Michael Congratulations on trading up to Royalty class!
JP in cold weather - A hurricane lamp in the engine room can help with cold staring in the morning (My HA2 is similarly stiff on cold mornings) I once had a day out on the ex Keay tug Judith Anne. It was very frosty, BCN was frozen, it took 3 men to start the JP - Two turning and one holding the burning rag in the right place and dropping the taps. JPs have two compression settings - If you're not a JP veteran, chat Peter Thompson up at Marine Engine Services at Uxbridge. He can probably sell you a manual for it. Make sure you clean the water-channels through the engine to ensure that EVERYTHING drains in cold weather -I once had a lot of expense and embarrassment with a cracked cylinder block caused by mud freezing in what I THOUGHT was a drained engine Smoky stove - If you haven't already, clean out the soot in the airways around the oven, and in the smoke box. Sweep the chimney - My Classic (= Epping) nearly kippered AND poisoned me simultaneously before I did this. High Temperature Silicone Sealer (the >1000 Centigrade stuff) is available on eBay and bungs up holes better than fire cement, which has a nasty habit of falling out if you ding a cill. In the good old days a Party 7 with the ends out made an effective chimney extension Contact with fellow old boat nuts - Join the hNBOC. Jim on Elizabeth may have already bent your ear about this, but do - There is a back number of the Newsletter with an article on Royalty class boats in it - Back-Channel your snail-mail address & I'll whiz you a photocopy. Oh yes - And buy a parachute for safety when climbing around the fore-end! Ray Butler Owl
