"Terry Streeter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Peter Stockdale asked: >> As a non boatowner I am perplexed ! >> Is "neutral" not a more or less a universal feature of boat >> engines these days. snip > AIUI, running an engine for long periods of time with no significant > loading can cause the bores to 'glaze'. An alternator does not provide > any real load for the engine to work against. This is supposed to be > bad for the engine, causing poor compression?? >
I often wonder what they do while waiting in queues at locks or while the locks are emptying or filling, let alone passing moored boats. But then again maybe they just sit there moored up running their engines in gear -- Brian from Sunny Suffolk
