Hi all,

Thanks for all the positive comments – that was a hell of a fortnight. I’ve put a bit of a statement on the BBP forum if anyone wants a glimpse at the underlying politics. I don’t think there’s any surprises in there.

There’s a massive amount of work gone into ensuring we have more than enough strength. The frame was x-rayed end to end before repairs began, we’ve doubled up where necessary, used heat treatments, modern day surface protection, sealants and rivets. We’ve stiffened, pinned and sleeved – the list is endless. Not worried about that at all.

Problem with the elastomers in those old control systems is that they’re everywhere. Every last unit is full of them, there’s no real way to assess their condition from the outside and a failure of any one of them could have serious consequences. There’s been several strip inspections of legacy fuel control units over the years that have revealed deteriorating elastomers and one failure where a diaphragm was partly submerged in old fuel for many years leaving the dry half air damaged. Much as I hate to see old machines consigned to never run again it really is about time these things are pulled down and properly overhauled if they’re to keep on running.

And… Drum roll… I have 0 chickens!! Which means I can’t offer opinion or fact on anything relating to the countryside!

And therein lies the problem. It would be like me trying to write anything informed about living in inner-city London. Wouldn’t begin to try – not qualified.

Anyway – that’s enough forum for me, I don’t usually do social media.

Thing is, one and all – the format is long established.
There’s a rant then there’s the meat and gravy. It’s been that way for the thick end of 20 years and the great majority love it and tell us so because in the first instance it’s all very tongue in cheek and all but those who take the hook I cast time and again know better than to bite.
Then there’s the fact that I only rant about things I feel qualified to rant about so my conscience is clear on that score. I keep chickens and turkeys and therefore wage daily war on foxes and rats. Believe it or not, and the guys will tell you this, I actually like my rats in the garden – smart little things they are, and always spotlessly clean – but I still cull them on a regular basis so as not to be overrun. Foxes I kill on sight because they’re evil things and it annoys me endlessly that the bleaters can only bleat about the ones that have to run away from dogs, universally ignorant of the fact that in order to dispose of a whole generation of the things the gamekeepers will gas vixen and cubs in the den. Know your subject, eh.
Likewise, I was a diver for Greenpeace for many years and risked arrest, strip-searches and imprisonment to do my bit for the planet, not to mention performing some of the most hazardous dives of my career… any other Greenpeace divers out there? I’m sure I’d remember you.

But that’s all by the by – the purpose of the rant is to raise a smile, never to be taken seriously and to wind up those who can’t appreciate the absurdity of the world around them so if you bit – shame on you and try harder next time.
In the meantime we’re all working damned hard to build a boat over here and showing you the whole lot – warts and all, so if you really zoned out before the boat bit – and I don’t believe for one living second that that’s what any of you really did – then get back there and see what you’re missing… silly people!

Cheers,
Bill

Indeed it would but we’ve run the engine over 300 times and know exactly what goes on at that end so there was no danger of either my hat or ears going down the spout. We did, however, almost lose a strip of rubber from the cockpit rail down there. That too would have done the compressor no good at all.

Cannot argue with that Bill, I would suspect the OEM had little issue with your fuel system as your intentions are not for airworthiness use (Bluebird having failed on that score twice before). Worth considering inhibiting your system properly mind after the test runs.

As it happens ours was an all or nothing deal. Our fuel system was treated from beginning to end as though it was being returned to flight with no compromises – how would you decide where to compromise? It’s anathema to the aerospace mindset with good reason. We also have a LP boost pump with certificates of release, not that we’d do anything other than put it back where it came from, but it could fly and we were told during its rebuild that its internals were in better condition than many similar pumps that were flying.
The capability certainly exists to keep these things going, though the people with the ingrained expertise are thinning fast due to retirement and redundancy but to go as a commercial customer with your Cold War jet and its fuel system and as to have it brought up to date would be pretty much impossible in today’s climate, I think.

On the subject of inhibiting the system when not in use, we have the proper juice in a bottle for that very purpose and part of the agreement when handing all of this over to the people of Coniston in perpetuity is that we have to wheel her out once a year to run up the engine, hydraulics, pneumatics, electrics and every other thing that moves. I know it’s not possible to run the perfect project but we’re trying hard.

At almost71 with poor health my restoring days are behind me. I did however spend many years resurrecting mainly Austin Healey 3000’s and Jaguars when the marques were not appreciated unlike today. I also spent my time rescuing unwanted cats and re-homing them and usually having about six members of them as family cats. The above kept me somewhat sane as I fought what is now called PTSD from my time in Northern Ireland so I never knock a person who obviously cared greatly for his late dog or any pet and had thoughts like that. I do four months on from the loss of my last cat and my wife feels the same.
I will end by saying that many millions of people get their only comfort from their pet dog or cat as it is their friend,confident and probably the only living thing they will see that day.

Hey, Paul, you really shouldn’t take the BBP diary so much to heart. After all, the format is really designed to deliver what might otherwise be a terribly dreary subject in a more tongue in cheek way.
And, for the record, I love my dogs as much as the next bloke and they are as much a part of our family as the children. The problem is that we can’t have it both ways. We humanise them when we shouldn’t, the result being that we keep them going long after nature would have culled them until the day comes when we must take our best mate to the vets and do them the ultimate act of kindness. Having done that many times I can’t recall a single animal that would have wanted me to waste a second grieving when I could get a new pup and crack on. This is just my experience of keeping animals and if it differs from yours then please do as my good friends do and invite me to commit an act ending with the word ‘off’.

And sincere thanks to everyone for their comments, good or bad, and for all the encouragement. We are all working damned hard over here these days to get the big tin boat ready. Sorry that we can’t give a ‘when’ but the simple truth is that we’ve not done one of these before but if we don’t give up we can’t fail. Stay with us and we’ll see you all in the beer tent in Coniston someday soon.

Bill Smith.