Haven't got any boat piccies, so here's an exploding chicken
Sun 14 June
Well, it happened again (or rather it didn't)! Another dive that didn't happen because of boat problems. I really don't know what we do to deserve all this crap. We certainly take good care of the boat - in fact maybe that's the problem. Perhaps we shouldn't bother to service the damn thing and wash it and flush it out - it certainly couldn't perform any worse than it does at the moment.
Okay then, this is the story....
Slack is nice and late so we get a bit of a lie in, a leisurely drive, and arrive at the marina for 10:00. The boat's not in the water, but that's not a problem, because before you can blink, it's on the crane, in, and unhooked - great start !! We kit up, load the boat, and even prepare all our shot lines in the shelter of the harbour. Drive out to the Isle of Wight is ok - a it lumpy but as soon as Martin got his confidence off we went playing chicken with the ferries.
Arrive on site in plenty of time to find it already shotted with a boat anchored up - excellent - this is going really well - easy day !!..... Throttle back....... Engine dies. Okay, not a problem, we're out of fuel, so switch to main tank. Engine restarts - splutters - dies. Restarts - splutters - backfires - dies.
Let's check the filters - auxiliary tanks are a bit full of crap and run unfiltered (yes, I know, but we've been talking about it for ages and NEXT time we're down we'll put an in-line filter in) so there's a little bit of muck in the engine filter, but you can't reach it. Never mind we'll just loosen this bolt and slide the whole filter assembly out.
What do you mean 'how?'
With a spanner of course.
'What spanner?'
'The spanner in the toolkit'
'what toolkit ?'
'Oh'.
Right, Simon's got his wrecking kit here, let's use that water pump wrench. Done. No muck in filter, so that knocks out that theory; it's not the fuel or the filter - all three tanks give the same result. Let's change the plugs. Ha ha, plug spanner's in the same place as the rest of the non-existent toolkit.
Right, so we're on site in plenty of time, the wreck's shotted, all our kit's set up and we're ready to go but we can't put divers in the water because the engine won't idle properly. F***! Only one thing for it - run back to harbour and see if we can sort things out there - we may be able to salvage a drift dive out of this fiasco. Start engine - loads of fast idle - smoke - backfire - splutter - but at least it keeps on running. Back to port at full pelt whilst we still can. Engine occasionally missing a beat and my heart keeping time with it.
Right, we're back now, so at least there's no urgency - let's get things sorted. Whose got a plug spanner? What! No one? What if your cars all ........? Martin's a hero and darts off to a garage - it's 3:30 on a Sunday now so time's running out.... He's back. With a plug spanner AND feeler gauges. Five minutes later the plugs are regapped and the engine's running sweet as a nut. Trouble is, the weather's closed in it's about to piss with rain and no one wants to go diving any more !!!
MORAL OF THE STORY : Don't just talk about replacing the toolkit - do it !
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