Ship Shape

Keeping the boat in good condition means constant general maintenance from the paintwork to the engine room being the more important of the two.

The Engine

Provider of both mobility and electricity keeping the compartment and the engine in a good clean condition makes it easier to spot any anomalies it the early stage, better sooner than late, so get to know your engine.

Servicing often by a competent person which doesn’t have to be a mechanic it can be you if you take care in doing it right and providing more hands on to spot any problems earlier.

Service history and any receipts for parts and or any repairs this will provide confidence when selling the boat reflecting in it has been looked after. Using good quality parts, which may cost a bit more but will ensure the engines longevity.

Service items required is air, fuel and oil filter and the oil of course which can be a good quality synthetic type check with the engine manufacturer first, if the oil is changed often it will help to reduce ware and tare.

Parts to check is the fan belts for tightness and wear and tear leading to the belt’s slipping resulting in poor charging and intermitting coolant being pumped round the engine, over hot engine. Engine mountings, fuel or hydraulic pipes for leaks.

Cooling system can be either raw water pumped from the canal through the engine and out through the exhaust so the exhaust should be checked for rusting or constriction from debris. On board sealed system similar to a car’s radiator in the form of a skin tank, needing maintaining and antifreeze replacing every two years to avoid engine rusting internally. There may be a calorifier in the system providing hot water.

Mountings first check is visual while the engine is running moored up and in neutral you can see if there is any movement other than a slight vibration if so then they need the secondary check. With the engine off, just in case, check the mounting components for any physical movement of any parts of the mountings, you can check any movement with a new one at any marina shop and make the decision whether to replace them or not. Its not too difficult to do if they are done one at a time with the new ones in the same place as he old ones.

Doing one at a time means the boat is still mobile and any individual issues can be dealt with as they arise and allowing for testing after each is done noting the reduction in noise and vibration along with taking the pressure off the job and saving around £200.

A good time to check the shaft alignment not as a direct result of changing out the mountings but as good practice.

Noise from the engine in the form of what sounds like rattling metal may indicate tappets need checking and or adjusting. A well maintained and in good condition the engine should sound crisp and clear responsive to the throttle in neutral with no juddering.

Tappets recording before adjustment rattling metal and after adjustment smooth sounding responsive producing full available power.

Prop Shaft

Alignment between the engine and the stern bearing to ensure it is true. The shaft if misaligned will ware a concentric hole in the stern gland and become noisy, a big costly job out of water replacement.

Checking the alignment is not too difficult to check, you need to split the shaft from the gearbox by undoing the nuts securing the flexible coupler. Sliding the shaft away from the gearbox, return it back to the gearbox to see if the bolts go back into the holes exactly. If they are misaligned and won’t go back into the holes then the engine will have to be repositioned on the mountings to align the shaft with the gearbox attached to the engine.

The Electrical System

Charging, poor charging due to the fan belts slipping means the batteries will not receive full charge and may lead to the engine not starting one day! Poor charging may be indicated by the charge lamp or indicators not coming on fully or intermittently, if the bulb works of course! Check all the engine lights actually work on start-up.

Twin alternator system do not assume because one set of batteries are charged that all batteries are charged and check there are no domestics connected to the starter battery!

Bilge Area

This really should be clean and free of water or oily water. The presence of oily water may indicates a leaky engine and or stern gland packing which will requires replacing in water, this is a point where the water may be coming from. Water in the bilge will evaporate and condense on the metalwork in the engine compartment causing rust. A clean bilge also indicates the boat is well looked after and again will give credence when selling it, would you buy a boat with a dirty wet bilge?

Water Tank

Check often as being an integral part of the hull it can rust through from the inside, treat every two years if you can the stainless steel tanks are maintenance free but should be checked never the less.

Underside

Blacking of the hull’s underside needs to be done every two years unless you have the epoxy resin recommended to last for ten years keeping the rust at bay much like the cars of the 60’s and 70’s were under sealed to protect from the adverse weather conditions.

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