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Mike Adams

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Woking
  • Occupation
    Engineer
  • Boat Name
    Frodsham
  • Boat Location
    Woking

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  1. 1mm of metal loss produces about 10mm of scale so you don't need much rust to produce some scale. The first survey I had on the tidal Thames in the 1980's was done with a man with a big hammer - no ultrasonics. You could tell the thickness of the plates by the sound. If they are thin and scaly you get a dead sort of note and very thin you make a dent or a hole otherwise a sharp note if they are OK. Not very scientific but seemed to be the standard method at that time. In my experience you don't tend to get so much pitting inside than out but If I had the boat I would want to know what is going on in the bilges so would make so access points to ensure there is not any water in there anyway. You don't say how old the boat is but you shouldn't allow rain water from the bow or stern to get into the cabin area.
  2. Surely the biggest difference between the Thames and canals is the mooring cost. Probably twice the cost on the Thames compared to canals outside London. As a long term boater on the Thames, both recreational and commercial I am fed up with these huge wide beam boats and barges. They take up most of the moorings meant for cruising and hire boats on the 24hour moorings and just seem to move around the same moorings or stay there until they get pushed off. They spend ages at water points and are a general pain. If you want to live on a boat find a residential mooring or go into a marina which is going to cost you a lot more than the license fee. The TC provided these 24 hour moorings for cruising boats not houseboats.
  3. That doesn't start until the end of Feb. If you left now you could be through the 2 planned closures on the Thames before 2nd Jan and get to Reading and either wait for Chertsey to reopen or be craned out somewhere with a crane on site such as Reading marine.
  4. I would just take it down the Thames. The red boards will be off sometime soon and you are going downstream anyway. If Chertsey Lock is closed for an extended period there are various boatyards upriver that could lift it (Such as Reading Marine) with a crane on site and get it transported from there but unless it is sinking I would wait for the Chertsey lock to reopen. I haven't checked but there may be other planned closures on the Thames but often there is a window when you can get through.
  5. How are your AGM's charged? If they are just connected in parallel to the charger I would separate them and check them individually for voltage. If you get a shorted cell they can easily get cooked by the alternator. 6 years use is quite good anyway.
  6. All this stuff about MIC is interesting. Is there any scientific test for presence of the microbes? What I have failed to find out if hot zinc spraying works as a preventive? My hull was shotblasted, hot zinc sprayed aand epoxy coated a few years ago. I assume if will kill them off but will it prevent future action?
  7. I'm a cheapskate but I would lift it up from the roof, take off the sump and replace the liners and pistons. I would be concerned how a new engine would perform at low speed and you really don't want 700 -880rpm tickover. As time goes by they make subtle changes to the design to reduce emissions. The last one I had really didn't like a slow tickover. A mass on the flywheel can work. I managed to get a car diesel engine running at 400rpm by doubling the flywheel.
  8. Why not run the alternator via a belt on the outside of the flywheel or I have seen an aluminium washing machine pulley fixed to the front of the flywheel. Not trad but effective.
  9. Yes but I made up a tool to do it. Some JD seals come with a plastic part to press them in. It's a funny 2 part seal as I remember that you cannot separate so you only get one chance. I will try to find the tool but it was a few years ago now. If you have a stanadyne pump rather than a CAV it is probably a US sourced unit. I think the engines had options for different sized sae flywheels but Beta may just have added a mass ring. I think Beta set the tickover at 400rpm which probably didn't allow enough lubrication to be thrown on the bores and hence the increased wear. You can replace the liners in the engine without removing the crankshaft. The JD manuals are very good if you haven't got them.
  10. I have rebuilt a couple of these engines and replacing the liners is the only difficult bit and that isn't very. I found an agricultural supplier specialising in JD in the midlands that sold me the pistons and liners. I will see if I can find a contact. I would think, other than the liners/pistons that anything else is worn out at all. I think beta messed around with the fueling of these engines to make them run slower and maybe they had a heavier flywheel . If you buy an off the shelf engine from JD it is likely to want to tick over at the standard 800rpm which may be too fast for your application. You could probably repair it for less than grand. I found this chap helpful for parts Nick Young Tractor Parts Ltd Unit 2, The Forge, Moor Rd, North Owersby, Market Rasen LN8 3PR
  11. I would pull out of it as you cannot be sure of the cause and if it were to continue it would make the boat very difficult to sell on. I have seen the odd pit like those deep ones but not to that extent. Hull condition and construction are fundamentals for a narrowboat. Forget the fancy painting and interior. I would just move on.
  12. I was under the impression that blacking did not cure in any meaningful sense. All that happens is that the solvent evaporates. As blacking is lighter than water I suppose if it has not dried it will just float off. Not sure what happens to the remaining solvent if you submerse it before it is fully dried. Maybe it continues to disperse into the water and the blacking eventually dries out.
  13. The main problem is you have a live terminal close to the steel weedhatch cover which could easily short out if you were removing the cover in a hurry. I thought they all had to have an insulating cover to prevent such things happening but maybe I have misread the rules.
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