Engine noises

Day 10
Still at Ramsey

Musings ... I recall reading once, can't remember if it was in a magazine or on a forum, advice given to someone who was considering having a traditional engine and engine room. The advice was basically, don't, because you will hate the noise; it will be loud and inescapable. Recently also, I recall, someone was on Canalworld asking what was the quietest engine.

So sorry, but I can't help feeling that these people are missing the point entirely. The engine is the heart of the boat, not something to be hidden away and silenced out of existence. I think I can say this now having spent a solid week of average nine-hour days with the engine running constantly. Whether steering, sitting on the foredeck (with the engine throbbing through the floor) or even inside the boat where different things rattle in resonance with different levels of revs, I wouldn't have it any other way. When we pass a boat with a modern engine, and it speeds up as we get past, and it sounds like a wasp, it's that I wonder how people can stand it, all day under their feet.

I love to stand in the engine room as we're going along, watching it, smelling it, feeling the heat coming off it, and above all listening to it. I love to feel the whole boat pulsate like a great ship. You know you're going somewhere; it's an event. It's viscerally exciting, sexy even.

Obviously, I can't wait til tomorrow when we get it fired up and will be on our way again. Meanwhile, Jim has been taking advantage of it having a rest to give it a good clean and polish, and if I could, I would show you a photo.