nickcred
Well-Known Member
Just back from a week on the old boat cruised from Datchet to Abingdon and back. On reaching Abingdon and setting off in the morning and managing to go up the wrong channel towards a very small bridge - Went into neutral and tried to go into reverse to hear a horrible grinding noise and no reverse gear from the Morse Control. SWMBO looked horrified remembering the bill from the Stern Drive repair over the winter and thinking how unbearable I would be with the boat out of the water whilst it was repaired. Me slightly concerned at the thought of miles of locks with no reverse heading down stream. Pulled into Kingcraft Boat Centre as needed to buy the new wiper motors I had looked at the previous night and asked if they had an engineer. After a worried look the guy said"well yes its me but can I have a cup of tea first and I am doing something right now. " No problem said I- can we stay on the ponton- yep said he. Anyway he came out listened and said ooh - if its the drive we have a problem as it means out of the water. SWMBO sat on the fore bunk looking like the world was ending. Anyway long story short half an hour later (and Mr mecahncally pathetic here feeling slightly more worried than I had been) the engineer said "try that now" into reverse no problem. Foward no problem - smoother than before. Something to do with adjusting things to the correct length i think he said. Well profuse thanks and "how much do I owe you" - "Nothing" he said "you purchased some stuff from the Chandlery" So I gave him enough for a few pints on us a load more thanks and how nice to meet another person in the boating world, like so many we have met so far, who was genuinely pleased to be able to help us out. So thank you Kingcraft and you can be assured I will save some Chandlery purchases for you guys next time I pass by.
Nick
Nick
