Lies and statistics

[tome]

Whilst waiting for IT support on my work PC I've had a quiet day, posting more than usual on here and looking through my log books now that we've owned the boat for a over a year.

Here's a summary of the first year ownership

Days on board (not counting overnight escapes to marina): 84
Miles travelled by log: 2,021
Sailing only hours: 154
Motor sailing hours: 110
Motor only hours: 113

Sailed her in every month except November when she was briefly out of commission. 6 channel crossings, longest from Lezardrieux to Dartmouth 99.7 miles.

The engine hours surprised me, is all this normal behaviour (including collating the stats)?


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[johnsomerhausen]

What size is she ? You seem to have done 5.4 knots average speed...
john

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[Mirelle]

Do not be alarmed, this behaviour is quite normal and healthy!

Actually, I stopped doing it for some years, but re-started this year after sailing with a friend, who does it very methodically.

The CA has, for twenty years at least, run a special competition based on the statistical analysis of cruising data!

The engine hours are always a shock, I find. I've recently started going out of my way, so to speak, not to motor-sail (as witness a comment overheard at Felixstowe Ferry yesterday as we struggled in against the ebb "Look at that old boat over there - it seems to be stuck!" as we made 2.9 knots, in the wind shadow under Bawdsey Manor, against a 2.8 knot ebb!). I found that habitually motor sailing was making my sailing very sloppy.

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[Chris_Robb]

I agree with you about motor sailing becoming habit forming and making your sailing sloppy. However with SWMBO on board we don't sail to windward as this is far too exiting for her. Actually its a good excuse because we tack through 120 degs so if the destination is directly to windward I am afraid we turn on 70 horses as there are not enough hours in the day to get there without.

we normally average 2500 miles per annum with at least 200 engine hours.

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[tome]

She's 37 feet OA and I reckon on around 6 knots passage making

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[tome]

Hi Mirelle

I was quite shocked by this - if you'd have asked me I'd have said I spend no more than 25% of my time under power. I'm going to make an effort to get this down over the coming year by not being so lazy up the harbour.

Thanks for the reassurance that it's not just me!

Tom

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[GeorgeP]

Motoring

I've heard it said that sailing boats do more engine hours than motor boats. Speculating, this may be because:

1 motor boats burn up more fuel per hour, so owners are more reluctant to start the engines
2 motor boats get where they want more quickly, and then enjoy the time in harbour
3 sailing boats are often on a schedule (crew changes, tidal gates, work on Monday)
4 the other half prefers to go out when the weather is nice, i.e. no wind
5 we get fed up doing 3 knots - not exciting; too long at sea; etc.

I bought a sailing boat because I want to sail. If I want to get somewhere quickly then I take a car/ferry/plane. Having said that I usually do 50-100 engine hours per year because of 3-5 above. If I had more flexibility (e.g. retired) then I think I would do less engine hours.

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[jzaat]

Given the number of motor hours (>200) I was wondering how often you service the engine (change oil, primary-secundary fuel filters, gearbox oil, oil filter, alternator belts, check valves etc)
From the top of my head, my instruction book tells me to do this at least once a year or every 50 hours, with valve adjustements every 200 etc..
Basic question: how strict is everyone in following the rules laid down by the engine manufacturers.

Mine is a Volvo Penta btw


Jeroen

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[jzaat]

Given the number of motor hours (>200) I was wondering how often you service the engine (change oil, primary-secundary fuel filters, gearbox oil, oil filter, alternator belts, check valves etc)
From the top of my head, my instruction book tells me to do this at least once a year or every 50 hours, with valve adjustments every 200 etc..
Basic question: how strict is everyone in following the rules laid down by the engine manufacturers.

Mine is a Volvo Penta btw


Jeroen

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[Jacket]

Good question. My engine doesn't have an hour meter, but as the engine only needs servicing every 100 hours, I did it every winter, thinking it would be fine.

But last summer I kept a note of engine hours out of interest, and was amazed at how quickly all the 15 minutes of getting into and out of berths added up to 100 hours. In the end I serviced the engine twice on a 4 month cruise - and that on a windy summer, when I did very little motoring or motor sailing.

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[tome]

Engine is a VP2030 and the service interval is 100 hours, which I follow. I changed the engine and gearbox oil and filters in Nov 02 and Jul 03. I did the tappets, impellor, fan belt, air filter and fuel filters in Nov and will repeat these at the next service which will be this winter. Fanbelt I regularly inspect and change as required (not had to yet). Also fitted a speedseal after an impellor failure at sea.

The engine is fitted with an hour meter which is useful (essential actually!).

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