Atlantic circuit with a dodgy motor?

[capnsensible]

Have done 2 atlantic circuits with a pre 1977 British Leyland 1.5 diesel. Its certainly a finger crosser (that it starts) but does add an element of adventure.

Problems:

Dirty fuel tank, stirred up on first voyage. Fixed in Guernsey,

Broken starter motor. Fixed in La Coruna.

More dirty fuel, fixed in several West Indian islands, I can change a fuel filter in about the time it takes me to type fuel filter.

Blown exhaust elbow. Fixed temp in Venezuela, jubilee clips, baked bean tin and JB weld. Permanent one manufactured in Antigua.

Dodgy fuel (bug) picked up in Cape Verdes. Tank cleaned by me, in St Lucia.

Blown exhaust muffler 2 days from St Maarten, at start of crossing. 2 days to sail back, 2 hours to fit.

I have made lots of new 'friends'.

Do all routine maintenance meself plus Perla pump.

Have spent years fiddling about with the sea water pump, still drips.

So, would I rather go with a new engine??

Flippin right I would....

 

[capnsensible]

Oh, there was the rocker box gasket blow out off Grenada, too. Local chap made a new one...

 

[KellysEye]

>Well the Purdeys swear by having no engine

We know a number of boats who know the Purdeys. If they hear the Purdeys are due to arrive the will leave an anchorage. they got fed up towing them in. Strange the Purdeys never mention that in their book or articles.

 

[vyv_cox]

>Well the Purdeys swear by having no engine

We know a number of boats who know the Purdeys. If they hear the Purdeys are due to arrive the will leave an anchorage. they got fed up towing them in. Strange the Purdeys never mention that in their book or articles.

An article in YM a few years ago was in similar vein. It described a trip from Portsmouth or maybe Brighton to either Limehouse or St Katherine's on the Thames, in a fairly large engineless yacht skippered by a well-known yachtsman. They suffered several collisions, had to call on various other boats to tow them and finished up doing some damage to the lock gates at their destination. Not impressive.

 

[SHUG]

If smoke is the only problem........Pop into Halfords and get a tin of "Stop Smoke" which goes in the oil. It really works if the problem is just general wear and lasts about 6months.
Here: http://tinyurl.com/cbzubyt

There are other products which may be just as effective.

 

[maby]

If you are prepared for the possibility of an eventual complete engine replacement, fit a set of Cords (http://cordsduaflex.com/whycords.html) - they'll give it a new lease of life at least for a while but if you run it for too long before you get them taken out and have a proper rebore, they will probably wear the cylinders so much that a rebore will become impossible. They are easy to fit - did it a couple of times myself in my youth. If you can drop the sump with the engine in situ, you can probably do it yourself if you are careful and methodical.

 

[Neil_Y]

I'd go along with some of the others (I've been becalmed off the West coast of Spain with imminent storm and swell forecast in December, a reliable engine was very nice to have then, but then we picked up a fishing net!)

I'd also question radar and sat phone probably because I've never used them, reliable weather can be sourced from a cheap ssb receiver and old lap top on route, but in practice in a slow yacht on the atlantic circuit once you have left harbour you can't really avoid what is coming, and learning to read weather from the sky/sea gives you pretty much all the information you need. May be I'm a bit old school but it works for me.

 

[Talmine]

Fix it first. Our old Perkins 4108 gearbox collapsed in Galicia last year on our way to the Canaries. We ended up getting a new Beta 35 shipped out to Vigo, much cheaper than buying anything out there. We had a lot of help from local engineers because jobs that I could have done myself at home were much more difficult without access to a workshop and contacts. We're really pleased with the result but if we'd replaced before we left I'd have saved a lot of money.
Jim

 

[Blueboatman]

OK. Am I right in thinking that Bignick of these fora ( try Scuttlebutt 1st) has I believe just removed the very same, fine working motor from his new boat, to put a smaller unit in. Might be worth a PM?

 

[Tranona]

Think you will find Nick's engine is a Watermota - not the same base engine as an XLD, but based on the 85 bore petrol engine converted to diesel - but worth checking.

 

[SimonJ]

If you do not have a reliable donk it is a constant worry - believe me, I have been there!

Review your planned expenditure as others have said.

Forget Radar - possibly useful until past Portugal but if you keep proper watches and have AIS really not necessary thereafter. I did not use my radar other than to check it still existed more than an hour in 9 years!

Go for a HAM radio (lots of threads on this) + modem, opened up for all freqs rather than a Satellite phone.

Consider getting new sails from the Far East sent to St Martin (easy to arrange) where they not will be taxed. (Getting things imported into other islands can be expensive & slow).

Rigging and rudder need to be in good nick but otherwise spend your pennies on an engine overhaul - help do the job & you will be better prepared!