D. W. Walker

Boats with a ball bearing in the top of the tiller (most modern boats) with a grease nipple should be greased regularly. From my previous work with railway axleboxes, the grease is not just a lubricant for the bearing (which is obvious), but also acts as a seal to keep out water and dirt, both of which are a BAD THING for ball bearings. The normal waterproof grease that you use in a stern tube is fine to use. If the tiller is stiff, don't ignore it, there is something wrong!

I also have a lot of previous with these beasts! They are 3000 rpm, not 2000, to get correct 50Hz operation. (unless you fancy 33.3 Hz!) The frequency is not "controlled" at all, it is purely dependant upon engine speed. The voltage output is controlled, within reason, over a range of loads and to a much lesser extent speed. This one is a "rare" one with the two bearing kit for operation with a pulley; most of them only have one bearing at the slipring end of the shaft, the other end bolted direct to an engine flange. I think that (somewhere!) I have a manual for these and possibly a few small spares like slipring brushes if you want them - if I can find them now!!!

Shame this wasn't last week when I was through Braunston, I would have had it!

And I'd third it - not only is the food in the "Spice of Bruene" excellent but they are lovely people as well.

That's why they have tables outside!

We've just had an altercation last week with a Tesco shopping trolley just north of Leighton Buzzard, between LB lock and the "Globe". It was upside down, and succeeded in wrapping one front leg between the rudder and the skeg and the other around the prop. Could not move, could not shift it through the weedhatch, couldn't pull it with a boathook, and the water was too muddy to see anything. Spent hours messing around, ultimately stripped off and into the freezing cold canal armed with a hacksaw (thank goodness I had one in the toolbox, with spare blades), and working entirely by feel, cut the front legs off the trolley to free the boat, which thankfully was undamaged. . The canal was chest deep at this point, with soft mud up to my knees on the bottom, and altogether a difficult and unpleasant experience. Although hollow, the steel legs of the trolley were surprisingly strong and took some cutting. Not the happiest day's boating I've ever done, but John & Martina from NB Burnt Oak were a great encouragement, so thanks to both of you, I enjoyed the pint in the Globe with you that evening!

Didn't the WW2 midget submarines use Gardner 4LK engines? There's a tenuous connection to narrowboats!

DO GO THERE!!! Don't be like post above, it's well worth all of the (very) hard work, and it certainly isn't easy. It's always short of water, there are loads of locks and they are all as deep as bear pits, the lock gear can be a bit cranky, the moorings are always shallow, and the Standedge tunnel will scratch the paint on your boat - and the weather is often crap. So I'm not really selling it? But it's FANTASTIC! You'll probably hardly see another boat, but use it or lose it - if boats don't use it the bean counters at CRT will allow it to slide into disrepair again

As noted on earlier posts, the early starters have a removable band to inspect the brushes, later ones don't. A little bit of diesel inside a starter motor is unlikely yo be too much of a problem, provided it's not swimming in it! It's very unlikely to catch fire. The main limiting factor is the brushes. They are much more tolerant than the old-school dynamos as they use copper-carbon brushes which are very hard and won't readily absorb diesel. If the motor stops working, clean the commutator chamber out and commutator and fit new brushes which are not difficult to get or expensive.

Believe that bigger Dormans were widely used in generators, as in post above. When used in railway locos they had a reputation for throwing con-rods! Perhaps due to more variable nature of the loading. I work in the Isle of Man, and we have a little "Simplex" shunting loco (3' gauge) which has a 2 cylinder Dorman in it, seen here going away for an overhaul.

That may be true, but Rolls-Royces never, ever, break down. However, in the words of the R-R factory, occasionally they may "fail to proceed" instead!

Yes, Aitkens on High Bridge sadly closed about 10 years ago. Brilliant, independant shop staffed by people who really knew their stuff, a great loss. But there probably isn't much profit margin selling a dozen resistors! The good news is that the excellent pub across the road, the Bacchus, appears to be thriving!

So to get back to the OP's point, about what is the "best" diesel engine for a narrowboat, bearing in mind that she admits to little knowledge of engines. So she needs a fit, forget and then service type of engine - so not a vintage type, as she has little mechanical knowledge (or interest?) I suggest there are four basic groups, in declining order of suitability for her requirements: 1) Best - a modern Japanese engine, properly marinised, e.g. Barrus Shire or Vetus to name but two. Reliable, widely understood, although spares can be pricey. 2) Secondly, one of the popular boat engines commonly found from the previous generation, e.g. BMC 1.5/1.8, Lister SR/ST. Again, reliable and widely understood, potentially can still be very reliable but now getting on in years so there are good ones and bad ones - but cheaper as a consequence. 3) Not recommended: Less common makes, frequently ex-car engines, often with marine conversions of questionable quality, as noted in post above, e.g Ford, Peugeot, VW. Not widely understood on the cut, and may be horribly bodged and/or just plain unsuitable for the task. 4) Least. A vintage engine, which may be reliable, but requires some mechanical knowledge to work with it, they aren't fit & forget, e.g, Russell Newbery, National, Gardner, old Listers, Armstrong Siddeley. Not only are you in the hands of specialists to repair these (unless you have the the ability to do it yourself), but spare parts are often hard to find and/or very expensive. Does that seem a fair summary? It would not be my pecking order, but my circumstances are different!

Engine looks to me like a BMC 2.2 or 2.5 Boat seems extremely cheap?

As per previous posts, make sure such a large weight is as low down as possible for stability, and preferable midway along the boat length and not at one end for trim purposes. Another important consideration you should remember is that such batteries must be vented and most importantly well crated and the crate well secured both for & aft and side to side, in case you hit anything. I know this the hard way, from practical experience, I used to look after some battery-electric railway locomotives (270 x 2 volt cells in a crate, total battery weight about 5 1/2 tons!!!) One of these collided with a buffer stop years ago, the monster battery broke free from its mountings in the incident - oh dear, what a mess! Immediate modifications to improve battery security before return to traffic! The other thing you need, as on the locos, is a good solid generously rated isolator on the battery bank in case of incident - you have a lot of energy stored in a bank as big as that and it's all trying to get out!