Hot and bothered was the 1964 Gardner 4LK diesel engine as we happily cruised along. On day two of our holiday on the Leicester section of the Grand Union canal near to Norton Junction we broke down. Water was pooring out of the engine header tank and down the wall. There was a strong smell of burning antifreeze. Catastrophic situation, would our holiday end here ?
On a television programme some years ago, called WaterWorld, a hire boat broke down with engine problems. The people on the narrowboat rang the hire base to report the fault and said "we have a catastrophic engine malfunction". This has has always stuck in our minds whenever something is not quite right with the engine of any boat we are on.