monkeyhanger

My daughter and a couple of friends passed through this lock a couple of weeks ago, at 6.30 in the morning, They were moving the boat to Hemel Hempstead so early starts were needed to use the available daylight, They were roundly verbally abused by one of the house dwellers by this lock, along the lines that they shouldn't be moving boats at that time of day. Apparently extremely industrial language too. They were quite shocked by the language and it spoiled the enjoyment of the rest of their day. Last summer (2013), I had an "incident" with a guy who flew out of the pub, shouting and swearing at me about not closing the bridge. This was as I was still exiting the lock gates! He gave me another load of verbal and then swung the bridge shut with all his might! At least it saved me the effort. There are kind and helpful people around those parts!

I have fitted a filter in the line before my extraction pump. You'd be amazed at the amount of hair it traps. Don't know whether hair will pass through a gulper, but if it clogs I'm sure you can work out when it will happen Sod's law and all that.

You could try CJ Diesels in Isleworth who have a good reputation, or the place I use is shown below--and they are brilliant! And canalside and very close to Hackney Wick overground station MV Motors 8a Queens Yard, White Post Lane, London E9 5EN020 8985 6077

Yes. There should be a thin copper washer in there. Best get them tested and reset while you've got them out, especially if the nozzles are different, hence the need for extra washers. I can recommend a place in East London. Where are you?

Many thanks for your help on this one! My filler plug is a low profile steel one, with no (obvious)breather hole. I'll have to have a closer look next time I'm at the boat. Interesting that you mentioned changing the oil-- you know, I can't ever remember changing the oil in my reduction box! That will have to be high on the "to do" list. How often do you change the oil in yours?

Fitting a drilled plug is not a bad idea. It's certainly worth a try first anyway. I can't hear if the noise is any different when in reverse. It's a Blackstone box, so it's difficult to hear anything in reverse! Good idea about checking the breather, too, but if I remember correctly, there's actually very little in them so I wouldn't have thought they'd clog easily. And yes, I know what you mean about strange noises. I have a clicking from my water pump which only manifests itself when it sees fit. "Starman" had a similar problem with his JP3, and I suggested it could be his water pump. Judging by the fact that he hasn't been back on here asking about it, it must have fixed itself. Jack

Haven't noticed any leaks,other than the one at the dipstick, but I'll check again. Once I fitted the breather to the filler tube the oil level remained pretty constant. I wouldn't have thought that any pressurisation would come from the gearbox, as that is connected to the crankcase which has a breather fitted. Maybe I need to take the reduction box apart to have a check just in case.

When I was out cruising this summer, I noticed that oil from within my 2:1 reduction box was being forced out of the dipstick hole. Not a great deal, but enough to cause me to have to wipe it down at the end of a days travelling. I then had to check and top up the oil regularly, which is something I normally would expect to do perhaps twice a year. In fact I had to buy a new bottle of EP80, which came as a surprise, as the previous bottle only lasted 20 years! I came to the conclusion that the reduction box was becoming pressurised in some way, so I fitted a fuel tank breather instead of the normal filler plug, and problem solved, no more leak. Except......... I am now aware of the sounds of the reduction box as I travel along, a sort of groaning noise, which to my mind would seem to indicate wear of some sort. I rebuilt the box 20 years ago, with new bearings and gears, as I had similar symptoms, but with much louder groaning noise. Obviously something is wrong, but what? I hope it's only a bearing or similar as my wallet still hurts from the price of the new gearset all those years ago. Can I expect a noise from the box? If so, I can refit the filler plug and the noise will go away-- but the oil loss will probably return. If anyone has any thoughts I'd like to hear them. Jack

As far as I know, it doesn't exist any more. I believe it was filled in by Holloways (who own the land) and is now part of their lorry park. I'd be happy to be proved wrong, as it is where my boat was built, and I haven't been there for many years, although always planning to revisit.

That's going some! Remember that the days are becoming shorter and he is single handed.

4 days Middlewich- Atherstone. 2 days Atherstone-Braunston. That's what it took me this summer, in the reverse direction.

I've heard P&S recommended on several occasions in the past. Another alternative might be Stansted Abbots Marina on the Lea.

Now that Candlebridge Carrying has gone, Southern Carriers are not in business at the moment, and Royalty fuels are back up north, just who is catering for the hundreds of boats on the Lee and Stort and East London, please? I know of the Wakehams, but is there anyone else? It seems to me that there is a golden opportunity here for someone!

SR3 ? Not sure you're correct there.

Ray Bowern, who used to own and run Streethay Wharf was a huge fan of Les Allen boats. When Les's sons, Bob and John retired in 1997, Ray had to look elsewhere for his shells. One of the guys who used to work with the Allen Bros. was John Horton. He built a few shells for Ray, and this may well be one of them.

I agree.Once in a while, for various reasons, I will run mine on low compression, but my engine wont reach 850rpm (not quite) due to prop size and speedwheel mechanism, so I don't have to worry about high revs. But we're getting a bit "off topic" now.

I can see your reasoning----but the makers handbook says always run under high compression unless running hard under a heavy load. I would take" heavy load" to mean in a 70ft boat carrying 25 tons of coal and towing a similarly loaded butty. Also, from my motor racing days I always understood higher compression to equate to higher efficiency, which must be better. And after all, high comp in a JP is only 19:1, so hardly overstressing the engine I wouldn't have thought.

I would't recommend running on low compression with a lightish load.

I'm pretty sure I got mine from screwfix. Have a look at part no :- 76650 Bottle air vent. I seem to recall that this is the size which screws straight in with no adaptor needed. I'm not on the boat at the moment so I can't check for you. The screwfix ones come with a rough cast surface.You can paint it the same colour as the engine, or if you have access to a lathe, it's a 5 minute job to tidy it up ready for the brasso.

I think it depends on your attitude. If you opt for a vintage engine, you can't expect to open the doors, put the key in the ignition, and off you go. I'd suspect that most people who have a vintage engine( I can only speak for JPs) accept that you have to oil the rockers, sometimes bleed the fuel pump, and put up with the fun and games associated with the piston water pump. It's all part of the fun associated with owning an ancient lump of iron .If you find it all too much, go for a Kubota!

I had problems with air in the skin tank for quite a few years. I got into the habit of opening the air bleed on the top of the silencer for a couple of seconds every time I passed through the engine room- it used to leave a lovely rusty pattern on the ceiling if the revs were too high. Everyone who "knew about old engines" told me to get rid of the piston-type water pump,as the only way to cure the air/potential overheating problem. Sometimes, as I'm sure you know, after being told countless times "you can't fix that" you get in the frame of mind that you just want to prove them wrong. So I fixed it. I fitted an automatic air bleed valve on top of the silencer in place of the tap -solid brass, polished up nicely so it looks like it's always been there, and a 3/8 copper pipe tapped into the top of the skin tank, and taken up to the top of the header tank via a swan neck, to remove any air which reached there. The end result is no overheating and a maximum of 3 seconds gurgling noise from the header tank when I stop the engine ( instead of at least five minutes as it was previously) Now I only need to check the water level in the header tank every couple of days, not every couple of hours as I had to before.

There are two copper discs,each a bit bigger than the size of a 2p coin, if my memory serves me correctly, which are held in position by weak-ish springs. These are the valves which open and close as the piston in your water pump goes up and down. I have a JP2 in my boat, and every now and again I get this tapping noise from the engine room, which I'm pretty certain is coming from these valves hitting their seats. Of course, when you're steering the boat, it's not the easiest thing to duck into the engine 'ole at the merest whim to have a listen. This noise can happen at any time and under any operating condition but more often when running hard. On my engine, I have blanked off the bilge pump part of my water pump, and I've often wondered if it's this that is causing the pump to make this noise, by causing extra suction on that part of the pump. It scared the hell out of me when I first heard it, but after 20 years of hearing it on and off, I'm a bit blase about it now. Of course, if I'm wrong.....................Can anyone help me? I've got a strange knocking noise coming from my engine.........

Without actually hearing it, of course, from what you've said I'd still put money on it being the valves in your water pump.Therefore nothing to worry about.(we hope!)

Have you identified where the noise is coming from yet? I assume that with no more posts, everything is OK now. I'd be interested to know the solution to the problem.

A warning to owners of deep draughted boats intending to travel on the Southern Oxford Canal. My boat draws 2ft 6 ins and I got stuck in two locks this week, Grant's and Nell Bridge. Heading South my boat caught on the bottom sills of both locks and had to be flushed out. Not too much of a problem for me, but for boats heading North it won't be so easy.