Well, take a mechanically confident man (me) and sling him into an entirely different swimming pool.
We bought a narrow boat. Big steel bucket with a 1.5 BMC diesel engine (marinised, but basically a London Taxi engine) as a mid- life ‘sod it’ move. Five minute walk to our mooring in the stunning Gloucester docks.
Went for a motor down to Slimbridge wetlands (amazing), spent the night, drank very much more than we should and set off for home in the morning. Blew the equivalent of a radiator hose. Charlie Big Potatoes here bodges the hose with reels of tape and jubilee clips and limps the boat to where I know I can get a boat mechanic (Sunday afternoon and both my wife and I have morning early appointments).
Engineer attends, boat is repaired. Friday afternoon I take my small son with me on a bus (first bus I’ve taken in 30 years, and the last). Pay the man, have a couple of beers with him and bed down for the night.
Saturday morning. Leap up with the larks. Full English at a cafe and set off.
About two miles later huge loss of power and gouts of black smoke from the exhaust.
<….right Raggie, think…..>
Hatch off to the engine room. Oil correct, water correct, airbox correct. Fire it up again in neutral, all good, so a load problem rather than an engine problem. ******* on the prop then.
Haul the boat round across the canal so the blunt end is at the bank. Lay down some matting (I was wearing niceish clothes) and reach in as far is my arms will go. Can’t even reach the prop.
Moor properly, go below decks, strip off and put on cycling shorts and put my shoes back on.
Jump overboard.
Swim down, find prop, remove half the fibrous water growth of Gloucestershire, haul myself up the tiller back onboard and drip and squelch in that order. Fire up the engine again - all good - and pilot the boat back to Gloucester.
go to Brewhouse & Kitchen (seven feet from moored position to front door) and order a very large glass (at this point dressed in a camouflage army surplus shirt, black goretex cycling shorts and corduroy slippers).
Text Message pings from the mechanic “How’d it go on the run back mate?” To which I replied that the cooling system repair was great, the engine temp didn’t get over seventy, and that the only issue was having to take a canal swim to clear weed from the prop.
To which his reply was (verbatim):
”There is a weed hatch 😂”
As in a hatch you can open to reach down (from the nice and dry with a G&T in the other hand) and clear the prop without having to strip down to your skivvies and jump into a canal in late October.
I’m pretty certain that he is still laughing at me. I know my eleven year old son won’t let that go until he buries me.
Moral of the story is that we are all Newbies at something we might not even know of.
Peace and love
Raggie
Edited by Raggie, 21 October 2024 - 09:31 PM.
