Wildlife 1

Wildlife

A very quiet day and then......

 It was no longer because at precisely16:20 this afternoon, and after numerous false starts, the engine roared into life. Mind you it's a blooming good job we are on shoreline because I'm sure the battery would have been completely flat by the amount of attempts to get it going. There were no leaks from diesel or water hoses and the sound was as sweet as can be and the added bonus....... we once again had hot water coming from the taps. So there you have it. After all the problems we had since the overheating alarm sounded when we were on the River Wey, we can now relax and look forward to leaving Langley ( stoppages and ice permitting ) in the new year. So here are my And finally.  With us now static for several weeks I cant see there being much to report. There will, no doubt, be the odd snippet every now and then but I will be posting my photos on a daily basis. Hope you continue to enjoy them.

My hate relationship with dentists and an update on Ian

OMG the dental appointment was horrendous! We had found a NHS dentist nearby to replace the previous dentist who had left me in pain with a deep pocket cavity around my tooth and, after being told just to floss, had to have it sorted out while on holiday in Poland. The dental practice was in Sandiacre and we saw a very nice lady dentist. Ian went in first and 10 minutes later out he came with a big grin to say all was well. He had a scale and polish and then it was my turn. All seemed to go well at first. I had an xray on the root canal that was done in Poland and all my fillings checked. Then she said she would give me a scale and polish. Now my previous hygienist in Leicester always scaled by hand as my teeth and gums are particularly sensitive to the ultrasonic drill. I asked if she would do the same but she refused saying she wouldn't do a good enough job. So gripping the chair she started on the upper set. That was barely tolerable but as soon as she started on the lower set I about hit the roof. The pain was indescribable and I begged her to reconsider. Again  I got a refusal but instead said she would numb my lower gums with an injection. I endured 3 injections all equally painful and within 5 minutes my mouth went completely numb and she was able to carry on with the scaling. I eventually  came out of the room quite traumatised, shaking uncontrollably and with my heart racing. Ian wondered what had happened to me as I was gone for over 30 minutes. Having had such a bad experience I'm not sure if I want to go back. Maybe I need to go private with a proper hygienist rather then a dentist so I can have the hand scale I want. In the afternoon we were due to see Ians oncology consultant. With my mouth numb I worried that I wouldn't be able to ask any questions as all I seemed to be doing was slurring my words. He might think I was under the influence of to much vino but luckily by the time we left at 2pm my speech had returned to normal. So after an hours wait in the oncology department we eventually got called into the consulting room. It wasnt easy having to wait and worry at the same time and all both of us wanted was to hear the results. Now, although the tumour that I could see hadn't changed, ( Its on Ian's back impossible for him to view ) the nature of the beast means there is more in the inside then on the outside. A bit like an iceberg really. Anyway the first thing the consultant said to us was the MRI wasn't as conclusive as he would have liked. Apparently Ian had been placed in the wrong position on the scanner and some of the lower part of the tumour hadn't shown up. Dam!!! But then he smiled and said that what he could see appeared to be stable and may have even shrunk slightly. In fact he was so pleased that he told us not to return until May when another MRI will be scheduled. If any changes were to occur before the May's appointment Ian was to phone and be seen straight away. I must say this consultant has been marvelous. He has taken Ian under his wing and is determined to see that all goes well. Long may it continue.

Friday is ECP&DA work party so Ian wont be able to finish doing the engine until later in the afternoon. He is very confident that tomorrow will be the big day when the engine is finally running again. Keeping fingers crossed!


And finally:-

A non productive sort of day

Still no working engine! If Ian could spend all his time working in the engine room, by now it would have been finished. But other things have taken priority like trying to sort out a Cherry Picker so Fridays ECP&DA work party can help us repair the damaged chimney on our bungalow. Part of the cement surround fell onto the roof during the high winds breaking a couple of the roof tiles. Thankfully we managed to replace the tiles before the rains came. Although the chimney is quite safe at present, with winter coming it needs sorting out sooner rather then later. Then he had to drive to Sawley to fetch the chainsaw which we had left to be repaired a week ago. While he was there he had a quick look to see what their diesel was priced at. With 95p a litre for self declare he felt it was a bit steep. He phoned the boat yard at Kegworth where we normally get our diesel in 20 Ltr containers but their price was only 4p cheaper at 91p. Still a bit steep considering our last fill was at 82p Ltr.  As we are on shore line we don't need to run the engine but we have been advised to keep a full tank to stop condensation occurring. Anyway, it was again after lunch before he got started but it's not a job that he wants to rush. He would rather take several days over putting all the bits back in the right place then be left with a ruined engine. I cant see him getting any further with it tomorrow because we both have the dreaded dentist appointment in the morning, and then the consultant to see about Ian's MRI results in the afternoon.

And finally:-

No roar of the engine yet.

Okay the engine isn't quite ready for a trial run yet. Time wasn't on Ian's side as you will see later. The newly skimmed cylinder block is back and what a fabulous job has been made of it. Steve Gibson of Gibson Auto Engineering  runs a small workshop which he predominantly uses for skimming cylinder blocks. He told Ian that the head was badly dished especially around number 2 cylinder.  As Steve has no website I have highlighted the name which will take you to Yellow pages and his phone number. He is well worth considering if you ever need the cylinder head re skimmed.

Newly skimmed.

Checking the gasket will fit.

So Ian had a slight delay in starting to reassemble the engine. On the way back from collecting the cylinder block the car exhaust fell off!! Nothing for it but to turn round and head back to a garage, My Tyre, on the same road as Gibson Auto Engineering. It took a good hour before Ian was back and with it being lunch time, didn't start on the engine until 1pm. Most of it is now finished but he need his other torque wrench, which he left in our garage by mistake, so tomorrow morning it's off to join the rush hour traffic to Sandiacre.

With a glorious day forecast I left Ian to the dash back to Mr Tyre and went out with Jade. The first real frost was all apparent today and I made the most of my macro lens.

After exhausting the Woofit by being out for over an hour, (she is now riddled with arthritis and has to take Metacam daily) I turned up just as Ian returned with our now silent car. Good job he wasnt any later because my boat keys were still lying on the bed! Fingers crossed that tomorrow the engine will once again roar into life.

And finally:-

The consequence of failing to torque the cylinder head bolts properly.

Yesterday Ian spent the whole day stripping the engine to see if the problems we experienced with the cooling system was indeed caused by the head casket. And it was. In three places the casket had shown signs of scuffing which would have allowed the combustion gases to leak into the coolant system. He also worryingly noticed the cylinder block had a slight deformity. When we first bought the boat in 2006 he asked the question  'if after 500 hours would the bolts have to be re torqued'. The answer came back as no. This sort of rang alarm bells in Ian's head because if there is one thing Ian knows about and that's engines. Anyway, never having a diesel engine before he bowed to the 'so called' experts knowledge. Consequently now he wishes he had trusted his own judgement and re torqued the bolts anyway. So he now deduces that the slight bow in the cylinder block was caused by the bolts not being torqued properly in the first place, which in turn caused the head to warp  Ian thinks that the uneven loading created by unevenly tightened head bolts could have caused the distortion. The only thing to be done was for the cylinder head to be re skimmed. Thankfully he found a garage nearby with the facility to do just that and the added bonus was he didn't have to remove the valves, only make sure they were all in the closed position. Total cost for the job.....£25. With Ian dropping the head cylinder to the garage this afternoon, he was assured that he could collect it tomorrow morning. Quite exciting to think that by tomorrow night we could have a working engine again.

And finally:-

As Poirot would say.....Must get my little grey cells to work!

I'm not very pleased with myself today.  All that tutoring yesterday has yet to sink in and even though I thought I was putting in the correct settings in my camera, my abysmal attempts show up all to well once uploaded to Picaso. I just cant get my head round the ISO and F numbers. Perseverance will pay off eventually no doubt, but here are my awful first attempts and to all the camera experts who know what I'm talking about, I have included the camera settings.

 

f/5.6, ISO 100, exposure time 1/200

f/5.2, ISO 200 exposure time 1/250

f/5.2 ISO 200 exposure time 1/125

f/3.2, ISO 160, exposure time 1/60

f/3.6, ISO 100, exposure time 1 /160

And finally:-