Here we go again, flight to Holland and a short train ride to the ship/barge. Install the gear and away we go-well that's always the main idea. On this trip we had Peter the Pilot with us once more and it is always good to have experienced crew on one of these trips and maybe Peter will decide to be a delivery skipper one day when he tires being a river Pilot. Our Dutch friends Pieter and Nerine pick us up from the rail station and a few hours later see us ready to get underway, with goodbye's said we slip the mooring ant through the Sluice and into the North sea. Picture shows Ijmuiden fading fast with the last of the daylight, engine splutters and stops is not what we had planned but it happened. The engine was newly fitted but was second hand or should I say used, well tired may be a better description. Fuel tank below engine is not a good thing if the fuel lift pump is tired and leaking, air in fuel means engine no go. How lucky we are that the owner Garf had fitted a stern cabin diesel heater, with its own fuel tank. A lot of grunting and shoving saw the full 30 gallon tank being turned into that good Dutch practice of using a day tank, fuel gravity fed, no need for lift pumps especially if they leak. Engine restarted and ran perfectly for the rest of the voyage, only down side was it was a bit nippy in the early hours. Total distance of voyage was 198 nautical miles and an average speed of 7 knots made for a good voyage. Next picture shows the Luxemotor alongside a trawler in Kings Lynn Harbour. Delivery skipper and crew tired and pleased to be home
Delivery all completed and the North sea was rather friendly, just goes to show that nicking her prayer mat worked. I must get a new one as it never seems to work. The British weather service is all but a joke these days, their computer system is permanently set on caution, probably scared of being sued for giving bad advice, so they always say force 4 to 6 in areas in the next twelve hours. As we have a limit of force 4 actual or forcast it stops us working, hence the prayer mats. I try to get some really spooky watery shots but I am no David Bailey. I was born in the east end of London and have spent nearly all my life on the wet stuff, babies must have been switched at birth. Not too sure how that happened as I was born at home, I know , Blame the Stork....
ReplyDeleteI would love to post all the pictures we have on file but I think Google will complain too much. I have some fantastic shots of the Caledonian canal which I will try to blend into a story. Must get back to finishing book one and get stuck into the other two. If you read the earlier bloggs will give you some idea of the humour. I posted one and a half chapters just to see what people thought and if you ever read Dutch Barge Boys blog you have to remember he is a yorkshire terrier, born in east lond with a cockney accent missing a couple of teeth gives him a lisp and he uses a talk type programme. anything for a laugh
That was a quick trip Keith! Was the luxe motor the one we've lost from Holland? Looks a beauty! I'd love to have one myself, I must say.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same one which did not have a wheelhouse top and a blown head gasket. Had a little fuel problem in the shipping lane outside Ijmuiden harbour, but made up for lost time using tidal flow later. We prefer quick trips as I'm away from home for shorter periods. Still 198 nautical but she managed a respectable 7 knot average. This Luxe was extended to over 30 mtrs and the new owner had it reduced to 25mtrs. It still has it's working load winches and mast tabernacle. The owner intends to keep as much original as possible almost to museum standard. shame about the industrie engine not being available. It had a single cylinder multi fuel when first built.
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