Freedom of the Cut 2019 - 22

Return to Sutton Stop

Monday 9^th September

Rain was forecast for area for most of the day and by now I had moved further south to Hartshill and The Anchor Inn, where I was obliged to go to publish this blog on their wi-fi as there was nothing available surrounding the boat. I had intended to get to Sutton Stop today, but that meant getting a good soaking once again and I was not prepared to do that.

However, the rain ceased about midday and I set off. It was a very quiet run with very few other boats about and I suppose the reason is that the main holiday season is now closing down. Moorings at Sutton's on the other hand, were very few close to the junction and of course many boats were 10 to 20 ft apart, but I did find a gap behind the first boat close to the narrows and wondered if I could squeeze in. I reversed with the stern in the gap and pulled in on the centre line to find that with the stern button kindly raised on the boat behind by the captain, it just fitted with a couple of inches to spare, so I had a pint in The Greyhound to celebrate.

Sutton Stop with the pub, junction, engine house and four water points it is always an interesting place to watch other boats get around the 180º turn, and to meet other boaters. It has only one stop lock where the Coventry Canal meets the North Oxford Canal, which has a rise in water level of only 6 ins. This was because the water level of one canal was higher than that of the other one. It also separated one canal from another and the companies of the day were unwilling to share their water. It was also named after the family of lock keepers and not the toll clerks, as I thought.  They gauged the boats to apply duty to the owners for the cargo they carried on company water. Needless to say, it is a very busy place for gongoozling boat movements and showing off when taking a pair of boats around the turn when the punters at the pub are sitting out on the patio.

Views from the junction bridge of the Coventry Canal on the left going to Fradley

and the North Oxford Canal on the right heading south.

Junction bridge and the turn from The Greyhound.

The Greyhound from junction bridge.

The Coventry and Toll Office next to the narrows, 

where boats were gauged on their loads.

The original pumping engine house, which housed a 

Newcomen pumping engine named "Lady Godiva."

Entering the Stop Lock.

Tuesday 10^th September

Not much going on today, although the squealing from the alternator belts was getting annoying every time I started up the engine. That is the time when the domestic batteries are low and the alternators try and produce maximum current for recharging. It settles down after a while and it is better if the engine is run at minimum revs during that period, but only if moored up of course.

Sometimes the operation goes better than other time and this was one of the awkward ones. Firstly, all the junk stored in the engine ‘ole has to be removed so that I have access to the alternators. Because the BMC was an original vehicle engine (London black cab and Sherpa van), there was only one alternator fitted, but two is better than one on a marine engine, so there was another one fitted on the port side, which in the words of Calcutt marine is usually a bit of a ‘dog’s breakfast’. Both belts needed tightening and by now I knew which spanners were required, so set to, using a big spanner as a lever to get them really tight. Being at the front of the engine, not only is it a tight squeeze to get there, but there is considerable leaning over the engine to get to the dog’s breakfast on the other side, which means that the engine must not be too hot. Having now done the job, it was time to start up and see what difference it made, and like previous times the squealing was no longer there and the rev counter registered straight away when the alternator coils were excited – job done.

It was also time to change the two diesel filters by now, as I had extended the time limit to 1,000 hrs, instead of the usual 600 as recommended in the handbook, where only one filter is fitted. Had I been going on the Rivers Thames or Trent, I would have changed them before departure, but on the canal system, the worst that could happen was that the engine would misfire and most probably stop, so there was no danger of being uncontrollable on a  fast flowing or tidal river. However, I had enough of getting in and out of the engine’ ole for today and would leave that job for Wednesday. Time for a bit of R and R in the pub.

Wednesday 11^th September

The lady on the boat moored behind me had given me a small pot of homemade blackberry jam yesterday, which I thought was a very generous gift, so I had it on toast for breakfast and it certainly was delicious.

It was time to bite the bullet and change those filters today. I had done this several times previously at 600 hrs and had bled the engine right up to the injectors previously by turning the engine over on the starter motor, but this tends to knock out the battery and heat up the starter solenoid as well as a possibility of burning out the starter motor, which would be an expensive and inconvenient problem. This time I was going to use the mechanical fuel pump only……. well that was the intention.

Replacing the filters was no problem, but bleeding the air out of the system was a real bugger and something I was not looking forward to. A guy walking along the towpath told me that the BMC with a rotary injection pump was the worst engine of all to bleed – thanks for that encouragement! The problem was actually working the fuel pump lever by hand to get the fuel through, because the pump moves such a small quantity at a time. The first filter can be bled easily, because it is first in line from the tank and so is gravity fed, but the one after the pump is not. With that one done, I moved on to the injector pump and bled it through the two bleed screws. According to my information, the engine would now fire and so it did……for two or three seconds! Now I had air in the injector lines, so they had to be cleared by loosening the unions at the injectors. I had by now got sick of pumping by hand, so turned over the engine until fuel appeared at the injectors. Two unions were tightened before more engine revs, but the lump refused to fire, so I tightened another union and this time it did fire up on three cylinders, so whilst it was running I did up the final one – success at last and that had taken up the whole afternoon. If and when this needs to be done again, I shall get it done at a boatyard; to me it is not worth the hassle and discomfort.

After a quick shower, I was due to meet up with my daughter and fiancé at The Greyhound for a meal, but I was so tired that half my main course was taken home in a doggy bag. No complaints about the food, which is always good there and we had a very good evening of conversation and laughter. How I wish that this was my local pub. Just to add that it is never empty and must be a goldmine.

Thursday 12^th September

I had not written up my blog since Monday, so that was to be done, along with booking a train home next week and making sure of a mooring during that time in Rugby Wharf. There was a long list of e-mails to be read or erased, because no action was taken yesterday, but it all got done eventually.

Although the weather was promising at the start of the day, it became more cloudy and windy during the afternoon and was not good boating conditions, so I abandoned any movement until Friday, making it more or less a day in the office.