stevetreader

At Stretford Marine we pump out loads of tanks. Smells seem more prolific if the tank has been stood with no treatment in it, the more you turn the tank over the less it smells. It helps when pumping out to flush the tank by backfilling with water and rocking the boat, this dilutes the slurry in the bottom of the tank. Just sticking the machine on till nothing more comes out is not the answer. Several boaters refuse any tank treatment claiming they eat a lot of plain yoghurt !!! I would agree with earlier comments if it is a new boat take it back and have it checked out.

Are you a registered dealer in controlled oil? If not check it out on HMRC website. A licence is not transferable. You need to be sure you get a registration otherwise you cannot trade. You would also have to pay more for a trading licence and insurance. All needs to be considered before buying the boat.

Stretford Marne. Located on the Bridgewater near to waters meet. We sell diesel, coal, pump out, calor gas and general chandelry. Bespoke Joinery for Narrowboats and other Canal Craft. www.stretfordmarine.com

I would say the LED type are best, due to low wattage you can fit more for the same battery life. Puffer Parts in Yorksire on the Leeds Liverpool has some good tried and tested LED fittings at reasonable prices. I tend to like the saloon type in brass with shades. I have fitted warm white LED's to these and they work fine. I think the early LED's had a very harsh white light but that has now been addressed. The most important is to fit something that complements the style of the boat I have seen some really bad plastic fittings installed in traditional wood boats they stood out like a sail on a narrowboat.

Well not much comment there. I fully intend to give it a try and see how I go on. It is mainly the spares situation that worries me I assume if anything goes wrong then I cannot just nip to Halfords. The first job is to finish fitting the alternator where the old dynamo was. I am going to use a Lucas A127 70Amp I think a smaller alternator pully will be required to get a good spin at low revs. At least the old Lucas is approaching vintage and is usually very reliable. I also have a few little water leaks to sort and then a good clean and polish. I am also thinking the three foot long gear lever will have to be altered to something more neat. I will keep you posted how it goes and might even publish some vintage engine porn for you engineers. Steve

Yes it seems we did the business and the boat is in theory mine. Thinking of renaming it Treader after me dad. I believe the prop is 24 inch. I guess you run your boat with the same type of control and you don't seem to crash too often (that we see). The engine starts ok and does run nice although I have to finish the conversion from dynamo to alternator. The sound it makes is good. Judging by the forward thrust the gearbox must transmit the low down grunt into a good push which seems a lot more than 10HP but I guess thats what it was made to do. The rumours about the engines value are a bit of a myth there is a restord one on ebay at the moment and its nowwhere near the price people told me. Bit worried about the moving on the mooring I have not done it and it was chained up when I left yesterday must be ginny greenteeth the canal boat fairy in action. Just the old Boat to sell now!!

I have bought a narrow boat which is 57 ft long. It is fitted with a Keel Cooled Vintage Dorman 2DSM engine which seems to run well. Having had a run out on the Bridgewater I find the controls very slow you have to drop the revs then wait till the engine slows before you put it in reverse then wait for the revs to build before you start to arrest forward motion this means I can go 20 yards down the cut before starting to stop! Given the spares situation for a vintage engine and the slow response I am tempted to fit a modern engine and box in the boat which is a 1998 John White Hull. Is that something others would do or is it a no no to a canal enthusiast. What is the best engine for a 57 footer?

I have used flat round 12v 21 led G4 led's from puffer parts. I have fixed them into the brass round fittings which use car type 10w tubular lamps. I found the warm white leds work best, the blue light ones are too harsh for my traditional pine \ varnish finish but they may be good in a modern style boat. Big advatage is they run cool and use so little battery power I think they are a winner all round. Steve

I have a 1982 30ft narrow boat with a single cylinder Sabb 10HP diesel engine mounted on oak blocks bolted through to a frame welded to the boat the prop is fixed not variable . The engine starts and ticks over nicely but when you increase revs you reach a pont where the engine starts to shake and vibrate but if you open the throttle a bit more you accelerate through this. When you close the throttle you reach the same point and back comes the shakes it does this if you are in foward, neutral or reverse gear. The prop runs free and can be turned by hand. I have checked the counter balance weights, the governor and the injector all seem ok. Has any one else had this problem with a SABB engine? If you did how was it fixed. Anyone have any ideas what this could be?

When I made furniture for bars and restaurants the height of the seat was 16 inches and the back of the seat had to have a slope of 10 degrees.!!!