Mark & Paul headed down to Gosport for the umpteenth time, but this time, after a full morning of making things shipshape, we started the engine. With engineers, John and Ashleigh, aboard, and with the floor of the cockpit removed so that they could tend the engine, we warped ourselves out of a tight corner and reversed slowly out into the harbour.
The engine ran smoothly and quietly, and we head out to the first to test it. Running at full throttle (3,100 rpm) we made about 8.6 knots, which is maximum efficient waterline speed. Lots of white steam out of the exhaust, but this soon settled down. The engineers were busy checking temperatures, filling cooling systems, checking for leaks etc, until we were all satisfied. Then a bit of manoeuvring practice in the harbour to check engine performance for fine manoeuvres before heading back to the berth.
Mark and I then did a comprehensive scrub of the deck and paintwork before heading home. Issues to fix on Monday; speed, wind and autopilot instruments not working, masthead wind sensor not rotating freely, current leak to hull when engine connected, engine not charging batteries, electronic engine monitor not connected to chart plotter, keel hydraulics still need some attention.
Tomorrow I think we can load the stores. Then on Monday we can focus on getting these jobs fixed.
I think we are almost there ........ :-)
1 comment:
Well done Paul and Mark and the company of engineers!
Post a Comment