Dale Bay - Tuesday and Wednesday 18th and 19th
It is equally true on sea as on land that if you have a back-up system you are never likely to need it, and if you don't, then you surely will. So, I suppose that now the harbour set generator does not work we should not have been surprised when Murphy's little sea-pixies croaked the alternator on the main engine within 24 hours as well. So, we woke up at Dale with flat batteries, no way of generating power. no way to start the main engine, or the harbour set and no way to raise the anchor; a dead ship.
Fortunately we had already ordered another alternator and just needed to pick it up in Milford Haven. So we launched the dinghy and set off up the main shipping channel, past all the huge oil jetties and into the harbour. The wind was strong so the sea was rough and choppy and although the boat is 3m long, sitting in the front feels like being bumped downstairs on your bum while someone throws buckets of sea water over you. Most of the waves are caused by the huge tankers charging up and down the channel and brutish work boats and patrol launches. I must say we were looked after well by the harbour police who came alongside our bouncing dinghy to see what sort of people would choose ordeal by washing machine. They were kind when they understood that we were coming in for spares and not just beer.
Despite the last year's work the boat is still dirty: a mixture of rust, diesel, hydraulic oil and 35 years worth of frying over every single surface that has made her a vile and sticky place in the heat and we were faced with the prospect of installing the new alternator in a totally dark and filthy engine room. We decided to fit the good alternator to the harbour set because it is a hand-start engine, a dirty, smelly and leaky machine, but lovable for its sheer utility and reliablity. Between us holding torches and trying to marry up bolts and holes the alternator was in place in a couple of hours but we could not be sure that it would work until we started it when we hoped the indicator lamp would go out. After some perspiration-drenched windings of the handle the generator leapt into noisy action - and the final test - the initial glow held, then faded and went out. Such happiness.
All we needed to do the next day was the same again, down to Milford Haven in the dinghy which I am beginning to hate and home again, jiggety-jig
Fortunately we had already ordered another alternator and just needed to pick it up in Milford Haven. So we launched the dinghy and set off up the main shipping channel, past all the huge oil jetties and into the harbour. The wind was strong so the sea was rough and choppy and although the boat is 3m long, sitting in the front feels like being bumped downstairs on your bum while someone throws buckets of sea water over you. Most of the waves are caused by the huge tankers charging up and down the channel and brutish work boats and patrol launches. I must say we were looked after well by the harbour police who came alongside our bouncing dinghy to see what sort of people would choose ordeal by washing machine. They were kind when they understood that we were coming in for spares and not just beer.
Despite the last year's work the boat is still dirty: a mixture of rust, diesel, hydraulic oil and 35 years worth of frying over every single surface that has made her a vile and sticky place in the heat and we were faced with the prospect of installing the new alternator in a totally dark and filthy engine room. We decided to fit the good alternator to the harbour set because it is a hand-start engine, a dirty, smelly and leaky machine, but lovable for its sheer utility and reliablity. Between us holding torches and trying to marry up bolts and holes the alternator was in place in a couple of hours but we could not be sure that it would work until we started it when we hoped the indicator lamp would go out. After some perspiration-drenched windings of the handle the generator leapt into noisy action - and the final test - the initial glow held, then faded and went out. Such happiness.
All we needed to do the next day was the same again, down to Milford Haven in the dinghy which I am beginning to hate and home again, jiggety-jig
posted by Pomme at 9:12 pm
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