All the best made plans …………………….
After the great couple of day’s in Birmingham, we left via the Birmingham Main Line Canal, very straight and boring (so we thought), well……. About an hour out of Gas Street all hell broke loose, the engine suddenly, and without warning, went to maximum rev’s and made so much white smoke that we could not see the canal bank. I put Xilion in to neutral and yelled at Annie to grab a rope and go down the side of the boat so that she could get ashore and pull the boat in. Good Plan ! except she could not see the bank, and it was not until we hit it that she knew where it was. The next problem was to stop the engine, turning off the ignition did not stop it, so I went in to the engine compartment and turned the fuel off, took out the air filter and stuffed a towel in to the air intake. That finally stopped the b***** thing.
R.C.R. (canal version of the AA) came out and after draining 3 litres of oil out of the engine, every thing seemed OK, with the engineer claiming that the last service engineer had overfilled the engine. Off we went and guess what, after an hour, the same thing happened again. I contacted R.C.R. and they contacted the engine manufacturer, who said they would call out on the following Friday. In the mean time, we waved down a passing boat and cadged a tow to Caggy’s Boat Yard, Tipton. This was not a great looking place, but the people there were 1st class.
The engine people came out on the Friday as promised, and found the problem (a Hydraulic Bow Thrusters Pump leaking hydraulic fluid in to the engine oil). As this pump was not supplied by Barrus (the engine manufacturer), it was not covered by Warranty, but all credit to Barrus, they removed the faulty pump, fitted a blanking plate, changed the engine oil and oil filters and did not charge a penny. Great service which you do not often see nowday’s. Xilion Rose now does not have Bow Thrusters, but I will see how we get on without them and then decide whether or not to replace the pump.
We left Caggy’s Boatyard on the Tuesday morning, aiming for Stone on the Trent and Mersey Canal by Friday to collect our diesel hob from the repairers (it looks like the Llangollen Canal will have to wait till next year). On the way to Stone, we were passed by “The President” a 100 year old, Steam Powered Barge, towing a 90 year old Butty Barge called “Kildare”. Please follow the link to get the details of these fabulious historical barges.
Annie and Malcolm
Caggy's Boat Yard looking from Xilion Rose
The President Steam Barge under power
Told you those bow thrusters were posy things! now you have to learn the skills!
Never a dull moment, can’t ever remember having problems the may trips we had over the last 20 odd years. Someone up there is looking after you. Sounds great, tho’! Good picture of Annie as Captain. Can’t remember the ‘boys’ every letting us take the helm, way back in the eighties, but then there were three males! Will speak to Dave about the rest of the villa, as they do rent it out to friends and family. It’s very large and we just have a tiny bit of it – the garden apartment.
Love Dianne xx