casper ghost

I remember this debate from 6 years ago when I did it originally. It' difficult to find expert opinion because they all say something different. I've looked into it and some say 45 degrees out, some say must be in phase and some say 90 degrees.. These are Land rover ones and their book says 90 degrees, which is about what I have done. I didn't worry too much, it never seems to have made a difference on our 3 boats and we just fitted the ujs without even thinking about what phase.. I haven't heard of TICO sleeves and pads. I've had the engine running on just steel channel and it doesn't move much. Casp'

I saw that seal a mile south of Bridgnorth at the time, so it made it further north than Bewdley. Casp'

Attaching the engine bearers.. Made a sleeve for the mount bolts as it wasn't easy to get coach bolts big enough, so I kept to m16, which is what I used before. The sleeve in place. On its bearers. Not really anything else to do now, but arrange to get it lifted into the boat.. Casp'

Yes, I did try to do the keyway myself on a milling machine, but once I had it clamped on it was obvious it was going to be almost impossible without hours of filing.. I was pleased to find a company to do it for me for £15. The volvo flywheel looks a bit better with some matching paint. On the right is the Ruston pulley, which is a heavy cast piece. The tapped holes in it are where the little prop shaft is connected, so drive from the engine is taken off this pulley. Once on the shaft, the flywheel and the pulley will be held together, I may weld them, but one is mild steel and the other cast iron... or I may try that miracle metal putty. It's only to keep the flywheel against the pulley.. Casp'

We had a seal in the Severn at Bridgnorth not so long ago, and that is a long long way from the sea. Casp'

An old Volvo flywheel. I removed the back part of the duel mass flywheel, bored out the centre to fit the Ruston shaft, neatened up the back on the lathe and found a local engineering company to fit a keyway for me. Cost £20 in all. This will be used for the electric start system.. Casp'

A little bit more today. An extension piece for the little prop shaft. Increasing the inside diameter so it will fit over the shaft. Part made. I then heated the extension piece so it slid over the shaft and once it had cooled it was stuck, but I have, of course, still welded around it. Old drive plate, on right, was second hand and had worn splines when I fitted it, so i've sourced a new-ish one to replace it. It's never been used but has sat in someone's shed for a while.. I removed all the plastic parts and then turned down the steel lugs. I then needed to turn a bit to centre it accurately with the uj and drill the 4 holes to bolt it together. The finished parts ready to fit... Casp'

I have a remote prm gearbox with a short Landy prop shaft between it and the engine. I just need to extend the prop shaft by 1.5", which i started on during mu lunch break today. Although it's a single cylinder it's a bigger engine so it wont make much difference and it will be fine with the propeller. This single actually weighs 50 lbs more than the twin I had.. Casp'

The 2VTH being stripped down, hoping it would just need new rings and liners.. Being towed backwards to have the engine lifted out. Engine stripped, at which point it was found to be too bad and too expensive to repair, with many parts unobtainable. We found that the engine had different injectors, one being the right one and one being from a VSH which is a higher psi.. No idea what that means.. A 1VSH was purchased to replace it. This was originally a cement mixer engine, from a rather big mixer... All unnecessary parts removed to be sold.. The inside was cleaned, especially the sump under the oil strainer and all new gaskets made and fitted. The engine has already had a new liner and rings and has had the injector and pump serviced. Engine given some new paint. New engine bearers made as the others aren't the same size.. That's it so far... Don't like to work too hard... Casp'

I only have 2 domestic batteries and a starter battery. My alternator is 75 amp. Off the flywheel it was at over 6 to 1 ratio. It never had any trouble even when the 2 domestic batteries were flat.

On the 2vth I had the alternator on a bracket fixed to the boat floor with a long belt driven off the flywheel. This setup worked well as the alternator was spinning at a good speed. The vsh has a bigger flywheel and I'm not sure it can afford to lose that much power so I intend to drive the alternator off the 10" pulley that is on it, with the alternator again remote on the floor. It wont charge as much but I rarely need to run the engine to charge as I use little power. My vsh came off a big cement mixer, think it's the same company as your vth. I'd ideally like to find a fully rebuilt 1vsh to buy.. Casp'

Hi. A month ago I may have been very interested in your engine as between the 2 of them I could no doubt get a good one. Since then I have bought a 1vsh which I have been working on and altering things on the boat to suit it. It's almost ready to fit. I've sold some of my vth parts to pay for it.. If all yours needs is new pistons and rings then maybe it would be worth doing up yours. Casp'

I got the gps speedo app on my phone so I could tell how fast or slow my land rover was actually going, as it's speedo is rather inaccurate. I haven't tried it on the boat yet, I know I'm going zero mph as I've no engine.. Casp'

No, shiny boats eventually go dull, so dull boats are the future. Casp'

One side of my boat is all painted and shiny-ish but the other side is just in primer and more rat-look.. Casp'

It doesn't count if i'm not there.. Casp'

I moor on the Llan and boats are getting faster year by year, but i'm afraid it's now mostly the private boats.. Another issue is the total lack of any nice sounding engines on the Llan, all the passing boats, with the exception of The Green Man, had those awful car engines buzzing noisily away, what am I supposed to listen to whilst I sup my cider, we want more proper engines chugging passed.. Casp'

Indeed they are.. Casp'

I also suppose it depends on how tall and big you are. I'm 6'2" and about 15 stone, so I do tend to find almost all fold up bikes to be a bit small for me. Casp'

Yeah, I know. I have a 1972 Chopper, and a Shopper. Casp'

You may think your folding bike is easy to ride, until you get onto a touting bike instead. When I chugged about I would regularly cycle 20 miles or so, either to fetch my car or to pop home. Wouldn't want to do that on a folding bike, especially if it's hilly. Casp,

You mean Raleigh Chopper surely.. Casp'

When I'm chugging about I take a Dawes touring bike. I chain it on the roof of the boat, plenty of space for it there. With a quick release front wheel it can easily fit in most small cars; I can put it into a Renault Clio, even a Ford Ka.. Casp'

If you intend to ride then get a proper bike. These folding bikes are too much of a compromise and after going out on them a couple of times you'll stop because they are not that easy to ride. Casp'