Re Engined and moblile

Hello again to anyone who reads this blog. Having been towed into Shepperton Marina 7 weeks ago I am pleased to say that the broken engine has now been fully stripped, deep cleaned, rebuilt and finally installed on Friday 20 Jun.  For the technically minded the following parts were replaced:

Crankshaft and bearings, one valve, valve stem and pushrod and new piston rings.  The head was deep cleaned and the bores were polished.  

Before

After

As it was late afternoon when we completed the installation I limited my first trip to a half mile cruise out of the marina and over the river to the pub opposite to treat myself to dinner.  Quite a growth of weed had built up on the hull while I've been stationary and the local swans treat it as mobile salad bar. While I'm happy for them to remove it the constant "Tap, Tap Tap" of beaks on hull can be annoying. 

Swan Salad Bar

On saturday I headed off around 7am to miss the midday sun and cruised very gently for a couple of hours to Staines where I refilled the larder and had a long overdue haircut.  By mid afternoon I realised that the mooring was quite noisy as it was close to a busy road and pub so I decided to continue an extra couple of miles to Runnymede. I spent the afternoon there but discovered I had no mobile phone signal and so I spent the early evening having a gentle cruise up to Windsor where I arrived around 8:30pm. Although very busy I managed to find a handy mooring in a nice shady spot under the trees. 

Ironically, having spent 7 weeks stranded in the marina I am no sooner on the move than I have a few days shore leave due as my brother is taking the boat for the next few days.  However, worry not I shall spend a fees days visiting an old friend who has kindly offered me a bed and I shall be back onboard by the coming weekend.

For the next couple of months I plan to retrace my steps back down the Thames to London and then gently back up the Grand Union before heading back onto the rivers of East Anglia in September.

 

Engine diagnosis

Today's update might be a bit boring for the non technically minded although I'm sure my old engineering buddies will be interested.

The nice man from Primrose engineering has stripped the engine and identified the fault as a failed crankshaft journal on the No. 3 cylinder. For those that understand this stuff this is a picture of the underside of the cylinder head and the faulty cylinder is the centre one which has clearly not been firing properly which is why it is so clean compared to the ones on either side which are in good condition.

The journal has been reduced from 50mm to 46mm which is a large enough gap to stop the cylinder firing due to lack of compression and also for the piston to hit the cylinder head on the exhaust stroke, you can make out the bright ring at the 11 o'clock position.

The crank is badley damaged and we cannot source a replacement at present. However, it can be recovered through a process called metal spraying where new metal is effectively added and this can then be machined to the original specification. This is extremely good news as I would be looking for a replacement engine otherwise.

Richard, the engineer, will now go ahead with repair of the crankshaft, check all the other components and replace what needs replacing before rebuilding the engine and refitting to Mr Bunbury. This should take a couple of weeks so I hope to able to continue my travels in early June.

 

Engine update

Having been towed 2 miles off the river into the local (bloody expensive) marina for a mere £360 and have not made much progress in the past 10 days.

Entering the Marina on Tow

 The engineer spent 4 hrs diagnosing the problems and decided that there was a faulty fuel injector pump which needed replacing.  This was not the only fault but he felt it best to start with the small stuff. He returned a few days later to spend another 5 hrs fitting the part and to be fair the engine run a bit smoother but when we took her up the river for a test it was quite clear all was not well as the oil pressure began to fall and there was a distinct big end knock.  Clearly the engine needed to be removed and stripped to identify and repair the fault. Having already run up a £1,500 bill with the prospect of a further £3000 for a rebuild at the Thames hourly rate of £80 I spent the weekend contemplating my next move as I could see this quickly becoming a money pit.

I had lots of advise from the canal forum but of course much of this was conflicting. I basically had 3 options: repair this engine, buy a new engine or buy a second hand engine.  I quickly discarded the new engine option as they are around £9,000 which is a bit outside my range. Used engines ranged from around £1,500 to £7,000 depending on age and model. The boat could be fitted with a range of engines but each would require some modification to the boat to match it up with the drive shaft which of course is more time and money.

I have opted to go ahead with the engine rebuild but instead of using the maria the engine has been collected by a  fellow boater who runs his own engineering business repairing Lister engines. The engine was collected today, as you can see it being lifted into the trailer below.

The engine sees the light of day 

The engine will be stripped over the next couple of days and I should have an idea of costs early next week when they have quantified the work required but I'm expecting it will be below £2000. I have the peace of mind of knowing that the engine is in good hands with a Lister specialist who will not rip me off and does not charge the earth.  I'll update again when I have news.

Engine Trouble

Sorry for the lack of updates but the good ship Mr Bunbury is not well. Coming up the Thames a couple of weeks ago the oil pressure dropped to virtualy zero and the engine became very smoky. I've been in the marina since and after changing a few bits the engineer has come to the conclusion that at least one big end has gone and it needs a full strip and rebuild.

This is something of a setback to say the least as it will take a few weeks and cost an arm and a leg. The blog will go on hold until I'm back on the move, probably by mid June.

 

A stroll in the park.

After stocking up the fridge I spent the next few days just messing about on the river between Kingston and Chertsey killing time. My eldest son Steve is a keen runner and regularly runs in the weekly 5K parkrun at Peterbourough - he's completed 50 and us currently training for the Edinburgh marathon. Bushy park, near Hampton Court, is where the very first parkrun was staged 10 years ago and I had arranged to moor at Hampton Court on Friday so Steve could stop overnight before running on Saturday. I carelessly mused aloud that as this was the home of the first parkrun I ought to enter making it my first parkrun. Steve was very encouraging, I'm not sure if he is hoping the exercise will extend my life or enable him to claim his inheritence early. So after supper and a bottle of wine I duly enrolled and was soon in possession of a freshly printed barcode which would identify me as a competitor.

As I drifted to sleep on Friday night I realised that the last time I ran more than 10yds to catch a bus was in the school cross country some 40 years earlier - sleep did not come easily. Saturday morning arrived all too quickly and I remembered that I do not actually possess any running wear. Option one was to run in my underwear, the penalty for forgetting PE kit at school, this was quickly dismissed by both Steve and I as our minds shared a vision which almost saw our breakfast make an unwelcome reappearance. I therefore settled on option two, my normal clothing - let's face it I don't think drag coefficient matters at my standard. It was therefore with some trepidation that I strolled through the Hampton Court grounds to the start next to the beautiful Princess Diana fountain in Bushy park. Thankfully the field was large, almost 1000, and as I spotted several people much older than me my worries of crawling over line in last place subsided. I began to feel confident that I could certainly give a few of these a run for their money and not disgrace myself.
After a safety brief, which I couldn't hear, the run was started and as I began to jog along with the crowd I found Steve was behind me for the first 2 yards. However, he quickly moved through the pack leaving me to jog along with the bulk of the runners. All went well for the first 100 yards after which I realised I was breathing quite heavily and being overtaken on all sides. I wasn't too worried, the majority of the entry were both younger than me and much fitter so I should expect to be passed by many. The first kilometre is dead straight and as I spotted the leaders making the turn ahead I realised the first milestone was in sight and slowed to a fast walk while I recovered my breath. A glance over my shoulder set alarm bells ringing for two reasons. Firstly there were not as many people behind me as I had expected and secondly, the start was much closer than I had hoped and a quick glance forward and back again suggested I was only about halfway along the 1K straight. Not to be detered I walked for a couple more minutes before settling back into my rather slow jog which was frankly little above walking pace. It was with some relief that I reached the turn at the end of the straight and could tick off the first kilometre only 4 more to go. I dropped back to my fast walking pace and was immediately passed by a nice old lady who could probably give me 15 years. My heart was lifted when I saw she was wearing a T-shirt proudly stating she had completed 250 park runs. Clearly this was a serious runner who's training programme was probably more strenuous than mine, which comprised of lying in bed muttering "I should get some exercise". It was around this point that I found I was humming the Paul Simon song "I can't run but I can walk much faster than this" and realised I had a running anthem to keep me company.
The next 3k were completed in a similar pattern of slow jogging and fast walking until I was met by Steve around the 4k mark. He had of course already finished, had a rest and retraced his steps to find me. So I completed the final kilometre in company with my son to finish in 42:24 minutes. Quite honestly an appalling time which saw me finish in position 973 from a field of 983. I never thought when Steve was born that I would run with him in a London park at the age of 56. And I wouldn't have missed it for the world - it was a great day and while I've not got the running bug, I won't be throwing my bar code away just yet.

Onto the Thames

Thursday saw me finally head out of London on the Paddington branch heading towards the Grand Union main line for the final few miles and 10 locks to the end of the GU where it joins the Thames at Brentford.  Whilst quietly stocking up at a convenient canal side Sainsbury's I heard that my regular visitor Paul Beaumont was in town and free for the day. After a quick correlation check on bus routes and canal we arranged to meet at Wormwood Scrubs of all places. With Paul safely aboard we spent a lovely day cruising under the M25 and over the North Circular by aqueduct before joining the main line at Bulls Bridge junction.

Whilst swans tend to build large tidy nests safely above the waterline coots tend to build their nests from any old rubbish and usually on a lump of floating weed. This one chose an old tyre floating on the river and nesting materials included plastic bags.

Paul was not impressed by my new waistcoat which I picked up in a retro shop on Portobello Road. The man clearly has no taste.

Friday afternoon saw me taking the bus to Twickenham to surprise Paul and Debbie who I knew would be visiting the favourite Harlequins pub before going to the sold out match in the evening.  Fortunately their friend had a spare match ticket and I was able to watch the match after all.  A quick detour to a local shop on the walk to the ground saw me suitably attired in Quins hoodie and looking like a fan.  Sadly I had not taken the waistcoat. I brought my usual good luck to help Quins beat Leicester Tigers in a nail biting final minutes of the match.

Saturday morning was quiet as I recovery from the over indulgence of the rugby and carried out a few of those boring domestic chores we all have to do.

The next stage of the trip involved transiting a short stretch of the tidal Thames which can only be undertaken for a couple of hours around high tide as the river Brent is not navigable at lower water.   I had already checked the tide table and would be able to depart at around 16:30 on a rising tide which would help by pushing me up the Thames to Teddington. I moved down to the lock a round 15:00 and by the time the lock keeper arrived at 16:30 three other boats had joined me. The lock keeper used both locks to allow us all through together and we headed out onto the Thames in convoy about 100ft apart.

Leading a small convoy up the Thames

 Around half way to Teddington we passed though Richmond bridge.

After waiting in a small traffic jam at Teddington we passed through the lock around 18:00 and I headed up stream a further mile or two to the visitors moorings at Kingston which I recall are handy for the shops.

Final days in London

On Friday I went to Notting Hill had a wander along Portobello Road and the famous market. Lovely to see all the bright colours and activity of a street market.

I popped into a small coffee shop called Talkhouse, mainly to use the loo, and found it serves some wonderful teas which are beautifully presented. My peppermint tea was excellent and came in  glass teapot with a small flask of hot water.

As a Richard Curtis fan I had to take a photo of the famous blue door from the film Notting Hill.

On Saturday morning I finally got down to some much needed painting on the hull where the blacking has been damaged over time. In the afternoon I had a visit from my friend Malcolm and after a hour or so catching up we went for a walk around Covent Garden and Chinatown - very pleasant.

On Sunday I treated myself to breakfast of eggs Benedict in Covent Garden, accompanied by a woodwind and string quartet. Very civilised, if a tad pricy. The day was spent enjoying the spring sunshine as I walked around the area, visiting Carnaby Street which sadly looks like any other street now, before walking across to the Mall to catch a bit of the marathon.  Not surprisingly the crowds were massive and all I could see was a few heads bobbing along as the taller runners passed. I then moved onto Trafalgar Square to enjoy the spring sunshine before heading back to the boat.

I've have enjoyed visiting London by boat and am already considering Wintering here as there is so much to do.  Although it might not be practical due to lack of moorings - something to think about through the summer, far too early to be thinking of next Winter.  It's now time to move on so I'm back on the Paddington Arm and will spend the next few days exploring the last few miles of the Grand Union before joining the River Thames at Brentford and enjoying the wide open spaces of the Thames valley.