The joys of delivery!

Re: you missed out some bits.

The best way to lessen your chances of getting diesel bug is to try to prevent it in the first place. Most bugs will only thrive in the presence of water so if you can keep your tanks free of water you should be able to stay bug free. To this end, keep your tanks as full as possible to stop them 'sweating' especially in winter, ensure water cannot get in when taking on fuel and take fuel from suppliers who have a large turnover as they are less likely to have water in their tanks. At the end of the day though, if you get a bad infestation the only lasting solution is to thoroughly clean the entire system from tank to engine and then dose with biocide to kill any remaining nasties.
 
Re: you missed out some bits.

Reading these posts it seems that boat builders should be pressured into providing low level drains on tanks now they fit riser pipe type outlets. This would at least help reduce the problem so long as the drains were at the lowest edge, Even if giving the boat a wee list to get as much out as possible.

This is a statutary requirement in the design of fuel tanks for commercial ships so why is it ignored in our market especially in mobos consuming quite large amounts of fuel. Yes the drained fuel has to be disposed of but marinas are supposed to have provision for this too under the latest garbage regulations.

I have noted in many posts around the web that dutch boats and their american cousins frequently fit polishing units on their boats which are run from time to time. I would certainly rig up a polishing unit and low level drain if operating a mobo offshore.
 
Solitaire.. I was going to ask whether you charge by the day or the mile. You sound like a good operator, not that easy to find!

Do you need to have a commercial qualification for deliveries, and if so, can you only operate vessels within the ticketed parimeters?

Some one mentioned the diesel bug used to more evident, but less so, now. Over here it appears more active in tropical regions.

Bilgediver seems to have a sound understanding on the subject.
 
Re: you missed out some bits.

Glad you are both safe and well, did'nt think leaving Dover for the next leg would work looking at those filters theres much more to come.

Did you ask the owner / dealer when the filters had last been changed before leaving? if they had said twas a long time ago I would have carried many a spare.

Fancy David making you get down and dirty Jules, no genteman is e' :~)

Do let us know how the next leg goes.
 
Re: you missed out some bits.

Clive, we did ask the question and were told that an engineering company had checked the boat through. So in so far as we could we checked. As to getting Jules to do the filters - she loves it, she adores doing all that stuff. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Solitaire.. I was going to ask whether you charge by the day or the mile. You sound like a good operator, not that easy to find!

[/ QUOTE ]

We charge by the day + expenses and travel.

[ QUOTE ]
Do you need to have a commercial qualification for deliveries, and if so, can you only operate vessels within the ticketed parimeters?

[/ QUOTE ]

We insist that all skippers are CE Yachtmasters, crew qualifications will depend on the type of journey. Delivery trips like this one would have had a crew to at least Coastal skipper level. In this case both of us are YM's so we can effectively operate up to 150 miles from a safe haven. If we had less qualified crew then that reduces to 60 miles.
 
Very interesting and informative - well done indeed for taking such sensible action, it demonstrates a high level of competance and assists us with lesser experience to make the correct decisions when facing similar problems in the future.

I do hope the owner really appreciates the quality of the professional service they received - Definately a bonus is in order, for saving them and their boat! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Not trying to be a smarty pants, as you can never explain the full scenario in a short post on the internet, but i'm genuinely interested in why you made the decision to go again on the Friday, when the revs were down even after the filter change, you had no more spare filters, it was highly likely that the filters would block again given the amount of gunk in the fuel, and also the viz was down to 1 or 2 cables, the radar was playing up, and it would soon be dark?

For sure it was a sensible decision to turn round, would it have been an even more sensible one not to set out a second time?
 
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Definately a bonus is in order, for saving them and their boat! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

We did in fact receive an email from the owner on Saturday morning after I sent them a full report of the situation.

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Thanks for your report, we are very grateful for you good care.

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[ QUOTE ]
Not trying to be a smarty pants, as you can never explain the full scenario in a short post on the internet,

[/ QUOTE ]

We did in fact have a spare set (1) of filters - we would have liked more. By the time we finally took the decision the viz had improved and we also opted for a route that would take us further north to avoid the TSS.

I can assure you that it did not take us long to work out we weren't going the second time. we had weighed up all the options and in fact were going to drain down the primary filters before going across. Also we had spent some time in consultation with Nick Eales at SeaStart regarding various mechanical options - I even went and bought 2 fuel cans to top up with diesel so we could top the filters up if we had to change them while under way.

As I said in an earlier post, that we need to do things that the average leisure boater would never do. All our risks are assessed and calculated. For example, the owners would like their boat in Holland by Easter weekend - here's a challenge for you. Take a look at the weather this week and given it's 165 nms what would you do?
 
Re: you missed out some bits.

Clive, he did go down and have a look a couple of times,he was a good fetcher of things when asked /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif but I enjoy doing the bits I can and a bit of oil or diesel is not a problem although I alway seen to get covered in the stuff /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Re: you missed out some bits.

I alway seen to get covered in the stuff

you and me the same, yet Phil comes up smelling of roses, seems to say spotless dont know how he does it.
 
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