Albion

I don't think that I would choose to do it that way personally. Hefting a great lump of cylinder around while delicately trying to deal with compressor and rings can't be easy. It can be tricky enough to do from the top (depending on the quality of your ring compressor) and could be a nightmare from the other direction. Roger

The Beta engine (based on a Kubota Japanese industrial diesel) is fairly well supported by a European dealer network and there are chandlers that can supply Kubota parts also, so I wouldn't worry too much about it not being an engine made in Europe. Beta also do a fairly rapid courier service for any parts, from my experience, to France certainly. I can't swear that the same service would be given to other countries but I see no reason why not. Roger

My new Dutch style barge (53 x 12.5 ft) will have a Beta 90. It won't be the fastest thing on the water but should be adequate. More importantly perhaps is the shape of the swim. Is it a very blunt one that will mask the water flow to the prop or will it have fine underwater lines that allow full efficiency from the existing power source. Roger

If you can plan ahead to forecast ice and bad weather I suggest that you would be better employed as a weather forecaster 'cos no-one else seems to be able to do it reliably. Roger

There are indeed similarities (thanks for the link). FI seems to be using the stored energy obtained by over-run deceleration in a hybrid system to get a very short term boost in acceleration out of the corner. The implication in the Audi advert is that they just store some of the recovered energy in the battery (which is proabably already fully charged). I think we need to understand more about what Audi are claiming before we can see what's involved. One problem with a hybrid system is that you add cost and weight by having, in effect, a dual power and storage system. It costs energy to accelerate that extra weight around the place and so, at a stroke, you have negated some of the benefit. Much gain in energy saving and cost has been made by simply reducing the weight of the vehicle but, unfortunately, the extra weight of all the gizmos and safety features that are demanded in modern vehicles has also negated much of the weight saving. You can't have it all ways, I'm afraid. The KERS system that stores energy in a fast rotating flywheel is very similar to an idea years ago about powering buses by storing kinetic energy in a large flywheel mounted under the bus. This flywheel would have been accelerated by an electric motor, to which the bus was automatically connected while waiting at a bus stop and also using regeneration during braking IIRC. It was a proposal but I never heard any more of it after the publication of the idea in the automotive journals. Roger

That pretty well stacks up with what I had always heard to use a size of about 1 sq ft for every 4 to 5 hp. The critical thing though is that the tank should be suitably baffled inside to create a labyrinth path for the coolant to flow around. It is pointless having an inlet in one corner and an outlet in the other with no baffling as the coolant will run straight from one to the other and most of the skin tank area is wasted. The tank doesn't need to be very thick either. The 6 in thick tank of the OP is a waste of space and only needs to be about 1 to 1.5 inches thick. I also agree with Tony that an over-specced tank size is perfectly OK on an engine with a thermostat. In fact it could well be useful if you find yourself pushing a tide for hours or in emergency situations; that's when you'll find out whether the tank is big enough and that is when you definitely don't want to find out that it is too small. Roger

Whaddya mean, there is no need for debate.....................cassette with spare tanks is the ONLY way to go. There is no other choice and never will be!!!!!! Roger Retires to bunker to watch the fun.

I'm no expert on this particular boiler but what you are describing about difficulty in keeping the pilot light alight sounds typical of a defective thermocouple. There is usually a sensing device (usually looks like a thin metal nose sticking into or near the pilot flame with a thin flexible copper pipe running away from it). The purpose of this device is to sense the heat of the pilot /flame and ensure that the gas control valve stays open. If you find that the only way you can get the pilot light to remain alight is to hold the button down for much longer than you've ever had to do in the past then I would almost guarantee that it's the thermocouple that's defective. All you're doing by holding the button down is acting as a manual over-ride to the flame failure thermocouple until such time as it heats up enough to hold the gas valve open itself. Roger

Yes, you are quite probably correct about the early version. There were many attempts made with electrical devices that failed because the electrics (and materials technology) of the day wasn't capable. Don't suppose you remember the electric version of the torque converter that was tried by Smiths Industries on some Hillman Minx cars? It used electric magnets to magnetise iron filings to lock the stator and rotor together instead of the hydraulic versions used today. Those were the days of pathetic dynamos and batteries that lasted all of 18 months before failure........and they wondered why it didn't catch on Roger

When I left my post as a development engineer (On-board diagnostics) for Jaguar some 5 years ago the idea that was being put about in the industry then (not by Jags, by the way) was a combined starter/alternator that would replace the mass of the flywheel, sitting in the same place as the flywheel. The idea was that this, in motor mode, would be capable of starting the engine (removing the need for a separate starter motor) and then, once the engine was started, it would become an alternator (removing the need for a separate alternator and the associated complex belt drive, pulleys etc). This device would also regenerate while the engine was on over-run (presumably a bit like the Telma retarders on commercials and coaches). I haven't heard that any car manufacturer has yet used a system like I've described but with a bit of 'advertising liberty' could be described as a brake re-generator. It would be more correctly described as an over-run re-generator as the use of the brakes themselves isn't linked to its operation. Perhaps Audi have introduced something like this. If it is something out of the run of the mill then it will undoubtedly appear soon in the Automotive Industry specialist magazines that I still get so I will keep my eye open for anything. Roger

That will be the drain/sampling point by the sound of it. The fuel may be collecting there but not necessarily sourcing from there. If I were you I would wipe carefully around the whole bowl, right up to the head of the filter unit, and then monitor down the sides of the bowl by hand or with a tissue at regular intervals. If the sides of the bowl remain dry but the diesel reappears at the bottom then the problem is with the drain seal. If not then it's coming from the main bowl O ring seal. Roger

LOL, you and Alan have obviously missed a trick. If you'd followed the lead of our MPs you should have said "It's a genuine mistake" or "It's an administrative error" or "It was an oversight on my behalf, but if I reverse back through the camera it'll be OK" or "I'm entitled to drive that fast because different rules apply to me" and you'd have got away with it. They may even have enhanced your pension and given you a golden handshake as well. Roger

Wandering Snail belongs to a couple called Ann and Ollie. Didn't know them well but met them once at Napton. They decided to move the boat and themselves abroad about two years ago IIRC. Roger

Try Martyn, advertises in the magazines as Travelsat, on 07914 401 036. He did an excellent job supplying and fitting the equipment for us when we had a Freesat system fitted to our boat. Roger

In my opinion Lymm is a must for a stop. It's a lovely place to stop and has an excellent Italian Restaurant as well as other shops etc. I've also moored twice at Worsley facing the famous black and white house and just before the sharp left under the bridge if going north. Bit noisy with traffic (and one PITA which was a mini motorbike ridden at high speed on th towpath by some kids). Otherwise it was fine. Roger

You may have already done this but have you thought of joining The Barge Association (DBA) http://www.barges.org/ where there are many members who will have bought and refurbished a Dutch Barge and then taken it to the continent including cruising/mooring in Holland? It is more likely that you'll find the info there IMO. Roger

Alan, you are so right. Your story made me laugh because that was exactly what happened to me when I was working buried deep in the engine hole and under the stern deck of the trad boat that I had at the time. It wasn't until I finally surfaced from using the heavy vapour Evostik type glue that I realised just how woozy I was. It was a little scary at the time because you then realised with a vengeance why they put the warnings on the tin. Roger

Taking the 55W and 240vAC or 12vDC that you've given above and assuming no other losses or differences (which is, of course, ridiculous...but for the purposes of illustration):- 55/240 = 0.23A (AC) and is what the TV is running on from the inverter. 55/12 = 4.58A (DC) is what the batteries will need to supply to the inverter if 100% efficient. Roger Edited for clarity

Err, no! Electrical things take power (Watts). If you have a device that consumes, for example, 144 Watts then at 12 volts DC that will mean a current of 12 amps (12 x 12 = 144). If, however, you are on 24 volts DC then that will mean a current of 6 amps (24 x 6 = 144) Volts times Amps =Watts Roger

LOL, yeah but to be fair the Kelvin wasn't going to be man enough and, possibly, reliable enough for the extended voyaging that Bill was going to do. For example, I'm not sure that I'd know the Polish for " Have you any spare parts for my early 1900's Kelvin engine please?" Roger

Tony is quite right in what he says. I have used, with some considerable success, a product that had a thick plastic layer where the lead is in Tony's recommended product. It is important to seal every tiny hole, especially in the joints between the deck boards, as noise can propagate again from the smallest hole. BUT it is critical that you allow sufficient air flow for the engine's needs and cooling airflow as Tony has said. The art of lining a vent with sound proofing material whilst still creating an adequate labyrinth to deaden noise is quite fun but must be done to get the best results. Roger

Just a thought but unless you are forced to stay where you are then couldn't you limp the boat to Uxbridge for them to look at it? It's not as if your engine is inoperable after all. The fact that it is white smoking a bit wouldn't stop you limping it there, being careful to monitor oil levels etc at frequent intervals. I don't believe that you will make the engine significantly worse by doing the trip and it's got to be sorted anyway at the end of that trip so there doesn't seem a lot to lose to be honest. Roger Edited to add: And, of course, making sure that what is in the sump is oil and not diesel with a little oil added!

I've owned a boat in France and am having a replacement made at the moment to take to France in 2010. I can tell you that it will take you about 5 hours to drive from Calais to the western end of the Burgundy Canal or the northern end of the Nivernais (Migennes area). Both these canals are lovely and there is a Locaboat base at Joigny which would serve both after a very short trip on the River Yonne. 5 hours might be more than you wanted to do, of course. Locaboat also have some bases further north in France but I have no experience of those waterways so can't advise whether they are any good or not. See: http://www.locaboat.com/index.php Roger

Bill is quite well known (reknowned) in internet forum boating circles as he was one of the founders of an original newsgroup that has morphed into canals-list now IIRC. When he was in Oman, Middle East, he was a regular contributor. When he returned he bought Rosy and set off on a massive narrow boat adventure in Europe getting as far as Poland IIRC. He has now brought Rosy back to the UK. He distributes (via a third party) an e-mail newsletter called 'Bill's latest episode' which keeps us up to date with his travels. The last one of these that I've received was only on 16th May and seem to come out about every two to three weeks. Last met him last September at the Blue Lias, Long Itchington. Roger

John, One of the experts in Listers down your way is http://www.marineengine.co.uk/ but, not knowing the area too well, I'm not sure if Uxbridge would be too far for you to get the engine to them or whether they do a mobile service. Roger