Beat this for an inexplicable boat problem…

[VicS]

It is really very simple - YOU HAVE A GHOST -- Most boats have one! it is the ghost that turns on the gas tap after it has definitely been turned off. Ditto sea cocks, ditto door locks, open windows etc..... Ours is called Veronica.

I knew a Veronica once. ............. She was no ghost!

 

[alan_d]

Ball valves are prone to this if slightly worn and subject to vibration; a swap to a valve with a butterfly handle may solve this, or if possible re-orient the valve so the spindle is vertical.

Yes, I would put my money on this. Sixty plus years ago as a schoolboy with no practical experience of boats I went on a family motor-boating holiday on the Norfolk Broads. At some point we ran into a problem with the engine overheating and had to contact the boatyard for assistance. The person who came to fix it quickly spotted that the cooling water inlet valve had shaken itself closed. It was a very freely-turning lever valve, open with the lever in the vertically upward position and under the inflence of vibration and gravity the lever had turned towards the horizontal and shut off the flow. (Nobody had shown us this valve or told us what it did.) The mechanic tightened the valve so that it no longer moved so freely, and we had no further problems.

 

[LittleSister]

Not to mention the well known warp in the space-time continuum on the Orwell.

Is that the warp that snags the prop and stops the engine?

No, it's the one that means if you are up against a deadline, it mysteriously takes 50% longer than usual to get up or down the river.

Conversely, if you make yourself a cup of tea to drink as you make your way home along the river in relaxed fashion, you suddenly yourself back at your berth/mooring with still a full cup of hot tea, and no lines or fenders at the ready.

 

[Stemar]

I knew a Veronica once. ............. She was no ghost!

Me too. Ah, sweet memories

 

[Boater Sam]

I had the same experience. Boat had been run daily for 18 days when suddenly the fuel was turned off. The valve was a fire safety valve which is designed to spring closed when the temperature melts the spindle. In normal use the valve is screwed open.
It decided to screw itself closed.

 

[fredrussell]

Me too. Ah, sweet memories

Mammories?

 

[LadyInBed]

open with the lever in the vertically upward position and under the inflence of vibration and gravity the lever had turned towards the horizontal and shut off the flow.

That was also my thought, but with leaver horizontal - On, and vertically down - Off.