Thursday, June 18, 2015 at 02:44PM Once again I've been painting the roof of Misterton, this time with MCU (moisture cure urethane) paint, which hopefully will fare a bit better.
The end result is good,
Unfortunately there are some problems on the deck....
....and who is now sporting sliver feet?
Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 11:37AM Shortly before Christmas I was browsing ebay and came across the remains of a Lister JK4 engine, basically the block and crank for little more than scrap value. For those that don't know, this is an uprated 4 cylinder version of the 3 cylinder Lister JP3 we have in Misterton. Although still based on the same 1930's design, it will rev to 1500 instead of 1200 rpm, therefore will produce 62 horsepower instead of the 30 we currently have. I know this doesn't seem much but it should make a difference and I like the old engines.
So my original plan was to gather the parts over time and use our existing engine to build a new 4 cylinder version.
However, more valuable internet surfing time (note, Mary may disagree as to the 'value') looking for spares, led me to find and purchase a complete Lister JK4. This is from a standby generator from Dover docks, and had been sitting covered for a number of years up near Doncaster. This has been duly delivered and has now joined the other one, taking up space in the workshop.
Of course, these things don't always go smoothly, and I discovered it would only rotate 180 degrees. A few stuck valves were fixed, but no difference. I started eliminating things and discovered that the fuel injection pump was partially seized (and luckily I was able to find a brand new one on ebay for less than the cost of reconditioning the old one). This has now been removed, and I can get almost 360 degrees of rotation, so now my thoughts are there is a second blockage, possibly above one of the pistons. A USB endoscope has been ordered to investigate......
Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 03:49PM What better way to finish one year and start the next than with a boat trip? Thats how I sold the idea to Mary and Nate anyway. So on a cold and frosty New Years eve we manoevered Misterton out of the mooring basin and headed downstream.
This was the first time Misterton had been out of the basin since arriving here in July, one of the things I've fast discovered is having a boatyard means no time for boating. We reversed out which was a bit awkward, but it avoided pushing any ice towards the moored boats.
The trip downriver was interesting but uneventful and we soon arrived at the 'Dutch Tea Garden' moorings just before Oulton Dyke. We were joined there by friends Thomas and Hillary and their two children Digby and Celeste on the good ship 'Golden Mean'. This is quite a sophisticated steel sailing boat with twin engines and twin internal leeboards!
We saw in the New Year, as it was so flat, we could see fireworks from all around on the horizon. Due to wind we ended up staying for three nights and had a great time, with the three children getting very muddy during the day and then watching 'Swallows and Amazons' before bed.
The return trip was in calm and rain, as these shots show.
All in all, a great start to 2015!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 at 11:04AM I guess it will come as no suprise that having a boatyard to run means I now have hardly any time to work on our own one. Since August I've not really managed to do much at all due to being busy. I checked and adjusted the timing on the Lister JP3 engine as I had discovered it was out by a bit. Also new in the engine room is some soundproofing. The silver foil backed stuff on the ceiling was leftovers from the big workshop clearout, the white faced sheets on the wall are from ASAP supplies, happily also located in Beccles.
As its December, the tree has gone up on the mast, complete with lights.
Hopefully I'll get more done in 2015, but until then Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!