The ’Thumper’ has been rebuilt and modified

Ahead of our last trip out on Steadfast we have had her single cylinder engine, the Thumper,  refurbished and modified.

The vintage Russell Newbery DM1 worked well but Joe was concerned about a small but persistent oil leak from the top of the engine.  He thought the head gasket needed changing and was going to do it himself but instead we called upon the expertise of Richard Milligan ( known as 'Blackhands') who is reputed to be a bit of an expert; and so it turned out.

So, bear with me as I am not technically minded but what I understand is that when this engine was initially built it's lubrication was a simple reservoir of oil and a wick to oil the rockers, however when it was subsequently modified it was to a pressurised oiling arrangement, with me so far? 
The cylinder head  didn't cope with a pressurised oil supply hence a leak. The decision was made to modify the cylinder head to cope with a pressurised oiling system and while we were at it to replace the piston liner and the big end shells and the piston rings.  The head and block went to Bradlbury' at Market Drayton for machining, the Russel Newbery parts were sourced from Dave Bixter at Granthams Bridge Boat Services.
Four weeks later Richard returned and rebuilt and tested the engine and we tested it on our subsequent cruise to Stouport and back.