Tag: taking a narrowboat on the thames

The same as last time, Days to Henley except this time I had:

• Fuel ran out
• 2 Fuels leaks
• Coolant boiled off
• Oil intercooler flange began spurting coolant
• Engine oil being used at a rate of knots
• Rear prop shaft leaking water into the engine bay

All of those needed attention along the way.

Fuel ran out (nearly): Got up and after checking the engine, checked the fuel, which I had been meaning to do. I was lower than I thought. I had to get on my bike at 6.30am with my jerry can and pick up 10l from the local 24hour. It was clear diesel instead of red. Makes no difference except it costs 50% more.

2 Fuel leaks: leak #1;Had to stop and take off the fuel filter. Didn’t stop the problem had to stop and clean the threads off the fuel line. Leak #2; Didn’t see this until I’d repaired fuel leak #1. The injector fuel line was leaking and dropping fuel onto the heater plug. Cleaned off the threads and re-fitted. Problems went away.

Coolant Boiled Off: Stupidly, I took the top off the coolant manifold whilst I was working on the fuel lines. I don’t know why I did that, but it upset the pressure balance, and shortly after, all the coolant boiled off.

Luckily, I noticed the coolant was boiling off and I stopped the boat. Had to re-fill and bleed (twice). Problem went away.

Oil interchanger flange leaked at high temp: Once the engine got going, the flange between the oil interchanger and the cooling system started spurting boiling water all over the engine bay. I’ve no idea why it started doing this. At the time, I had the engine cover off as I’d been fixing the fuel lines, I was watching to see if the repairs had worked and this coolant started spurting out all over the place!

Luckily I was able to pull in. That’s not always the case on the Thames. Sometimes you might have to go for miles. Not this time… Pulled in. Tried to tighten it up with a screwdriver, coolant still spurting… Got spanners out, tightened it up, proper tight. Spurting stopped. Problem solved.

Engine oil leaking or being used fast: Real fast, and this is a worrying. It’s using a lot of oil. I don’t know where this oil is going, but the lack of white smoke and otherwise healthy engine suggests it’s not making it into the fuel (through head gasket or piston rings). I don’t have time to drain the sump tray and analyse where this is coming from/going to. Problem not solved.

Rear prop shaft leaking: Had it re-packed 2 years ago. It’s dripping out and filling the engine bay at a slow but steady pace. This is a problem I can’t fix along the way.

So…. It’s been fun of that variety along the way.

Twilight Sailing

Donned my lifejacket and did some night sailing along the Thames.

I won’t be doing that again.

Canal it’s not.

Scary.

Still, I’m here now, at Days Lock, cooking my dinner and looking forward to getting in my bed.

The weather is mild.

I’m hoping tomorrow will be my final day of sailing along the Thames.

Only the one piccy from the day and that’s heading up this post (Reading).

Continue reading “Henley-on-Thames to Days Lock”

The full 7hrs and 38 minutes of it.

Got some more pictures in….

First from the Queen’s house – Frogmore Cottage.

Prince

Harry used to hole up here, a while back when he first got married to Meghan. It’s an estate house with a golf course behind Windsor castle.

The highland cattle peer out over the Thames from the raised concrete embankment.

It’s terraced avenue of oak trees lean out over the Thames, reflecting in the waters and dropping their leaves.

Rather a posh spot.

There’s lots of signs telling you not to moor up, it’s the Queen’s estate or whatever.

Full day

Apart from a 20 minute stop for lunch, and another 20 minutes having to manually operate the locks at Belvale, it’s been a full day of sailing.

Continue reading “Penton Hook to Henley-on-Thames”

[Better late than never] Half 6 now….

Final stage on the Thames, taking in such fine points of interest as Teddington Lock, Richmond Lock and Brentford Lock.

Goldilocks. And the three bears.

Well, 2 bears.

Out of the 3 lock-keepers that is.

Teddington Lock

When I arrived at 7.40am. 2 hours after high tide, the lock-keeper told me the tide was ‘out’.

Having checked the times of the tides that day, I knew they were not ‘out’ but on the way out.

He then went on to say there would not be enough water beyond Richmond lock for me to travel beyond.

He then asked whether I’d booked the Brentford Lock.

A bit of a lecture really….

He wasn’t going to let me through because of the ‘lack of water’ at Richmond.

‘All the pontoons are paid for, you can’t use them’. I said there was a specific area for those waiting to use the lock (Hunters Wood), and I’d use them if I had to.

After running through the reasons not to let me through. Of which none turned out to be true, he opened the locks and let me and Bonnie go.

Tide

Wasn’t out.

Nowhere near.

I carried on down to.

Richmond Lock

Richmond is a low water barrier; at low tide it acts to prevent low levels at the stretch between Teddington and Richmond sinking to non-navigable levels.

Got to Richmond. Loads of water. Not a thing to worry about.

There are 4 sluices that regulate the water.

2 hours either side of High Tide, these barriers are lifted, and river traffic can pass beneath the bridge.

At other times, shipping has to use the Lock at the side of the channel.

As I was a little late for the tidal lifting, I paid £8 to use the lock.

As I entered the lock, I checked with the lock-keeper about the water levels beyond.

‘Plenty there for you’ he said with a smile on his face. A narrowboat has 2ft draft.

I explained that the EA lock keeper had told me it was just going to be a trickle! Little more than a puddle! And that there was no chance of getting through Brentford.

When I got through RIchmond at 3 hours past high tide mark, there was about 15ft of water.

Continue reading “Bonnie goes to London – Teddington to Brentford Lock”

Due to late night excesses yesterday, I didn’t manage to get things done as quickly as I would have liked which ended up in my setting off after eating (lunch).

That made it a non-stop afternoon.

I’m now in Kingston on Thames, where my wee sister was born all those years ago. Many, many years ago… :D

Pictures

Took very few pictures today.

Perhaps some of the more picturesque aspects of the Thames have dropped off as we’ve got closer into London.

No more rolling hills verdant woodland. More railways and high rise.

This is what I saw….

Continue reading “Bonnie in London – Windsor to Kingston”

Bonnie is all warmed up now, and ready to go…

So here we go, down to London!

A morning in Henley

Woke up and felt slightly hung over…

Not too bad, but delayed my setting off…

Did an engine check: This is where you 1) Check oil. 2) Check coolant 3) Grease…

You’re also going to notice any excess water in the engine bay.

You really need to do it every morning. Takes about 3 minutes.

If you don’t do it… and all your coolant’s boiled off, that will mean; your engine seizes, locks up and you lose steering, crashing into the next object in your path which will slow the boat down, from approx 5mph to 0 in 0ft.

It’s a 2-3 min check.

Continue reading “Bonnie does London – Henley-on-Thames to Windsor”