Can you bump start a boat?

[Mirelle]

Yes - but what is the tow for? ;-)

It has been done. The late Dr Griffiths used to start Ahwanee's engine this way.

The ingredients seem to be:

Large, heavy, boat

Small, old fashioned diesel engine with manual gearbox and decompressors, and not too much by way of reduction gear.

Good sailing breeze on a broad reach...

I have in fact started Mirelle's engine this way, in a spirit of enquiry, but I have to confess that it only worked with a warm engine and gearbox.

As other people have said, the other trick is to wind a rope round the flywheel, take the other end to the boom, with the main sheeted hard in, lash the boom with a sacrificial line, turn onto a reach, pay out the sheet again, cut the lashing and hope...

I have not tried that one!

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Mirelle on 29/11/2004 13:58 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Graham_Wright]

I've done this!
An Albin 2 cylinder petrol engine with a flat rimmed flywheel.
Block on the boom, three turns of a rope round the flywheel and over the side with the bucket.
Worked at second attempt.
Then discovered I could do the same thing by yanking upwards on the rope.
Could have been interesting if the rope hadn't let go.
But there again, I was young then.

<hr width=100% size=1>GBW

 

[JonA]

Re: Yes - but what is the tow for? ;-)

I have bump started Provident's (ex Brixham sailing trawler) engine, cold, this way when she had a Lister freedom range engine of about 56HP. Had to be sailing at about 8 knots, de-compress, slide gently into gear, wait until engine turning over at a reasonal speed and re- compress.
Jonathan

<hr width=100% size=1>JonA

 

[Mirelle]

Hats off to you, Sir!

Well done!

There we have it - large, heavy, gaff rigged boats can do it - not so the modern stuff!

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?