Thursday 30th August 2006 Penton Hook to Kingston Another fairly lazy morning, even after a boat went past at 06:30 passing right next to the boat. We just managed to get into a locking at 11:00, and squeezed into the next lock.
Last night we had a go at fitting the tachometer that I bought from Pete Thompson. I didn't have any spade terminals, or any suitable cable so we popped into Chertsey Marine. This is the sort of place that has everything, but they aren't really very tidy. The owner found some spade terminals in his car (his employee said he probably stole them from the drawers anyway!). I also got some cable, and he let us borrow his crimp tool as well. Once the tachometer was working we had to work out how fast the engine was actually running. I guessed at the revs judging from the boat speed, and after putting it into neutral the engine just nicely reached 2,000 rpm which is where the rev limit should be set (even if it's not very accurate). Full speed seems to be at 1700 rpm, normal fast cruising speed is about 1600 rpm. We left Chertsey at 14:00, just before a lock full of boats came down. At the next lock "Maid of Oak" squeezed in alongside us. It's a nice looking boat, and with the engine half way down the boat fairly quiet at the back. I particularly liked the oak leaves on the stern dollies. We missed out on the next lock, but Maid got in, so we didn't see them again. At Molesey lock I went around the back of Taggs Island, where some new house boats were being built. One of them was three stories high! We reached Kingston at 17:15, mooring on the low wall on the Hampton Court Park moorings above the bridge. At the time they were fairly empty, but by 19:30 a load of boats appeared out of nowhere. I think they came up from Teddington - maybe not wanting to pay the £4.50 mooring fee. I noticed that some St Pancras Cruising Club boats were heading down there, but they may have changed their minds when they reached the lock. I think a load of boats will be heading up the GU tomorrow, so it should be fun at Brentford. --- Mike Askin nb. Shoestring http://shoestring.zapto.org/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
