Speedwell

Don't knock it! I wouldn't suggest it for every narrowboat at every bridge but, if the commercial barge, that came through a blind bridge hole on the Aire and Calder, had used such a simple technique, it should have saved a clean underwear moment for us. Arthur

Seems a strange thing to want to do with a canal boat unless drifting. To turn faster, I give extra engine revs. Turning into a narrow entrance I would normally do from a virtual standstill so the effect of revs causes more turning than forward acceleration. Arthur

Thank you all very much for your answers. It seems, as I feared, that it would be just chance whether or not a mooring was free. I had rather hoped the the 45 metres was a misprint for say 95 or 145. Arthur

We are intending to visit Leicester towards the end of July. Does anybody have any idea of the chances of getting overnight mooring at Castle Gardens. BW literature shows secure moorings there but only 45 metres long. Arthur

That table strikes me as very over generous. I've just done a coat on 1 side of our boat (47') and it took well less than a litre for the area inside the coach line. Conversely, if you want a good job you will need more than a single coat of undercoat /primer to get a base thick enough to rub down smooth without going through to the metal. Varying the colour of the primer and undercoat helps to prevent this. Arthur

That's pretty well what I did and it's been OK for 4 years. The only extras I would suggest are to make sure the engine mounts on each side are level with each other and when the joining plates come together the angle between them is not greater that is allowed for your coupling. Arthur

I should have thought that any decent engine repairer should be able to cope with a BMC. The 1.5 was a Marina van engine and parts are quite easy to come by. Arthur

If this is an ordinary 1 pot coating, I think you can use any other 1 pot bitumen on top of it. I have successfully put 1 pot on top of 2 pot after cleaning off and abrading, although I'm not sure this is really recommended. The 2 pot coating will not key properly on top of 1 pot coatings. In practical terms, the 1 pot stuff sticks to anything solid, so, as long as you remove all loose rust and old bitumen, you should be OK. Arthur

I had trouble on my BMC 1.8, with the 4 single large mounting bolts shaking loose in the year after I had had the engine out for repair in 2003. After realigning, I tightened the nuts VERY tight and have had no trouble since. It also shook loose its fuel filter mounting with messy results. These have also been tightened very tight and had star washers added. I expect a similar treatment would work for the nuts and bolts which hold the engine mountings. Arthur

Thanks to you and Alan for the info. How do you tell the difference between right and left hand fit ? (ie does a left hand fit go on the left side of the engine when looking from the timing chain end or the gearbox end) Arthur

Is the A127 the alternator to fit BMC 1800s ? I don't need one at present but it would be useful to know for future reference. Arthur

Thank you all for the information. Could anyone please give a bit of detail about Padmore moorings as there is nothing about them in my now ageing Nicholson. Arthur

As far as the water in the calorifier is concerned, I can't see that it will matter which way the heating water flows. The heated water inside will always rise to the top. The reason for feeding the hot water to the top is that it helps the natural flow (thermo-syphoning) so the heating water flows more freely. If you have a large pump driving the heating water, it probably will not matter. Otherwise, feeding the heating water to the lower connection will slow the rate of circulation and hence heating. Arthur

Does anybody know how safe it is to moor just north of Sandiacre, near Pasture lock ? From the map, it looks to be open country and we would like to visit Sandiacre church during our summer cruise. Arthur

Hi Mike That sounds far too overbalanced to me. Mine is overbalanced enough to go hard over (about 45 degrees in my case) if let go, but it is certainly not a 2 handed job to get it back. It has some advantages when doing "3 point turns" as I can leave the helm hard over while I control the engine and watch how the boat is turning. I have never been brave enough to remove any metal although I would prefer less overbalance. In your case I think I would try the 1 inch first for the reason you give. You could also look to see how much of your prop is covered at maximum turning angle, which should be 45 degrees despite the number of people you see with their tillers over at 90. Arthur

Many years ago I had clattering noise at low revs from a Newage PRM gearbox. I turned out to be a broken circlip(s) used to hold the gears in position on the shaft. The absence of circlip(s) allowed a gear to fly back and forth on the shaft. Only cost a few pence to fix. Arthur

You don't need this spanner to remove or refit the head. Some of the head bolts go through the rocker shaft so you have to remove it to to remove the head. The difficult bolts are then exposed. The head can be refitted in the same way. The special spanner is useful if you want to re-tighten the head after an engine run as recommended. I compromised on mine by torquing the difficult bolts to a slightly higher torque than specified and not re-tightening them. Most of the bolts can be re-tightened with an ordinary socket. Arthur

Clearly fenders are a risk in narrow locks but, sharing wide locks, fenders between the boats give a more comfortable ride. Rubbing strakes rarely meet, each making a separate gouge in the other boats paint. Arthur

One extra point that has not been mentioned yet. Whatever power you finally decide on, it is important to make sure the cooling system can cope with prolonged high power. I have plenty of power available but cannot use it for very long without the engine temperature starting to creep up. Arthur

The nylon thread is really only for seriously nit picking examiners. It would not be possible to melt the (diesel cooled) thread until all the diesel had boiled out of the filter and by then it wouldn't really matter. Arthur

I've just had a look at a spare fuel filter for my car, which has a similar screw. It was just a plastic bolt with a slot in the thread and a fancy head to make the water draining more civilised. It could have been replaced by an M10 bolt and it I were to slot the thread I could maintain the draining properties. One further point that might cause a problem, if anybody noticed, the internal thread was plastic. Arthur

If it really is so difficult, have you enough room to mount the elbow inboard of the existing fitting ? Arthur

I've done a bit of work on mine but never removed the header tank. In case you haven't already found it, you can download workshop manuals at the link below. I've done that for mine and they're fairly comprehensive. Arthur http://www.alde.co.uk/manuals.php

"Easily" because everything still works in the morning. Also consider that 2 nights is well less than the 48 hours required the half drain the batteries and normally the fridge is run at a high setting during the day when the engine is running and a lower setting at night. Two nighting is an occasional practice rather than regular so the damage should be slight. I am far more concerned about the 10 months of the year when we are not cruising and the batteries have to fend for themselves. Arthur

We managed for years as a cruising boat with only 1 domestic battery and no shore charging however we had a gas fridge in those days. Nowadays we have an electric fridge and 2 domestic batteries but we can easily stay for 2 nights without running the engine. Still no shore charging. Arthur