WNS (What Now Skip?) July

[timbartlett]

WNS is changing.

I can't tell you too much, because if I did I'd have to shoot you. And I don't have the time, the inclination, or the equipment for mass murder.

But what I can say is that it is going to move away from the shipwreck and disaster scenarios, and try to deal more with life's little embuggerances and the solutions you have found for dealing with them.

By way of a transition, try this one (a new-style problem, in the old-style format):-

Our hero has finally fought his way to the front of the queue at the fuel berth, and has nearly finished filling his tank with liquid gold -- sorry, Diesel -- when it suddenly froths up and out of the filler. It's not a huge amount -- maybe a pint or two -- but it is now trickling across his side decks. Some of it is heading for the teak steps down to his cockpit, and some is heading for a gap in his toe-rail, ready to go over the side.

To add to his problem, the harbourmaster's launch is only a hundred yards away, and heading his way.

What Now Skip? And How could he have stopped it happening?

As usual, please bear in mind that:
* The idea is to offer a nautical puzzle, which experienced skippers will (hopefully) find interesting or entertaining, from which the less experienced may be able to learn something, and from which we can all pick up ideas.
* The WNS skipper is a fictional character. Any resemblance to a real individual is purely accidental, except that he occasionally makes mistakes, and he is not able to make time run backwards. So having got into a situation, he can't get out of it by wishing that he had done something different.
* WNS is not a competition to see who can match some hidden but predetermined solution. Of course I have an answer in mind (you wouldn't like it if I gave you an impossible situation, would you?) But mine may not be the best or only answer.
* If you think I've missed something or given confusing information please ask for clarification.
* Attributed extracts from selected posts will appear in the next issue of MBY.

 

[Major Catastrophe]

Take a leaf out of your book and shoot the HM.

 

[Nick_H]

Might be worth moving people to opposite side of the boat so the filler opening is higher. Other than that get rags or kitchen towel and mop up best as you can. Tell the fuel guy as they sometimes have dispersant spray.

He shoulda:

Worked out roughly how much fuel he'd need, then slowed the pump down as he got close
Left the ignition on so the fuel guage worked (I know you're not supposed to but I always do). Remember that there is sometimes a lag on the gauge as you fill.
Listened for the noise to change (goes higher pitch), as the fuel neared the top of the tank and started to fill the filler tube itself
Kept some kitchen towel handy in case it overflowed

 

[fireball]

Wot he said .... ^^^


Oh - and this is a problem that we almost always have if we're not careful - and is due to trying to fill the tank too quickly - hence we always have kitchen roll or rag available. Oh - and the fuel berth usually has a garden sprayer with some sort of special liquid in to squirt over spills ...

Avoid the spill to start with - know how much fuel you need or keep an eye on the (calibrated) guages ...
Rocket Science? No ... not me ..

 

[chrisharris]

Adjust the 60/40 split to allow for the bit that is clearly not going to be used for propulsion?

 

[jhr]

One of the advantages of having a small sports boat like mine is that you can lift up a section of cockpit flooring and see the opaque heavy-duty plastic fuel tank beneath, with a slight dip in the top. When the dip starts to look darker, the fuel has reached it, your tank is amost full and you should ease your grip on the pump

You could try spraying washing up liquid on the spill - it will make the pollution even worse but will get rid of the Torrey Canyon-sized oil slick caused by your cack-handedness, and prevent the officious, domineering Nazi of a Civil Servant Bureaucrat (© T. Bartlett) from reading you the riot act

 

[timbartlett]

Bear with me, guys!

This is the first one of these, so please bear with me if I'm not used to writing the new style!

The problem is that the diesel has already frothed, and he has (at least) four distinct hazards to deal with:-
...Safety hazard of slippery diesel on GRP side decks
...Wealth hazard of diesel on teak
...Environmental hazard of diesel in water
...and possibly another wealth hazard of a fine for polluting the harbour.

There may be others.
So I'm hoping to be able to spread the word of your tips for (for example) cleaning diesel from teak.

I know it's not rocket science ... but at least it doesn't involve rope. (Not this month, anyway! )

 

[gjgm]

Well, mop it up...sounds like you have found a use for all those discarded bikini tops.
The fuel berth will have a detergent spray for the harbour , and the lovelies can jump about, so distracting the harbour master.

 

[MapisM]

It's not a huge amount -- maybe a pint or two

Not a lot to add to what N_H already said, 'cept that any liquid dish detergent works as nicely as the dispersant spray the fuel guy might have (or not). It's worth keeping some of it in a spray bottle, so that it can be conveniently used for what it's meant in the first place, and also as a dispersant when necessary.
Works also for teak cleaning, btw. Though if there's teak around, it's worth washing it with some water BEFORE refuelling, just in case. This way, any diesel spill wouldn't be absorbed immediately.

But I'm a bit puzzled by your idea of what's "not a huge amount".
Try throwing two pints of diesel in the water, and the HM could as well spot it without approaching further...!

 

[timbartlett]

But I'm a bit puzzled by your idea of what's "not a huge amount".
Try throwing two pints of diesel in the water, and the HM could as well spot it without approaching further...!

Compared with the few hundred litres that has gone into the tanks -- or the few hundred litres that are typical of fuel spills from commercial vessels -- half a litre or so is tiny.
That is not to suggest that it won't go a long way when spread across a boat's decks and onto the surface of a harbour.

 

[BrendanS]

Good lord, keep that sort of thinking quiet, or the Studland activists won't be posting pics of turds, but millilitres of fuel running off boats, along with emotive words about what such behaviour will do to the poor little rutting seaponies.

 

[grumpy_o_g]

I thought detergent was not good for using on oil spills in the water? I'm certain I've been told it actually makes the pollution worse despite pehaps looking better. Have I been mis-informed?

 

[BruceDanforth]

I agree hosing the teak first before any diesel gets on it helps stop anything absorbing, it's what's been done when i've crewed on deliveries with boats with teak decks. I'm told dispersing the diesel slick with fairy is worse environmentally than leaving it be but will stop anyone noticing.

 

[MapisM]

Good lord, keep that sort of thinking quiet

Actually my comment was meant the other way round...
...I'm pretty sure I didn't spill 2 pints of fuel in the whole life of my boat.

 

[MapisM]

I'm told dispersing the diesel slick with fairy is worse environmentally than leaving it be but will stop anyone noticing.

Possibly - as also GOG said.
I was actually suggested to use it from a fuel guy...
And needless to say, that's what he also used.
It does look better for sure (and works for teak also, as I said).
Dunno about the poor little rutting seaponies though...

 

[BruceDanforth]

I'm told if you make a slick in the States they can get quite shirty. We never tested the meaty engine driven bilge pump not knowing there was a gallon of hydraulic fluid in the bilge. It wasn't us. It didn't happen. Nobody stood there dripping tiny bits of fairy over the guard rail for 2 hours. It was a completely different boat. I wasn't there.

 

[hlb]

WNS is changing.

I can't tell you too much, because if I did I'd have to shoot you. And I don't have the time, the inclination, or the equipment for mass murder.

But what I can say is that it is going to move away from the shipwreck and disaster scenarios, and try to deal more with life's little embuggerances and the solutions you have found for dealing with them.

By way of a transition, try this one (a new-style problem, in the old-style format):-



As usual, please bear in mind that:
* The idea is to offer a nautical puzzle, which experienced skippers will (hopefully) find interesting or entertaining, from which the less experienced may be able to learn something, and from which we can all pick up ideas.
* The WNS skipper is a fictional character. Any resemblance to a real individual is purely accidental, except that he occasionally makes mistakes, and he is not able to make time run backwards. So having got into a situation, he can't get out of it by wishing that he had done something different.
* WNS is not a competition to see who can match some hidden but predetermined solution. Of course I have an answer in mind (you wouldn't like it if I gave you an impossible situation, would you?) But mine may not be the best or only answer.
* If you think I've missed something or given confusing information please ask for clarification.
* Attributed extracts from selected posts will appear in the next issue of MBY.

Well for a start most folk no longer go to the fuel pontoon, There is far cheaper juice some where else..

 

[epervier]

"I know it's not rocket science ... but at least it doesn't involve rope." (Not this month, anyway! )

First, @101p a litre, the person responsible for the spillage should be Hung! no rope eh!

Second, Washing up liquid mixed with diesel turns to a solid rather than disperses,don't believe that, try it, it shocked me too!

Third, Use an old towel wrapped round the neck of the nozzle like a scarf. but that doesn't work on some boats because the tank breather is lower than the tank filler

Four, if you are so rich and feel that you must pour some "liquid gold" over the side, then buy some slickgone, or similar product that is made for the job of breaking down hydrocarbons.

Five, as Basil Faulty would say, is the "bleedin' obvious" don't over fill your tanks.

 

[oldgit]

Adjust the 60/40 split to allow for the bit that is clearly not going to be used for propulsion?

And for gawds sake to NOT step in it or get it in the soles or uppers of shoes ,once walked into the boat carpet ,it will stink forever.
Any decent spill on clothes will take at least 3/4 washes to get rid of most the reek but you can smell the pong for ages after.

 

[benjenbav]

Open up the deep lockers. There's sure to be some old bits of rope in there that can quickly be spliced together to make an effective and absorbent mop.