Grind your teeth day

'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Mon 22 Jul 2013 22:03
No, this is nothing to do with the birth of the next 'King in Waiting'. The monarchy is a fine institution. Mine's an OBE, ta.

Woke up, always a good start. The engine started, again promising. The plan was to motor over to Calypso, pick up Maureen and jerry cans, then proceed to the fueling dock in Cullen Bay Marina.

Anchor up, motor towards Calypso.
Engine overheats. Anchor down and engine off.
Listen to cruiser;s net whilst engine cools down.
Check water flow (good). Tighten fanbelt a bit.
Anchor up and over to Calypso.

Pick up Maureen and proceed towards Cullen Bay.
Engine overheats so anchor down.
Check check check. Nothing obviously amiss.
Paul comes over and suggests a slight slackening of the fanbelt.
Fanbelt slackened-off a tad. Starter battery now apparently flat although showing 12.4V

Solder wire on Emergency-Elektrikery new regulator.
Hmm. Still erratic wiggly amp delivery so perhaps that wasn't the problem.
 battery volts boosted to 13.1V. Engine starts.

Up anchor and proceed towards Cullen Bay.
Temperature rises so drop anchor.
Keep engine running because of concerns over starter battery
Temperature drops.
Up anchor and proceed to Cullen Bay.
Vow to run the boat up on the beach and give it the Bryant and May treatment (set fire to it).

Refuel.
Start engine and motor to anchorage.
Engine does not overheat. WTF???

Go ashore. Take IPad to Apple reseller.
Much sucking of teeth. We could send it to Adelaide but the initial charge is A$200.
IPad is still locked with 'back-up' warning preventing play.
Take bus into Darwin, stopping at the place where I brought the new camera battery.
Battery is apparently charged but they will test overnight.So the camera might be U/S.
 No chance of a replacement battery  before departure if it's faulty.

Darwin, at a computer 'mantler'.
Aha, that'll be a new on/off button and screen Squire. A$200 please.
Nope, just refueled the boat and don't have it.
In that case let the battery go flat and hope that cures the problem.

Back to boat. Find that June's pension payment went in on 11th July???
Investigate and am assured that this months payment will be on time.
It will need to be to pay standing orders on the 1st but as I will be on the high seas and out of contact should I worry about rude letters from the bank? Probably but I won't.


--
Current cell no (Australia) 0401222175
http://www.peterbernfeld.com
My books now available on Amazon
http://amzn.com/B008NTG6JY
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008NTG6JY

http://amzn.com/B009QA33QIhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QA33QI

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009QA33QI