Some wiring and the panel is fitted.

Saturday 24th October.

Hi everyone, its raining here so what better time to catch up with the blog.

I've been sneezing a lot today so I do hope its not the onset of a cold. I was filling the water tanks on mine and Pauls boat earlier today and got drenched whilst trying to repair a leak in my water hose, in the pouring rain. Snug and warm now though.

So, how are we doing? I hear you say, well I'll let the pictures tell the story.

As it used to look.......

........ and as it looks now.

 Two pictures don't really show the amount of work that went into installing the new panel. On removing the old panel a mass of wiring was exposed. Some of it was needed and some was redundant. Also, the hole in the bulkhead had to be enlarged so that the 'guts' of the new panel would have somewhere to go.
I removed as much of the redundant wiring as I could, and then last Sunday Paul and I drove Bracken out of the Marina just up the canal and moored against the towpath to use an angle grinder fitted with a cutting disc to enlarge the hole.
Quite a momentous occasion, Bracken moving under its own power!! The first time since taking Bracken to the wharf to have the old engine removed!
I had the panel connected with the 4 metre wiring loom and propped up on a box to be able to start and stop the engine! It took us a couple of hours to enlarge the hole, Paul on the angle grinder and me inside the cabin with a fire extinguisher -just in case! There were sparks flying everywhere!
Once we'd cut the hole big enough we returned to the Marina where over the next few days I proceeded to remove the panelling from below the window to route the thick loom from the engine bay, through a one and a half inch diameter hole in the steel bulkhead, up the inside of the cabin wall and into the cupboard behind the Fusebox and engine panel.
A very messy job as the wall panelling is stuffed with fibreglass insulation which had to be removed and then replaced after the wiring loom was installed.
 

Cupboard behind engine panel contains........

.......Domestic fuses all 12 volt, and the back of the engine instruments.
The thick grey cable at the bottom is the connecting cable to the engine wiring.

Quite a marathon job fitting the new engine panel but it looks good I think.
Still some fiddling to do like sealing round the panel on the outside.Also I still need to set up the throttle and gear linkage as it's still a bit notchy, so I think next job will be to strip down the 'Morse' lever control and give it a good overhaul.
 So, getting there slowly.

A few pics of our resident Kingfisher. This first one I took with my phone camera, the rest were taken by Graham Haygreen.

Mrs Moorhen having a feed.

Sitting on my boat just in front of one of my boxes.

Sitting on Pauls boat. (No its not snowing!)

Well thats about it for now People. Bfn.

Update continued.

Monday 5th October. And it's raining!

Hello again, I didn't write yesterday because it was an absolutely beautiful day and too nice to sit indoors.

Jenny text me Saturday eve and invited me to join her for breakfast Sunday morning at the Kingfisher cafe at Fradley Junction. Normally she works on Sundays so this was a rare opportunity for us to have breakfast together. A lovely way to start the day.

I didn't do much after, chatted to some of my neighbours, watched the wild birds empty the seed container, refilled the seed container, and generally enjoyed lounging in the sunshine. It was one of those days that make you feel glad to be alive.

Over the past few days a Kingfisher has been visiting our end of the Marina, and seems to have taken a liking to sitting on or near Pauls boat which is the last boat off our pontoon. I managed to take a photo of him but it isn't very clear as he's too far away from me. However, Paul took this next picture through his window, simply superb.

Picture courtesy of Paul.

In the afternoon Graham, Jaqui, and two of their friends called in to see me and have a coffee. They were on their motor bikes and on their way home from Matlock in Derbyshire where they'd been for the weekend.

Not only did they see the kingfisher close up but also the Great spotted Woodpecker who has become a frequent visitor to the seed feeder. I've not yet managed to get a picture of him as he's a bit camera shy but he's really colourful.

Returning to the engine installation subject.........

A couple of weeks ago I reached the point of 'turning the key' so to speak, the cooling system was complete, and filled. The Diesel system was connected and bled as best as I could manage with a gravity supply, (this became a problem). And the electrics were connected.

On turning the key the engine turned over albeit slowly but failed to fire up.

On stripping the starter motor down we found the brushes seized and rusted up. Cleaned up and re-assembled the engine spun over a treat but still failed to fire up.

Suspecting a lack of compression, we removed the glow plugs and squirted loads of penetrating oil down the cylinders in the hope of unglueing  the piston rings which we suspected were gummed up.

Still the engine refused to fire up although we felt we were now getting some compression.

By now I was convinced I had bought 'a wrong un' and was feeling pretty downhearted as you can imagine.

Someone suggested that the gravity fed fuel supply might not be sufficient to actively 'bleed' the system as this engine is supposed to be self bleeding. A small electric pump was inserted into the fuel line, it actually came with the engine but I hadn't fitted it because I thought the gravity system would be ok, - how wrong was I?

With one wire from the pump to the battery, and another wire from the heater plugs to the battery, after a few turns of the key the engine burst into life! accompanied by cheers from yours truly and various neighbours that had watched  with interest my efforts over the weeks of installing the engine.

There are still a number of jobs to do, like setting up the gear linkage, and throttle, and the electrics to work from the new panel and not the old one but I've run the engine several times now and it starts and runs ok.

During the writing of this I have used the phrase 'We' a number of times. 

'We' consists of Matt, who has helped a lot especially with the climbing in and out of the engine bay. Matts' mate Phil, who's stripping and re-building of the starter motor helped enormously. Paul and Dave, who assisted me aligning the engine on its new bearers. 'H' who provided the flexible exhaust at a very reasonable cost, and also much advice on the installation and commissioning of the engine. Graham and Dave for the loan of the battery cables.

All these people have helped me over the last few weeks, and I am grateful for all their assistance.  

An update at last!

Saturday 3rd October.

Hello people, yes it's been a while hasn't it!

Actually I promised myself that the first rainy day that came along, I would bring the blog up to date. Unfortunately for you readers, but fortunately for us boaters, it hasn't rained for oodles of time! However today was cool enough to persuade me to light the fire, so here I am indoors trying to bring you all up to date with progress.

Compare with the heading picture taken one year previously.

First I thought I'd post an up to date picture of Bracken, flower tubs are looking good aren't they? They've been a riot of color all summer. They're a combined effort between my sister Jenny and myself and I think they're lovely. That's my idea of Gardening!

So, hows the engine installation going? - I hear you say. Well actually it's going ok now. 

The exhaust flange finaly arrived from Vetus in Holland after a ridiculous 8 week wait and what a disapointment that was. I was expecting a nice Vetus yellow, casting, and what i got is an unpainted, inch and a quarter BSP socket welded to a bit of 3/8 plate with 4 bolt holes! If i'd known what was coming I would have had one made for me in a quarter of the time it took for them to send it.

Having acquired the flange, I was able to connect the exhaust through a flexible pipe to the silencer and then lag the pipe work after installing an angle iron to support the silencer.

Stainless steel flexible pipe.

Cooling system is complete and filled with 50/50 water and antifreeze.

I have wired the alternator and starter motor through the old engine panel as a temporary measure as I have aquired a rather posh MP34 Vetus panel. However the wiring is proving a bit of a headache so I'm using the old panel for a while.

The brown terminal block had been snipped off by the previous owner, so I had to rejoin all 12 wires by soldering and crimping and then heat shrinking the insulation on each wire.

beautiful panel, £600 new from Vetus, a lucky find on ebay for less than a quarter of that. Fingers crossed it works! Now waiting for the 4 metre extension cable from Vetus to connect from engine loom socket, to panel socket.

I'll continue this tomorrow.