engine heel angle

[PabloPicasso]

At what angle of heel will a sailing boat's engine no longer run? and what stops it?

 

[Rick_A]

I was always told never to run the engine when sailing heeled over. The oil doesnt sit where it is designed to. Engines are designed to run a certain way up, when heeled over for a length of time the oil will be sitting to one side of the sump, and may be leaving the oil pickup dry.

 

[PabloPicasso]

Yes this I can understand. Would that stop an engine running?

 

[VicS]

Would that stop an engine running?

No but the owner pulling the stop control when the low oil pressure warning light comes on will!

 

[TQA]

Basically the point at which the oil pickup pipe comes out of the oil is the critical factor. At this point you will lose oil pressure and shortly after that the engine will start knocking and sieze.

The angle of heel at which this happens will depend on the engine and possibly the fore and aft angle it is installed at.

I have no data on this but suspect that the point at which this happens will be in excess of 40 degrees heel.

There is one other posible critical factor which might occur before the pickup pipe is exposed. If the crankshaft starts to dip into the oil the resultant splash will almost certainly result in copious blue smoke and increased oil consumption.

So keep your eye on the oil pressure guage.

 

[nimbusgb]

The manual for the Perkins 4-108 discusses running the engine whilst heeled.

They reckon 'the engine can be run at 30 degrees heel without adverse effects provided the boat is righted occasionally to lubricate the valve gear'.

What would stop the engine? Same things that would normally stop a diesel I suppose. Running out of fuel ( fuel pickup out of fuel ), Oil siezure ( low oil so not getting to pump ), heat siezure ( water inlet compromised ) or perhaps some after market device that detects excessive heel and 'pulls the plug'. 2 and 3 may be terminal, the others temporary!

 

[Amulet]

At what angle of heel will a sailing boat's engine no longer run? and what stops it?

I think your manual will tell you - mine does - and mine is a primitive cement mixer engine.

 

[aluijten]

If memory server me right the number for Volvo Penta is 30 degrees. One of the alterations done when a engine is marine-ized is the carter-pan is replaced with a deeper one. This holds more oil and makes the chance that oilpump runs dry smaller.
I tend to agree that running the engine (at high loads) while heeling significantly doen not help to increase the lifespan of your engine. So I try to avoid that.

 

[30boat]

I have the deep sump on my Beta which allows something like 30 degrees of heel.

 

[agurney]

If raw water cooled, also bear in mind where your inlet is. You don't want to be sucking air.

 

[PabloPicasso]

saildrive water inlet so the engine will be low on the priority list by the time its sucking air

 

[TQA]

saildrive water inlet so the engine will be low on the priority list by the time its sucking air

LOL

 

[nickd]

In order to get steady heel of any significance, surely one must have the sails up, if there is then sufficient wind to induce heel why would you need the engine on?

 

[bigwow]

Whats heel?

 

[Lakesailor]

Well it's not heal, which some forumites seem to think.

I, too, am wondering what purpose the engine is serving if you are sailing hard.

 

[VicS]

Well it's not heal, which some forumites seem to think.

I, too, am wondering what purpose the engine is serving if you are sailing hard.

The OP said, "It did occur to me that on a longer passage we might not be able to run the engine to charge the batteries, a potentially serious problem."

 

[Lakesailor]

Slacken the sheets a bit and sail more upright.

I'm surprised the "boats sail more efficiently upright" gang haven't been on this thread yet.

 

[bigwow]

Slacken the sheets a bit and sail more upright.

I'm surprised the "boats sail more efficiently upright" gang haven't been on this thread yet.

But I have, it's not the OP's fault he only has 1/2 a boat!

 

[fireball]

I, too, am wondering what purpose the engine is serving if you are sailing hard.

I'll openly admit to using the engine AND sails for propulsion on more than one longer trip ...

First (notable) time - was my first skipper trip to Cherbourg for the Scuttlebutt meal - iirc it was SW F6 - Motored out to the entrance of Chi Harbour in the pitch black, put reefed main up, unfurled 1/2 genoa and started to sail ....

Checked course over ground - it was ok at ~ 190°, speed was around 4.5 - 5kts - distance to go ~70Nm ....
A little while later, once the sun came up (behind the sodding great big cloud!) our speed hadn't changed, but CoG was now at 160° - hmm Cherbourg was at 200° !!Speed dropped to 4 - 4.5kts in the large waves ... so even if we were heading directly there it would take 15hrs - but we needed to tack as well ... bugger that!

Stick donk on, leave sails up ... CoG = 180° and speed now 5.5 - 6kts - thats better ... The engine helped pointing and kept the boat going through the waves. The sails helped with stability.
We could've just motored direct there - but that would've been less comfortable as the boat would rock both ways - and our speed would've dropped without the additional propulsion of the sails.

Total time was 18 hours door 2 door ... in a (for me) big sea and strong wind - larger boats than mine had pulled out of the trip.

 

[jpd85]

No but the owner pulling the stop control when the low oil pressure warning light comes on will!

Will pulling the stop control damage the engine? Or do you just mean that the owner always just stops the engine once there's an alarm?