OOPS

[hewebb]

Yesterday I finally got the boat back in the water. I had it home to do some up grades and service the engine with new oil & filters etc. Backed up the trailer and the little diesel started and ran normal. I let it warm up some and backed off the trailer. Said thanks and good by to the folks that helped get it launched and headed out of the harbor to cross the lake to my marina. All was well motor was purring and the new cutlass bearing took all the vibration out that I had been experiencing during the last few times I had the boat out.
About 300 yards from the harbor the engine quit-oh sh***. I was close to the sea wall and the strong wind was going to blow me into it. I went forward got the anchor out and over the side. It finally grabbed and held-I stopped drifting about 25 feet from the sea wall. When I went to restart the engine it started and ran smoothly. I ran up the RPM's to make sure it was OK, temps were good and all seamed well. I locked the tiller put her in forward with a little throttle and went forward to retrieve the anchor. As I started pulling the anchor up the engine quit again. I them ran the batteries down trying to get a restart. Got on the phone called my good friend who was driving my truck and trailer to my home marina to pick me up. He turned around went back to the marina where we launched and found help with a power boat. I was towed across the lake and slid into my slip without any further issues. I left the boat in a mess so will go back today to straighten up and see if I can find the problem with the engine. My guess is the fuel system has a problem-probably water in the diesel. I just topped off the tank with about 2 gallons of fuel from the same batch as the fuel in the tank. Thank goodness for good folks willing to help.

 

[Tom J]

I was grounded once and was very surprised when a fellow in a runabout stopped and offered to take my anchor into the middle of the channel so that I could kedge off the mudbank. Turns out he owns a sailboat also, and knew what I was going through.

 

[hewebb]

Dead engine update.

Spent Sunday working on the boat. Fuel system checked out. Decided to check the oil and the stick came out dry. Looked in the bilge and it was black oil. Got the oil cleaned up and took things apart to check for the leak. Filter was dry all around. Oil seemed to come from the drain fitting on the bottom of the oil pan. Where the drain plug is there is a fitting for a hose. The hose leaked. I picked up a new hose and gaskets and will install today. I am hoping that there is an oil pressure sensor that shut the engine down so I didn't damage bearings. I plan to run a short time and if it seems to be OK I'll have an oil analysis done to look for indications of excess wear. ( We do that on the airplane engines and it has saved us $$$ and possible engine failure over the years) The Marina has shut off the water so I could not clean up the mud mess from the anchor. Hopefully it will rain some and maybe clean it off.

 

[hewebb]

Engine update II

I got the new drain hose and installed it, filled the crankcase and crossed my fingers. The engine started but not as quickly as normal. I let it run for a couple of minutes, shut it down and went below to check for any leaks and found none. Checked the oil and found it OK. Re started the engine and let it run for 45 minutes at various RPM's . I went below to look for problems and all seemed OK. I will go through that process again with a longer run, probably an hour or more. I am guessing that when the oil pressure died there was a method to stop fuel flow causing the engine to quit. It did quit suddenly as if it were a gas engine and the key was turned off. I think I got real lucky.