General Witterings -
Kabolas on Rosy

Most of the big winter jobs on Rosy have been completed, so I'm now, generally, into idle time, which means a lot of talk radio during the day, and rubbish TV in the evenings.

There was one job that we completed this week, and that was to test the three diesel injectors on the engine.  In the summer, when we replaced the cylinder head gasket, we had a look at the injectors through a powerful magnifying glass, and were concerned to see particles of carbon in the tiny holes at the tip of the injector.  However, the tester said that this is not a problem.  I thought about acquiring a spare injector, but at 200+ Euros this luxury can wait.  He will do a part exchange (at an extremely good discount - over 50%) if I hand in an old injector, but, on questioning, it must be an old one of the same type as the one that I want.  So ... if anyone out there has an knackered injector for a 3HD46 engine (the nozzle is a BDLL150S6674) please don't throw it away.

I'm getting extremely fed up with the Kabola 'Old Dutch' heater.  It heats very well, but, even at its lowest setting (which, generally, makes the cabin too hot) it slurps through about 0.3 litres of fuel per hour.  It should be half of this!  I know that the flow settings are OK, as if I turn the regulator down a fraction below this minimum setting, the flame dies out.  (For the knowledgeable, I have set the regulator so that the position at which the flame dies out is still just above the 'off' step).

I have some other gripes about it.

Even when the thing is working well, the little window soots up to opaqueness after a week, so I don't really see the point of it.  During that week, the blue flame is pretty to watch, but it serves no practical purpose, as when the flame falters because the stove is coked up, the window is opaque.

I also don't like the drip tray, which is so designed that it is pretty much impossible to keep clean and dry.  It collects a few drips of diesel and some Fanny-hairs (Fanny the Woof is the ship's dog, for newcomers to this saga).  It was my inability to clean this properly that was an important factor in the initiation of last years (minor) fire.  'Minor' in the sense that it was quickly extinguished.

Finally, this year, the Kabola has taken to slagging up rather quickly.  I'm having to de-coke it every week, removing about a half to one teacup full of crispy carbon from it.  If I don't de-coke it at this point, the flame starts to burn yellow and then it goes out.

Any hints that others, more skilled than I with such stoves, may have will be very gratefully received.  Otherwise, I'll start negotiations with Mr Reflex.  His drip try is easy to clean, and Mike next door has run his all winter without having to de-coke it AND it uses about the half the fuel as mine.  From these figures, a replacement stove would pay for itself in fuel savings in about three years.

I'm wondering if the Kabola is another of these things that prefers to run on proper diesel fuel (either white or red) and is not liking the red heating oil that boaters are currently being palmed off with, in lieu of proper 'red diesel'.

Another job is, unfortunately, raising its head.  The coal we are burning is a peculiar sort of stuff.  It lights easily, though it burns quite slowly, BUT it exudes lots of smoke and tar - I have to mop up round the chimney every week.  It has also been secretly depositing hard carbon deposits in the flue!!!  So much so, that the butterfly valve in the flue is now much restricted in its movements.  Needless to say the lower part of the flue, where the problem mainly lies, is pretty impossible to get at.  I am faced with the prospect of having to remove the collar on the roof (which hasn't been touched during its 20 years of service and, hence, its two bolts will be pretty much rusted solid).  This will, of course, have to wait until the summer.  In the meantime, I'm having to burn the twice as expensive 'egg' coal (as they call oval coals in this neck of the European woods).

Other future jobs on the list are:

• to re-paint the side decks.  (I have some clean, fine sand ready to help make them slip-proof)
  
  
• re-paint the roof.  A 'big jobbie' as the roof will need a lot of rubbing down.  I already have the tins of red oxide.
  
  
• I want to take all six portholes out, to clean and polish the brass rings and then to paint them with clear varnish.  I also want to replace the 'plain' glass in three of the ports with 'star' cut glass, to match the other three ports - I've had the replacement star cut ports for 18 months now, so it's about time they were fitted.

Luckily, all these jobs need good weather, so at this moment in time, my 'To Do' list is pretty much empty.

EXCEPT that I have to do a massive clean up of Rosy in preparation for guests arriving.

Fortunately, this lull in activity has coincided with the delivery onto Rosy of a pile of books to read.  In France, English speaking boaters are reasonably well supplied with 'book swaps' - places where you can swap your read books for some unread ones.  However, I've been a bit short of things to read during the last few months.  Luckily, the crew of Temujin (the boat next door) were having a clear out, so I caught a bag full of books.  I also found a German English teacher who was pleased to take some of the 'penny dreadfuls' off my hands.

LIFE CHANGES

I think that it is essential not to let one's life get into too much of a rut.  So, in a spirit of adventure, I have made a life-altering change.  When I was Cub, Akela insisted that our belts had to be the right way up, so that the logo on the buckle ('Be Prepared') could be read - this meant having the tongue part of the belt on the right.  My first Sergeant-Major was even more insistent on this configuration, and gave us the aide memoire of 'Lady on the left'.  Ever since then, that is the way I have always worn a belt.  Last week I made a revolutionary change, and turned all my belts the other way round.  I have to report that the world did not come to an end.  There wasn't even a whimper!!

Meanwhile, Fanny the Woof continues to intrigue us all.  For both her big jobbies and her little jobbies she invariably adopts the three-legged squat position.  Despite this she continues with the practice of what I can only describe as 'crapping whilst walking around'.  All the other dogs that I know leave a little pile behind them, often with a neat, upstanding finial.  Not Fanny.  She leaves a little trail of lumps behind her.

Recently, at the local internet caff, I logged onto a dating website, and found a 'compatibility personality test' that I could use to 'profile' (?) my ideal partner.  I completed their so-called test, and clicked on the results button.  The following cryptic message appeared: "Are you sure that you have the emotional maturity to enter into an ongoing, close, personal relationship with another human being?".

So.  There's a thought.

Sorry this is a short one - visitors are about to arrive.  More soon.

Toodle pip!!

Bill and Fanny-the-Woof.