Canal Boat — February 2018

Our engine, a Kubota/Nanni, has

suddenly started smoking. We had

cruised for about four hours, and as we

moored up noticed smoke coming up through

the floorboards at the back of the boat. Two

days later we ran the engine for a while and

were worried when smoke appeared again.

There does not appear to be any smell of diesel

or oil. The exhaust has been checked and

relagged, so don’t know what is causing it, but

it is very worrying. The alternator belt is not

slipping and another boater suggested it could

be from the breather, whatever that is.

MAGGIE ALLEN

TONY REPLIES: First we need to

differentiate between smoke and steam.

Then I need to know what else is in the

engine area like any heater/boiler, calorifier etc.

What did the smoke smell like?

Steam could be from an overheating engine,

an overfilled cooling system venting onto the

exhaust manifold or damp lagging drying out.

Smoke could be from the crankcase breather or

from a slipping alternator belt especially early

in the day or when a heavy electrical load is put

on the batteries. It is possible the smoke is from

something electrical overheating. I take it the

paint on the engine is not going black.

Older engines tended to vent the crankcase

breather direct into the engine bay so if that’s the

case it could be from the breather but suggests

the engine is very badly worn. Modern engines

tend to direct it into the inlet manifold so the

fumes should not escape into the engine bay.

I have marked the breather on the attached

photo with a yellow arrow. It runs from a breather

valve on the rocker cover into the inlet manifold.

The breather valve is the thing with the round cap

on it surrounded by six star head screws. I would

take that apart to make sure it is not clogged.

It’s hard to tell but the engine looks oily, much

as I would expect if it had a blocked breather. As

the breather vents into the inlet manifold, fumes

should not escape into the engine bay unless the

engine is stopped.

If you take the oil filler cap off while the engine

is running you should feel a light pulsation of gas

coming out as each cylinder works but it should

not be visible and certainly nothing very fierce.

If it is then the breather may be blocked or the

engine worn.

Please try to give me more information about

the smell. Smoke should hang around and

gradually blow away and smell of things like

burning rubber, exhaust fumes, the fishy smell

of burning electrical boards, burning plastic etc.

Steam has hardly any smell and kind of just

evaporates in the air.

It may be an idea to run with the engine boards

up so you can see where it is coming from.

74 February 2018 Canal Boat canalboat.co.uk

Help your engine to breathe more easily

BACK CABIN: EXPERTS

Q

A

Wait for correct conditions to make it stick

I bought a Shetland 4+2

GRP cruiser earlier this

year and some of the

headlining (a cord type carpet

material) has come away from the

ceiling and is now hanging down.

Additionally there are 2 areas either

side of this where the lining has

come away from the ceiling. Will you

advise me on the best adhesive/

material to use to reattach this. I

have been told to use Copydex and/

or two-sided carpet tape.

What would be best? Although

I would ideally like to deal with

it sooner than later, would it be

sensible to wait for warmer weather

before attempting to fix this?

PETER MCEVITT

TONY REPLIES: I very

much doubt that Copydex

will work because

whatever you use will have to hold

the full weight of the headlining up

from the moment you push the lining

up. I also doubt carpet tape will work

for long. I suspect the deckhead

(ceiling) is too uneven to get full

surface contact. I also fear the glue

may soften so it falls down in hot

weather.

A proprietary contact adhesive

formulated for the job seems to be

commonly used on both cars and

boats with stuck-on headlining. I

have seen the occasional use of a

spray adhesive that is allowed to

tack off before the lining is put in

place. Neither are particularly easy

to use because it’s all too easy to get

wrinkles in the lining as you push it

into place.

If you are only attempting a

local repair then I think Evo-Stik or

similar will do the job as long as the

deckhead is free from mould, dirt,

dust, old glue lumps and damp.

I would use an old paintbrush to

apply it to the deckhead and work

it into the farthest pockets. Then

immediately push the lining up on to

the wet glue, squidge it about a bit

and pull it back down. Then use the

paintbrush to sparingly apply glue to

any of the lining that has not had it

transferred from the deckhead. Allow

the glue to semi-dry (as per the

instructions) and then push the lining

firmly into place. Ideally then use a

solid roller to apply as much pressure

as possible. A wallpaper seam roller

will probably do. Roll in all directions.

As long as you do it on a

warm, dry day when there is no

possibility of getting condensation

on the deckhead you can do it now

(autumn) but do not wait too long. I

fear that in a week or two it will be

hard to find conditions where your

breath will not cause condensation.

Impact adhesive fumes are

horrible in a confined space so

ensure lots of ventilation - and have

someone with you just in case they

need to drag you out of the boat.

Q

A