Rowana
Two steps lower than the ships' cat
Re: It\'s great exercise!
One of the exercises we get on the offshore survival course is to hand-crank the lifeboat engine as fitted to oil platforms. Once you get the hang of it, it's dead easy, but ever more so with 2 people. One cranks like mad, then when speed is sufficient, 2nd person drops one compression lever, then when engine fires, drops the second (assuming 2 pot engine).
BTW, these engines have a hydraulic starter in which hydraulic pressure is pumped up by hand, then the procedure is to open the throttle, pull the start lever, and off she goes. The hydraulic pressure is kept topped up & checked weekly - you never know when we might need it in a hurry ! (Bit like sailing, I suppose!)
Jim
One of the exercises we get on the offshore survival course is to hand-crank the lifeboat engine as fitted to oil platforms. Once you get the hang of it, it's dead easy, but ever more so with 2 people. One cranks like mad, then when speed is sufficient, 2nd person drops one compression lever, then when engine fires, drops the second (assuming 2 pot engine).
BTW, these engines have a hydraulic starter in which hydraulic pressure is pumped up by hand, then the procedure is to open the throttle, pull the start lever, and off she goes. The hydraulic pressure is kept topped up & checked weekly - you never know when we might need it in a hurry ! (Bit like sailing, I suppose!)
Jim