Troubleshooting a Rolls Royce Merlin engine at the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum in Kent, WA. These supercharged 27-liter V12 engines were developed for WWII fighter planes, and after the war became one of the go-to motors for Unlimited class power boat racing up until the mid 1980s. Of course, racing teams tinkered with and improved the engines over that period, and by the mid-80s the statistics were pretty shocking: superchargers turning close to 30,000 RPM generating well over 100 lbs of boost pressure, and nearly 4000 horsepower. Yikes. Figuring out how to keep the engines together while moving more fuel and air through them faster and at ever higher pressure occupied some pretty smart people for a long time, and maintaining those skills is a primary mission of the museum.

The Museum restores, maintains, displays, and races these boats, almost exclusively with volunteer effort. Obviously, this is one of the most skilled, dedicated, and organized volunteer-driven preservation groups out there. Truly inspiring. I went down to help out during one of their regular volunteer work evenings last Thursday. The project for the evening was to fit new bearings into this motor, which was trickier than it should have been. Fun, though.