My holiday was a mixed bag - read on!

[Dave_Snelson]

I'm rather lucky to be here and not posting from the Internet Cafe in the sky!! The first Friday of my holiday saw me set off in my Windy to lay out some turn markers for the yacht races at the start of the Regatta over the bank holiday. The weather was awful with 6-8ft waves in a force 6.

I noticed my petrol guage going down quickly after laying the wing marker, so I left the yotties to it and headed for port 3 miles away. Got back OK. Hydrocarbon alarms started screaming, so I lifted the engine hatch to find 25 galls of petrol all the way up the the engine mountings. Basically, the fuel tank had ruptured, emptying its load into my bilge and I had motored back unwittingly with 2 Volvo 205's merrily churning away. Not nice - could have been blown to bits, along with my 12 year old son who was with me!

I am now in deep discussions with the boats previous owner, the broker and my insurance company, having had the boat only two weeks.

Rest of the holiday was alright though. Good job I hadn't sold my old runabout!

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[martynwhiteley]

Sorry to hear about the problem Dave, but you don't need it to be confirmed about how lucky you are.

Don't let the event spoil your enthusiasm for the Windy.

After you've sorted it, you'll know more about how it all works, and be more confident about it's robustness.

Good to hear the rest of the holiday was sound.



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[lanason]

Scary experiance, probably more so once you were in, Very glad you are all OK.

After that I think that if I have any problems with the engine I'll have a look underneath sooner rather than later.

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian
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[gonfishing]

i would forget the lottery for a while, you have used up the remainder of this years luck!!! That Was Close !!!!


julian

<hr width=100% size=1>man made it ,man can repair it, i think??

 

[Dave_Snelson]

Yes, too close to dwell on. New tank arrives in two weeks, and I'll have the engineers crawl all over the rest for it for good measure!

<hr width=100% size=1>Madoc Yacht Club
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[Dave_Snelson]

Thanks Martyn - actually the boat is excellent to drive. Our first 40 mile cruise (before tank ruptured) was on a calm sunny day where you could see for ever. We went round a small group of islands off the Llyn Peninsular and achored off an old quarry at the end of a long beach. The day was great, memorable in fact!

I always did expect to have to "invest" some money in the Windy - its just that I am now having to do that for technical bits and bobs instead of cosmetics. And thats the way it should be. Once the technicals are sorted, I will move on to new canopies and teak decking and a new co-pilots chair etc etc.

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[MickJ]

Frightening!! So what would be the correct procedure if you had noticed the bilges full of petrol whilst on the water? Switch off the engine, isolate the batteries and render the VHF inoperable? Hope your mobile is working I guess...

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[Dave_Snelson]

Very good point. Actually I have a handheld Silva S12 as VHF back up. The correct procedure, I guess would be to islolate, then anchor to bow, and put out a Pan-Pan.

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[qsiv]

... and then run up flag 'B'....

very nasty indeed.

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[byron]

Phew! Now that is scarey.

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[Greg2]

Nightmare!!
I would be really careful about operating any swithches, even to isolate, as they could spark. Also a bit concerned about using a radio/mobile - the latter shouldn't be used on garage forecourts...!
Get on the bow and wave like mad!

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[ArthurWood]

Dave - you might also want to contact the manufacturer and kick up a stink. Friend of ours had an experience similar to yours for a different reason: he filled up at the marina and after he gone about 1/4 mile noticed he had a trail of petrol behind. The hose had come off the tank and 60 gal of petrol were in the bilge, causing the auto bilge pump to operate. The boat was about 5 yr old, but the manufacturer paid all his costs as it was deemed a manfrng defect because the hose was too short.
Our friend, BTW, chose to return to the marina and then tell them the problem! The place was evacuated by the fire brigade while they lifted the boat (38ft)out and pumped out the petrol.
It just goes to show that peering into the bilge after refuelling is always a good idea.
Anyway, I'm very sorry to hear about your probs after such a short time w/your new toy. I would be really p#$$@d off.

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