One of those days!

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Paul&Ness

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So today, being the lovely day that it was, we departed our mooring on the river Itchen and headed out towards Hurst Castle thinking that we would enjoy watching the Fastnet boats go by. We anchored in Colwell Bay just off The Hut and started tucking into our lovely fish curry SWMBO had lovingly prepared earlier. Whilst eating lunch I thought that I could smell deisel... opening up the engine bay to find a fine mist of diesel spraying from the Stb Eng. I quickly shut down the engine, no more spraying fuel! Decided that the Port engine could stay on for our trip home. I headed up onto the flybridge to inform the guy's that we were going to head straight back to the Itchen, on one engine and at much reduced speed. SWMBO goes down to the foredeck to be a pair of eyes while raising the anchor. As the anchor comes into view SWMBO calls a halt and says theres a cable fouled on the anchor or is the anchor is fouled by a cable! Anyway, we seek the assistance of a passing RIB and they tell us we have a cable fouling the anchor, at least the problem was confirmed :) Kindly they help SWMBO pass a rope around the cable so that anchor and be lowered whilst holding the cable thereby freeing from our predicament. Being fairly new boat owners the prospect of a passage from Colwell Bay back to the Itchen on one engine against the flow of the Fastnet Fleet was a little daunting. It didn't take long to get the boat on a straight course doing about 6 knots. About 20 minutes into the journey we encountered the oncoming fleet making slow progress West. Rather amazingly we managed to picked our way through the fleet without trouble, and believe me I had anticipated it being a bit of a bun fight out there with race boats tacking etc. To cut a long slow passage short we made it back to the river and onto our birth without any dramas. Fortunately we still had the Port engine running so I could get the boat in Stb Side to the pontoon if it had been the Stb engine running we wouldn't have made it on to the mooring! Not too sure how I would have manoeuvred the boat in order to reverse it into the mooring with just the one engine. I readily accept that I am still learning the finer skills of manoeuvring a 36ft boat in the confines of the marina :) so really thankful all went well.

All I have to do now is find out exactly where the fuel leak is coming from, fix it and get rid of that foul smell that now fills the boat. A search on here just now indicated that 'Toilet Duck' was a good remedy for the fuel smell and even cat odour spray... So that my day, how was yours :encouragement:
 
Situation normal, I would have said.

Look at the plus side:

Nice lunch
Watched the Fastnet fleet at close quarters
Got back safely
Didn't plunge the Isle of Wight into darkness

Against which a bit of spannering and cleaning needs to be done.

:D
 
Since buying the boat earlier in the year we have had 12 excellent trips out on the Solent and all pretty uneventful so to have a day like today kind of brings it home to me that it's not all plain sailing, albeit it's a motorboat :) Yes, spannering and cleaning and we'll be all set for next weekend...
 
Glad to hear you managed back safely, I've had a couple of similar experiences over the years and had to return under one engine (thankful we had 2). All part of the learning curve which can be a bit stressful but this eases through time, each one of these episodes prepares you better for any challenges in the future.
 
Tough day, but at least you got home in 1 piece. If fine diesel mist, this would indicate fuel under pressure, so likely to be a fuel pipe to an injector.
 
Bojangles said:
Glad to hear you managed back safely, I've had a couple of similar experiences over the years and had to return under one engine (thankful we had 2). All part of the learning curve which can be a bit stressful but this eases through time, each one of these episodes prepares you better for any challenges in the future.
Click to expand...

Totally agree... all part of the boating experience. I didn't get too stressed at all really, must be down to my military training :) Quickly assessed the situation, realised no imminent danger, amended the initial plan and executed the revised plan! All being well I'll able to get to the boat tomorrow to locate the source of the problem and fix it :)
 
The mist was coming from the top of the engine and yes there is a fuel pipe there. Just hoping that I can either fix it, if it's a loose injector or get a replacement part if needed. Hoping to out on the water for the Bournemouth Air Show :)
 
Paul&Ness said:
and even cat odour spray...
Click to expand...

not "even" -this is your solution. It doesn't mask it, it eliminates it. Works on holding tank leaks too.

I had 2" diesel in the aft cabin once. Tank went. It got rid of the smell.

ps you probably couldn't reverse in on 1 engine, esp if shaft drive. Stick it on the hammerhead and get a tow in - no shame in that at all.
 
Thanks Elessar, I'll be straight round to Pets @ Home tomorrow morning then :)
As we were making our rather slow passage up the Solent and along Southampton Water I was visualising the procedure in my mind so I knew I could get in onto my mooring but it was a one shot affair. I did slow right down at one point in Southampton water and practice to see what manoeuvrability I had. Leaving it on the most accessible, empty, mooring was the backup plan. Very grateful for having two engines on shafts though :)
 
Had some time Monday so managed to clean most of the mess up. Still some fuel in the bilge water so working on that later in the week. Covered the top of the engine in blue paper roll and turned the engine over to find the exact area of the leak. As mentioned in the initial post I saw a fine mist of fuel so had an idea but needed to be sure, the blue paper roll worked great. Visual inspection of the Injector and fuel pipe shows no obvious damage so I have arranged for Simon from VASI to come and have a look on Thursday. Whilst cleaning fuel spill I noticed that the stern gland on the Stb engine was dripping more than it should have been, luckily it's a stuffing box type gland so managed to reduce the drip to an acceptable level by nipping the nuts up about 1/16th. The cat urine/odour spray worked really well. After wiping up the mess and cleaning with degreasant I sprayed the starboard side of the engine compartment with cat urine/odour spray and today... no smell of diesel. Hopefully we'll be back out on the water at the weekend for a trip to see the Bournemouth Air Show :)
 
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Simon from VASI paid a visit today to investigate the full leak we experienced last weekend. I had already narrowed the search down to one particular injector/pipe connection. So basically the fuel return pipe had fractured at the weld and although it probably could be repaired I decided to order the new part which is the whole fuel return line! Hopefully it will all be fixed by the end of next week :)
 
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