Stage 2 continues.

Friday 19th June.

I've had a productive day today, not so much on the boat but 'other' things like, monthly check up at Derby hospital with my consultant Mr Laughan. All seems OK so far, and he commented how well I'm looking.

Back home and succeeded in filling in and then posting a rather in-depth form to the DWP, (pensions). Then a good ring around to book the hire of a van at the end of the month to travel down 'sarf' to pick up what I hope will be a replacement engine for Bracken! More about that later.

This week I have been busy with stage two of the engine bay, i.e. the clean up. On Monday I went out and bought the necessary cleaning stuff like biodegradable degreaser, disposable wipes, etc. etc. and set to down in the depths of the engine 'ole. With my feet in plastic bags as I don't own a pair of wellies, and wearing old clothes under a boiler suit, and armed with rubber gloves and a 'Benny hat' I waded in.

By late afternoon Monday, this.......... 

had become more like this.........

And the area in front of where the engine sat was also starting to look better.......

After degreasing, I'd started painting the walls but then decided to scrape the flaky paint away back to bare metal.

Once it's dried out it will be painted.

I've left it a couple of days as I want to give the floor (which is actually the base plate) time to dry out before painting it as once the replacement engine is in it wont be so easily accessable.

That's tomorrows job.

I couldn't resist putting this picture in. 

Mrs Moorhen up the tree again to get at the seed feeders. When the seed gets low she grips the perching peg in her beak and bangs it to make the seed fall to the bottom, how clever is that!

Bfn.

  

Home and settled.

Sunday 14th June.

Finally back in the marina, moored safely in my usual spot after a good and peaceful nights sleep. All thanks to Paul, my neighbour and my bro Grummy who very kindly came and hauled me back to the marina yesterday afternoon in the drizzling rain. I so wish I'd taken photos of Paul and Grummy trudging up the tow-path, like a couple of shire horses hauling Bracken on the end of tow ropes. I didn't like to ask them to pose in the drizzling rain for fear of being left on my own!

Once we got to the marina we used the poles to 'punt' Bracken onto the mooring.

Tomorrow I shall obtain some degreaser and some oil absorbant pads (nappies) to begin the clean up.

Notice the carefully cultivated stinging nettle on the rear fender (button), I keep removing it and it just re-grows!

A couple of photos to show how much higher in the water the stern is without the weight of the 'lump' (engine).

bfn.

And there it was .......gone!

Saturday 13th June.

Its raining, it's been raining all night and I've not had much sleep. The reason being I'm moored under an old Oak tree and the constant rainwater dripping from the tree and landing on two tin jerry-cans was like a child banging on a tin drum! All night!

Now you may wonder why I'm moored under an Oak tree, well in point of fact I am not on my mooring in the Marina as yesterday I moved Bracken down the canal a couple of hundred yards to a wharf where I'd arranged to have Bracken's engine surgically removed.  This is stage one of the operation, remove engine.

Using the overhead gantry and the chain block and tackle, with Bracken positioned underneath, after Matt had disconnected all wires, pipes, propshaft and gearbox connections, the engine was hoisted out leaving a cavernous engine bay empty.

And there it was gone!

Stage Two will be to degrease, and clean the engine bay, and paint it out with bilge paint (white).

On the left of the above picture you can see the gearbox oil cooler with the hoses hanging off. Next to it is the 'skin tank' that is used for engine cooling when you have a water cooled engine. As Bracken's engine was air-cooled the skin tank has never been used. It  could be used though if I decide to get a water-cooled engine. Whatever I get, I'll make sure its a damn sight lighter than the one we removed!

Bracken has always 'sat' very stern down in the water, well without the weight of the 'lump' we removed, Bracken now sits very level in the water, which is nice because now the water drains OFF the draining board into the sink! 

The 'Lump' Minus the gearbox which is still in the engine 'ole

So, I'm moored under a tree because with no engine I'm waiting for friends to come and tow me back to the Marina.

It's not a problem being here for a couple of days as I have 240 volt hook up, but I may have to move the tin Jerry-cans if it continues raining!

bfn.

 

Return journey.

Listening to the clonking, clattering, and banging of the engine, I seriously doubted whether we would make it back to the marina. However, apart from the noise the engine seemed to throttle ok and the gearbox still functioned in forward and reverse so we set off to the winding hole to turn round and then to slowly begin our journey back.
We got as far as Whittington village when the engine decided it was time to stop, in just about the worst place possible on the approach to a very sharp bend at a very narrow point of the canal.
Some people on a following boat very kindly towed us through the village to a mooring spot where we weren't obstructing the way, and we took the opportunity to do some head scratching, and I phoned Paul (one of my neighbours in the marina), to ask his advice. A couple of days earlier I had jokingly asked if he'd tow me back if I broke down! Not dreaming that the need would arise for real!
Paul drove down to pick me up so's I could get my car, (only a ten minute drive by car) so that Bev and Darren wouldn't be stranded, and we discussed towing Bracken back to the marina the following day.
We needed to move Bracken a little further along the canal so that Paul would have somewhere to wind (turn) his boat round for the tow so I thought I'd try starting the engine and see if we could get a bit further along.
Imagine my surprise when not only did the engine start quite easily but ran fairly quietly and ticked over smoothly! Darren went off in my car to pick up his car key from the hotel, and Bev and I pottered along the canal seeing how much further we could get before the engine gave up on us. We said we'd meet Darren at Fradley Junction if we could make it that far and off we went.
By moving in short hops, travel 30 mins, stop switch off, cool down for 15 mins then travel 30 mins again then stop etc etc we made it back to Fradley to find Darren outside the Mucky duck with a pint of beer in his hand! (allright for some!)
Leaving his car at the pub he worked us up through the locks until eventually we made it back to the Marina to the immense relief of all. (especially Paul.

Bev taking a turn on the tiller. Almost back at the marina.

Once we were back on Bracken's mooring, I drove Bev and Darren back to Fradley to collect their car.  Back on Bracken, I was cold, tired, and hungry so I lit the fire, had a nice hot shower and did myself some dinner. I was soooo relieved to be back home in the marina and just so thankful that I hadn't had to be towed back.

The following day I had someone look and listen to the engine. The verdict is that compression is low on number 1 and number 3 cylinders, and almost no compression on number 2 cylinder.

The chap seems to think the clattering and banging was caused by particles of carbon being trapped under the valves preventing them closing properly, then as the carbon is dispelled the engine goes quiet again. 

As spares are almost non existent for Slanzi engines, and I've never been happy with having to use a blowlamp to start it anyway, I've decided to look at the possibility of changing the engine completely for something more commonplace and maintainable.

So if anyone has a nice cheap BMC going spare let me know.

Meanwhile, I wont be going anywhere, just enjoying living afloat.

On Bev and Darrens last night here we went down to Jenny's for a Chinese takeaway and had a lovely evening of good food and good chat, with no television. Great seeing you pair again.

I think the moral to this story, (if there is one) is if you're thinking of buying a boat on a tight budget, make sure you can get the necessary spares to fix the engine if it goes wrong.

So that brings the Blog more or less up to date now, I promise I'll try and do at least a weekly update in future.  Bfn.

visitors, a trip down canal, and a knackered engine.

1st of June 2015.

Hello again, hopefully this post will bring us right up to date.

Remember these-

Picture taken on 11th of May

Picture taken this morning 1st June, same brood!

 On the 25th May, Bev and Darren came up from Kent for a few days. Leaving at 'silly o-clock' (Darren's words), they arrived at the marina around 9.30 am. They'd booked into an hotel in Tamworth for 4 nights but couldn't check in till the place opened so came straight to the marina.

After coffee's and greetings we drove over to the Kingfisher cafe at Fradley junction for some breakfast and had a good old natter and catch up. Their last visit was at the end of October last year, so although I saw Bev in January  when I went down to Kent for Matthews 40th, it still seemed a long time ago.

I suggested we had a little voyage during their stay and they thought this was a grand idea, (little did we know!)

So the idea was they would drive up to the Marina Tuesday morning and the 3 of us would set off down the canal on Bracken and head for Tamworth, where they were staying at the hotel. Then on Wednesday after they'd spent Tuesday night at the hotel in Tamworth, (me on Bracken of course), the 3 of us would return up the canal on Bracken hoping to arrive back at the Marina Wednesday afternoon.

Seemed like a plan.

So around 10 am Tuesday off we set, turned right out of Marina and down the Trent and Mersey  canal towards our first lock at Wood End.

There wasn't much of a queue at Wood End lock, just one going down and one coming up so not much delay. Then on past Fradley Woods  to Shade House Lock which fortunately was being operated for us by volunteer lockies. No delay again as the lock was already in our favour. 

Exiting Shade House Lock.

Entering Middle Lock, last one before turning right onto the Coventry Canal at Fradley Junction.

Waiting to exit the lock. In the distance can be seen Fradley Junction where we turn right opposite the 'Mucky Duck' (White Swan) onto the Coventry Canal. No more locks for the next 10 miles.

The trip down to Tamworth was expected to take approx 5 hours in total, and once on the picturesque Coventry Canal we enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the journey.

I was a little concerned at the amount of smoke coming from the engine breather pipe, so we had the engine hatch open to let the fresh air in and the smoke out. I was also aware that the engine seemed to be getting noisier, but was that because the engine hatch was open??

Rather than take Bracken into Tamworth town, which may have been busy, we decided to moor just past Sutton bridge which was a quiet pleasant spot with mooring rings. So as the time then was around 6 pm Bev and Darren walked to their hotel and I settled down for the evening.

Nice spot for an overnight stop, apart from early morning joggers!

Wednesday morning I was rudely woken at 05.30 by the pounding of the first joggers!

I mean for Gods sake, who the hell goes jogging at 5.30 in the morning!

Joggers, then cyclists, so by 7 am I gave up trying to sleep and got up.

I hadn't slept too well anyway, worrying about the engine and whether it was going to get us home.

I did the usual checks, oil, fan belt etc etc had breakfast and waited for Bev and Darren to arrive from their hotel.

The engine reluctantly started. And the peace was shattered by the unholy clattering and banging from an obviously very ill engine!