Success and epic failure

[p6rob]

At long last the BMC 1.5 sprang into life today. It needs some fettling, it won't idle and I think the injector pump timing is still a bit off but to hear the engine running after the last four weekends work is pure music.

 

The epic failure came on the maiden voyage around the marina. We'd basically cast off, turned, and then discovered the idling issue meant the boat couldn't go from forward to reverse without stalling. so it had to be started with drive engaged. Suddenly the marina seemed to get really busy (well at least one boat (potential crash victim) while we were floundering out of control. My apologies to 'Vulcan', your crew are very patient, and thank you for the advice.

 

Hopefully tomorrow the idling and timing will be improved and the next attempt around Mercia Marina for a shakedown run will be less traumatic.

 

Can anyone recomend a Helmsman course around the Midlands area. I'm hoping to move the boat closer to Brum in the next week or two and it's clear some tuition is required first.

 

 

Rob

[Boaty Jo]

http://www.trboathandling.com/

 

Gnossal, Staffs not too far away. Try Terry.

[RickH]

http://www.trboathandling.com/

 

Gnossal, Staffs not too far away. Try Terry.

Recommend Terry also , you can do the course on his boat or he'll come to you and work on yours .

[Grace and Favour]

Ray Cullis (Trent Boat Handling) trained us, both the Helmsman's course and our VHF training.

 

First rate, and a very experienced sailor.

 

(and I've seen him training peeps from Mercia)

[loubyscooby]

Hi Rob

 

Glad you managed to get the engine going at least. Sounds like Mercia had its fair share of manoevering issues this weekend. I took my boat to the PO with Doug (from New & Used) and the gears started slipping, ended up unable to get into reverse so luckily there was a spare mooring passed my usual spot and with one chance we got her in that. Now need to get boat builders back to look at the problem...........

 

Re courses, I had looked at a few but think I may ask Matty on here as the folks he has helped all sing his praises. I have had 2 years experience on a narrowboat but need a bit of help steppping to a WB plus confidence with doing it all myself.

Louise

[p6rob]

Thanks for the course details. I'll be phoning around today.

 

We managed to get the boat running slightly better yesterday, the tank return pipe had a leak and needed replacing so, with that fixed, we went for a trip down to the winding hole at Willington. All was going well until we reached the first bridge, it became clear, as we approached, that the TV aerial wasn't going to survive, so I put the throttle to the idle position, whereupon the engine stalled again and wouldn't restart.

 

A couple of dog walkers helped pull the boat over to the tow path and offered to tow us back to the marina if we were still stuck when they got their boat out later in the afternoon.

We lifted the engine covers, tightened a leaking water pipe joint and eventually got the engine to run again. I suspect the timing is still not 100% right and the mixture of old fuel needs more dilution with good quality fresh diesel before it'll run better.

 

We carried on down to the winding hole and after about 5 attempts and a few engine stalls later, eventually managed to turn around and get back to the marina. If we manage to get the slow running problems sorted in time I'm hoping we can head off from Mercia Marina down towards Brum next weekend.

 

Does diesel go off in the same way petrol does? I added some marine 16 to the tank a couple of weeks ago and drew off a jam jar full of diesel. It looks clear and water free but somewhere between 4 and 6 gallons is presumably at least 10 months old. I've added a further 6 gallons of fresh white diesel to the tank.

 

Good luck with moving to a wide beam Louise and hopefully you get you get the gearbox sorted, I've seen a few really nice ones dotted about the marina, there's a really sexy looking Dutch barge berthed near us on pontoon A that sounds like a jet engine.