'Marooned'; An update...

A friend of mine has warned me I may have been having too much fun.

It is quite possible they are right.

Yes, "Toeing the Cam" has been more funs than than is usually allowed.

(Indeed, had it been any more fun, then no doubt the Government would either try to ban it, on the grounds that it is fattening, bad for your health or immoral, or impose a swingeing tax upon it.)

But I am not the only one.

Mark had another look at the engine again on Saturday (I was hors de combat, as I was busy making Holes In Things in one of my firm's Alternate Saturday Workhop Open Days.)

Once the engine had been warmed up properly, it turned out the head gasket had indeed gone.

The 'steam' that had been described as coming out of the header tank was, in fact, exhaust gas......

This would explain why the water that appeared to be 'boiling' wasn't that hot..........

Mark did a diesel compression test which confirmed the Head gasket was truly Kaputt, then helped the owner and her partner limp the boat back to it's Cambridge mooring on three cylinders.

Apparently, this involved a lengthy stop for refreshments at a certain riverside hostelry in Fen Ditton 'to let the engine cool down.......................'

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, 'Marooned' is now back at it's home mooring in Cambridge.

As neither Mark nor myself have the slightest inclination to embroil ourselves in a situation similar to that which we found ourselves in with Captain Freddie Farquitt (aka The Dreaded Gentleman) and his hopelessly knackered crap-barge, there we thought to leave it.

 'Marooned's owner is, is however, much more proactive than surly old Captain F-F.

She has already set about the task of finding all the required bits and pieces.

She also is much more forthcoming with thanks, praise for efforts expended, and, most importantly, with the beer.

(Quite unlike some people I could mention, who have raised ligging to an art-form not expressed with such purity since the days of that old Roman sage, Julian Short-Arms-Long-Pockets-Drink-Cadge XXXV, from whom they, presumably, can claim direct descendance..........)

But I digress.

Mark is going to further burnish the lustre of his halo (if such were possible; Ray-Bans are required PPE around him as it is.........) by fitting the parts and getting the engine running properly again.

As our chinless-wonder friend, Rupert Courte-Bendynge (Grenadier Guards) is wont to say:

"Jolly good show!"