08-11-2014, 01:33 PM
eustacetilley wrote:
[quote=RAMd®d]
Drivers these days are a bunch o' sissies!
An electric starter is just one more thing that can go wrong, like power windows.
If you can't turn a crank to start yer car, ya got no business driving one!
Just remember to keep all yer thumbs on one side.
Actually, you have a point, even if it wasn't the one intended.
When I bought my Boat a few months ago, before signing the papers, I went over every cubic inch. I found things that the previous owner of two decades didn't even knew were there.
One was some kind of weird green wrenchy thingy. It might have been mistaken for a demented winch handle, or the kind of thingy used on those old automotive screw jacks.
To me, it was so obvious, as the Volvo engine was painted exactly the same color.
I showed the almost previous owner how it attaches to the engine, and where the compression releases were, and where the little hidden finger push manual fuel pump was.
Then the discussion wandered into breadcrumb territory. He had no idea that the little hatch in the Teak and Holly Sole was put there specifically, (The Virgin Beneteau handbook, in French, addresses this point a number of times.), for breadcrumbs.
He also had no idea that there was a second Spinnaker, used maybe only once in a Mumm's Cup race, (It says "Mumm's Cup 1987" in bold lettering.), complete with all rigging and snap shackles, stashed under the V-Berth, in a compartment nominally meant for an anchor. He always kept his anchor on deck, where it was handier.
Once it was thoroughly clear that I owned the boat, I put that Green Engine Crank to use for only one time, as a matter of Principle. Push the Throttle once to engage the Pre-Start, pop the Compression releases up, tickle the hidden manual fuel pump lever, crank like hell for three revolutions, and then drop the Cylinder Number One Compression release, and that thirty year old Volvo gulped into life. The Green Engine Crank did exactly what it was designed to do at that point- it neatly popped off the front of the engine and went right into the Bilge.
There are stories, well Legends really, of the kind to tell to Little Children to ensure that they won't get a wink of sleep, of those who got the Starting Sequence wrong, and who actually managed to crank an old Volvo Marine Engine into starting backwards, the result being no oil pressure, a lot of black smoke, a re-arrangement of the bones in one or both arms, and some significant loss of teeth.
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I've never owned a new car, (Or a new boat for that matter...), so all this new-fangled gadgetry has little appeal to me. Yet once Chrysler comes out with a fully stripped down, totally manual, 2-Door version of the new Dodge Dart, I'm going to be tempted. There is nothing really wrong enough with the new Dart that pulling out maybe a thousand pounds of Mod-Cons wouldn't cure.
Dodge Dart... no, thats wrong. They have the rights to the names, they should use them.
The "2016 Lancia Dart Sprint Zagato". (The "2016 Lancia Dart Sprint Zagato Spyder" is too much to hope for.)
Just for giggles, they should come with a Green Engine Crank, and instructions on how to use it, in Italian.
Lotus is doing quite well in the minimalist realm. And Morgan has new life as well. Morgan well understands that the fourth road wheel is really an unnecessary luxury. Three road wheels are quite sufficient...
Eustace
Wow. It is rare for me to completely not understand a thing that was said, but this is one of them. I gather it is a startup routine for a engine on a boat. :hail: