Engine breakdown

LadyInBed

LadyInBed

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From the Leaving Lymington thread
On my Dayskipper course years ago we left our berth at Lymington under power and our instructor immediately switched off the engine and said "What are you going to do now?" Answer: Get some sail on and carry on.
Click to expand...
In real life, if your engine packed up immediately after setting off, would you:


  1. Continue with your passage
  2. Return to the pontoon under sail
  3. Drop anchor and fix engine / get a tow into pontoon
  4. Do something else
 
LadyInBed said:
From the Leaving Lymington thread

In real life, if your engine packed up immediately after setting off, would you:


  1. Continue with your passage
  2. Return to the pontoon under sail
  3. Drop anchor and fix engine / get a tow into pontoon
  4. Do something else
Click to expand...

Depends on the circumstances and what you can achieve with what you have available.
 
Depends. You should always have in the back of your mind what you could do if something goes wrong, not just engine failure. This morning I moved our boat a couple of hundred yards for it's winter liftout. Now normally my immediate response to an engine failure would be to unroll the genoa, takes seconds, and the boat sails well under genoa only, but I'd taken it off the furler yesterday. Mainsail was still on, but zipped into stackpack and halyard off. As I was motoring into wind (quite breezy) I decided that if engine died I could probably head downchannel under bare poles with autopilot on while I readied the anchor, then anchor, hoist and reef the main. Of course I didn't have to do any of that but it all went through my head.....
 
Deffo return to pontoon, if possible. It's much less hassle to sort out an engine problem alongside and you can walk to the shop for any spare parts (if you're lucky). You can also go home readily if you need to mail order parts.....
 
From my berth it’s a motoring job to reach clear water with three trots of yachts along the creek,certainly with a following breeze a jib may well solve the problem but every year as I pass through the lines of boats after the winter layup I pray to some form of god that nothing untoward happens,hence the deployed fenders!
 
I have twice sailed into marinas with engine problems, ie without engine. If you know your way it should be possible more often than not, and marinas often have somewhere near the entrance you can approach easily, in fact the outer berth at Cuxhaven is reserved for this. If you get it right you can be sure that there will be nobody around to applaud.
 
The only end I sailed an engineless 27 footer.Attention was paid to everything working properly regarding hoisting sails or deploying the anchour and of course a sculling oar as used to be required by small French yachts Of course I was more active thirty years ago!
 
johnalison said:
I have twice sailed into marinas with engine problems, ie without engine. If you know your way it should be possible more often than not, and marinas often have somewhere near the entrance you can approach easily, in fact the outer berth at Cuxhaven is reserved for this. If you get it right you can be sure that there will be nobody around to applaud.
Click to expand...

Unlike if you get it wrong when there is always an audience and some ghoul videoing it for You Tube!
 
Happened to us a couple of times in the last couple of years (both my fault):

1) Sail on against 2 knot current, short seas and wind for 30 miles over 14 hours into the outer harbour to meet a marina rib with fuel on board for the last mile. Wish we could have dropped down wind and down current just 10 miles to the next harbour but flights home to UK next morning so no choice (except to have planned better 2 days before).
2) Use momentum to get to clear water and drop anchor when almost at the marina - just 200m to go. Go down below and sort out the problem, restart engine and finish the trip after 15 minutes.
 
Sailed into Palamos after an engine failure but it was straightforward. Getting into Empuriabrava involves a double slalom which makes it tricky so plan a would be to set the genoa and/or main and head offshore while I fix the problem or plan b would be drop anchor and fix the problem. Plan C would be to sail in but it would be tricky.
 
I've twice had plastic bags choke the cooling water inlet.
One occasion I sailed on and sorted the problem with lots of searoom offshore, the other I coasted to a vacant mooring to sort it out. I got told 'you can't park there! by the HM, so I got him to tow me to another buoy while I sorted it.
Years ago I was crewing on a racing boat, half the engine was in bits elsewhere, we needed a finish to complete the series. We managed to leave the marina by a mix of sailing and manual force, did the race and blagged a tow home.

What I'd do next time is quite open to judgement on the day. I might sail, but if scrounging a tow avoids the risk of scratching someone else's boat or whatever, then I'm not too proud to ask. I think I've helped enough other people and would do so again.
 
It all depends on the circumstances.
I have returned under sail when engine or propulsion failed while exiting the harbour, drifted onto a convenient berth, twice sailed to a harbour and been helped to a pontoon by a harbourmaster launch, twice sailed to and tied up to a buoy.
Only once did I have to ask for a tow, when the engine failed to start and the harbour entrance was a long and narrow channel with a force 7-8 blowing straight out of it.
 
Both times it's happened so far, the answer in practice was "coast alongside something else on the river, tie up temporarily to fix the problem, then carry on". First time a mis-labelled fuel valve and a spare mid-river pontoon, second time a kinked hose and a moored trawler.

Obviously if the way isn't going to carry us far enough then unrolling a bit of jib is quick and easy. I wouldn't even consider hoisting Ariam's mainsail in these circumstances, because it takes time to put up and take down, needs to be head to wind, and will probably make us go faster than I want to be going in close quarters anyway.

I've anchored as a result of engine failure a couple of times before, but it wouldn't be my first choice on a cluttered river where there's lots of things to foul and conversely to tie up to.

Pete
 
Lower the inflatable dinghy, attach outboard, tie dinghy tight to aft quarter of yacht, motor gently back. Did this several times with my old engine, which regularly packed up (now replaced).

I can get up to 3 kts with a 3.5 HP outboard pushing a 10 ton yacht. Of course, it needs two experienced people, one steering the yacht and one in the dinghy operating the outboard. Also reasonably calm conditions.

I have been considering making a board which can be fitted to the stern in an emergency, to allow the outboard to be attached directly to the back of the yacht.
 
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I have done the reverse - coming into Lymington (then our home berth) with a dead engine - if that's any help! ;).

The motor had failed some days previously in the West Country, on the way back from a trip to Brittany, and (having failed with all the usual 'on board' persuasion) it seemed more practical to get home and sort it out there. The intention was to sail onto any convenient pontoon or buoy (our mooring was unlikely to be feasible), and if need be seek a tow into the marina.

Foolishly, I was helping the First Mate put out fenders, paying insufficient attention to helming, and we ended up on the putty. On a falling tide! Rang marina (we were perhaps 200m from the entrance) but they didn't seem interested, saying the work boat was busy, but might perhaps be available in a couple of hours. I was just recovering from frantically pumping up the inflatable to row out the kedge, when the workboat arrived after all and towed us in.

Once tied up all it took was a scary amount of money for an engineer and an extended stay in a marina almost in spitting distance of our 'own' mooring, and we were back in business.

More generally, I would never normally depart a berth or mooring without the sail covers off, and halyards etc. ready to go.
 
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