Night Hawk

Well the engineer has been out and has told me that the belts are loose. The bolt that holds the tension things has sheered off. The spacer had fallen off and the lower alternator belt wasn't doing much. The sheered bolt has to be extracted from the engine case and replaced....The only thing is it's well tricky to remove the sheered bolt....He'll have a jolly good go at it but might have to lift the engine to get at it. So there we go. We finally have a diagnosis. Now we await the bill

Ah....no it didn't....the noise is back, the rev counter isn't moving...and the 'voltmeter' that has been showing 14.4v for years is now showing 12v...and I'm sure the 'beep' the engine makes prior to starting up is tooting away as well. Awaiting the arrival of the engineer in the next day or two.

Our boat is 62 foot long and we've kind of avoided that stretch of the waterways. Is it true that we could do the flight provided we did the locks diagonally as a single boat? Andrew

That's great - thanks so much for that. Andrew

Hi there, I'm looking to replace a Lister Fuel Filter 751-19650 - It's off a Lister Canal Star. Does anyone have any idea what the equivalent filters are? Are equivalent filters as good as the 'real thing'? Many thanks in advance, Andrew

Turned out to be a very loose belt. Thanks guys, you're the best.

That's what we do with all our unused veg...Mash it up, bind it with an egg or two...season and fry in olive oil (or butter) in burger sized patties. Home & Bargains sell those cheap plastic boxes ( the sort that take aways come in)...Carve up all the remaining meats and freeze.... Boil the bones with herbs and spices in lots of water - reduce and make delicious stock which will freeze in ordinary sandwich bags tied at the top. Half empty bottles of wine (yes I know they don't exist in our house) can be poured into ice cube bags and frozen...Next time you need a splash of wine in a sauce, take a few wine cubes out....Make most use of the freezer.....If you haven't got one on the boat then it's turkey curry for the next month!

Sounds fun...just watch that Swanley locks shut on Jan 3rd for 6 weeks! x

It's a bit choppy out on the Mersey

I'll have a look next time we're up and check that the belts are tight enough.... Cheers for that.

Hi there, I wonder if anyone's come across this before....or could suggest a way forward: Started up the engine this afternoon and, as usual, is burst into its enthusiastic chug after a few turns of the key. I should mention that we've not been to the boat for several weeks - busy at work. There was a new noise coming up from the depths - a slight metallic grating noise. I also noticed that the tachometer hadn't moved to it's usual tickover reading of 800rpm, it hadn't moved much from turning the engine on. I recall during the last summer something similar happened just the once, there was a grinding noise for a few moments with the tachometer not moving much...then within a few seconds, the grinding noise stopped and the tachometer shot to its usual position. Has anybody encountered this? Any suggestions would be gratefully received....I fully expect to have to arrange for an engineer to call. Regards, Andrew Andrew

HIDEOUS.....uttery hideous...!!!

A third no...we empty our tank every time we leave in the winter just in case....our water is heated via the engine as well.... You should take your boat out often in the winter...it's often the best time to cruise....quiet and glorious vistas....Even when the cut starts to freeze, it's such fun to hear that cracking sound...and see your blacking floating away... Andrew

Hold on a moment, about 500 yards downstream from that junction is that long straight stretch with the lift bridge in the middle and the scrapyard piled high with rusting vehicles.....most of that towpath is a good few inches lower than the rusty shuttering....There's always numerous little 'leaks' or 'microbreaches' along that length of canal....It's another major incident waiting to happen?

It brings your patent leather S/M gear up a treat..... (So my neighbours tell me)