Floating on fuel

Wednesday 24th July

I didn't check the engine yesterday morning, because we wanted to make a flying start (best laid plans). So I made a point of opening up the hatch to have a look today. As I did so the first thing I saw was a steady drip-drip-drip, faster than one a second, from a cylindrical item over to one side. I quickly realised that this must be a fuel filter, and what was coming out was diesel. I tried twisting the cylinder, thinking maybe it had unscrewed slightly, but to no effect. Happily, just a short distance up the fuel line was an obvious cutoff switch, which I threw, and the dripping soon stopped.

The leaky filter and the cutoff switch in the distance. Note the pool of diesel.

This, however, was only the start of the problems. As I looked around I could see that several of the compartments around the engine room were full of leaked diesel - including all the battery compartments, where our (highly expensive) batteries were entirely submerged in the stuff. Rather to my surprise our electrics were still working, and the battery control panel was all normal, but I switched off all the isolators and we called NNC. Having explained the problem, and sent them some pictures of the batteries under the surface, they decided we needed immediate assistance. It's a fair way from Nantwich to north Manchester, but I sent him the postcode of a pub by the canal, and he arrived without problems at about half twelve.

I had already identified the root cause - a bleed screw on top of the filter. When I turned on the fuel line you could see it seeping out around this screw, and the rubber washer was visibly perished. The engineer fixed this fairly easily - he had copper washers and some "fuel paste" and most importantly the experience to know how hard he could tighten the screw without stripping the aluminium filter housing.

The big challenge was getting all the diesel out of the compartments, especially the ones containing the batteries. Rather to my surprise the engineer was quite happy to pour it back into the fuel tank, through a funnel with a gauze filter. He had a pressure pump which you could pump up manually and then extract about six litres into the pump body - after which you could pour it out. This was hard and tedious work, given that we would eventually get out well over 100 litres. We filled the tank and there was still plenty more to come, which means the leak must have been going for some time, though obviously not as fast. So we weren't robbed at all, it was just sloshing around beneath the batteries.

It took about three hours, and in the end we filled my two 10l cans, and another three jerrycans which the engineer took away. We reconnected the batteries, which have shown no ill effects, and there is still a fair amount of diesel at the bottom of the compartments - maybe a centimetre - which I will have to soak or wash out.

We finally got under way at about 16:15 and you would think we had earned an easy trip, but you would be wrong. We had ten locks to climb, and they were all very rough - padlocks on all of them, gates which wouldn't stay shut, paddles which wouldn't work, and a pound which was so low that Loulie grounded until I flushed through a lot of water to float her off.  We are not enamoured of the Ashton Canal at all.

Mooring at Audenshaw

Eventually we reached the top of the locks at Fairfield Junction. We didn't want to go too far because we need to get a pumpout at Dukinfield Junction tomorrow, it being much too late by now. So we found a mooring in quite a suburban spot, with many dog walkers to come past and disturb our pack - but we were far too tired to care by then.

TODAY: 3.15 HOURS. 2.2 MILES. 10 LOCKS. 1 Swing Bridge.

VOYAGE: 20.10 HOURS. 29.0 MILES. 27 LOCKS. 1 Bridge