Polishing a Toad - Part I

I have often walked past this boat which seems to be abandoned.  I wonder what the story is, why it has been left.

Then one day, Sam and Jay walked into the boatyard, "We need a boat painting and a new engine".  This is their boat "TOAD", it turns out that they have been in Australia for several years, but now want their boat restoring as they will be returning to the UK. I asked why they wanted a new engine, and they said that it hasn't run for three years, and it is an old engine.  I think the old engine will probably last longer than a new one!

The engine is installed with open skin tanks, and a useless external cooling pump

The wiring is a mess, but I've seen worse

 The engine room is full of water, so, armed with a new battery, I soon cleared this with the bilge pump.

Having freed off the starter, we soon had the engine running and sailed down the locks to the boatyard.  The gearbox had a five second delay before changing gear, so this was "interesting"

Ready to start work!