Broken again

Well there is an interesting sight. On the left is the prop shaft leaving the gearbox. On the right is the prop shaft carrying on to the propeller. The bit in the middle is supposed to be in a straight line - and not broken.

I think that the main thrust bearing has been faulty for a while now so instead of the propeller pushing against that it has been pushing against the universal joint that was used to cope with any small misalignment between the prop and the engine. It isn't designed to take the main thrust of the boat! Last month's engine mount failure probably stressed the joints and bearings and so this weekend it finally gave up the ghost and went bang in a very spectacular way. It also bent some of the engine mounts so the engine is definitely no longer in line!

Unfortunately I was in the middle of a three point turn just below a weir with very strong river flows when we found ourselves with no power. Well, lots of power in the engine but none getting into the water!

Fortunately I managed to get a rope around a bollard on the bank and stop Relativity from crashing her way through the main shopping centre in Reading. A particularly narrow and twisty bit of the river Kennet.

After a Friday night spent in the town centre where I woke with a start every time another drunk staggered past the boat. I really didn't want to find myself cut loose and drifting down river in the dark.
Pete came over on Saturday and we managed to get the broken bits out. Later in the afternoon the nice man from Reading Marine came and made the time honoured whistling sound that means "that's going to be expensive." I'm expecting a quote tomorrow.

A little later on, Buck and Di, my next door neighbours at the marina, turned up with several other people on their boat "Muddy Puddles" and we towed Relativity back through town and to the marina. Unfortunately (again) the strong stream through the Oracle shopping centre proved too much for even Buck's powerful engine and we had a pretty large crash which entertained the shoppers immensely! It didn't amuse Buck and Di because it bent quite a lot of their boat :-(

As we arrived back in to our moorings we found that the rest of our neighbours has got BBQs going and a gentle party was had.

Thank you all for your help.

Her beating heart

Thanks to dad's genius friend Dave who is a magician with welding I have a functioning engine mount and alternator mount all in one. We took the broken pieces of the engine mount and welded them together and then welded that to the alternator mount to create a very strong lump of metal.

I spent 3 hours today with the engine propped up on wooden blocks to stop it falling on me whilst I scrabbled around upside down in the engine bay trying to fit truculent bolts! The good news is that it is all now working and Relativity's iron heart is beating again - yay! The even better news is that I have no new injuries to report - double yay! The even better news is that Relativity and I made it across the river to Tesco for some vital supplies and then up the Kennet & Avon to the middle of town where we'll be spending a couple of days.

It does feel good to be mobile again.

And so to bed - have to be up early in the morning.

S.

Neglected

Well, it has been a very long time since I updated things here hasn't it?

The last post was just after I'd dropped the broken inverter off with Midland Chandlers in Braunston. It re-appeared a week later in fully functioning form - well, actually a completely new unit appeared and I suspect that the old one was never quite right as this one is quieter and cooler!

The winter was cold - on one morning I woke to find that the room outside my bed was at -5C ... blinkin' cold! I had terrible problems with the central heating and finally traced the problem to dirt in the bow fuel tank. It is now running off a small plastic jerrycan in the bathroom which isn't exactly "regulation" but works just fine. When things get a bit warmer I'll drain the bow tank and fit a filter - ok, we all know that actually dad will help - a lot :-)

At one point the snow was so heavy on the roof that we were all a bit concerned at the jaunty angles we were managing to rock over to! At several points the marina froze over and one night Relativity froze rocked over to the port side. The following morning we couldn't get the ice to break so we staggered around inside. Jill finally got so irritated with the cupboards and drawers sliding open all the time that she fitted child locks. A truly inspired idea.

The Squirrel stove has done an amazing job. On a couple of occasions I have had it snowing outside but had to open doors and hatches to let the heat out! If I can keep the Squirrel burning all the time then the whole boat is very pleasant with no condensation problems. If I go away for a few days it can take a good 24 hours to get everything warmed up again!

Most of you will be aware that I had an accident involving the main hatch which I dropped on my left hand. The good news is that my fingers are healing nicely although my middle finger is unlikely to work properly for a very long time - if ever. The even better news is that I've found a very nice man who is building a sliding hatch to replace the lifty-uppy one. It should be ready in a few weeks and will make life a lot easier for everyone else. The lifty-uppy hatch has been a pain in the backside forever as it is very heavy and not terribly stable.

On our last "it's half term again, how many people can we cram on to Relativity?" jaunt, the travel power alternator broke a mounting bolt. This was odd but I didn't think anything of it. A couple of days ago I set to to replace the bolt only to discover why it had broken... The engine mounting bracket beneath it was cracked all the way through! Given the size of the piece of metal involved it is hardly surprising that the poor bolt couldn't cope when a significant proportion of the weight of the engine suddenly dropped on to it! It took me 4 hours to unbolt the remaining bits of the bracket from the engine because I had to find a way of lifting the engine a couple of inches in order to get at the bolts. Fortunately I didn't drop the engine on my hand!

Unlike the bed - which I did drop on my hand this evening. It has needed some of the structural stuff finishing for ages (like since I first built it) and I finally decided that tonight was the time. It is now much more stable.

And... my good friend Val Thorne has given up a pile of her time to make some great curtains so I can finally get rid of the horrid blinds. I've installed three sets so far. Three more to go. They are fab.

That's it for the moment. More soon. Honest :-)

S.