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Noel.Dilly
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Group: Forum Members
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+x+x+x+x+x+xThank you Dick, Sadly we do not all live in the ideal World where boat and life raft care and service come at the “ring of a bell ! “What boatyards say they will do and what they do can be startlingly different. Some years ago I went to a very prestigious boat yard in the UK to service a friend’s yacht only to discover that his power supply and boat heater had been taken to heat the boatyard hut. Engines are an interesting problem ! Tell us how you turn a modern engine over by hand. Oil heating is very much easier done by draining the oil into a can, heating can and contents in a bowl of very hot water and returning it to the engine. An important step in starting long left engines is to bleed the fuel system using the manual lift pump. I agree whole heartedly with you fuel filtering idea. Perhaps you would care to publish the details of your device. I would also very much like to know how you get inside seacocks to properly maintain them. You say nothing of “Blake style sea cocks that have their own intriguing problems. It is a good idea tho try them out on land before launching. They are usually seized. Simple to fix on land. Loose a little the two screws holding the moving part. then from the outside a piece of dowel in the aperture given a thump with a wooden hammer will restore the moving part to movement. Now is the time to lubricate it. Life rafts, lucky you having a service agent on tap. There are places on this planet where it is not that easy. That is why I recommend weighing the raft after each service. Small losses of weight don’t matter, even a partially inflated raft will keep you afloat whilst you warm up by inflating it manually. If it is decided to “open the box” photograph every stage it can be demanding to repack it anyway. Better still keep the raft as it is and put any replaceable goodies that are inside in the grab bag. New impellers take the spare with you. Also take along the rearming devices for your life jackets. Please don’t heat penetration oil in a confined container it might ruin your day. leaks and smelly loos and holding tanks, I await the report of your boat condition when you are soon hopefully reunited. Meanwhile I would suggest that cold climates wreck havoc with most marine sealants and large temperature swings finish the job. Thank you again for firing up the discussion. Noel Hi Noel, I am well aware that boats can be experienced like malevolent beasts. But it sounds like you feel every avenue has PITA qualities and that every proper maintenance and care you attempt will be thwarted at every turn. You have some good suggestions and I will try to address those areas where you express concerns. I am assuming, in my writing, that the boats we are discussing were left for an over-winter storage and were prepared properly for this and that, with covid, an over-winter storage got extended and the boat became “neglected” because the owner could not get to it. It is quite a different challenge if the boat was just walked away from with no prep and abandoned. Liferaft maintenance is an expensive endeavor and usually a bother. I personally would not use a weighing method to determine the state of my raft: far too critical a measurement and the down-side of error is too great (contacting the raft manufacturer as to the wisdom of weighing to determine condition might be wise). And, for sure there is lots else that goes into a liferaft inspection/servicing. And, no: I have no “service agent on tap” nor one that comes at the “ring of a bell”. I am not sure what I said that implied that. Perhaps my saying “get it serviced” made it sound too easy. Quite the contrary: I have been ~~20 years from usual marine support facilities and mostly living aboard and, in that time, I have had a wide variety of raft servicing. My raft’s manufacturer paid for my raft to be couriered from Turkey. Another time I sailed the raft to The Channel Islands from the UK for servicing. Two times I sent it by mail (prohibitively expensive) and one time I was lucky enough to be close to a service facility. Not sure what point you are trying to make about raft servicing in the telling of boatyard employee(s) appropriating of the heater and cord without permission. My modern engine is easy to turn over by hand: I am no expert in this area, so talk to your local mechanic or the manufacturer to ensure doing so properly. My take is that there is generally a straightforward way to turn over modern engines by hand. It may be enough to just do the starting technique I suggested and let the batteries and starter do the work, but even there it might be wise to consult a mechanic/engineer you trust. Oil heating could be effectively accomplished in the way you describe, although getting out cold oil could be a challenge (I am in a cold area). My interest was the oil for sure, but also generally in having the whole engine, block and all, warm before starting. I am unsure how important this is, but not unwilling to extend myself for my engine’s sake, even if of marginal value. I am not sure bleeding one’s fuel lines is necessary. Why do you suggest this? I would assume that at the end of season Biobar (or the like) and fuel stabilizer would have been added to the full fuel tanks and the engine run enough to distribute the fuel into the engine. In this way, the fuel in the lines should be the same as the fuel in the tank and drawing in fuel from the tank via the lift pump should make no difference. Am I missing something here? I assume what you mean by “fuel filtering” is what I wrote about fuel polishing. Search the OCC Forum and you will find my fuel polishing method with comments about how it can be generally applied. You ask about maintenance of seacocks: cone ones like Blakes can be an essay in itself and I suspect googling will get you a youtube demonstration that will transcend any written description. In short: I have had ball valves for decades now and would not go back to cone style. Maintenance includes: 1. Working all seacocks once per month during the season and more often if they prove to be stiff or barnacles etc. are fast growing: 2. At spring commissioning spraying lubricant grease into and around the seacock from outside the boat while someone inside is opening and closing and working the seacock: 3. Do the same at lay-up (if on the hard) and leave the seacocks open to ensure no water accumulates later to freeze and damage the seacock. 4. Some seacocks have the capacity to use a zerk fitting for a grease gun making lubing much easier. And the above efforts, for sure, will ensure the seacocks are tried out on land before launching as you correctly suggest. With the above, I have never had a seized seacock, stiff at times, but never seized: I am sorry you find yours “usually seized”. I did not neglect a warning about heating near penetrating oil in my previous writing that you are responding to and wrote: “watch for igniting the penetrating liquid”. But warnings like that bear repeating. If worried about heat sources, wrap the seacock with a towel and pour on boiling water: repeat and the seacock will be warm with no danger of igniting the volitiles. It has been my experience that a properly maintained and prepared toilet, holding tank and hoses done at lay-up is not smelly at the end of the lay-up period. And multiple impellors should be part of any wide-ranging vessels stores. I replace my impellor every year even if it looks “like new”. Thanks for your thoughts, My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi Dick, Thank you for your contribution. By the time most of us have finished the immunisation schedule for the cover virus and waited the required extra time to have a significant antibody titre our boats will have been ashore for much longer than merely overwintering sadly. The weight of gas in the cylinder is significant , it is easy to judge between a full and empty cylinder. Weighing it routinely just makes sure that you do. A life raft that support you when you get in it is what is required, the rest should be in the grab bag. About the only two essentials are water and seasickness remedies. Scopolamine patches work for me. Relying on the boatyard to charge batteries is a risky business. Solar panel on the boat if outside, or a dedicated power line to the charging system with some means of monitoring the continuity of the power supply is far more reliable. You have not told us how you turn your engine over by hand. Do you use a spanner on the crankshaft or what? Are you sure that you need a warm engine block before starting? All over the World engines are started ever morning from cold Winter or Summer. What is important is the ambient temperature. Most lubricants even those without special additives work above zero degrees Celsius. I suggested bleeding the fuel lines because before my boat is lifted from the water and put ashore I close the valve at the tank and run the engine dry of fuel. This stops any evaporation of fuel in the fuel lines and blockage by the reside that inevitably remains.In the sense we are using the words filtering and polishing the words are synonymous. I am not obfuscating by changing what is done filtering, to polishing. Unfortunately all the pre storage waggling the seacock lever is irrelevant after a long storage. Volatile fluids can explode without necessarily pre ignition . Of course impellers are part of any yachts stores. By taking one with you you are simply maintaining the onboard store. I await with interest the report of your sweet holding tank and loo when you are reunited with Alchemy. Good luck Noel Hi Noel, Agreed: from the get-go we have been talking about neglected boats (because of covid) rather than over-wintered boats. It is my take (and my casual thinking and research supports this) that we are not looking at significant problems 1 1/2 years down the line as different than just an over-wintering for the well-prepared boat at lay-up. I never suggested that the weight of the gas is not significant, but I think that evaluating such an important piece of kit be left to the professionals. I suspect more than lost gas (and here we are talking ounces of weight difference on a raft weighing 40 up to 60+ pounds) can change the weight of a raft over a period of time and make evaluation difficult. Again, I would refer those with questions and concerns in this area to contact their raft’s manufacturer. Please get back to us with their advice if you do so. (Noel, it might be said here that I am responding to you and your concerns and the help you requested. Clearly, you can and should, as skipper, make the choices that seem best practice for you. But I am also writing for others who might be reading over our shoulders and deciding what actions they wish to make in these areas.) We have not been discussing charging batteries, but I do agree that leaving it to most boatyards would not be my choice. When I am not able to visit the boat regularly, I always have had a knowledgeable and reliable person inspect regularly. My boat in Newfoundland gets plugged in every month for a few hours for battery charging and the inside and outside of the boat gets inspected. Some insurance companies demand this for lay-up periods. I am not a fan of having an unattended boat plugged in all the time. I purposely chose not to discuss how I turn my engine over by hand, as it is likely not to be of help to someone with a different engine. As I stated, I know how for my engine and not for anyone else’s and, not being in any way an expert in this area, again, I refer you to your mechanic/engineer. It would be great if you could get back to us with your engineer’s response if you go that route and consult. I would definitely run a gasoline/petrol engine dry prior to lay-up, but not a diesel. Air in the diesel fuel lines can cause too many unexpected, and sometimes hard to isolate, problems. I do not think doing so (running a diesel dry) is in any way common practice. Diesel fuel lines seem far less prone to evaporation and the nature of a diesel engine design is meant to preclude air (and air is essential for evaporation). Again, those with questions in this area should consult their engine’s manufacturer and/or an engineer they trust. I disagree that servicing one’s seacocks by spraying them with grease and working them open and closed at lay-up is irrelevant: whether one winter or longer, the servicing is likely to make a difference. You report usually having seized seacocks: perhaps doing the servicing I suggest might make a difference. Worth a try? My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Having not seen my boat for 11 months now all the above posts are quite interesting. Although I don't know of anywhere that rainwater could leak into the boat and I have a deep bilge I always used to worry about a leak developing and coming back to my boat after an absence and finding the water level above the floorboards and getting into the engine. What I do now is to remove the engine cooling water hose from the seacock and leave it open so that if a serious amount of water did some how find its way into the boat it would drain out before it got to the engine. With regard to Blakes seacocks (and this is slightly off topic): on one of my previous boats we only had one sink for washing and doing the dishes so lots of soapy water went through the seacock. One summer, despite me having serviced it before launching, this particular seacock became quite stiff, so much so my wife was having difficulty operating it. I surmised the grease had been washed out by the soap. At a quiet anchorage and following instructions from my 'Skippers Emergency Handbook" I fastened a line form one side of the boat to the other to hold onto, swum underneath and hammered a bung into the skinfitting. Back onboard I gingerly undid the seacock bolts and pulled out the cone. At first there was an alarming spurt of water ! but this was just what was in the pipe up to the waterline and in fact the bung had sealed well. I re-greased the cone, reassembled, went back in the water underneath the boat and waggled the bung out and cured the problem. Job done! On the following season's fitting out, I put more grease on this particular seacock and adjusted the cone bolts with a tiny bit more slack. Martin Hi Martin, I enjoyed your account of freeing a stuck Blake’s sea cock. I have had similar fun. I used a mask and snorkel to improve the view, I ore a T shirt to keep off the barnacles and my diving weight belt with just one weight th keep me in a vertical working position. I was also wearing fins. For hanging onto the hull we have a double sucker device used commercially by people who move large sheets of glass. You need to have it tied to the waist belt, otherwise it sinks when it pulls off. First effort was your technique, but the innards did not loosen. Second attempt was with a dowel having loosened the retaining plate. After the hit on the dowel I then put the bung in the external aperture. The one mod I would recommend is to have a ile through the bung so that it is easier to remove. You illustrate one of the great advantages of Blake’s valves they are simple to dismantle and maintain whilst at sea, they are made entirely of the same metal, have no problems with dezincification. Quite an advantage over ball valves where the dissimilar metals the stainless steel ball and the housing can interact with the help of sea water, and the steel ball can disappear completely unnoticed from without. I agree with you hose trick. Our back up is to have a notice doors that we can write on that we hang over the instrument panel with reminders of what we have done. Where does the water come from? Whispers worst experience was when she was stored with the hatchway facing SW. straight into the prevailing wind. The rain got in via the gap between the top washboard and the sliding hatch. Ably assisted by water blown into the garage, that then tracked down the cable trunking . It is possible to open a large can of worms by discussing leaking cockpit lockers. Having been pooped a few times, and I can report that after such excitement it is a good idea to pump the bilges. Thank you for your most enjoyable contribution Noel Hi Marten, Water just seems to collect: sometimes it is repeated condensation that eventually adds up. On my boat with the mast up, all the “holes” allow water in and down to the bilge. You are wise to leave an opening. Please make a big note reminding you to connect the hose before launching. I leave out the transducers which leave a sizable hole for water to escape. That should not occur as I almost always have a reliable person with a key checking bilges, charging batteries etc. monthly. Great and creative story of in-water work. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy .
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Dick
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 932,
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+x+x+x+x+x+xThank you Dick, Sadly we do not all live in the ideal World where boat and life raft care and service come at the “ring of a bell ! “What boatyards say they will do and what they do can be startlingly different. Some years ago I went to a very prestigious boat yard in the UK to service a friend’s yacht only to discover that his power supply and boat heater had been taken to heat the boatyard hut. Engines are an interesting problem ! Tell us how you turn a modern engine over by hand. Oil heating is very much easier done by draining the oil into a can, heating can and contents in a bowl of very hot water and returning it to the engine. An important step in starting long left engines is to bleed the fuel system using the manual lift pump. I agree whole heartedly with you fuel filtering idea. Perhaps you would care to publish the details of your device. I would also very much like to know how you get inside seacocks to properly maintain them. You say nothing of “Blake style sea cocks that have their own intriguing problems. It is a good idea tho try them out on land before launching. They are usually seized. Simple to fix on land. Loose a little the two screws holding the moving part. then from the outside a piece of dowel in the aperture given a thump with a wooden hammer will restore the moving part to movement. Now is the time to lubricate it. Life rafts, lucky you having a service agent on tap. There are places on this planet where it is not that easy. That is why I recommend weighing the raft after each service. Small losses of weight don’t matter, even a partially inflated raft will keep you afloat whilst you warm up by inflating it manually. If it is decided to “open the box” photograph every stage it can be demanding to repack it anyway. Better still keep the raft as it is and put any replaceable goodies that are inside in the grab bag. New impellers take the spare with you. Also take along the rearming devices for your life jackets. Please don’t heat penetration oil in a confined container it might ruin your day. leaks and smelly loos and holding tanks, I await the report of your boat condition when you are soon hopefully reunited. Meanwhile I would suggest that cold climates wreck havoc with most marine sealants and large temperature swings finish the job. Thank you again for firing up the discussion. Noel Hi Noel, I am well aware that boats can be experienced like malevolent beasts. But it sounds like you feel every avenue has PITA qualities and that every proper maintenance and care you attempt will be thwarted at every turn. You have some good suggestions and I will try to address those areas where you express concerns. I am assuming, in my writing, that the boats we are discussing were left for an over-winter storage and were prepared properly for this and that, with covid, an over-winter storage got extended and the boat became “neglected” because the owner could not get to it. It is quite a different challenge if the boat was just walked away from with no prep and abandoned. Liferaft maintenance is an expensive endeavor and usually a bother. I personally would not use a weighing method to determine the state of my raft: far too critical a measurement and the down-side of error is too great (contacting the raft manufacturer as to the wisdom of weighing to determine condition might be wise). And, for sure there is lots else that goes into a liferaft inspection/servicing. And, no: I have no “service agent on tap” nor one that comes at the “ring of a bell”. I am not sure what I said that implied that. Perhaps my saying “get it serviced” made it sound too easy. Quite the contrary: I have been ~~20 years from usual marine support facilities and mostly living aboard and, in that time, I have had a wide variety of raft servicing. My raft’s manufacturer paid for my raft to be couriered from Turkey. Another time I sailed the raft to The Channel Islands from the UK for servicing. Two times I sent it by mail (prohibitively expensive) and one time I was lucky enough to be close to a service facility. Not sure what point you are trying to make about raft servicing in the telling of boatyard employee(s) appropriating of the heater and cord without permission. My modern engine is easy to turn over by hand: I am no expert in this area, so talk to your local mechanic or the manufacturer to ensure doing so properly. My take is that there is generally a straightforward way to turn over modern engines by hand. It may be enough to just do the starting technique I suggested and let the batteries and starter do the work, but even there it might be wise to consult a mechanic/engineer you trust. Oil heating could be effectively accomplished in the way you describe, although getting out cold oil could be a challenge (I am in a cold area). My interest was the oil for sure, but also generally in having the whole engine, block and all, warm before starting. I am unsure how important this is, but not unwilling to extend myself for my engine’s sake, even if of marginal value. I am not sure bleeding one’s fuel lines is necessary. Why do you suggest this? I would assume that at the end of season Biobar (or the like) and fuel stabilizer would have been added to the full fuel tanks and the engine run enough to distribute the fuel into the engine. In this way, the fuel in the lines should be the same as the fuel in the tank and drawing in fuel from the tank via the lift pump should make no difference. Am I missing something here? I assume what you mean by “fuel filtering” is what I wrote about fuel polishing. Search the OCC Forum and you will find my fuel polishing method with comments about how it can be generally applied. You ask about maintenance of seacocks: cone ones like Blakes can be an essay in itself and I suspect googling will get you a youtube demonstration that will transcend any written description. In short: I have had ball valves for decades now and would not go back to cone style. Maintenance includes: 1. Working all seacocks once per month during the season and more often if they prove to be stiff or barnacles etc. are fast growing: 2. At spring commissioning spraying lubricant grease into and around the seacock from outside the boat while someone inside is opening and closing and working the seacock: 3. Do the same at lay-up (if on the hard) and leave the seacocks open to ensure no water accumulates later to freeze and damage the seacock. 4. Some seacocks have the capacity to use a zerk fitting for a grease gun making lubing much easier. And the above efforts, for sure, will ensure the seacocks are tried out on land before launching as you correctly suggest. With the above, I have never had a seized seacock, stiff at times, but never seized: I am sorry you find yours “usually seized”. I did not neglect a warning about heating near penetrating oil in my previous writing that you are responding to and wrote: “watch for igniting the penetrating liquid”. But warnings like that bear repeating. If worried about heat sources, wrap the seacock with a towel and pour on boiling water: repeat and the seacock will be warm with no danger of igniting the volitiles. It has been my experience that a properly maintained and prepared toilet, holding tank and hoses done at lay-up is not smelly at the end of the lay-up period. And multiple impellors should be part of any wide-ranging vessels stores. I replace my impellor every year even if it looks “like new”. Thanks for your thoughts, My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi Dick, Thank you for your contribution. By the time most of us have finished the immunisation schedule for the cover virus and waited the required extra time to have a significant antibody titre our boats will have been ashore for much longer than merely overwintering sadly. The weight of gas in the cylinder is significant , it is easy to judge between a full and empty cylinder. Weighing it routinely just makes sure that you do. A life raft that support you when you get in it is what is required, the rest should be in the grab bag. About the only two essentials are water and seasickness remedies. Scopolamine patches work for me. Relying on the boatyard to charge batteries is a risky business. Solar panel on the boat if outside, or a dedicated power line to the charging system with some means of monitoring the continuity of the power supply is far more reliable. You have not told us how you turn your engine over by hand. Do you use a spanner on the crankshaft or what? Are you sure that you need a warm engine block before starting? All over the World engines are started ever morning from cold Winter or Summer. What is important is the ambient temperature. Most lubricants even those without special additives work above zero degrees Celsius. I suggested bleeding the fuel lines because before my boat is lifted from the water and put ashore I close the valve at the tank and run the engine dry of fuel. This stops any evaporation of fuel in the fuel lines and blockage by the reside that inevitably remains.In the sense we are using the words filtering and polishing the words are synonymous. I am not obfuscating by changing what is done filtering, to polishing. Unfortunately all the pre storage waggling the seacock lever is irrelevant after a long storage. Volatile fluids can explode without necessarily pre ignition . Of course impellers are part of any yachts stores. By taking one with you you are simply maintaining the onboard store. I await with interest the report of your sweet holding tank and loo when you are reunited with Alchemy. Good luck Noel Hi Noel, Agreed: from the get-go we have been talking about neglected boats (because of covid) rather than over-wintered boats. It is my take (and my casual thinking and research supports this) that we are not looking at significant problems 1 1/2 years down the line as different than just an over-wintering for the well-prepared boat at lay-up. I never suggested that the weight of the gas is not significant, but I think that evaluating such an important piece of kit be left to the professionals. I suspect more than lost gas (and here we are talking ounces of weight difference on a raft weighing 40 up to 60+ pounds) can change the weight of a raft over a period of time and make evaluation difficult. Again, I would refer those with questions and concerns in this area to contact their raft’s manufacturer. Please get back to us with their advice if you do so. (Noel, it might be said here that I am responding to you and your concerns and the help you requested. Clearly, you can and should, as skipper, make the choices that seem best practice for you. But I am also writing for others who might be reading over our shoulders and deciding what actions they wish to make in these areas.) We have not been discussing charging batteries, but I do agree that leaving it to most boatyards would not be my choice. When I am not able to visit the boat regularly, I always have had a knowledgeable and reliable person inspect regularly. My boat in Newfoundland gets plugged in every month for a few hours for battery charging and the inside and outside of the boat gets inspected. Some insurance companies demand this for lay-up periods. I am not a fan of having an unattended boat plugged in all the time. I purposely chose not to discuss how I turn my engine over by hand, as it is likely not to be of help to someone with a different engine. As I stated, I know how for my engine and not for anyone else’s and, not being in any way an expert in this area, again, I refer you to your mechanic/engineer. It would be great if you could get back to us with your engineer’s response if you go that route and consult. I would definitely run a gasoline/petrol engine dry prior to lay-up, but not a diesel. Air in the diesel fuel lines can cause too many unexpected, and sometimes hard to isolate, problems. I do not think doing so (running a diesel dry) is in any way common practice. Diesel fuel lines seem far less prone to evaporation and the nature of a diesel engine design is meant to preclude air (and air is essential for evaporation). Again, those with questions in this area should consult their engine’s manufacturer and/or an engineer they trust. I disagree that servicing one’s seacocks by spraying them with grease and working them open and closed at lay-up is irrelevant: whether one winter or longer, the servicing is likely to make a difference. You report usually having seized seacocks: perhaps doing the servicing I suggest might make a difference. Worth a try? My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Having not seen my boat for 11 months now all the above posts are quite interesting. Although I don't know of anywhere that rainwater could leak into the boat and I have a deep bilge I always used to worry about a leak developing and coming back to my boat after an absence and finding the water level above the floorboards and getting into the engine. What I do now is to remove the engine cooling water hose from the seacock and leave it open so that if a serious amount of water did some how find its way into the boat it would drain out before it got to the engine. With regard to Blakes seacocks (and this is slightly off topic): on one of my previous boats we only had one sink for washing and doing the dishes so lots of soapy water went through the seacock. One summer, despite me having serviced it before launching, this particular seacock became quite stiff, so much so my wife was having difficulty operating it. I surmised the grease had been washed out by the soap. At a quiet anchorage and following instructions from my 'Skippers Emergency Handbook" I fastened a line form one side of the boat to the other to hold onto, swum underneath and hammered a bung into the skinfitting. Back onboard I gingerly undid the seacock bolts and pulled out the cone. At first there was an alarming spurt of water ! but this was just what was in the pipe up to the waterline and in fact the bung had sealed well. I re-greased the cone, reassembled, went back in the water underneath the boat and waggled the bung out and cured the problem. Job done! On the following season's fitting out, I put more grease on this particular seacock and adjusted the cone bolts with a tiny bit more slack. Martin Hi Marten, Water just seems to collect: sometimes it is repeated condensation that eventually adds up. On my boat with the mast up, all the “holes” allow water in and down to the bilge. You are wise to leave an opening. Please make a big note reminding you to connect the hose before launching. I leave out the transducers which leave a sizable hole for water to escape. That should not occur as I almost always have a reliable person with a key checking bilges, charging batteries etc. monthly. Great and creative story of in-water work. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy . Hi Martin, My apologies for mis-spelling your name. Dick
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Noel.Dilly
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 9,
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Hi, it is now 67years since I had my first sail in a big yacht ( a 22ft Westerly ). I have more than my fair share of first cruise events. I thought I might share some of them with you.
The first cruise that did not happen,
We arrived at the boat with a dinghy load of gear. Heard some furious bird chirping,
We had oystercatcher rearing young under the upturned dinghy. Off home for a week, on return they had gone but like some visitors they had left a mess for us to clear up.
The helpful expert. And he was really a superb sailor, I asked if he would reconnect the batteries. Yes he did , caused a short and we had a fire down below. First fire extinguisher grabbed failed to function, second worked and the powder was everywhere as well as in the battery box. I shook the first extinguisher and it fired. Now I always shave the extinguishers at the beginning of the season.
The renowned dinghy sailor. Off down the Medway late on a Friday night to cramp a full weekends sailing for the first trip of the year. Are you happy to take her? Yes of course. So I went below and brewed tea. Back on deck there was something odd about the boat’s movement. The sails were full and pulling, water was gurgling past the hull. I took the torch and looked over the side. The water was flowing from the stern towards the bow. We were most firmly aground on the soft mud and it was well into the next morning before we got off.
You would not want it to happen to your worst enemy never mind your fiancée.
I explained how the loo valves worked and opened them all for her. I explained the pump and left . A few minutes later my ex fiancée reappeared dashed past me and dived over the side. She had pumped with a will and the loo contents had blown back and covered her in a decidedly unpleasant mixture. The post mortem on the ball valve revealed that the lever was working perfectly but was not connected to the valve that was stuck shut.
Check up on the ladies,
We were bringing a yacht back to the UK via the Kiel canal. As we got out into the North Sea after nightfall one of the young people began to feel seasick and chose the privacy of the marine loo rather than the bucket to receive the contents of her stomach. After much heroics some interesting noises she announced that the loo was pumped out, and that she was taking to her sleeping bag. The others soon joined the sleeping beauty, and I was left with a beautiful sail with a sparkling sea a pinpoint stars. Eventually I went below to rouse my relief and do some chart work. As I stepped off the lowest rung of the ladder I got cold feet. My feet were at least ten inches below the water. No point in pumping until you have discovered where the water is coming from. Amazingly the lights worked. Everyone was roused ,and the overflowing loo was discovered. Valve closed and the inflow stopped . I counted over 1000 pumps befor I had convincingly lowered the level of water.
I has been a lovely first day sail, let’s anchor for the night.
A gentle approach to the anchorage, OK let it run. Two metres of chain out and the whole thing jammed solid. all the tugging on the chain budge not an inch more chain from the anchor hawse. Down below the anchor chain locker was opened to reveal the problem. The rusty chain has corroded into several solid bundles. The ships hammer to the rescue to bash away the adhesions . After some very dusty work we had enough chain the enjoy the anchorage. Cleaning out the anchor locker is another story.
But it is new I replaced it before we launched
. My dear friend had enlisted me to help him sail down the river from the boatyard to pick up his mooring. Off we trundled under engine. The water temperature gauge started to climb. Looking at the exhaust there was water being ejected but not much . It must be the impeller, it can’t be I just replaced it. Fortunately one of the club members was motoring past in his launch, and we got a tow to the buoy. I despite protests took off the lid of the water pump. There was a brand new impeller correctly fitted. I asked about the old impeller I was shown and saw that it was minus a few blades. Answer the missing blades were partially blocking the flow from the pump to the engine.
It is going to get worse let’s put up the storm mid on the inner forestay.
Great idea, I will take the sail forward in its bag. The foot strop was easy to shackle to the deck fitting. I was getting wet from the spray and the odd goffer. Then the nightmare nearly every piston Hank was seized. It took an age with the pliers to fit the sail to the stay, by the end of which time I was cold and wet through. Please check the piston hanks on rarely used sails. Know your technology.
It was our first day sailing in the beautiful Whitsunday Islands. Robbie who had invited us for the cruise was excited to show us the best. For the first night we anchored in a narrow inlet between reefs. Quite safe as long as the anchor holds was his goodnight greeting. A bottle of a delicious Austrailin Shiraz aided our slumbers. Next thing I knew Sandie was shaking me, I think the anchor is dragging. It was rapid focusing of the troops Sandie and Robbie to retrieve the anchor, me to the engine and helm and Kathy to communicate between bow and stern. Engine starts first push is running smoothly, and the anchor winch retrieves the hook in no time . I open the throttle, the engine roars to life but the boat does not move. Kathy what the hell is going wrong. Calmly she leans over and adjusts the pitch of the variable pitch propeller, and we are out or the trap. Then occurred one of those moments that make night time sailing so enjoyable, as we rounded the headland there in the sky in all its beauty was the Southern Cross. What a compensation for a disturbed night.
Noel
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Philip Heaton
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Noel, I really enjoyed reading about your "adventures" - an account that we can all relate to if we are honest. As they (whoever "they" are) say, if you have never run agound, you have never been anywhere. The rest of what you recount is written with humour and a touch of fatalism - if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. In October last year, we had managed to get to our boat in Sicily. The previous February we had some engine servicing carried out but unfortunately the mechanic turned out to have a level of incompetence that meant we needed to replace gaskets and o-ring in the injection pump. We had (at huge expense) the work done by a Volvo approved outfit. All was well and the engine was run on each of the three days after the repair to ensure all was OK before we set off for the Egadi islands. All set on the fourth day and the engine would turn over but not start. Phone calls with the company led to a plan to check fuel flow from the tank through to the injectors, in sequence. I had the bright idea of ensuring that the fuel line to the lift pump was clear, so set up my compressed air nozzle and connected to the low pressure outlet of a scuba tank. Spouse was at the other end of the fuel line with a plastic bottle to catch any fuel and crud. Low pressure was not low enough and the fuel blew back all over spouse. Fortunately, all was forgiven but I kept hearing mutterings that "revenge is a dish best eaten cold" .....
Phil
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Noel.Dilly
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Group: Forum Members
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+xNoel, I really enjoyed reading about your "adventures" - an account that we can all relate to if we are honest. As they (whoever "they" are) say, if you have never run agound, you have never been anywhere. The rest of what you recount is written with humour and a touch of fatalism - if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. In October last year, we had managed to get to our boat in Sicily. The previous February we had some engine servicing carried out but unfortunately the mechanic turned out to have a level of incompetence that meant we needed to replace gaskets and o-ring in the injection pump. We had (at huge expense) the work done by a Volvo approved outfit. All was well and the engine was run on each of the three days after the repair to ensure all was OK before we set off for the Egadi islands. All set on the fourth day and the engine would turn over but not start. Phone calls with the company led to a plan to check fuel flow from the tank through to the injectors, in sequence. I had the bright idea of ensuring that the fuel line to the lift pump was clear, so set up my compressed air nozzle and connected to the low pressure outlet of a scuba tank. Spouse was at the other end of the fuel line with a plastic bottle to catch any fuel and crud. Low pressure was not low enough and the fuel blew back all over spouse. Fortunately, all was forgiven but I kept hearing mutterings that "revenge is a dish best eaten cold" ..... Phil Hi Phil, Thank you for your kind remarks. The Egadi islands, fascinating. I hope that you managed a visit to Tripani on the mainland and enjoyed the local food . Ravioli con mandorle e zucchini, was my favourite. The primitivo reds helped. Your engine plight is not uncommon. After retiring I worked one day a week with a local marine engineer. We were forever fixing other “engineers” fixes. My bosses mantra was why didn’t the owners try to do it themselves. They would have learnt much, and probably fixed it. He was especially welcoming to those who had a go. He would say “Well you have saved yourself money by doing the boring bit for me. He was forever selling workshop manuals. He was right of course there is no point in just looking at a dud engine, do something. The prices engineers charge is eye watering. Neglected outboards at the beginning of the season were a gold mine. Seized outboards were my specialty. The bosses technique was hair curling. He would tell the client that it would cost more to take the engine apart and rebuild than to buy a new engine. Then he would say however you are a regular customer, leave the engine on the understanding that I cannot fix it. And as it is it is useless only pay me if I can mend it. Over to me for the “five minute job”- lid off the starter cover ,large socket and handle on the nut that secures the flywheel to the shaft. Remember to remove the plug. Then it was a relatively gentle push on the handle, and the piston was free. Expensive for the client but they had been primed not to have an engine. I asked in the workshop about Dick’s ability to turn over a modern diesel easily by hand. The consensus was that the engine must be decompressed somehow. I turn my engine over during layups simply by not having any fuel in the feed pipes and use the starter motor. The boss engineer recommended an interesting dodge. He suggested a button in the engine compartment that shorted out the solenoid terminals when pushed. The idea being that if inspecting the engine it could turned over without bothering with the ignition switch. I will ask next time how to ensure that the alternator coils are live. don’t miss the Riachi bronzes in Reggio Noel
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Dick
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 932,
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+x+xNoel, I really enjoyed reading about your "adventures" - an account that we can all relate to if we are honest. As they (whoever "they" are) say, if you have never run agound, you have never been anywhere. The rest of what you recount is written with humour and a touch of fatalism - if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. In October last year, we had managed to get to our boat in Sicily. The previous February we had some engine servicing carried out but unfortunately the mechanic turned out to have a level of incompetence that meant we needed to replace gaskets and o-ring in the injection pump. We had (at huge expense) the work done by a Volvo approved outfit. All was well and the engine was run on each of the three days after the repair to ensure all was OK before we set off for the Egadi islands. All set on the fourth day and the engine would turn over but not start. Phone calls with the company led to a plan to check fuel flow from the tank through to the injectors, in sequence. I had the bright idea of ensuring that the fuel line to the lift pump was clear, so set up my compressed air nozzle and connected to the low pressure outlet of a scuba tank. Spouse was at the other end of the fuel line with a plastic bottle to catch any fuel and crud. Low pressure was not low enough and the fuel blew back all over spouse. Fortunately, all was forgiven but I kept hearing mutterings that "revenge is a dish best eaten cold" ..... Phil Hi Phil, Thank you for your kind remarks. The Egadi islands, fascinating. I hope that you managed a visit to Tripani on the mainland and enjoyed the local food . Ravioli con mandorle e zucchini, was my favourite. The primitivo reds helped. Your engine plight is not uncommon. After retiring I worked one day a week with a local marine engineer. We were forever fixing other “engineers” fixes. My bosses mantra was why didn’t the owners try to do it themselves. They would have learnt much, and probably fixed it. He was especially welcoming to those who had a go. He would say “Well you have saved yourself money by doing the boring bit for me. He was forever selling workshop manuals. He was right of course there is no point in just looking at a dud engine, do something. The prices engineers charge is eye watering. Neglected outboards at the beginning of the season were a gold mine. Seized outboards were my specialty. The bosses technique was hair curling. He would tell the client that it would cost more to take the engine apart and rebuild than to buy a new engine. Then he would say however you are a regular customer, leave the engine on the understanding that I cannot fix it. And as it is it is useless only pay me if I can mend it. Over to me for the “five minute job”- lid off the starter cover ,large socket and handle on the nut that secures the flywheel to the shaft. Remember to remove the plug. Then it was a relatively gentle push on the handle, and the piston was free. Expensive for the client but they had been primed not to have an engine. I asked in the workshop about Dick’s ability to turn over a modern diesel easily by hand. The consensus was that the engine must be decompressed somehow. I turn my engine over during layups simply by not having any fuel in the feed pipes and use the starter motor. The boss engineer recommended an interesting dodge. He suggested a button in the engine compartment that shorted out the solenoid terminals when pushed. The idea being that if inspecting the engine it could turned over without bothering with the ignition switch. I will ask next time how to ensure that the alternator coils are live. don’t miss the Riachi bronzes in Reggio Noel Hi Noel, No, no ability to de-compress, although that certainly helps. Older engines often have this ability, sometimes even allowing for hand-starting. Engines, if turned over by hand, are best done in the rotation of the engine. Further, the newer the engine and/or the bigger the engine the more difficult it will be to turn by hand (both add increased compression). Strength is needed and a socket on a breaker bar might be necessary to give enough leverage. One usually feels a little easy motion followed by increased compression. Continue pressure and one might hear air releasing past the piston rings. Modern engines rarely have compression relief, but if they do, then turning the engine over should be a doddle. In leu of that, one might consider pulling a glow plug or an injector, but that is probably going farther than wished unless diesel fuel/lube oil (or the like) is wished to be introduced through the glow plug or injectors. Your boss engineer’s suggestion is interesting. As an aside, in my writing for the Forum, I try to limit myself to actual experience and to areas where I am pretty sure of my facts. That said, I am always open to correction and always open to have suggestions as to nuances and considerations I have missed or given short shrift. In most areas, I have experience, but am far from any expert. I urge, as I have in prior posts, that there be a consultation with a trusted mechanic or with the diesel engine’s manufacturer. I can only speak to general considerations: one’s actual engine situation may have unexpected elements. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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