Posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on March 27, 2002 at 20:56:12 from 195.93.50.9:
In Reply to: Scarph my timbers! posted by Peter H on March 27, 2002 at 20:28:23:
The engine bearers bear the engine; they are large lumps of wood shaped to fit inside the after part of the boat, to which they are bolted and screwed, and the engine is bolted onto them. Since Nancy now has a diesel engine, not Roger's Thorneycroft Handy Billy, they need to be sustantial, because diesel engines are heavier and vibrate more (but they are much safer and more reliable!)
Our Mirelle is in the same shed as Nancy. In fact Nancy's old engine bearers are lying against Mirelle's keel right now, and they are not a pretty sight! They had been patched before with plywood and there was very little holding them into the boat or holding the engine onto them. Given Nancy's generally excellent condition, it is high time they were replaced, and Iroko, a West African timber with many of the virtues of teak but about a quarter of the price and more Politically Correct, is the wood to make them from.
At the moment, three of AR's boats are in Woodbridge; is this some sort of record?