After an early start - we had remembered to forward the clocks - we spent the morning helping out at the FIPT Museum at Foxton Locks, setting up a couple of Gazebos and some tables for the serious volunteers to It started off as a glorious sunny morning, but soon the clouds rolled in and the whole site took on a very cold and bleak look, with patches of snow stubbornly resisting.
Once done, we scooted over to Debdale to see Quo, as Nicki had rung on Friday to tell us that they had finally fitted the Hospital Silencer. Sure enough, they have made a very neat job of shoe-horning something the size of an oil drum under the deck on the left hand side of the engine room and the pay-off was evident from the very first turn of the starter. Set to 1200 revs - our normal cruising speed - there was no engine exhaust noise at all !!!
All that could be heard was the mechanical noise of the valve gear and the usual clatter of a diesel engine, and even this will pale once I've finished installing all the soundproofing to the engine bay .... I would love to achieve almost silent cruising.
We weren't able to take her out for a proper test because the marina was iced over in places, and I could see no point in carving off our new blacking, the ice will soon be gone, then we can get this year's narrowboating properly under-way ... can't wait !!!
