Mowjo

I’ll put this here because more people may read it than in the Tech bit, I mentioned that I had a bad problem with my BMC 1.5 engine, when it over ran and I couldn’t turn the engine off, I had it looked at and was told it could be the fuel injector pump, which it turned out to be, but meantime I Googled the symptoms and on a couple of the Canal forums, they mention the fuel injector pump blowing it’s seals and it’s more common now they have changed the Diesel fuel to low suphur, and they engineer doing my repairs told me he has had three cases in the last few months and in one case it over ran so badly it actually destroyed the engine, there was something in the old diesel that protected the seals but now they have removed some additives I presume to make it low sulphur, I asked if there’s an additive to replace them and was told yes! But if I get my fuel from the right place they already add it, but! some of them don’t, he said the place I’ve started getting my fuel from adds its, and that’s Moonfleet so I presume Richo’s add it as well, so when you get your fuel ask if they add the additive or get some and add it yourself, now if your injector pump goes you won’t might not know until your engine goes to full revs and you can’t turn the engine off, things to look out for are your oil level going up and down and using more fuel than normal, what happens if the injector pump seals go is the pump forces fuel into the sump and it dilutes the oil so much it by-passes the piston rings and it gets burnt as fuel causing the running on, if you don’t catch it in time it can blow your engine up, if it ever happens to you the only way to stop your engine is block off the air filter starving the engine of air, I know this is a bit doom and gloom but at least your aware of a potential expensive engine killer, as far as I can tell the problem is only with older engines, Frank,,,,,,

Right! Engine problem being sorted, had the Boat lifted today so it's full speed ahead with the sanding, filling and painting, looked a bit scary because of all that stern having out of the slings but everything was fine,,,,

I'm well known for it Grace,, Alan! my Great Great Grandad, Grandad, and my Dad were all Merchant Men, my Mums side of the family were Bargies, I'm just trying to keep up old traditions,, Frank,,,,,

It's all very odd as the real reason seems lost in time why they are all called She's, what makes it odder for me is the fact that women were considered unlucky on ships, but I have a theory after reading something this, 2. No Women on Board Women were said to bring bad luck on board because they distracted the sailors from their sea duties. This kind of behaviour angered the intemperate seas that would take their revenge out on the ship. Funny enough, naked women on board were completely welcome. That's because naked women "calmed the sea". This is why ships' typically had a figure of a topless women perched on the bow of the ship. Her bare breasts "shamed the stormy seas into calm" and her open eyes guided the seamen to safety. My theory is that when approaching your ship the first thing you look for is the figure head as back in the old days very few sailors could read, every ship had a different figure head it would be easy to recognise your ship, so the first thing they would say on seeing the half naked lady is there SHE is, now we get to the good bit! well for me anyway, I've got a spot of bother with my boat at the moment and need a bit of good luck, and as naked ladies are supposed to be good luck, Lori, Grace and Sue! are you doing anything this weekend????? :twisted: Frank,,,,

Had my bad day yesterday! went to the boat to sort out a few bits before it comes out of the water, thought I'd get it pumped out as well, get round to the pump out, engine revs like mad as we get there and clouds of smoke, try to shut the engine off but couldn't, quick lift of the engine cover thinking the throttle cable might be stuck but no, then notice lots of oil coming out of the oil filter on the side of the engine and the engine bilge full of oil, suddenly the engine cuts out, tried a restart and it fired up so managed to get it in the pump out bit, stuck a couple of litres of oil in because that's all I had, engine fired up first time and run like normal, spoke to David and he had a look and from what he said it could just be the oil pressure relief valve got stuck, which he seems to think was the cause, if not it's engine out to find the cause which is going to be very expensive, he towed us back to our mooring and they are going to have a look at things on Tuesday, in some ways it was a good day because it happened in the marina and not when we were out and if it is the relief valve it shouldn't cost that much to repair, Tuesday will be the day I decide if it was a good or bad day when I find out what's wrong and the cost,,, Frank,,,,

Hi Andy! the additional height wasn't a problem as along the length of the bed is a 2" lip that stops the mattress sliding out, the original ply was 1/4" so I've really only added an extra 1/2" still leaving 1.1/2" lip, I think they were mould spores they were white/grey and although I cleaned them off a couple of times they came back, I've never had the problem on any other boat but then none of them have had a bed sitting on top of the very large water tank, the cross bars are the original supports so I in filled the spaces, ends and sides of the tank with insulating slab giving me a thermal break, plus there's now a 3/4" airflow gap between the mattress and crossbars, I did think about painting them with locker paint but being to lazy I didn't fancy the idea of painting all those slats, I'll keep an eye on it over the next season and see how they work out, the condensation problems happen in the summer and winter which makes me think the water tank is the culprit, I had a similar problem on a Caravan years ago and just insulation the tank cured it, so fingers crossed this should too,,, Frank,,,

Been to the boat today an replaced the Ply for Slats, 1st pic shows the bed with the ply base, 2nd pic is the new slats, held by webbing stapled to the slats,the slat at the rear is fixed in place, 3rd pic is with the slats pushed back, when pulled forward the 1st slat is held in place by 3x drop bolts, basically just four 50mm x 5mm bolts dropped in screw holes, this is to allow me to push it back to get access to the new storage bit I just found, the cost surprised me a bit because in al,l it cost me around £35 but that was for fourteen 2mtr x 50mm x 19mm slats and 4.5 mtrs of upholstery webbing, still if it works it's much cheaper than replacing Jude's memory foam mattress,, Frank,,,,,

I'm trying the Corned Beef, Eggs and Beans with Bovril, and I'm so used to buying my milk in bottles and cartons I sometimes forget it comes from Cows,,,,

Steve! only Judi calls it Junk! I call it my Treasure,,,

Best place I found for Maguires stuff is Hugh Crane in Acle,, http://hughcrane.co.uk/chemical/automotive-transport/marine.html Frank,,,,

I think I've just had a good bad day!!!! in post 31 I mentioned I make notes a lot, mainly when I'm on the boat for jobs I need to do, what I need to do the job and measurements, but I'm always loosing them, like a note for the measurements for the slats for the rear bunk I will be doing this week, now I was sure I'd put it under the clock ready for this weekend but it wasn't there, I look in my junk draw in my cupboard and anywhere I though I may have put it, Judi pipes up "what you looking for now" I tell her the note I left under the clock! Judi says I havn't seen it, I say it was on a yellow post it! I put it there the other day! dunno says Jude, I go out shopping and when I get back Jude says is this what you were looking for, that's it says I where was it??, in the junk draw in the kitchen she says, I say how did it get there I put it under the clock, Sheepish Jude! I must have put it in there when I was doing the housework, Now as I watch CSI I think there's a clue here! I go to the kitchen draw loads of junk and one brown manila envelope with Frank written on it, another clue! I open said envelope and inside is all my post it's and notes going back at least a couple of years, evidence in hand I say to Jude "what's all this then?" Jude! Oh those bits of paper? I put them in there when I clean up I get fed up seeing them around so put them in the envelope so I know where they are, Ok says I! so how come you didn't know where they were when I asked you earlier, classic Jude remark, "Oh I forgot!", at least I now know my brain hasn't gone AWOL, but I think I'll check the draw again I'm sure Judes brain is in there somewhere along with all the other stuff, Frank,,,,,

I've just been looking on Broadland Memories and came across this, it's from the log book of a holiday on a yacht called Frolic in 1918, the two days include an over night stop on route, but just for fun I Googled the time it takes on todays roads and it came out at just under three hours, by Train it's four and a half hours, I'll never complain about the two and a half hours it used to take me to drive up from London,, the Log is quite an interesting read, I never realised there was so much good stuff on the site,, http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/documents/memories/champness_log_1918.pdf FRIDAY, AUGUST 16TH 1918 Arrived at Wroxham about 5 o’clock in the evening after travelling from Rugby and taking 13½ hours to get here. Thus ended our 2 days travelling under not too enviable war conditions and which we were glad enough to finish. Enquired at the “Kings Head” for a room and found that a “gentleman from the Admiralty” had the only vacant room. Having admitted my identity as such we got our room which was a very nice one. We had tea first and then had a look around the place and at the old familiar haunts not seen since the good old days of 1914. Had dinner at 7.30 and had a quiet smoke in the Kings Head garden before turning in early as the journey had been tiring and tiresome.

Lori! in my house we call that a Brain fart,,,,, Frank,,,,

Neil! I used to be very indecisive but I'm not so sure these days, the extent of my planning is set out down the Ant and that's it, we may end up at Sutton, Wayford, Barton, Irstead, Ludham, or we turn left or right at the Ant Mouth, I have little reminder notes everywhere but never remember where I put them, I'm still finding measurement notes from a boat I owned around five years ago, I think I have Sometimers disease, sometimes I remember sometimes I don't, Frank,,,,

Hi John! I'm going to try and get to the meet up this year even if it's only a quick stop to say hi and meet a few of you,, I'm hopefully going to the Hampton meet up as well, I'm pretty bad at planning stuff, I make notes then forget where I put them, I'll have to check the dates again I did have them but can't find them, I'm having the boat out in the next week or two to paint the Hull and do topsides when it's back in the water so hopefully it'll all be finished in time for the meet up,,,, Frank,,,,

Bill I always thought it was the B.O.A.T club,, bung on another thousand,,,

Neil! the front bunk on mine opens out to a 4ft bed using the cushions and the rear bunk is also 4ft, you can sleep four as it says but your right it is tight, and the problem is if you have to get up in the night it means climbing over your other half, so what we do is Judi has the main bed and because I'm a late bird I have the front bunk, personally I'd say they are a very comfortable two berth and ideal for a couple, on our other boats we always used the V berth in the front and anyone else got the double middle, the main thing I like about the Hampton is that as it's only 25ft long it really is 25ft of usable space, and very dog friendly as everything is on one level, on my Seamaster 813 if you took the cockpit off and the V berth you only really had around 10ft of cabin space, Frank,,,,

Lori! I think you have too much time on your hands,,

Sue! when I had boats with rear cockpits if the canopy was down my Kali would jump over the side for a swim, we ended up having to keep her on a chain, at least with the Hampton she had free run of the boat, well that was if we could get her off the bed,,,

Saw those Boots and thought it was the Wife,,

Can't say I know much about Corgi's apart from the Queen having them and me collecting Corgi cars as a kid,, This was my baby Kali, the only Dog I've ever had that didn't know it was Dog, she thought she was human, sadly we lost her last year aged fourteen, she was a rescue dog and we had her for twelve years, we both still miss her a lot even though she was always under my feet on the boat,,,

I found they work quite well with Tesco spray Kitchen cleaner on fenders ,,,

What Breed is she Sue??? Frank,,,,

Thanks John! you can't miss me on a Hampton 25 Called Crackers, I guess I've never been one to say "what am I going to do" I get off my bum and do something about it! even if it means changing my whole lifestyle, I learnt early on that sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get what you want, at least I have three or four years to work something out so I can keep the boat even if it's a part time job, as I say who knows what's around the corner, I tend to see good even in bad situations and think everything happens for a reason, Guess I was lucky to be born an optimist, even the worst way I can sell this boat and buy a cheaper doer upper one and still have enough left for an extra couple of years boating, Frank,,,

I think can keep the boat about another four years before I run out of money, if all else fails I'll use my daughters boat, I don't know about syndicates it sounds good, but my boat is like an extension to my home and I don't know if I could share it, I'll just wait and see how things work out, I never give up until the Fat Lady sings and she's only humming at the moment,,,