Monday 21 February 2011

My wonderful husband....

...has mended the engine(we think)!!!

What a man, what a paragon, what a star. I could go on but I'd have to pass out the vomit bags and you'd all hate me for ever.

Yesterday he set to with a purpose. Out came the box of electrical goodies, screwdrivers, pot of vaseline, can of switch cleaner. On went his headtorch, off came the clothes and down on the floor he went.

Oh the power was mind boggling. A rippling torso smeared with sweat and grease. Got my blood racing I can tell you.
First he cleaned all the relevant connections on the engine side. Then he took apart the consul in the cockpit and cleaned all the connections from the temperature gauge. THEN we fired up the engine.

He stayed prone on the floor beside the mechanical beast listening to the note, feeling the outer temperature and watching for any leaks.
I braved the heat of the sun to stare at the temperature dial, watched the water outfall from the exhaust and listened for any change in  tone of the engine sound.


Twenty minutes and holding, thirty minutes and I am starting to go cross eyed but the needle is holding firm. Every five minutes or so a concerned face peered out of the hatch to ask if all is OK. I answered with a thumbs up.

Its really hard to stay focused on a sound for forty minutes but despite the distraction of bungee jumping off the nearby bridge and waterskiers around the boat I didn't let my concentration falter.

Forty five minutes and holding, could this be it? Could success be ours? After an hour the gauge was still showing it's usual temperature and not a trace of a flicker. I let out my breathe. Wow looks like he may have done it!

We await today when we start up again and see what happens, fingers crossed.



One tired but happy husband....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nothing like the sweet sound of a well-running engine, especially when you're none too sure that the repair was complete!

Congratulations to you both!

Gerry said...

Thanks for the kind words! And today she ran just as sweetly at a low temperature. There are celebrations going on here I can tell you....