JohnB

Please consider carefully the removal of the lithium battery. That is probably the best way of supporting a decent inverter and using 240v cooking appliances. One can replace the energy much better in a shorter time than lead acid. I am, in fact considering adding lithium to our set up to be able to make more use of mains cooking equipment when traveling -We think it better to have a more resilient alternative system to the diesel cooker. Please ask if you need more advice... John & Kathy

We have had one of these Oven/Hob units on our boat for about 16 Years. And we really do like its function BUT there are issues with its design and serviceability. We don't live aboard but do travel for months at a time and Kathy takes cooking very seriously. At present we also have an induction hob and are considering bringing the air fryer and/or Remoska for use when long term traveling. I won't at this point go into the detail of how I have tried to sort out better functioning but if you can cope with the servicing and have a secondary facility it "should" be OK. John

I used Foamalux ( foamed PVC, comes in sheet form and many colours) for the deck head lining in our shower cubicle. It has served well for a good few years. We used it at work for casings etc. for experimental scientific equipment. The material will warp round nicely (maybe a bit of heat) to make excellent linings for the port holes. Hope that helps John

In order to put another D3.152 back in... You are so right, they are a lovely engine and it has taken us over most of the inland system BUT The existing engine seems to have had some "questionable maintenance", maybe a training unit, before we got it and it now needs a thorough overhaul. Anyways I have a newer engine which will be a better bet when it's been through the workshop. I "just" have to get the details sorted so there are no nasty issues when I do the swap away from home!

Err... do you think one of those would fit in along with the engine or should I use that instead.

Thank you both. It will fit, the timing cover will clear and stripped down nothing else sticks out. I am only contemplating this as I shall have to move off our home mooring to a less convenient boatyard to do the work. and the likely slot will be during the cold bit of winter...

I am organsing the swap of the engine in our traditional engined narrow boat. It could go in through the roof BUT for convenience I would like to "part" it through the 18" wide Doors/hatches. I wonder if it is feasible to handle the basic unit manually.... Does any one have an idea of the weight of a D3.152 without Flywheel,bell-housing and other removable ancillary bits? Thank you John

Our current quite mature engine has served us well but is going to need a serious rebuild very soon and we don't want to be doing that when we should be travelling..... Sooo. We have an ex forklift engine to overhaul and then do a direct swap with our present unit. We are also doing the "tweaks" to make it properly suitable for marine use. The 3HD46 (the marine version of the D3.152) was fitted with a manifold cooler and, at this point in process we could add this into the build.... Given that we have had no issues with the existing set up (an expansion box hung from the roof of the engine room with a flex coupling onto the exhaust manifold) I am trying to decide on what is to be gained from the necessary extra modifications. Does anyone have any observations or advice please ?

The Nene has been "silly" for the last fortnight, the stretch above Orton is well up and there is only 5ft or so clear under the gate at Alwalton lock! It seems that they have been clearing the upper reaches to make room for this band of weather.

Yes it came on just after we left Wansford station mooring and were passing through the next lock, but there was no chance of passing Alwalton as the weir below was chucking it out many feet into the air! and there is a right big whirlpool over the shallows. and it's still on a week later:-( There are two of us still stuck here --- Not sure how we will cope if this coming weather dumps a lot of water.

Thank you all Based on advice from EA we headed down to Northampton yesterday afternoon and the river was completely calm. Anyhow we made fine progress today and sure enough the SSA came off as we were travelling. I presume the bits of tree at the bridge were the cause for the closure but I know four boat have threaded their way through. I think the conditions for boating today have been among the most pleasant we have had on the Nene.

Does anybody on the river have any idea what the flow rate and levels are really like at present on the the Nene. We (and another boat) are hoping to get down to Northampton and along the river very soon. There is a SSA on at the moment but the levels and flood warnings on the catchment maps show green. What are our chances of getting through?

Our D3.152 oil pressure reading behaves in a similar way. The only spec. for oil pressure I can find is 30psi at 1000rpm .... We have both a gauge and pressure switch on our engine and slowing down after a good run the oil warning light flickers for a short while when the revs drop right down; but the gauge shows about 10-15 psi . A slight speed up and let the revs drop back and the light goes off! We do tend to run our engine quite slowly compared to how they would have been run for "real work" and I do notice that hire boats using this engine tend to be run much faster than ours especially at tickover. ( 1400rpm will move us at 7mph on the Great Ouse so we only use a slightly fast tickover on the canals ) For what its worth the oil pressure is being read, I think, from the camshaft feed and that has a cut out in the shaft which causes pulses in pressure switch readings but I assume the (electrical) gauge sender must damp these pulses . Our engine was purchased "marinised". I think from a sold-off ex ministry pump. We did have considerable oil dilution from leaking seals on the fuel injection pump which caused a real drop in oil pressure.

Best I can do for the moment, Hope that will explain.... The picture here was taken when we moved the hull from the builders and the engine was just bolted down for transit. This is the rear Stbd. mount - its part of our gearbox housing, the other feet are similar but different ;-) The finger points to the engine bolt which is now fitted from the top as described by the sketch.

I'll try and find a picture for you. BTW where are you based? ( PM me if you like), you could come over and have a proper look and listen.

Yes good point. I try for the easy way though ;-) bolts dropped down allows for fitting one at a time and avoids trying to line up four things at once. An extra washer under the bolt head will lift it up for some more clearance, And a thin disk on the angle grinder will make quick work of trimming to length. In some more engineered installs they would bore a "rattling fit hole" in the bearer for the bolt end to pass through.

To answer the connection question for differing size cables. How about "line taps" Try TLC part BH S16 or S25/35 https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_Index/Cable_Accessories_Index/Line_Taps/index.html Sorry, it's getting back on topic.....

It's Just occurred to me! When fixing the engine down I made slots under the timber bearers to allow the spreader plates and nuts to be fitted with the engine in place. (my spreader plates are threaded for the bolts) The bolts can then be dropped in from the top of the feet and the engine doesn't need lifting for assembly :-) ,and it avoids a lot of juggling. The bolts ,of course need to be arranged to NOT touch the metal bearers. The same goes for the bolting down onto the boat steel work... Then the engine can be slid along the beds using the timber as a sled. Useful for maintenance and easier for fitting shims if needed

The driveline vibration was in fact a banging noise like rattling a half brick in a bucket :-) it didn't shake the boat just stopped us engaging gears at low engine speeds; so we had to wind the speed back down after putting into gear at higher revs. We have separate speed wheel and gear change so not impossible in practice but a pain that got fixed as soon as we got onto the canal system! The Tico is a good idea and I have used it successfully for higher frequency noise on heavy machine tools -- I did get some pads ready for when we were getting the engine setup and running, but, I never got round to trying them out. It might be a good idea also to check that the engine sits evenly on all four feet; try rocking it on the diagonals to check. I should mention this is a traditional engine room with a universal joint propshaft under the back cabin floor.

Our boat has a D3.152 which is mounted onto 4" x 3"(approx) oak bearers which in turn are bolted onto the engine beds. The engine beds are something like 10 x 5 angles running along the engine room. This set up has been fine for us from tick over at 500rpm to 1400rpm which takes us to 7mph on the river. When we first saw and tried the engine in the workshop before we purchased it it was standing on a fairly lightweight cradle and it seemed smooth enough through the range. We had a problem with drive line vibration when we got onto the canals but once we got the drive plate sorted all has been OK.

Try this I hope it helps... Most systems use a masthead amplifier near to the aerial which is powered by DC on the aerial feeder (which in effect then both carries power and signal; the signal is separated, by capacitors,from the power). Now at some point the DC voltage for the amplifier has to be regulated, usually this is on the amplifier at the masthead but with the Moonraker the DC is regulated on the DC injector( power supply) rather than the amplifier. ( I have checked this to be so with Moonraker technical.) What you refer to as a "booster box" is I THINK in fact the power supply; so DC goes up the feeder and the connection to the TV just carries the signal which has been amplified at the masthead. In your case I wonder if there is some issue with the power connection. For background:: We originally had a masthead amp powered by a DC injector which we then connected to either a Yagi(log periodic) or a little stub antennae depending on signal strength. When we tried out the Moonraker I realised (and checked) the power supply was different and fitted an additional feeder setup. This has worked as well or better than the original aerials which are still stored away, not used now since the new setup!

We have been using a Moonraker for a few years and it has performed remarkably well; from Great Ouse area up to Ripon and across the Pennines. We even got some useful signals in places where an amplified aerial had not worked previously. A couple of points: The voltage regulator for the amp is in the Moonraker DC injector module, UNLIKE normal aerial amps (so DON'T try connecting it on an aerial feed with DC on it! ) It is useful to raise the aerial on a mast and rotate it (check for polarisation on a relay) if reception is poor But generally it just works.

Steel pigeon/dog boxes don't have to be the cause of condensation problems if built the right way. I was concerned about condensation from the roof lights when we had our hull built but Roger said there would be no problems the way he would make ours-- He was absolutely right. Our roof lights are fitted over an up stand on the roof of the cabin and the lids have lips which turn down,this arrangement causes any drips to end up outside the boat. The clearance gaps and slot vents also provide the basic minimum of high level ventilation needed for the cabin and because they are quite long there is less of a draft than a normal mushroom vent. Our boat has only portholes but the usual comment from people visiting is "how light it is inside" and as previously noted there is rarely a good view out of the side when tied up. (some ones cabin side or a dogs bum on the towpath ;-)

Just a thought, but might this be a similar issue to one of our dogs being absolutey scared of going near or traveling in our car.( so how would we get to the boat?) He would always leave the house and pull over to the other side of the garden furthest away from the car whenever we went out for a walk. It 's sorted out now and he travels fine any where car, boat or train..... It was in someways the weirdest thing we have had to deal with in all our rescued dogs, but really the most rewarding. The approach known as "systematic desensitisation"; is to subject the patient(dog) is to increasing periods of the stressor for periods shorter than that which would take it to be upset. {Its a completely benign technique, rather than the Woodhouse "flooding method" and is supposed to be longer lasting!} Right. I'll try to explain the practicalities. We first just sat in the car, in a closed garden, with the doors open and read the paper/ had a cup of coffee so the dog could wander around suit himself, eventually he became comfortable getting into the car.... Then the interesting bit comes we had to gradually increase the time we ran the the engine/ moved the car; but by amounts so small that he didn't notice and on NO ACCOUNT LET HIM GET DISTURBED. In this case we could only manage increases of 30seconds each time or so but GRADUALLY to get to half an hour; at which point the issue was resolved!!! --- I don't know why the turning point is reckoned as half an hour but that is the "magic" time. I hope that makes sense, please ask if I can help more, I have cut the details rather short keep the post manageable. I do hope you can get your pet happy on the boat . John