An aplogy to all Stuart owners

OH BOY!! you is just an accident waiting to happen!

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People are right to point out that lan-mowers, generators, cars and outboards all tend to be petrol engine. But don't forget how/where they are used. Petrol vapour is heavier than air so will tend to accumulate as an explosive mixture in the bilges. Wheras, if your car leaks petrol the vapour just flows out underneath and dissipates so it's too dilute to present a hazzard. Same usually applies to generators and mowers. Also, your outboard is hung off the transom so vapour cannot usually build up. The tank and fuel pipe are designed not to leak vapour, although there is a risk of accident, or more likely spill. This is why the boat safety scheme specifies the shape and location of the filler (among other things).
 
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Thatch roofs are less likely to catch fire than tile, but will burn better if they do.

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I am curious to know how tile is easier to ignite than thatch?

Do you perhaps mean that fires are more common in houses with tiled roofs than thatched ones?
Hardly surprising as they are hundreds of times more numerous.
 
Funny how this seemingly innocuous little thread has engendered some rather grumpy, not to say smart ass replies? Wassa marra wiv yas? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Yeah, right Smiffy.
Perhaps we can discuss gas cookers on GRP boats too.
Heavier than air don't y know, nasty stuff gas.
Me? I use paraffin.
And a petrol engine.
And a diesel heater.
And a wooden boat.
Might as well shoot m'self now what!

Lets face it, going out on the water is a very dodgy thing to do.
More accidents happen in the home though. so perhaps sitting in the garden...?
Die of hypothermia then.
Just can't win...

Ron
 
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I think the problem is that these days especially, people tend to think that an engine should just start and do what it's supposed to do, without any input from them, apart from turning the key that is!


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...but... but... thats what most of us do every time we go out in the car. So why should a boat engine be different?
 
I had a stuart once but it dragged so I replaced it with a mushroom anchor /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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I think the problem is that these days especially, people tend to think that an engine should just start and do what it's supposed to do, without any input from them, apart from turning the key that is!


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...but... but... thats what most of us do every time we go out in the car. So why should a boat engine be different?

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Exactly! that is what I was getting at, but a Stuart Turner is not a modern car is it, I mean they wanna ponce abart in classic / vintage boaties, but they dun wanna ponce abart wiv a classic / vintage engine.......strange breed yotties! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I suppose it's all about the image? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Ya know...........

Swab me mainbrace! and Trim me Futtocks! ah-ah me 'earties!

Oh 15 men on Dolly Parton's chest! Yo-Ho-Ho and a bottle of Gin! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Hi Chas.
Don't stop you WILL get the better of em. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
I reworked a 1930s Stuart in an EX Royal Yacht Squadron Tender for a friend about 8 years ago and I understand it is still going strong. I know he gives it lots of TLC. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Cheers David. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
I aint trying to get the better of anybody David, I just don't understand the mentallity of some yotties is all? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

A couple of years ago, I went to look at a Deben 4 tonner, she was lovely in every respect, well needed minor titivation, but when I looked in the engine space!!!!! I couldn't believe it. What was once a nice wee Stuart, was just a mass of rust, now this bloke had had this boat for many years so I knew it was down to him, so I said to him, why is the engine in such a state? Oh, I have no interest in engines says he, so what do you do for an auxilery then says I, (there was no outboard to be seen although there was a bracket on the stern), well I have a Yamaha 5 hp outboard, but I am not selling that with the boat says he.

He wanted top dollar for the boat mind you, and wouldn't budge, so I didn't buy it.

here's another one for ya, There is a little Deben Cherub for sale on the net, last one built, number 17, now it has been for sale for ages, and the bloke says in his advert that it has a leak at one of the garboard planks, the rest of the boat wants a whole heap of restoration as well, but he wants 2500 sovs for it! Now why don't he fix the leak? and tidy her up a bit, then ask a bit more of a reasonable price for her, then I reckon she would sell?
 
I have detected over time a penchant for many to denigrate not only trusty old ST's but also the venerable Seagull.

I have also found through diligent interogation that the most vociferous of the detractors are strangely usually numbered amongst the serried ranks of the great unwashed who have never actually owned either. Strange ain't it?

Perhaps we should conduct a poll as to who has has ever been a proud owner of ST's and their unique experience and insights if they ever bothered to look after them.

Also I would be interested to be put straight by those that clearly know as to why our TransAtlantic cousins are so stupid as to keep using petrol engines in many of their boats when according to this thread they must be heading skyward at a rapid rate of knots. Do we know something they don't.

By the way if anyone bothers to look at the boat safety scheme they will discover how to use petrol properly with an inboard to avoid leaks and backfires etc. but then it's perhaps too easy just to follow sensible guidelines.
 
I would like to look at those guidelines, where would I find them please? (not admitting though, that I might have any concerns over the safety of my petrol engine, just checking....) /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
Oh, I have owned a fair number of these antiquated beasties over the years, mainly in my misspent yoof, and I have the bad elbow and shoulder from trying to start the darned fings, so nowadays have to have an engine which starts 'properly' in my boat*. I also attribute much of my baldness to the bad manners of these engines over years of bad moments. (Like the non starting Stuart in the entrance to Portsmouth with Ark Royal inbound....)

*My current boat engine is a Petrol Albin from the mid 60s, and it starts and runs at the turn of the key just like a car engine, with the exception of turning the fuel off to keep it out of the bilges when not needed. Why could the British not build an engine like that? It has got a hand starting handle - which appears to be unused!
 
The Boat Safety Scheme can be found here www.boatsafetyscheme.com and the whole thing is available for download. Chapter 2 deals with fuel systems and fixed inboards. It covers things like flame arresting gauze for carbs, drip trays for petrol engines, filling arrangements and types and runs of fuel lines and how they should be constructed.

I wouldn't say I comply totally but where I can I am. Petrol, like guns is not in itself dangerous - 'tis the people wot uses 'em.
 
Thank you, I shall check them out, I know I dont have gauze or a drip tray, so I might have a few changes to make. Is there a difference safety wise between the 2 stroke and the 4 stroke?
 
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