capnsensible
Well-Known Member
God is in the detail.
Important engine checks
- Thread starter mariadz
- Start date
Uricanejack
Well-Known Member
May apply to some
I was just contemplating a difference I have observed. Engines don't really interest me. Sure I have some mechanical knowledge and will do some engine work to save a buck if I have to but its not part of my enjoyment. Certainly in my uncles case and the same for some of his palls tinkering with engines was a big part of their pleasure from boating.
I did enjoy working on old cars. As I get older I am less inclined to crawl underneath a car. When I build my nice warm dry garage work shop I may enjoy it again.
My opinion Sailboat engines are just not fun to work on. If I ever can afford to by a sailboat with a nice 6 ft headroom engine room I might change my mind. When my current boat needs an oil and filter change. I hire a 5ft 2 contortionist and I am almost happy to pay him 100 bucks an hour.
Bristolfashion
Well-Known Member
When I'm driving a new hire car around the UK, I don't do any engine checks. However, driving around remote, outback Australia in my Landcruiser, the engine, and other vehicle checks were done every single day. The same reasoning leads me to a quick daily boat check, problems are far more easily dealt with before you leave.
prr
Well-Known Member
No mention of cleaning the salt water intake filter??
Bristolfashion
Well-Known Member
I think you've just mentioned it. I certainly do this at appropriate intervals.
pvb
Well-Known Member
sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
#31
prr
Well-Known Member
I struggle to read sailaboutvics posts ..... i tend to skip posts that dont make sense
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dom
Well-Known Member
Read his signature.
prr
Well-Known Member
I also have this . So this is why I skip them.
Back to the Raw water strainer .. there's so much weed about this year, I've had to clean sometimes 2 or 3 times a trip. I now check after start up and after running.
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sailaboutvic
Well-Known Member
.
that's fair enough .
[70521]
Well-Known Member
The E of WOBBLE covers this as it is water out of the exhaust. If no water is coming out of that then you have a problem with that system and start fault finding. The fault might or might not be in the salt water intake.
GHA
Well-Known Member
The W covers it on my checksheet
For engine cooling water I make a little pencil out of a piece of rolled up kitchen paper, between thumb and forefinger dab it in the open cap for a moment then you can see the water level easy and see if the coolant is anything other than really clean.
So what's the downside of a minute or 2 checking the engine and a quick wipedown added to the pre passage checks that people are getting annoyed about? Seems plenty upsides, know for sure everything is tickity boo, and a nice clean engine with a wipedown little and often.
A1Sailor
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[70521]
Well-Known Member
The W covers it on my checksheet
For engine cooling water I make a little pencil out of a piece of rolled up kitchen paper, between thumb and forefinger dab it in the open cap for a moment then you can see the water level easy and see if the coolant is anything other than really clean.
So what's the downside of a minute or 2 checking the engine and a quick wipedown added to the pre passage checks that people are getting annoyed about? Seems plenty upsides, know for sure everything is tickity boo, and a nice clean engine with a wipedown little and often.
It has been quite an eye opener to see how people have contributed to the thread.
I think I upset pvr by saying that Safety Engineering is different to Health and Safety; while H&S is unpopular it is about protecting people from themselves Safety Engineering is all about component safety within a system. Will this "thingibob" explode in the "whatdoyoucallit" and bring this aircraft/railway system/nuclear power station/other thing that are best not talked about in a open forum down and kill 1 or 10 or 100 or 1000 or 10000000 people?
GHA
Well-Known Member
It has been quite an eye opener to see how people have contributed to the thread.
I think I upset pvr by saying that Safety Engineering is different to Health and Safety; while H&S is unpopular it is about protecting people from themselves Safety Engineering is all about component safety within a system. Will this "thingibob" explode in the "whatdoyoucallit" and bring this aircraft/railway system/nuclear power station/other thing that are best not talked about in a open forum down and kill 1 or 10 or 100 or 1000 or 10000000 people?
Part of it is down to laziness on my part, in the long run it seems actually easier to to do a quick check most passages rather than be standing in the cockpit trying to remember when you last checked the oil and water, was it last week? Or a month ago? What's that barely audible noise which seems new - is the fan belt tight? Some wee loose nut in there? Only takes a moment and one thing to worry about a bit less. Where's the downside??
prr
Well-Known Member
my engine is fairly new, less than 50 hours, so the exhaust will pump water, even with the blocked raw water filter.
On one occasion, full of eyeball sized fish eggs!
I prefer to be more pro active and not to let it block completely. At that point the damage is already done.
prv
Well-Known Member
On Ariam we have an engine log where such things are recorded.
I don't look at the engine daily, though. It's a basic mechanical engine of well-proven modern design, only a few years old, and the ancillaries are all in good order - it just isn't going to spontaneously go wrong while the boat is sitting moored up, and especially not in a gross way detectable by a cursory look-over.
What can suddenly cause trouble out of the blue is fuel quality, for which reason I have a gauge for the filter vacuum mounted in plain sight by the companionway and regularly glance at it as I go past. Do any of the wipers-and-pokers have something similar, and if not, why not?
Pete
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Coz I sail loadsa different boats in the course of an average year. :encouragement:
pvb
Well-Known Member
Fully agree.
After experiencing fuel bug problems on my old boat, I fitted a vacuum gauge, and found it was very useful for giving prior warning of gradual blocking of the fuel filter. I've had my current boat from new, so started with a pristine fuel tank and I've used biocide with every fill since. I also suck fuel up from the bottom of the tank during the winter months (after the boat has been stationary for a week or two) to check for crud, water, etc, and I haven't found any yet, fingers crossed.