kingfisher
Well-Known Member
A real life what-now-skipper scenario, I'm afraid.
I usually reside on the other forum (the rag 'n stick bunch), but since this is engine related, I'm posting it here.
We just spent 5 days enjoying the hospitality of St-Kaths and everything that London has to offer. But holidays must come to an end and we set off on wednesday morning with the outgoing tide. We are already 1 hour past the Tidal Barrier as I realise that I had forgotten to check the oil level of the engine. I remove the dip stick and it is completele dry. I ask my wife to turn off the engine, and pass me the oil. I pour in a generous amount of oil (about half a liter, which is half of what a VP2001 takes) and we restart the engine. I check the level, and notice that the oil level is all the way up the stick, waaaay past the marker.
Pheh, this thing drinks oil anyway, so we (I) decide to carry on. 10 minutes later, all of a sudden the engine revs go up. First reaction is, someone bumped the lever. But putting the lever back doesn't do anything, in fact the revs keep going up. Handle to neutral, nothing. Estelle tries to kill the engine by pulling the stop button. NOthing. By now the thing is going full tilt (it is in neutral). I realise that it must be feeding off the oil. The white smoke (closest to a ferrari f1 blowing a gasket I ever came) is billowing behind the boat.
I decide there is nothing much I can do, so Estelle and I take refuge on the front deck, waiting for the engine to die out/run itself to bits/blow up in spectacular fashion. Luckily a motor boat was a few hundred meters a way, and they quickly came to our aid. Not that they could do much, but it was a great feeling, not being there on our own. After about 8 minutes of full revs, the engine slowed down and died. I radioed London VTS, there was a bit of a caffufle to detail our position, but that was quickly resolved.
The good news is that after a bit of cooling, the engine started again, and everything is fine (fuel pump, water pump, alternator). So the only result is a few liters of burnt oil, I'll do an oil and filter change ASAP.
We met our stand-by boat again in Ramsgate, I gladly gave them a bottle of Californian chablis. I would have liked it to be a better present, but it was the best bottle on board.
So: alternate scenarios, solutions, things to check on the boat now? I think I could have blocked off the air intake, but that would have required crawling under the nav table, opening a hatch behind the runaway engine, and blocking the air intake nozzle. Frankly, I prefered the safety of the foredeck.
I usually reside on the other forum (the rag 'n stick bunch), but since this is engine related, I'm posting it here.
We just spent 5 days enjoying the hospitality of St-Kaths and everything that London has to offer. But holidays must come to an end and we set off on wednesday morning with the outgoing tide. We are already 1 hour past the Tidal Barrier as I realise that I had forgotten to check the oil level of the engine. I remove the dip stick and it is completele dry. I ask my wife to turn off the engine, and pass me the oil. I pour in a generous amount of oil (about half a liter, which is half of what a VP2001 takes) and we restart the engine. I check the level, and notice that the oil level is all the way up the stick, waaaay past the marker.
Pheh, this thing drinks oil anyway, so we (I) decide to carry on. 10 minutes later, all of a sudden the engine revs go up. First reaction is, someone bumped the lever. But putting the lever back doesn't do anything, in fact the revs keep going up. Handle to neutral, nothing. Estelle tries to kill the engine by pulling the stop button. NOthing. By now the thing is going full tilt (it is in neutral). I realise that it must be feeding off the oil. The white smoke (closest to a ferrari f1 blowing a gasket I ever came) is billowing behind the boat.
I decide there is nothing much I can do, so Estelle and I take refuge on the front deck, waiting for the engine to die out/run itself to bits/blow up in spectacular fashion. Luckily a motor boat was a few hundred meters a way, and they quickly came to our aid. Not that they could do much, but it was a great feeling, not being there on our own. After about 8 minutes of full revs, the engine slowed down and died. I radioed London VTS, there was a bit of a caffufle to detail our position, but that was quickly resolved.
The good news is that after a bit of cooling, the engine started again, and everything is fine (fuel pump, water pump, alternator). So the only result is a few liters of burnt oil, I'll do an oil and filter change ASAP.
We met our stand-by boat again in Ramsgate, I gladly gave them a bottle of Californian chablis. I would have liked it to be a better present, but it was the best bottle on board.
So: alternate scenarios, solutions, things to check on the boat now? I think I could have blocked off the air intake, but that would have required crawling under the nav table, opening a hatch behind the runaway engine, and blocking the air intake nozzle. Frankly, I prefered the safety of the foredeck.
