buggsy

Hi Clovey, my Perkins D3 is mounted on hardwood bearers which are bolted directly to the engine bed. We do have a centaflex coupling but the boat does vibrate when the engine running but until the recent cooling problems the engine has been perfect. Other forum members have recommended that this is the correct way to mount this style of engine. When the time comes for me to replace the engine or even the boat i will attempt to hear as many engines as possibly so as to make the right choice. There is a D3 fitted to a 70 ' Hotel Boat called Willow which as their website state throws a 21" prop so these engines should have ample power. cheers Steve

Hi, does anyone know the contact details for Jim, who used to work at North Kilworth. Jim fitted the engine in my boat and i would like to contact him re checking the the engine over. cheers, Steve

My father-in-law (mechanic by trade) has been running a peugeot berlingo on oli from Lidl's but it knackered the injection pump probably due to the viscosity of the oil. He has replaced the pump and now uses 50/50 diesel/vegetable oil and all seams ok so some saving. Apparently where he lives the Eastern block immigrants are buying up all the vegetable oil from the foreign supermarket chains. So some people are making savings!!!!

Hi, our boat is an ex hire weltonfield boat that i think was in their fleet for about 3/4 years and was named Delphi 1. I remember seing Weltonfields brochures when we hired in 1994 but i don't have any brochures now. Has any forum members got any brochures or pictures from hiring Weltonfield boats. cheers, Steve

Hi, I have been asked by the other half to ask if anyone knows of a supplier of fitted bed sheets for a 4'wide mattress as all the usual high street shops don't appear to stock them. cheers, Steve

Amongst my boating documents i have found some parts list for these engines which may be of use to somebody. Steve

Any one got one of these fitted to their boat?

Thanks for all the suggestins. I have cut the pipe back by about an inch and remade the joint and all appears to ok. One thing i did notice was a slight nick in the off cut so perhaps this was the reason. cheers Steve

Hi, i have noticed a leak on my Alde central heating circuit, so i drained of the antifreeze mixture and replaced the elbow fitting and noticed the green olive had split so i thought i had found the problem. I remade the joint re filled system with water and all was ok heating working fine. So i drained down the water and refilled the the system with a 40% mixture antifreeze/ water and again the Hep20 fitting leaks very bad What am i doing wrong???? I intend cutting the pipe further back and remake the joint tomorrow but if this fails again i was going to try and find some suitable 22mm hose. Has anyone had a similar problem?? cheers Steve

Hi Dor, why not drain the system and refill it with a solution of 50 % antifreeze 50 % water pre made up. I think my alde system held about 12 litres when i drained it earlier this year. steve

Hi, try looking on ebay at the moment and searching "narrowboat" and some one is selling a stove that may be suitable. Sorry i don't know how to do links cheers, steve

Hi, a couple of months i purchased a sealand fixing kit to replace the t bolts on our mansfield traveller as one of the bolts had sheared. At the same time i replaced the foam type seal which seals the toilet to the tank. I have just noticed that three of the four bolts have sheared again. These are brass in colour and are supposedly the correct ones as supplied by Midland Chandlers. Any ideas? Does anyone know of a supplier of T bolts? I think the ones supplied are 5mm but i would like to try some 6 or 7 mm ones. Cheers, Steve

Hi, I am considering painting my aluminium window frames with a suitable gold coloured paint. Has any one experience of this? What supplier of gold paint did you use? I intend cleaning and abrading the frames and spraying with etch primer before adding the gold paint. Any tips with masking up etc gratefully appreciated. cheers, Steve

Hi, Tc will have ammonia in the formulation, products such as FG3 will not and basically the combination of abrasive powders is also far more advanced.As a comparison consider TC as a Mk3 Cortina and FG3 as a latest Mondeo. i hope this helps cheers, Steve

Hi, my father has tried the ametech engine restorer in his 20 year old plus BUKH 2 cylinder. I t has only had limited success in helping to reduce the smoking. I would say it is worth ago but cannot promise great results.

Hi, My Perkins D3.152 has developed an oil leak and i am not sure where it is coming from. I have recently changed the oil and the filter and it appears it could be coming from possibly the oil sender unit or the bracket where the oil filter screws onto. I am sure the filter is fully tightened and this not where the leak is coming from. Is it worth taking out the oil sender unit a try resealing it? Whats best to use to seal the thread. Is it worth taking off the bracket (that the oil filter cannister srews into) and renewing the gasket. I am sure the oil leak is above the sump gasket. Any thoughts as usual gratefully appreciated Cheers, Steve

Hi Chris, i am no expert but after looking on the shoreline website and speaking with ranger refidgeration the advice is wire directly to the battery bank protected by a 15 amp fuse and allow 1mm2 cable per metre from the battery bank. I have just installed a similar fridge on our boat and it measured 6m from the battery bank but i have used 10mm2 cable for both +ve and -ve to be on the safe side. I have also installed a sterling fuse holder and 15 amp fuse as advised by Midland Chandlers as this this being the only one to accept 10mm2 cable. I purchased the tri-rated cable from my local City Electric trade counter. Hope this helps Steve

Hi Patrick, we have an ex weltonfield hire boat also with two Mansfield toilets. I have improved one of the toilets by replacing the flexible pump out hose with more solid hose and only using a small amount of sanitatitin grade hose in the vertical position so that no sewerage ever sits in the flexible hose. I found Lee Sanitation very good for advice and the various part required. Any way sorry for rambling but one thing i did was to install a 5" inspection hatch which once fitted has been ok but the most unpleasant job i have ever done. The tank even after numerous rinsing and pumping out had a hard substance which needed breaking up on the base of the tank and removing. We also found possible a large ladies item so this was probaly blocking our pump outs. My only advice would be to install a inspection hatch approx £20 from LEE Sanitation and hold your nose and have a look in the tank, obviously once empty. The other thing i found srewfix the cheapest for the 127 mm hole saw required. good luck Steve

Hi, NB Dover from the TV series is for sale in Braunston at £98,000. What does everyone think? Fair price or overpriced? Would you rather spend that sought of money on a new top of the range boat? cheers steve

Hi, our boat is moored below Stoke Bruerne and we are considering a weeks holiday going down the Northampton Arm and along the Nene. I was wondering how easy it is to moor a narrowboat along the river other than at the various boat clubs along the river. I remember reading in one of the canal mags that people moor at the locks but is this the norm or should this be avoided. Any comments gratefully received. cheers, Steve

Hi, please can i have some advice on the best place to connect the starter battery and leisure batteries to the durite type split charge relay. On my boat the connections are made direct to the battery terminals i.e. one to the starter battery and one to the leisure battery bank. I have seen in diagrams that these can go to the positive battery isolators. Th reason for the question is that on my father's boat which has a Bukh engine the wire from the relay is going direct to the starter motor is this wrong? I was actually thinking about changing this and taking it directly to the starter battery is this a good idea? cheers, Steve

Hi, I know this is a bit of a strange question compared to narrowboat equipment. Since i have installed a wood burning stove i have started looking around for logs to burn and obviously there is often wood available that needs cutting to size so i was wondering if any one had any comments/advice on chainsaws which to buy/or not to buy. cheers, Steve

Hi Graham, we went through last weekend with no problems even though the signs are still erected staitng that the navigatipn is closed. Cheers, steve

Hi, my boat is fitted with Piranha pine cladding. I am currently adding some pine mouldings around some tiling. Can anyone recommend a wood stain or blends of wood stains to acheive the desired colour. cheers, steve

Well people, due to the poor conditions last night we only managed to cruise from 11.50 to 12.10, there was a break in the rain and the clouds cleared so we could see the moon and the stars. The wind was very strong hence the short trip but at least we were cruising at midnight. We really enjoyed it and on a calm evening i should think it must be much better. Happy New year to you all Steve