Col fixed this in 5 mins. How?

[Elessar]

Port engine using 10% more fuel, more lazy at the top end and leaving more soot on the transom.

He fixed it en route to seeing the lancaster at lee on solent last night. He didn't need his overalls.

What did he do?

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

Port engine using 10% more fuel, more lazy at the top end and leaving more soot on the transom.

He fixed it en route to seeing the lancaster at lee on solent last night. He didn't need his overalls.

What did he do?

Took off the air filter ?

 

[sarabande]

took one of Roger R's cushions out of the air inlet on the port side ?

 

[Elessar]

Took off the air filter ?

Good answer but no.

 

[Elessar]

took one of Roger R's cushions out of the air inlet on the port side ?

 

[Murv]

Cleaned a boost compensation valve tube? replaced an air filter? tuned the fueling down?

Am I allowed three guesses?!

 

[Elessar]

Cleaned a boost compensation valve tube? replaced an air filter? tuned the fueling down?

Am I allowed three guesses?!

Yes. All good guesses. All wrong.

 

[jfm]

I don't know what "more lazy at top end" means but I wonder if you had duff tachos and were taking more power out of the port engine ie it was running 100rpm higher but you didn't know. He checked with a reference tacho/strobe light or whatever

 

[burgundyben]

Cleared rubbish off the prop?

 

[Elessar]

I don't know what "more lazy at top end" means but I wonder if you had duff tachos and were taking more power out of the port engine ie it was running 100rpm higher but you didn't know. He checked with a reference tacho/strobe light or whatever

And JFM wins a virtual scatter cushion

 

[SpottyDog5]

Untied you from the pontoon ?

 

[Elessar]

Untied you from the pontoon ?

Haha but keep up JFM has already got it right!

 

[SpottyDog5]

Haha but keep up JFM has already got it right!

I knew that, but it made me smile when I thought of it.

 

[jfm]

And JFM wins a virtual scatter cushion

Haha! Possibly the thing I least need

Tachos are pretty rubbish. My engines are all electronic and synched by computer, and the digital gauges show this precisely, but when I look at the analogue tachos they show 100rpm different readings. Useless made in china junk rebranded by Cat, I suppose.

But if you do not have electronic synching, your ONLY way to synch is to feel it thru your pants or rely on the analogue tachos. So it must be common to be 100rpm out of synch

Anyway it's nice to know there is nothing wrong with your engines and that you just need to bend one of your tacho needles

 

[BartW]

the old tacho gauches on my boat are totally unreliable, even after recalibrating,
I alway's sync them by "ear"
after this tip from MapisM on this parish, I'm obsessed to have them alway's perfectly sync
every now and then I check with a strobe RPM meter on the engine's, to check how far I'm off from my optimum crusing speed (2000RPM)

 

[Elessar]

Haha! Possibly the thing I least need

Tachos are pretty rubbish. My engines are all electronic and synched by computer, and the digital gauges show this precisely, but when I look at the analogue tachos they show 100rpm different readings. Useless made in china junk rebranded by Cat, I suppose.

But if you do not have electronic synching, your ONLY way to synch is to feel it thru your pants or rely on the analogue tachos. So it must be common to be 100rpm out of synch

Anyway it's nice to know there is nothing wrong with your engines and that you just need to bend one of your tacho needles

Yeah, I'm amazed i didn't feel the difference, I am normally mechanically empathetic.
Considering retrofitting electronic controls with a sync feature, but until then will just bend a needle as you say.

 

[Murv]

I should've known that, only checked mine last week and found it 300rpm out at full throttle!
Still, I only have a single engine, so nothing to compare it against. That's my excuse anyway!

 

[Hurricane]

My engines synchronise electronically but it is a little disconcerting until you have got to know the system.
Maybe it is the same with others
But in order to synchronise ours, I have to press a button and then drop one of the levers into neutral within 2 seconds.
Both engines then run off one throttle lever.

There is a further complication - we can switch the helm position on the fly - without coming off the plane.
The technique is to go to the new helm position and select both levers to neutral
Then press the command button and then mimic the new position's levers with the same as the old positions levers.
When the levers are the same on the new position as the old position, the command will transfer.
Believe me, it is very easy to think you have control but, in fact, the other position is actually in control.
Several times, I have approached a destination, I've reduced power and nothing happened!!! - the other helm had control.

 

[jfm]

My engines synchronise electronically but it is a little disconcerting until you have got to know the system.
Maybe it is the same with others
But in order to synchronise ours, I have to press a button and then drop one of the levers into neutral within 2 seconds.
Both engines then run off one throttle lever.

There is a further complication - we can switch the helm position on the fly - without coming off the plane.
The technique is to go to the new helm position and select both levers to neutral
Then press the command button and then mimic the new position's levers with the same as the old positions levers.
When the levers are the same on the new position as the old position, the command will transfer.
Believe me, it is very easy to think you have control but, in fact, the other position is actually in control.
Several times, I have approached a destination, I've reduced power and nothing happened!!! - the other helm had control.

Hurricane, I don't know your boat as well as you do obviously but you might be mixing up one-lever operation with rpm synching. They're different things. What you describe in your first para is one-lever operation, and of course then the two engines are synched. But even if you operate the "old fashioned way" with two levers, the engines probably synch automatically once above about 1200rpm and once the computer sees the 2 levers in almost the same position

My boat is similar and allows single lever plus autosynching as 2 separate features. I also have hot-swapping, but I have LEDs confirming whether the station I'm at has command or not. I have another function whereby both engines can run off one engine's ECU, in the event of failure of one ECU. I can choose which of the two ECUs drives both engines. The working ECU reads the inputs from its own engine but sends its outputs to the fuel systems of both engines. It's an emergency get-you-home device only, of course. Fortunately Fairline hide the switching for this out of the way and many owners might not have it or even know it is there

 

[Hurricane]

Hurricane, I don't know your boat as well as you do obviously but you might be mixing up one-lever operation with rpm synching. They're different things. What you describe in your first para is one-lever operation, and of course then the two engines are synched. But even if you operate the "old fashioned way" with two levers, the engines probably synch automatically once above about 1200rpm and once the computer sees the 2 levers in almost the same position

My boat is similar and allows single lever plus autosynching as 2 separate features. I also have hot-swapping, but I have LEDs confirming whether the station I'm at has command or not. I have another function whereby both engines can run off one engine's ECU, in the event of failure of one ECU. I can choose which of the two ECUs drives both engines. The working ECU reads the inputs from its own engine but sends its outputs to the fuel systems of both engines. It's an emergency get-you-home device only, of course. Fortunately Fairline hide the switching for this out of the way and many owners might not have it or even know it is there

Well - there's a thing!!
You are probably correct
I've always thought that I was synchronising the engines by controlling from one lever - I'll have a look sometime - the button does say "sync" but that might just because it is a standard micro commander.

Any YES - hot swapping - there is a little LED on the micro commander but it is easy to miss seeing it is off when it should be on.

Interesting about the ECUs
As far as I'm concerned, they are just big boxes on the wall of the engine room - I've never had to look inside.
The only time I've played with them is just after my engine course - when MTU said that you can crank the engines without starting them by pressing the start and stop button at the same time.
Whenever I tried, the engine started!!
This is so that you can prime the raw water cooling system - I've never let my system drain out so maybe that experience is yet to happen.