Batteries and engines...... Boats and boating........

Just a quick update really , on the 'progress' on The Gentleman's Engine.

James and I drove over to Ely in The Boatmobile on Sunday morning, armed with three new leisure batteries, more Bradex Easy-start, a monster set of jumper-cables, a grimly determined set to our jaw and steely glint in the eye.

Today was to be the day when we would signal to C-in-C East Anglian Approaches, repeated, Admiralty, that 'We have main engine start'.

(The Engineer couldn't be with us as he was otherwise engaged, but I reckoned with James's knowledge of Things That Spark and my inate ability to lift and carry heavy stuff, there was a fair to middlin' chance that, between us, we'd crack it.)

The batteries had been obtained from Andy at Midsummer Energy: proper-job deep-cycle 110 AH gel jobs by Elecsol. The gentleman has paid me for these which I had obtained on his behalf, by the way......  Our mission was to fit them.

(Oh, and remove the old batteries.

We put a multimeter over their terminals, just for a laugh.

10.2 amps........

Ooh lawdy......

Anyway, I'm going to take them to the scrap yard off Newmarket Road on Thursday to get Mr Grumpy some money back.....

Do you think he'll be pleased?

What's the chances?.......... :-)

Anyway, James hooked up the spiffy new Elecsol jobs to The Gentleman's boat. (He, by the way, was out all morning, and hasn't yet rung me, so we don't know if he's noticed any difference.......)

But hey, things may just be looking a little, shall we say, brighter, even for one whose sole reason for existence seems to be to polish his impersonation of Eeyore to perfection...........

Then we got serious.

I'd taken Pippin's starter battery with us, as well as that from The Gentleman's boat, which we had re-charged on the way back from Ely the previous week.

(Pippin's battery was replenished off the mains using a most splendid battery charger that once belonged to James's Grandfather.

 I was particularly taken with the picture of Kitchener on the box......)

Using the the Mother and Father of all jump-leads, we wired the two starter batteries up in series, sprayed vast quantities of Bradex Easy-start into the air intake, crossed our fingers and turned the key.....

Well, it coughed again.

And it fact, rattled.......

(See me afterwards, whoever at the back said it was a 'death rattle!').

We chose to deem this 'progress', and hid the tools before adjourning to Tesco for a cup of tea and a wad.

(This was, you understand , to allow the starter motor to cool.......

And it was lunchtime............)

Anyway, we returned refreshed.

Another prolonged burst of Easy-start and churn of the starter motor produced only a lot of greyish smoke and more coughing.......

The coughing sound reminded me of that which a cat makes when a it is regurgitating a ball of hair it has ingested through too much grooming.........

In both Engineering and Veterinary colleges worldwide, this is known as the 'Fur Cough'.......

The unpleasant matt of hair that is produced is likewise known as a 'Quinelle'.......

A 'Fur Quinelle'.....

"James," quoth I, "I am tired, cold and bored of this.  That was the engine's equivalent of a "Fur Quinelle", so it is high time for us both to "Fur Cough."

And so we did.

More soon............