Kubota engines are Japanese. They are imported and "marinised" by Beta Marine. These engines do seem to have a decent reputation "on the cut". The new models have 2 alternators one for the domestic batteries and one for the starter battery.

Mine has only one, a 55amp this is small by todays standards but does seem to do the job.

Yes you guessed it  - The engine.
It is a Kubota 1.9ltr 4 cylinder diesel.

Picture showing the gearbox which is a Borg Warner "Velvet Drive"  box. I like this box as at tick over it is very smooth. Some boxes I've seen seem to want to jump into neutral then back into gear at very low revs making a repeated clunking sound. (Perhaps they were not adjusted correctly. I don't have enough experience to tell.)

Also shown is the coupling to the prop shaft. These come in various formats but are there to compensate for any slight misalignment of the engine when there is movement in the mountings caused by the torque of the engine. The mountings on QE2 are quite solid so there is a fair amount of vibration sent through the hull. There are other mounting/flex drive kits available now that can reduce vibration by using much more flexible mountings and a flex coupling that has much more range of movement.

The stern gland can also be seen (the 2 thick brass oval plates with the 2 bolts)

The stern gland is there to stop canal water entering the bilge by coming up the prop shaft. As the propeller is well under the water then so is a lot of the engine room. Without some sort of seal the engine room would quickly flood! Most stern glands use a packing around the shaft that is compressed onto the shaft by the 2 bolts. The packing is rings of impregnated flax, acrylic yarn, etc. there are various types often impregnated with PTFE. Basically it's greasy string!

There is much folklore and opinion about stern glands arising from the fact that no one really wants water entering their boat. I read a somewhere on the "net" a boater had said "If you want a dry bilge - get some oars." Stern glands do drip! It would appear the water dripping is used to cool and lubricate the shaft there a many opinions as to how much it should drip so I won't attempt discuss it here.

However, it does seem to me that in 2001 there should be a better way of sealing a shaft that rotates in water than using greasy string! Anyway any narrowboat you buy is likely to have one of these things. The QE2 has a greaser located on the aft deck this has to be used daily before setting off and when you stop. This forces grease into the stern gland lubricating it and helping to seal it. This has to be refilled, which is a mucky job but it is better than having to scramble around the engine room with a grease gun every day.

The picture opposite shows the weed hatch. This is to allow clearing of anything that may get snagged on the prop. The 2 tee bars are undone, the cover removed, and you can get your hand into the water and clear the prop. Luckily I have not had to do this yet!

A couple of things here!  DO NOT PUT YOUR HAND DOWN THE WEED HATCH WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING!!!! This may seem obvious but if someone were to put her in gear while you are doing this you would lose your hand. Also make sure the hatch is properly sealed when you replace it. If not as the prop turns water will enter the engine room at an alarming rate!

Most boats have a bilge pump to pump out the engine room because of water entering from the stern tube. These, if fitted, usually have an automatic setting so that when you leave the boat for long periods should the water in the bilge reach a certain point the pump will start and remove the water. On QE2 the level at which the pump cuts in is when there is about 2" of water in the engine room. This is a lot of water!! I suppose it would stop her sinking but is no real use for everyday use.

There are 2 copper coils inside the calorifier one is used to pump hot water from the boiler around the tank to heat the water. The other takes engine coolant around to do the same thing. This is a 12 gallon calorifier and the water will stay hot over night quite happily if the boiler is run until bedtime. It does not stay hot enough for a shower in the morning if the heating or engine is not run from say tea time. However, by running either the boiler or the engine for about 40 mins in the morning the water is hot again.

Below the calorifier you can see the keel cooler. Engine coolant is pumped by the engine water pump through this to cool the engine. The keel cooler runs the full side of the engine room, as the other side of the cooler is the side of the boat it is kept cool by the canal water. This really replaces the radiator in your car.

We immediately liked this boat. It offered everything we needed and had really inviting feeling. This may be because the boat is very light and airy having a centre walkway all the way down the inside. It also has plenty of windows which we prefer to portholes as the boats we had looked at with portholes seemed quite dark. It appeared to be in nice condition and had been blacked and serviced regularly.

The problem still remained however that the asking price of £22,000 was well above what we thought we could afford. However we rashly made an offer of £21,000 on the boat and the owner accepted.

It would seem from talking to various people that it is best to put in a low offer and see what happens. I have since met people who have knocked £3,000 off the asking price. Perhaps I should have offered less who knows!

So what do we do now??