Starting to hate boating

How the remedial work going Dave?
Another instance to cause an engine to lag is dry seals on the through hull propshaft.
This happens more often after a boat has been hauled, cleaned etc.
More friction, more lag and eventually no hull seal.

Hope all is going well. J

Talon: The above quotation is factually incorrect with regard to engine lag. Good intent of the post does not alter the fact that physics make the assertion a practical impossibility.

It also helps to keep on the front foot (a cricketing term) with maintenance and general boat loving.

Matt the mechanic who did the work on our various boats was a stickler for preventative maintenace and replacement.

Parts and bits were replaced on or before due dates, or if they were not quite right or looked worn/tired/etc. No "it should be ok till the next service". And if there was a problem on one side, the same part of the other got checked and usually replaced as well.

I was usually standing there saying, are you sure we need to replace it, it looks fine to me, but his point was that it may be fine, but it also may fail 40 miles out, or worse, when you have family and friends standing on deck looking forward to a day out.

Good guy Matt.

Replace everything

So you're saying that if you can't afford that level of maintenance just get the hell out of boating??

I think the point is that if you can't afford that level of preventative maintenance you may not enjoy your general boating as much due to "emergency" repairs.

No not at all:

That level of maintenance is overkill if you are boating close to shore in calmer waters.

You also don't have to do it even if you fish offshore, beacuse most failures are rarely catastrophic and you can limp home on 1 motor or lower revs etc.

Its slimply a fact that fixing or replacing before they go bang or die reduces failures. No more, no less.

Laurence, I am not a boating snob or a fair weather boater. I like hands on boats, not gin places. But its like a car. If you put a new battery in when the old one is starting the enigine with not alot to spare, then there is less chance you end up not starting on a cold morning. Nuff said

Dave, isn't your boat the one with one engine that had been replaced with new?

Hi Ron,

I have dealt with instances where seals/glands/bearing and prop condition all contribute to poor performance.
I may be factually incorrect in naming a specific type of seal or propshaft tunnel. My apologies for that.

Poor RPM can be related to this:-
There is an assumption that existing relation between tightness and eccentricity and between eccentricity and reaction force (and sealing wear) in the sealing can be used to draw conclusion on sealing condition. In this way the position and trajectory of the shaft
journal centre might provide data for conclusions concerning:
a) position of ship’s propeller shaft,
b) wear of journals and bearing sleeves,
c) technical state of lubricating oil,
d) condition of shaft seals,
e) condition of the propeller (whether balanced or not).

I don't agree with this at all. All of the yachts I manage are capable of taking a 400NM trip with the owners enjoying the boat without fear of anything breaking due to lack of maintanence. Maintanence is done on schedule, so the owners can enjoy their boat on the 2 big/long trips they actually have time to do a year with all of their family on board. It's much easier to maintain things when they're supposed to be maintained rather than wait for them to break on 4th of July with a boatload of people.

Take impellors for example. It's so much easier to change an impellor that is intact, than try to fish every single blade and piece out of fuel coolers and heat exchangers........They usually always shred on neglected generators and the generators almost always tend to be in the worst spot to access. I have 1 boat that gets serviced yearly, the generator always has about 100 hours and the impellor is already losing 1 blade, this is on a 2006 boat with a diesel generator.

Belts, again much easier than having to clean up a shredded belt that's left crap all over the engine room. Or how about the ocean kicks up and you suddenly find yourself in 8' seas with no power, because the Racor's were changed when, ohhhh who knows...... For example when I do a delivery and run at cruise on a boat I have not been running for a while, I always pull 1 racor up and visually inspect it for the first couple of days. It's a lot easier for me to change it at the marina 1st thing in the morning when the engine room has cooled off somewhat, than losing an hour's distance at cruise, to shut 1 engine down and change it, then start that one and change it, and then get back underway while bobbing around in a 110 degree F engine room in the ocean.

The same thing goes for keeping the engine room clean. There is nothing worse than getting on a boat to try to fix something, sliding around it because there's oil, grime, and grease everywhere and then needing to take a shower with Gojo just to check the engine oil.

Same goes for starting the engines/gens every 2 weeks and letting them get to temperature, and putting a load on the gens. I manage around 11 yachts, I have never had to replace a seized turbo from sitting....I've seen LOTS of other boats that have had stuck turbo's from sitting.........only had to have turbo's rebuilt when a major was done. LOU (lack of use) will kill everything.

how do you get an engine ''to temperature '' while at the dock....I never was able to get the thermostats to open while tied up...
'

It's much more preferable to take the boat out and run it at cruise every couple of weeks, but entirely not feasible on many boats.

Most all of the electronic diesels will get to temperature idling at the dock. Some, if not most of the older mechanical MTU's, DD's, MAN's simply will not get to operating temp at idle at the dock, or even idle with a load, but will get to about 140F or so. I let them idle to whatever temperature they'll get to for say 20 mins, bring them to 1000 rpms for a few minutes, then 1500 rpms for a few mins to spin the turbo's, then let them idle, bump them in and out of gear a few times so the clutches aren't sitting in the same oil/place, let engines idle about 3-5 mins and shut them off. 140F in South Florida at least gets some heat in them, splashes oil around the top end, and moves the turbo's and gears......and fuel through the motor, if not very much.......basically they run for 30-45 mins every 2 weeks......impellors don't take a set, neither do belts, the starter and alternators spins.....etc....

What Cap J said is pretty accurate ... i bought my dream boat 8 months ago, and although sea trial went pretty fine , I am STILL working small problems and is not ready to go out as good as i wish ... I have put over $100K in neglected maintenance and is incredible the degree of mess you get from a docked boat ...

My mechanic, a very nice guy from Cat told me some working boats he services have over 20.000 hours on the engines !!!!! the run 10 hours a day everyday ...

preventive maintenance and periodic use seems to be the formula to get rid of clogged turbos, rusted intercoolers, contaminated filter+fuel, frozend parts and impellers, and so .......

i hope to start using the boat this season ..........!!

That's in all likelihood because they can't afford an engine problem. Neither in repair cost, nor in lost income. So they take some care.

Use itself also helps a bit, as the proverb has it: A rolling stone gathers no moss.

Engine Problems

In my job, (Yacht Broker) I get to spend a lot of time looking at boats, both to sell and buy for clients. The biggest problem I see is boats that are in need of repair due not to use but to lack of use! I see a lot of 8-10 year old boats with 2-300 engine hours on the motors and generators with 100 hours on them. I just know while the seller is "proud" of the "almost new" condition and the buyer is excited over this "low use" situation, myself, the surveyors and mechanics know we are in for trouble!