The Journey -
Bits Arrive on Rosy

The first consignment of extra bits has arrived.

To pump the raw water through the tube stack, Jeff the Boat (who runs Montchanin) has produced an elderly, mechanical, Jabsco pump.  I've cleaned it up a bit, and painted it a jolly red colour.  Spare (brass) front and back plates plus exterior screws are now in place - brass and red paint look very good together.  Internally, there is now a spare impeller and a spare gasket - all set to go!

I had a non-Vetus Vetus switch - the switch that enables one to select Battery Bank 1 or 2 or both or none.  Mine let me down a year or more ago by not "making" before "breaking" when the engine was running and I tried to change from "1" to "both" - this resulted in a burned out alternator.  Since then, I've always had to remember to switch to "both" before starting the engine.  I managed to replace the switch with creating any sparks, and without getting the spanner welded to the hull - progress indeed!  The old switch is worse than I thought!!  Although designed for surface mounting, the threaded lugs at the back onto which the battery terminals are bolted stand proud of the rim - in other words, when properly mounted, the threaded lugs can make contact with the supporting plate - in my case a sheet of aluminium bolted to the metal frames of the hull!!!

We now have "deux passe coques" - they being a skin fitting allowing water to pass through the hull without flooding the boat.

The diesel filter now has a transparent bottom, enabling one to see if water is collecting in the bottom.  I believe that the UK Boat Safety Scheme (cough, spit) bans them on fire safety grounds (ignoring the possibility of an accident if the engine stops on the Thames Tideway because of grossly water-contaminated fuel).

This morning was a touch fractious.  The new control panel was bolted into position yesterday, though there were three pairs of wires still to connect to the back of the instrument.  Pairs one and two went on without a problem, but pair three ...

There isn't much room behind the control panel, and the "natural" hand for fiddling there is the left - I'm right handed.  Oh!  And there isn't much light.

The negative wire of the third pair went on without a problem, but the retaining screw on the terminal for the positive wire wouldn't move for a small electrical screw driver.  I got a more powerful weapon, but couldn't get the blade located in the screw slot.  I stuck my bead into the narrow cavity, but it was too dark, so I reached out for the handy, nearby torch.  The problem then was my eyes - I wear varifocal glasses, and bending my head back far enough to peer up through the bottom quarter of my glasses was tricky to say the least, and trying to use half a left hand to hold a torch whilst the other half wields a screw driver is totally impossible.

There was nowhere to rest the little torch, so I withdrew and went off to find the big torch, which was wedged into place.  I got back into the uncomfortable working position and advanced the screw driver towards the screw head ...

The problem with these rechargeable torch batteries is that they don't degrade gracefully - one moment full beam - the next ... blackness - and a wait for 21 hours whilst they recharge.

Not wishing to wait for 21 hours, Plan B went into operation, which was to remove the screw from the negative terminal, to check that the bigger screw driver blade would fit.  I undid the screw with the electrical screw driver and, naturally (in hindsight) it fell.  I felt it bounce off my knee, so I spent 15 minutes searching the floor, and moving the coal box (which is, naturally, full with 25 kilos of best Homefire Ovals (as recommended by Chris Deuchar)).  No screw.  I sat down on the side bed to consider the matter, and felt a discomfort - the screw!!  And, yes, the big screw driver blade DID fit it.

By this time the smaller torch - the one that worked - had done a disappearing trick, but the renewed confidence that I had that the screw driver blade DID fit the screw slot meant that the screw was loosened in a twinkling, the wire inserted and the screw tightened.

All that remained was to replace the screw in the negative terminal.

All?

Would the screw go in?  Would it !!??!!!

The screw itself was too small for fingers, and anyway, the work space was too small for fingers as well.  I resorted to welding the screw to the screw-driver by the use of Blu-Tak, and it still took 25 goes before the threads mated.

I emerged at mid-day having spent two and a half hours on the job (as it were).  "What have you been doing all morning?" enquired Frank.  "Attaching six effing wires to their respective effing terminals, and I'm just off to give the dog a good kicking!!"  At which point Fanny the Wooflet fled (she knows the signs) and sought sanctuary in the boat next door, only returning when the draw of the smell of lunch overcame her anxiety about my mental state.

Boating, eh!

Toodle pip!!

Bill