To Crick: Day 16

Today did not turn out to be the day we had planned.  Yesterday, Adrian said he thought there was an oily smell from the engine; I thought it might be diesel.  We thought we’d monitor it.  But when, having stopped at lunchtime, there was still a strong diesel smell in the evening, we thought we’d better investigate.  It was obvious there was a leak, but not obvious where it was from.  But I identified a general area, and put some paper towel down to see what happened overnight.  This morning, the paper was wet; occasionally I could see a drip had arrived, but I still wasn’t sure where it was from.  So I started the engine, and the drips became much more frequent and appeared to be coming from the fuel filter.

After some discussion, we decided we should call RCR.  To make things easier, we also moved through the bridge so we were next to a lane with lay-bys.  There was a bit of a wait for the engineer because he was on another job, but he arrived a bit before 11.30.  The problem turned out to be a pinhole in the bottom of the fuel filter — something he said he’d never seen before.  He got a new fuel filter from the van and fitted it, and because there was some gunk in the old one, he said he’d change the other fuel filter too.  That had so much stuff in it that he said he was surprised we were still running at all!

I was watching the whole process, and learned a lot.  While I’m happy to change the oil and oil filter myself, I’ve never done the fuel ones — so he showed me what to do, what the pitfalls were, and how to bleed the system once the new filters were fitted.  I think I probably could change them myself now.  The guy was very keen to pass on knowledge, and by the end he was showing me photos of his boats!

We finally got away at about 12.30, and headed up to the Calcutt Locks.  A pair of boats were coming down the bottom lock, and there were more at the second one, including a fellow Braidbar.  We had a good chat while the lock filled, but omitted to get a name.

We’d planned to stop for water at the top, but one boat had just left and another that had been waiting was taking its place, so we gave it a miss.  We turned left Napton Junction, and immediately started meeting boats coming the other way.  These are very familiar waters, and the miles take a while to pass because of the number of moored boats.  But it’s always a bit exciting when Braunston Church and the old windmill come into view.

We turned right at Braunston Junction, under one of the bridges.

This side of the junction was very busy with moored boats, so we continued to see if there was space further up.  Adrian jumped off at a bridge and walked up to check outside the marina, and beyond the next bridge.  The only space was just beyond the permanent moorers, before the water point.  It’s a space that’s often missed because people think the permanent moorings go all the way along.  Unfortunately I’d just passed it, so I had to reverse past a boat on the water point.

Once tied up, I thought the bilge pump sounded odd — and on checking I found the pump was no longer connected to the pipe which sends the water into the weed hatch.  The RCR guy had sometimes had to put his feet in that part of the bilge, and I guess he’d accidentally stepped on the pipe.  I thought it would be a quick job to reconnect it, but it turned out not to be.  Part of the spout on the pump had broken off and was in the pipe, so I had to get that out before I could make it fit and jubilee clip it.  It all took ages, with me trying to reach into the bilge over the hot engine.  Then, because I’d baled out as much water as I could to do the work, the only way I could test it was the put a couple of buckets of water down there.  It’s not every day a boater puts water into their bilge.  Anyway, it works, which is the main thing.

So we’ve only done a couple of hours of boating, and yet it’s been an exhausting day.

8 miles, 3 locks.  (102 miles, 119 locks)