I'm the kind of guy who continuously does checks when under way, be it sail or motoring. I pride myself in making sure my boat is RIGHT while away from the dock. My advice to folks is to never leave the dock if you know something is wrong with the boat, as the sea will find it at the worst possible time.
Well I went out sailing this past Thursday with a friend of mine Frank.
Usually when motoring, I set the autopilot and do my customary visual check on the engine & bilge. Well, on this day, I overlooked this routine as I was having a good time up on deck. That was my mistake.
I motored into the gulf and headed south until 3:00PM. The winds started clocking from the southeast to out of the north and gusted up to about 20-25 kts. What had been flat seas until now quickly built to four footers. Not a big deal however, but I needed to douse the head sail and flatten the main for a straight line trip back.
I remembered to do my routine check of engine & bilge and this probably saved my engine.
I first looked in the bilge and saw what looked like oil & water mixed. I checked the rear engine door to look at my PSS shaft seal and saw alot of oil on my stringer and surrounding area, WTF?
I quickly pulled cushion & top panels off to see where the oil was coming from and after a few minutes discovered it was at my fuel filter.
I use Amsoil synthetic diesel oil for the engine and it was last changed about a year ago. With the synthetic, I get a year or more use than with regular oil. I do my own oil changes and always recheck the tightness of the filter three times over the next month to insure the fit.
Working below in those seas & wind, I got a complete turn on the filter before the leaking stopped, again WTF? After a year the filter decided to loosen, I never heard of this happening.
In the end, & after today's cleanup project, I found I had lost 1/2 of my oil, about 1.75 qts. and for the two hour motor back to John's Pass, had sloshed the oil/water mix all over the engine compartment & bilge. What a f***'n mess. I never before had an oil filter come loose, but now, this was a first.
JUST A WORD OF CAUTION GUYS,
always check your bilge & motor while underway, and periodically check that your filter is on tight. I'm still quite mad at myself for not doing my routine checks on the way out as I normally do. The one time I didn't, and it could've been a costly mistake.
CR
Well I went out sailing this past Thursday with a friend of mine Frank.
Usually when motoring, I set the autopilot and do my customary visual check on the engine & bilge. Well, on this day, I overlooked this routine as I was having a good time up on deck. That was my mistake.
I motored into the gulf and headed south until 3:00PM. The winds started clocking from the southeast to out of the north and gusted up to about 20-25 kts. What had been flat seas until now quickly built to four footers. Not a big deal however, but I needed to douse the head sail and flatten the main for a straight line trip back.
I remembered to do my routine check of engine & bilge and this probably saved my engine.
I first looked in the bilge and saw what looked like oil & water mixed. I checked the rear engine door to look at my PSS shaft seal and saw alot of oil on my stringer and surrounding area, WTF?
I quickly pulled cushion & top panels off to see where the oil was coming from and after a few minutes discovered it was at my fuel filter.
I use Amsoil synthetic diesel oil for the engine and it was last changed about a year ago. With the synthetic, I get a year or more use than with regular oil. I do my own oil changes and always recheck the tightness of the filter three times over the next month to insure the fit.
Working below in those seas & wind, I got a complete turn on the filter before the leaking stopped, again WTF? After a year the filter decided to loosen, I never heard of this happening.
In the end, & after today's cleanup project, I found I had lost 1/2 of my oil, about 1.75 qts. and for the two hour motor back to John's Pass, had sloshed the oil/water mix all over the engine compartment & bilge. What a f***'n mess. I never before had an oil filter come loose, but now, this was a first.
JUST A WORD OF CAUTION GUYS,
always check your bilge & motor while underway, and periodically check that your filter is on tight. I'm still quite mad at myself for not doing my routine checks on the way out as I normally do. The one time I didn't, and it could've been a costly mistake.
CR
