Bukh 36 - experiences?

[Peugeot 106]

Sorry I can’t remember at all. I think I spoke to the MD. I’m usually pretty good at keeping notes on helpful suppliers but this time have failed miserably. They were definitely recommended by Crowthers on both the websites I remember thinking how pleased the new company must be. Unfortunately Hotmail forced me to delete all my emails up to last year or I could have searched on that. 

Basically the guy said that if you’ve got a hull like a brick (I have and so have plenty of others)  there is a definite maximum speed that you will get out of it that won’t be related necessarily to 1.35 and the sq root waterline length because it’s a brick not a displacement hull. That doesn’t preclude you having a lot of fun in it but you must be realistic. My theoretical max would be 6.75 knots. I get 4.1 in deep water. There is nothing we can’t do that other narrowboats do with a bit of forethought ie an avoidance  “punching” spring tides or red boards. We rarely get overtaken on canals

 

i thought we had the wrong propellor and should be going a lot faster until I got some advice. After 4 years and hundreds of miles I have no desire to go any faster or alter anything

[IanD]

16 hours ago, Peugeot 106 said:

Sorry I can’t remember at all. I think I spoke to the MD. I’m usually pretty good at keeping notes on helpful suppliers but this time have failed miserably. They were definitely recommended by Crowthers on both the websites I remember thinking how pleased the new company must be. Unfortunately Hotmail forced me to delete all my emails up to last year or I could have searched on that. 

Basically the guy said that if you’ve got a hull like a brick (I have and so have plenty of others)  there is a definite maximum speed that you will get out of it that won’t be related necessarily to 1.35 and the sq root waterline length because it’s a brick not a displacement hull. That doesn’t preclude you having a lot of fun in it but you must be realistic. My theoretical max would be 6.75 knots. I get 4.1 in deep water. There is nothing we can’t do that other narrowboats do with a bit of forethought ie an avoidance  “punching” spring tides or red boards. We rarely get overtaken on canals

 

i thought we had the wrong propellor and should be going a lot faster until I got some advice. After 4 years and hundreds of miles I have no desire to go any faster or alter anything

 

Apart from not making the full engine power/boat speed available (while giving quieter cruising due to lower rpm) the other issue with being heavily overpropped is that the boat speed can be higher than desirable even at tickover, leading to much shouting and fist-shaking from aggrieved moored boaters -- who might well have been better off mooring up properly, but let's not get into that... 😉

 

Unless you have a relatively small engine*** and often venture out onto rivers with strong currents most boats never get anywhere near full power anyway, so a certain degree of overpropping is probably a good thing so long as top speed is "enough" and speed at tickover is still OK -- as I assume you've found 🙂

 

*** overpropping on an electric boat/series hybrid is *not* such a good idea, with only 15kW/20hp or so you want all of that to be available, and noise isn't usually an issue unless you have an egg-whisk prop...

Edited February 21 by IanD

[Peugeot 106]

30 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Apart from not making the full engine power/boat speed available (while giving quieter cruising due to lower rpm) the other issue with being heavily overpropped is that the boat speed can be higher than desirable even at tickover, leading to much shouting and fist-shaking from aggrieved moored boaters -- who might well have been better off mooring up properly, but let's not get into that... 😉

 

Unless you have a relatively small engine*** and often venture out onto rivers with strong currents most boats never get anywhere near full power anyway, so a certain degree of overpropping is probably a good thing so long as top speed is "enough" and speed at tickover is still OK -- as I assume you've found 🙂

 

*** overpropping on an electric boat/series hybrid is *not* such a good idea, with only 15kW/20hp or so you want all of that to be available, and noise isn't usually an issue unless you have an egg-whisk prop...

Agreed. I did mention that going too fast at tickover ( I called idle) was one of the constraints. Since we don’t know how overpropped he thinks he is we can’t judge where he is on the power band and I’m pretty sure that too much overpropping is not good as you will go too fast at tickover and lose power at your top revs. I’m always told diesels like to work but don’t suppose reaching full power at 1000 rpm will do them much good. All I’m suggesting is that he doesn’t rush in and buy a shiny new prop at considerable cost without taking decent advice

[David Mack]

5 hours ago, Peugeot 106 said:

I’m always told diesels like to work but don’t suppose reaching full power at 1000 rpm will do them much good.

My National 2DM doesn't ever go any faster!

[Peugeot 106]

7 minutes ago, David Mack said:

My National 2DM doesn't ever go any faster!

Pedantic is an insulting word used to describe someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.
 

if the cap fits………..! (No offence meant)

[magnetman]

If buying a Boat with one of those red coloured Danish Diesel engines it is important to always ensure that it comes with an instruction Bukh. 

[David Mack]

16 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:

Pedantic is an insulting word used to describe someone who annoys others by correcting small errors, caring too much about minor details, or emphasizing their own expertise especially in some narrow or boring subject matter.
 

if the cap fits………..! (No offence meant)

I wasn't correcting an error. I was making a comment about my engine, which may well be different to yours.

[Peugeot 106]

I hope the OP bears this in mind if he swaps his Bukh36 for a National 2DM

[MtB]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

I wasn't correcting an error. I was making a comment about my engine, which may well be different to yours.

 

 

Or maybe you were "caring too much about minor details"....

 

I wonder what "caring too much" means, exactly. And how should one decide which details are "minor", and which are not? If they are not "minor" then perhaps they are not details. There seems to be some tautology creeping in...

 

 

[Peugeot 106]

And I thought David was being Pedantic………….!

 

(I’m not an engine expert and my expertise with English may be even lower)

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:

And I thought David was being Pedantic………….!

 

 

I was playing along by adding some more!!

 

 

[David Mack]

7 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:

And I thought David was being Pedantic………….!

No. I was being picked on by a forum member! 🙂

[Cheshire cat]

I can cofirm that it was Clements Engineering that Crowthers recommended.

They posted the information on their facebook page and I made sure to bookmark it at the time

[Peugeot 106]

1 hour ago, Cheshire cat said:

I can cofirm that it was Clements Engineering that Crowthers recommended.

They posted the information on their facebook page and I made sure to bookmark it at the time

That’s good. It’s worth knowing who it was. I couldn’t remember who they were but they talked sense to me and persuaded me not to buy a new propellor!

[CIEL]

Over the years that I have had CIEL I have had excellent service from both TW Marine and Clements Engineering.

TW Marine went so far as to let me have the use of their tools, large size spanners/sockets etc. and a berth in their marina whilst I changed drive plate and engine mounts.

Clements, who are only just up the road from us spent time in discussing different prop options and provided a really quick turn around on the job whilst the boat was out for blacking.

[Tony Brooks]

7 minutes ago, CIEL said:

Over the years that I have had CIEL I have had excellent service from both TW Marine and Clements Engineering.

TW Marine went so far as to let me have the use of their tools, large size spanners/sockets etc. and a berth in their marina whilst I changed drive plate and engine mounts.

Clements, who are only just up the road from us spent time in discussing different prop options and provided a really quick turn around on the job whilst the boat was out for blacking.

 

As the topic is titled Bukh 36 I would mention that my DV36 did not have a drive plate as such and when the gearbox was off the equivalent wearing components could be changed with no tools. The back of the crankshaft has a weird spider like metal component. This is probably held onto the crankshaft by a nut. (flywheel on the front of the engine). A similar "spider" just slides onto the gearbox input shaft splines. The two sets of fingers fit between each other, with a "rubber" ring formed into buffer pads then sits between the two spiders to transmit the power via the buffer pads.

 

Only posted in case any other Lucky DV36 owners get the idea they have drive plates that will fail after a while. Even if the rubber ring totally disintegrated and fell out, there will still be metal to metal drive, but I expect exceptionally noisy.

[CIEL]

Yeah, good point Tony, I was just singing the praises of the companies. I was having problems with a Beta 35 with Aquadrive, which is nothing to do with the subject of this thread.

[Tony Brooks]

Just now, CIEL said:

Yeah, good point Tony, I was just singing the praises of the companies. I was having problems with a Beta 35 with Aquadrive, which is nothing to do with the subject of this thread.

 

I totally agree about TW Marine, a very helpful company. I have never had cause to deal with Clements and am very unlikely to now, so can't comment on them.