Help!! I can smell burning rubber ?

[KLamb]

Please help if you can.

i have just bought the boat and it’s had the Lister TS3 serviced.

i needed to move the boat from Aqueduct marina to Pennington Ward marina by tomorrow and am currently on the Bridgewater near where the M6 crosses it (just passed Stockton Heath).

i had the alternator belt tightened by a different boatyard because it was squeaking - that was the day before yesterday.

i know nothing about engines at all ?.

we set off early this morning and have been cruising for about 30 mins when I smelled burning rubber so I stopped.

that was about an hour ago and I’ve had the engine bay cover up (cruiser stern) and every so often I smell it again.

i have called River Rescue but I am anxious as I’m with my kids and we all need to be in Leigh by tomorrow (I have to go to work Tuesday)

is there anyone on here that is local that could come and have a look who knows Lister engines? 
this one had been sitting idle for 5 years prior to me buying it (he de the service) and prior to that it was a hire fleet boat (it was the ex hire boatyard that tightened the alternator belt for me)

I would really appreciate any practical help right now and even moral support would be good as I’m feeling a bit anxious.

Kate

[mark99]

24 minutes ago, KLamb said:

Please help if you can.

i have just bought the boat and it’s had the Lister TS3 serviced.

i needed to move the boat from Aqueduct marina to Pennington Ward marina by tomorrow and am currently on the Bridgewater near where the M6 crosses it (just passed Stockton Heath).

i had the alternator belt tightened by a different boatyard because it was squeaking - that was the day before yesterday.

i know nothing about engines at all ?.

we set off early this morning and have been cruising for about 30 mins when I smelled burning rubber so I stopped.

that was about an hour ago and I’ve had the engine bay cover up (cruiser stern) and every so often I smell it again.

i have called River Rescue but I am anxious as I’m with my kids and we all need to be in Leigh by tomorrow (I have to go to work Tuesday)

is there anyone on here that is local that could come and have a look who knows Lister engines? 
this one had been sitting idle for 5 years prior to me buying it (he de the service) and prior to that it was a hire fleet boat (it was the ex hire boatyard that tightened the alternator belt for me)

I would really appreciate any practical help right now and even moral support would be good as I’m feeling a bit anxious.

Kate

 

 

If it is the alt belt try as a first attempt the following using hopefully something you have on board.

 

Get a bar of soap and rub it along the underside of the alt belt where you can. By underside of belt it's really the "inside" I mean so when the belt touches the pulley, there will be a thin soap film between.

Edited August 16, 2020 by mark99

[Richard10002]

If RCR are coming sometime today, I wouldn't worry too much. They will almost certainly get you going, and you should get to Leigh/Pennington Wharf in a day, (about 27 miles from Stockton Heath). Maybe the alternator belt is now a bit too tight?

 

If they cant get you going, you may have to leave the boat and use public transport or get someone to come and get you. Stockton Heath - Warrington - Leigh shouldnt be too difficult in a day, particularly if you research it today.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Richard10002

[mark99]

 

[Tracy D'arth]

Are you sure the smell is from the engine, not from the batteries?

[KLamb]

Interesting - when I lift the cover and get in the engine bay I can’t smell it - I have stuck my nose next to the batteries which are near by. 
then I get a whiff of it in the air

[Tony Brooks]

Are you sure its your boat and not a local factory/bonfire? I don't advocate moving on regardless but if the TS is air cooled than it wont be a hot hose and in the great scheme of things a diesel will keep running even if the fan belt melts and falls off (unless SL4 style the belt drives the cooling fan).

[Tracy D'arth]

If the engine has not been run for so long, being air cooled it could be muck in the fins.

If its still charging the batteries I would carry on.

[KLamb]

Hi everyone - thanks for the replies - a friendly boater stopped and had a look. He said he thought it was the alternator belt bedding in. He reckoned I just need to wait a while and try again and go steady. I did as he said and no more rubber smell ?.

i am now 5 miles from my destination (having traveled 18 miles) and have had to stop because of a different problem ? I will start a new thread for that.

thanks for your help

[Guest]

1 minute ago, KLamb said:

Hi everyone - thanks for the replies - a friendly boater stopped and had a look. He said he thought it was the alternator belt bedding in. He reckoned I just need to wait a while and try again and go steady. I did as he said and no more rubber smell ?.

i am now 5 miles from my destination (having traveled 18 miles) and have had to stop because of a different problem ? I will start a new thread for that.

thanks for your help

Welcome to boat ownership.

 

Some say the two happiest days in boat ownership are the day you buy it, and the day you finally manage to sell it.

[OldGoat]

I don't buy the bedding in bit - but I do suggest that people don't reailse that boats are not (yet) like cars and that 'you' have to coax them along until everything has warmed up.

Frinstance starting cruising (on a day) on the canals at slow speed with a flat-ish battery packs will put quite a strain on the boats alternator(s) - which results in a smell of hot rubber.

I don't have a resoultion (I switch off my battery charging system for the first 1/2 hours cruising  that fixes it for me).

Perhaps running the engine for 1/2 hour at fast tickover might help?