Engine Died!

[cmendoza]

Good morning all.

We just got back from a great trip and thought I would share this particular experience in the hopes it might help others…

We had been motoring hard against the current up the Hudson Sunday evening trying to get back to our home port (Haverstraw Marina)… it was around 10:30PM, there was a nice chop, it was raining, etc. As we started our turn out of the channel towards the marina entrance, the engine simply stopped. I tried starting it again, but no luck… I called SeaTow then started to prep the boat to sail it in (put out fenders, etc.) We got the jib out, picked up a bit of speed up the Hudson, jibbed the boat onto it’s course into the marina and eased her into her slip just as SeaTow was heading out… all in all, a nice ending to a great trip. At first I thought the engine had overheated, then I thought I might have run out of fuel… As it turns out, the problem was the fuel filter. I’m guessing that the rough seas we had encountered on Friday must have stirred up the gunk in the fuel tank (I only had about 90 hours on that particular fuel filter).

Two things to take away:

Don’t count on your engine to get you home… this is the second time I’ve had to bring her in under sail.

Change fuel filters often and have spares onboard.

My thanks to all that have contributed on this board it was all your great advice that helped me through various challenges… I hope to repay in kind,

Carlos Mendoza
sv Rocinante

[mcain]

Gee. Never happened to me.........

Seriously, I once was doing a delivery of a boat that had been sitting a while. First couple days was OK. Then I made the mistake of putting biocide in the tank. It killed all the algae, then some waves stirred everything up, and we went through 8 filters in as many hours.

Now I have the dual Racor filters, which can be switched with a lever, and the out-of-service filter can be changed while the engine is running (if you are careful not to get your tie caught in the shaft....).

This was a good lesson.

YEars ago, my 30'' sailboat had an engine that never did work right, so I was always docking under sail, always shorthanded, sometimes single-handed. Young, proud, foolish and too broke to get a new motor. But I really learned to sail........ The most fun time was motoring through Town Cut in Bermuda and having the motor die. Then hoisting the jib and sailing through it and up to the customs dock under jib alone.

Good character builders.

M.