequence a few times. You should find that the exhaust runs smokey for a few starts and then begins to clear. Once it blows completely clear, reconnect the fuel pipe. If you don't get back to a slight smoking as it starts followed by it rapidly clearing, delve deeper.

I've got 2-pack etch prime on bare steel with 2-pack epoxy over the top. Last September the damaged bits were re-treated with etch prime and then the whole hull re-blacked with 2-pack epoxy. The local boatyard told me that was the way to go and never to put bitumen over epoxy. The guy told me that they can tell when a hull has had epoxy for its first blacking and bitumen thereafter, as the jet washer peels the bitumen off like sheets of wallpaper, leaving the now exposed original 2-pack intact...

My last but one oil change on my Beta was a total nightmare, exactly the way you describe. Even the filter wrench just slipped round the casing. But it's one of those crappy chain types that's only any use if you've got bags of room. I'd recommend the '3 finger' job. In the end I resorted to a screwdriver through it... The simple reason was that it'd been screwed on way too tight. The filter only needs nipping up. A film of oil on the seal and screw on hand tight is all that's necessary.

I concur Laurence - the houses in Hillside are just visible through the trees - they were built in the fifties. I was brought up and my family still live in The Furrows, part of the same development.

My original regulator lasted about 3 years before failing - and not a nice failure mode - high pressure straight through into the gas circuit which caused quite a sheet of flame from the hob. And I've replaced both pigtails too in that time as the internal check valves failed shut in both. Having a very low front deck and gas locker, I've only got room for two 3.9Kg bottles and they seem to give off a lot of 'liquid' which I'm sure gets into the regulator - the regulator isn't much higher than the bottles because of the lack of height.

Lois, I agree with Geoff. Before I fitted a Smartgauge I had absolutely no idea what was really happening with my batteries. The Smartgauge will tell you the painful truth... I was totally deluded by my perception of the the state of charge of my batteries and the current draw of the 12V fridge before...

Thanks for the replies everyone. Just to 'close the loop' on this, I got a message from Chris which answers the original question "Does the unit know if the glow plug has burnt out and is open circuit, and therefore goes 'directly to jail'?" The answer is 'yes'. All the symptoms I have point to the glow plug, so it's burner out time...

Useful, thanks. Well after the 30 second purge the fan momentarily stops, but not for 3 seconds. The fuel pump doesn't start either. The fan stops for about a second then goes to a 'full blast' purge then shuts down. There is no re-start attempt. It shuts down completely but the flame indicator stays lit on the Webasto timer.

Well, a couple of months back I decoked the Webasto following Chris's guide - thanks for that, it's really helpful! Flippin' amazing the thing was still running! Anyway, yesterday it was running fine and this morning it won't fire up. It goes through the 'purge' phase ok, fan winds down as usual. Normally I then get a slight dimming of the lights (I guess as the glow plug comes on) then the fuel pump kicks-off and we're away. This morning it goes immediately from the purge then slow down phase straight to a 'post non-start purge and shutdown'. Questions: Does the unit know if the glow plug has burnt out and is open circuit, and therefore goes 'directly to jail'? If the plug is still heating and the pump's failed, will it still give the impression it's going through the light-up phase or again, does it go straight to shutdown? I suspect the glow plug, as when I stripped the burner for the decoke, the plug looked very heat affected on the outside of the burner and the white ceramic looking insulator was cracked. The plug wouldn't extract from the burner tube it was so glued in, so I left it where it was... Before I go off and buy a new burner assembly, ideas anybody?

Another possible reason for the noise on start-up is intake/combustion resonance. Mine always has made a shocking noise on start up, which my tame boat engineer (whom I trust) assures me originates from the air intake.

Does anybody have the tappet settings for a Beta Greenline 35 and does the traditional 'rule of 9' apply? Any snags or foibles on this engine?

That's the one. Have a poke around ebay and you can get them for £65 or so. I had a bit of luck and got one for £48. I think the Beta price is somewhere in the region of £185 or so. As I said before, I had to drill through the front mounting hole 11.5mm to fit the bizarre socket head cap screw Beta had used to mount it and swop the pulley over but that's little effort for the saving. Repair will be effected in due course.....

Hmmm.... I just tried the clicky again and it worked. I think I set it up correctly. A 120 Amp version may interest me, I might have a surf.

It looks exactly like one of these: 100 Amp Alternator In fact the alternator that's just blown IS one of these - cost me £48 off ebay too, form and fit the same as the original fit, just needed to change the pulleys over and drill the front mounting hole to clear the 7/16 UN bolt that Beta used on my engine to mount it. (What a bizarre size, did they have a job lot in the parts bin?) I only bought it because my owner's manual from Beta told me I had a 70 Amp alternator and I fancied an upgrade. As it looked form and fit the same I went for it. The reason it's form and fit the same is that my engine had been fitted with a 100 Amp alternator from new.....

A quick update on this. No it doesn't smell it just got flippin' 'ot. The spare alternator is working fine and everything is doing 'wot it oughta'.... Next job is to research repair parts.

Alternator is Remy 100 Amp on Beta 35. Last week: Tuesday noticed fluctuating voltage on Smartgauge, both battery banks, settled down again. Wednesday engine wouldn't crank, replaced battery as battery tester indicated low cell, no improvement, found broken engine earthing strap. Changed strap and all well. Sunday, engine suddenly starts hunting on tick over in Buckby Bottom Lock. Settles down again. Half hour later, discover engine cover is red hot, alternator is boiling, Smartgauge Domestic bank reading 97% and 13.65Volts.... (Usually a steady 14.4V at that charge level) Switch off engine, no alternator warning light on Domestic..... Disconnect alternator drive belt. Next morning batteries are down to 48% and alternator warm but not boiling. Guess the batteries are discharging through the alternator. Disconnect alternator completely and charge batteries through generator. Smartgauge giving sensible readings. So, here are the questions: 1) What is the likely failure? 2) Is there a chance the windings have survived? 3) Before I put my spare alternator on, is there anything in particular I need to check first? 4) Is this a 'user serviceable' alternator? PS I got an alternator for £48 off eBay - it's the same as used on many Vauxhall Zafiras. The pulley is wrong and needs changing over but it's form and fit the same.

Two of my friends have had their boats stretched recently and I think the decision to go this route over buying a different boat was more to do with an attachment to their existing vessel than a purely financial calculation. One was done at Streethay the other by Dave Roberts at Braunston (which was a steelwork only). Both report total satisfaction. Why not give them a ring and see what they can offer? I enquired about having my Peter Nicholls boat stretched 12ft with a revised bathroom, an extra bedroom and changes to the heating and electrical systems for which Peter was quoting I think £17K or so. But of course Peter isn't the cheapest and works to a quality level not a price.