Talulah
Well-Known Member
Because in the water you have cooling water running through and no ones head to chop off with a spiining prop on the hard.
Turning engine over in the winter.
- Thread starter tidclacy
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penfold
Well-Known Member
Not much of a hazard compared to the other deathtraps littering the average boatyard!
If the old man forgets to do the last service before it gets lifted out, the engine will need a wee spin to circulate the new oil; it's a toss up which is more deleterious, running for a short time without warming up, wearing out the starter spinning the engine with the decomp on, or handwinding the engine for a couple of minutes and giving myself a coronary. None have much effect compared to being left unused on a damp salty boat for weeks at a time, so I don't worry too much.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Exactly! Thousands of vehicles are laid up for winter, motorhomes, heritage vehicles, race cars, tourist buses, no doubt many more. I have never seen advice to run any of them during the winter and cannot see any way in which running them could be beneficial. Quite the opposite, in fact.
agurney
Well-Known Member
I thought that until a few years ago when I turned the engine by hand in cold weather and broke the impeller; the water pump wasn't completely empty and the contents had frozen.
Avocet
Well-Known Member
Maybe not so much the engine, but on cars, you can get all sorts of problems with sticky brakes and flat spots on the tyres if laid up for a while. My car was in a barn for 5 years with the previous owner assiduously "running it for 10 minutes every week". The result was that I was scooping the mayonnaise out from both heads when I took the cam covers off and the backs of the cam lobes were rusty. The oil absolutely stank of petrol too. I'm firmly of the opinion now, that if the engine can't e run until the OIL (never mind the coolant) is up to normal operating temperature for at least 10 minutes, it's probably better not to run it at all.
Back to this topic, I think there was a similar thread where someone mentioned that turning a typical boat engine over, without it firing, would squirt a small amount of diesel into the cylinder, which might then wash the oil off the bore(s) before dripping past the rings and into the sump to dilute the oil. That seems a reasonably argument for either running a boat engine or leaving it, but not just turning it over.
Jcorstorphine
Well-Known Member
Q1 Why turn the engine over by hand if not in the water?
A1 My engine has a cambelt and I don’t like it in the same position for 6 months, it also moves the Jabsco impeller to a new position so I don’t need to remove it.
Q2 If the boat is in the water, why run the engine at all?
A2 Running the engine in gear and on load will get the engine bay / box nice and hot and drive out some condensation.
Q3 Why run the engine in reverse?
A3 I understand it is nothing to do with the engine but just sweeps lots of water over the hull and perhaps causes a small amount of erosion of the antifouling keeping the boat free from marine growth.
As an aside , about 50 years ago, my father bought a new BMC Veddete (Morris 1000 engine) for his boat and at the end of each season, we removed the plugs and squirted some oil into the bores. Put the plugs back in and every time we came down to the boat during the winter we would turn it over by hand. Was always a bit smoky for the first few mins in the spring but we felt that kept the engine in good condition.
A1 My engine has a cambelt and I don’t like it in the same position for 6 months, it also moves the Jabsco impeller to a new position so I don’t need to remove it.
Q2 If the boat is in the water, why run the engine at all?
A2 Running the engine in gear and on load will get the engine bay / box nice and hot and drive out some condensation.
Q3 Why run the engine in reverse?
A3 I understand it is nothing to do with the engine but just sweeps lots of water over the hull and perhaps causes a small amount of erosion of the antifouling keeping the boat free from marine growth.
As an aside , about 50 years ago, my father bought a new BMC Veddete (Morris 1000 engine) for his boat and at the end of each season, we removed the plugs and squirted some oil into the bores. Put the plugs back in and every time we came down to the boat during the winter we would turn it over by hand. Was always a bit smoky for the first few mins in the spring but we felt that kept the engine in good condition.
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gordmac
Well-Known Member
If your boat is in the water why not cast of and take it for a run every few weeks? That is what I do.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
+1. This laying up malarky just seems to get more and more complex. Most things like regular use, and going for an outing on a nice day seems the best way of keeping things in good condition
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
I agree with the " don't run it camp"
If the engine is left for while the oil will slowly drain away so when started there will be a few minutes where the oil warms up & oil pressure is not sufficient to get a good circulation. This time in an engine's life is one where most wear occurs ( relative to time run)
So repeating this constantly just agravates the problem
Re turning over by hand- modern belts do not suffer from memory fatigue as older belts may have done so not needed.
The impellor may suffer but it is best to remove it over layup. If left in & the engine run there will be a time at the start where it could run dry until primed. Another reason not to do short runs.
Leaving the engine full of water leaves it open to frost damage
If the engine is left for while the oil will slowly drain away so when started there will be a few minutes where the oil warms up & oil pressure is not sufficient to get a good circulation. This time in an engine's life is one where most wear occurs ( relative to time run)
So repeating this constantly just agravates the problem
Re turning over by hand- modern belts do not suffer from memory fatigue as older belts may have done so not needed.
The impellor may suffer but it is best to remove it over layup. If left in & the engine run there will be a time at the start where it could run dry until primed. Another reason not to do short runs.
Leaving the engine full of water leaves it open to frost damage
NornaBiron
Well-Known Member
We run ours once every two weeks just to keep everything moving, oiled and dry. We have no need for water cooling, air cooled is far less hassle.
