‘When I put the compressed air on the engine, the starting air valve and the exhaust valve move first. Once the flywheel - which weighs three tonnes, by the way - has sufficient speed, I pull the camshaft to the left. Then the starting air valve stops and the intake valve begins to run with the exhaust valve.’ Starting a Deutz VM 145 is a little different. The one in the tugboat Petra of skipper Ron van Valkenburg dates from 1920 or 1921, but was only installed after he had bought the Petra in 2001. The Petra was built in 1939 as the Johnnie by G.J. van den Berk’s Scheepsbouw in Beneden-Leeuwen and sailed among other things as a fishing vessel at sea. ‘The ship was totally neglected,’ tells skipper Van Valkenburg. ‘I bought it as a steel casco. I cut it completely empty and built it so that I could sail to France and the Mediterranean. I wanted a beautiful ship with an old engine, but I also wanted to enlarge the sailing range. Because many tugboats can’t go to France or further because of their height or draught.’ After starting the engine, skipper Van Valkenburg takes us sailing on the Kraaijenbergse Plas.
00:00 Intro
00:57 About the engine 1
02:37 About the engine mechanics
04:49 About the starting mechanics
05:25 Manoeuvre
06:58 About cranking
07:48 About the valves
08:20 Starting the engine
09:08 About the regulator
10:50 About the Petra
12:32: About the engine 2
14:09 Valves dancing