Last time before WINTER

Yesterday (Wednesday) I rose early and set the day in motion. Up at 5.30 to get teh stove glowing and ensure the crew are warm. Then changing the water heating to gas to save the need to runt he engine. then off to get the car into the garage for a brake check. (Smelling buring brake linings after a run did not give ne confodence that al was well withthe new brake pads that were fitted last week) I needed to get the car there to ensure it was available for the workshop to start at 0830h.

Then back to the boat to back through the lift bridge to the water point. Here I was aided by a passing crew. While in the water point I met a reader of the blog; maybe THE reader of this blog! She said I don't blog enough and enjoyed reading it. Thank you for the encouragement!

Then I followed an off-duty vicar and his wife through the lift bridge to battle the wind alll teh way to Sovereign Wharf. Here the absence of nb Peggy Thompson and an off shore wind put my alignment out and I struggled with the centre rope to pull SONFLOWER back to the wharf for a Pump Out. It is here the the post heading comes from. Sovereign Narrowboats close for the wimter. Today is the last day they are open until 4th March 2013. I wished then a very pleasant winter.

With the stoppage at Slatt Mill Lock until 23rd September, we will need to get to Twyford Mill for the next Pump Out.

While at the Wharf the Director of Tooley's Boatyard came by on nb Dancing Duck. He hailed me and asked where I was going. I told him "Nowhere, I will back to the town centre when the Pump Out is complete." He said "Good, I will put John on to do your leak".

Later in the day, John came, removed the spill rail from the engine. Noted a nick on the sealing face of the first injector and changed that for one that I had in stock. He the completed an engine service and I hope that all is now well with the engine.

Hopefully: no more rainbows from the bilge pump discharge!

Diesel Leak (again!)

I moored at the water point on Tuesday. There was another boat on it! I crossed over and my boat swayed as I jumped off, swilling the bilge water in engine bilge and activating the bilge pump. A stream of dirty water efused from the boat followed by a rainbow of diesel!

I backed the boat back to opposite Tooley's boatyard and asked them to take a look. It is a leak on the No 1 diesel injector to spill rail banjo joint. It has plagued me since the spill rail was changed to a solid pipe following a boat safety examination that disqualified seperate flexible connections between the injectors.They sent John to take a look and he spent a couple of hours on it finally declaring that his special sealant had done the trick.

I paid the bill and backed the boat to Sovereign Wharf where I turned, pumped out and filled the tanks with diesel. It is best to keep the tanks full in winter to cut down on condensation and the resultant water-in-the-diesel problems.

This morning the director of Tooley's asked me how the leak was. "I don't know", I said. "John said it was OK so I haven't looked since. Shall we take a look?" I am glad we did. I think he is not! The joint was leaking. The problem now is that, with full tanks, the diesel level in the tank is above the level of the spill rail. Diesel leaks now all the time, not just when the engine is running. Having spent over £1 per litre I am not too pleased it is running into my bilge!

The Reason Why part 2

I haven't been blogging for a while because there has been litle to say. Here is the reason why. My engine bay is looking very clean and has a newly painted engine oily bilge but no engine. The engine is away for an overhaul at CB Marine at Calcutt Marina. The heart of the boat is missing!

Obviously, the time is now to have a spring clean of the engine bay to remove the oil film that has acumulated over the years of oil seal leakage. Matt (the boss) at Tooleys collared me yesterday to talk about 'three things' (i)agree that the only thing to do with the engine bay is to treat it with a rust preventor and paint it with hammerite or similar to keep it so. (ii)agree that the leaks on the deisel tank shut off valves needed to be fixed. The universally applicable Murphy's law ensures that the leaks are tank side of the valve and require the almost full tanks to be drained! (iii) agree an alternative site for the engine air intake vent (required by the out of water survey to prevent rain ingress into the bilges) somewhere other than in the control column where I wanted it.

How is it that every visit to the boatyard ends with another thing to pay for?

More decisions

The sword of damecles, the Boat Safety Scheme examination hangs over our head. The engine repair, which would eliminate the oil and diesel leaks and belt chewing that has been the plague of our cruising life for the last three/four years, will take three weeks plus removal and refitting time. We don't quite have it before we head off for our Summer Cruise this year. Matt the mechanic is off for his hols for two weeks in July and will not be back to complete the job before we need the boat again on the 10th.

However, our BSS certificate expires on the 24th July. We need to fix the diesel leaks. I have examined the BSS documentation and it is emphatic that the fuel system should be maintained such as to remove all sources of fire or prolonging fire. Having deisel leaking out toward or in the vicinity of hot engines seems to me to be BSS unacceptable.

Alternatives must be sought.

The boat is booked in to the boatyard for next Tuesday. The engine work is not to be done then but postponed until later in the year so we need a miracle cure on the fuel spill lines. Almost every marine engineer from Thrupp to Braunston has had a go at this leak and a man in a van from RCR looked at it last week on the Thames. Someone must be able to stem the flow!