Who can hand start their engine?

[Poignard]

Plan B is the sails!

Really? I thought it was:

"Can any vessel, in the vicinity of Portsmouth Harbour, and able to assist a yacht with a broken-down engine, please contact Solent Coastguard?"

 

[Durcott]

I had a boat with a relatively new 3GM motor. I spotted the hand crank shaft, so gave it a go. With the decompression levers in, if I tried really hard, and if it wasn't too cold, I could just about turn it over.

Start it ? - not in a million years.

Jeff

 

[Iliade]

It probably wasn't run-in. After a million years running it should turn over like a frictionless very heavy thing. i.e. You may still have to stand on the cranking handle to get it moving...

 

[jwilson]

if you got two seperate decompression levers - firing up on one only can make things easier. drop the second when things are up and running.

(does this work for three/four cylinder engine too?)

Yes: hand started an old Volvo 25 hp three-cylinder like this a few years ago. Hard graft though.

 

[Wandering Star]

There was a racing sailor out in the wilderness of the Southern Ocean somewhere who inadvertently flattened his batteries so was unable to use his autopilot or transmit position reports. In his desperation he contrived to rig some sort of rope belt between the flywheel of his engine and the boom so that when he intentionally gybed the boat, the pulley/belt system turned the engine flywheel and he did manage to start the engine to recharge his batteries.

I can't remember who it was or the actual facts but I can definitely remember reading of it and admiring the resourcefulness of the sailor.

Cheers, Brian.