Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Monarch's Electrical Problems Sorted!!

Finally, the generator saga is over...for those of you that don't know, this is the story so far:

Our very expensive, quiet and reliable generator (required to power the oil burner, circ pump and lighting) needed a new set of windings early in the year and these were ordered in good time for the start of the season. They arrived, were fitted and we toddled off to Portsmouth's fantastic 'Celebration of Steam' to start the season in a glorious whirl of publicity.

Alas, when we tried to use the newly rewired machine...we couldn't even light a bulb with it-not to mention the oil burner and circ pump!

Much arguing later, the generator was sent to Kent to pay a quick visit to the UK's best engineer that deals with these particular machines. He diagnosed that the parts sent from Italy were the wrong ones, and we would have to wait until after August to get replacements as their factory take a long marine type holiday.

As a result, this season we have been using an ondeck petrol genny to provide power for the boat which is both unsightly and necessitates closing off the deck access to the main engine room door to the passengers for safety reasons.

Thankfully, after all of this hassle, we now have a fully functional machine which should last for many more years of punishment on the Monarch. We have even invested in a lead jacket for the generator to kill any noise that it emits as well.

I very much hope that this will improve the passenger experience and with the extra power that we now possess, we can begin this winters planned floodlit cruises on the River Medina...more about that later.

In the meantime, adios me amigos,

The Skip

No comments: