Ghastly mishap in Ghent

As you know we are here in Ghent for the winter and part of the winter ‘programme’ includes fitting a new generator brought over especially in the car from the UK.

It’s lovely, expensive, neat with its own sound proof pod and Alex has spent three days constructing the mounting plinth (3’ x 2’ in iron – good and solid), arranging the new water cooling supply and the exhaust water separator, which involved manufacturing from steel pipe of different diameters what he hopes will act as a second silencer and water separator combined.

And all this has been done, and the generator, stripped of its sound proof pod, has been lowered by chain hoist into the engine room and partially reassembled onto its plinth. But – the exhaust separator was painted with a two-pack epoxy resin to stop up any pinprick holes in the welding. (you can get them with a stick weld and a not professional welder) and because it’s so cold it’s not going off (hardening).

So we tried the fan heater to provide some heat into the engine room but the supply tripped (well, that’s what we thought at the time) so we discussed over supper what might be the best answer to provide a constant low level of heat for a decent period of time.

Well, in the old days, they used to put a candle under the lavatory cistern to stop the pipes freezing. So that’s what we decided to do – under the water separator.

One and a half hours later when Louise went to the bathroom – next to the engine room – she could smell smoke. Alex dashed into the engine room and through the thick pall of smoke to the new generator and there it wasn’t or at least some of it wasn’t, any longer! Burnt to a crisp.

Alex put his head in his hands and howled. Louise said all the usual things – “At least we are both OK.” “The boat is OK.” “It’s only money!” “It could have been a lot worse.” etc.etc

All that work, all that money and now more work, more money and no guarantee at the end. Oh God, its too awful to contemplate. The candle had managed to fall over and roll under the engine, still alight, set fire to the pod, the plastic intake and much of the wiring loom, all at the generator end.

But the clear-up has started and Alex, ever positive, has turned his attention to the practical aspects of the clear-up. We have spent the last two long days washing down the engine room and one day cleaning the rooms next to it – bathroom into bedroom into kitchen. Is it all smoke damage or is some of it age-old dust? Smoke damage all of it of course! But the acrid smell is still there!

The generator is a sad sight. One end has really suffered – the alternator. The motor itself seems OK but time will tell. When Alex gets it apart we will see how very bad it is. But whatever, it’s not good and whatever, it’s going to be expensive. It’s so new, it’s not even been added to the insurance, so no respite there, and besides we all know that the no-claims bonus would be removed and the premium would go up, etc. etc. …

We have started a list of all the bits we need and have made first contact with the supplier. Hopefully when we get back to the UK for Christmas we will be able to pick up all the new parts and bring them back when we return to Ghent in January. Then maybe we can get this baby up and running.

We know that members of the boating community and many others will be saying, ‘Naked flames in the engine room – he must be mad’. But in our defence, sometimes a problem causes one to lose sight of the bigger picture and then one is tempted to make mistakes, as happened here. We would like to think that there are few people out there who haven’t at some time made an ill-advised decision!

Incidentally, the two-pack paint had gone off (hardened) nicely! Perhaps that was due to the fire not the candle!!

Meanwhile, life goes on and we made a trip to Ternuizen the other day. Its only 20k from Gent and it’s in Holland! which means we can buy cheap fresh milk and get a good selection of Chilean and Australian wine! The Belgians tend to follow the French mould where wine is concerned. (New World wines get very little shelf space.)

So we came back with among other things 3 litres of milk for the freezer, and 3 dozen bottles of wine. We also had lunch in a superior café at the northern tip of the town overlooking the Westerschelde where we watched a continuous stream of barges and ocean going ships going to and fro about their business. Another trip there before long, we think.

We are also getting to know Ghent pretty well. Louise has made several excursions around the inner city, some on her bike and some on shank’s pony and we both have made a couple of trips by car, one to the Belgian equivalent of B & Q for some more candles!

Bit short of pics for this one: a couple more from Gent and the archive.