Princess Anne Spotted!

Princess Anne Spotting!

Can you find HRH in the photo above?

There we were, just lounging on the RYA benches in the lecture space at the London Boat Show, soaking up all the wisdom on diesel engine maintenance when… the lecturer’s eyes bugged out, his voice went hoarse, his words trailed off dry as dust…

Why? 

Because Princess Anne, that well-known sailing aficianado, was strolling past our booth, hotly pursued and surrounded by her security scrum.

Instantly I required the Can Opener to stand guard over my lounging spot so that none of the wily diesel hangers-on would nab my place (and to take over photography duties).

Then I sprang into action (cue Mission Impossible music) and began scaling the canopy over the RYA lecture area. With absolute precision I lined up my quarry, then sprang-pounced from the canopy corner, and swan-dived directly into Princess Anne’s paper Primark shopping bags… 

(CO: You did not! Largely because I knew exactly what might whiz through your demented brain and instantly pinned you in a half-Neilson between my knees…

CC: O yeah? Explain the ‘Mission Impossible’ music then!

CO: …That, I cannot explain…)  

 

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Bugs & Biocides

Diesel bug is not this pretty – but it’s at least as inconvenient…

Diesel Fuel Care – Biocides & Bugs

Tony Warr of fuelcare.com, speaking at the Cruising Association’s recent Blue Water Seminar, described diesel bug and how to keep it out of your engine – something that requires diligence and is not so easily done. 

We heard another talk on diesel bug at the London Boat Show earlier this year. This subject is not the most glamorous – exactly the kind of thing that is worth hearing twice!

Here are the Can Opener’s notes:

Diesel bug clogs up your engine…

• Dead diesel bug causes the slime blocking up your fuel lines.
• Fuel contamination starts after the fuel arrives at the first middleman in the distribution chain.
• fuel + water + micro-organisms + a rise in temperature = microbial growth (diesel bug)
• Diesel bug sinks to the bottom of the tank… where the fuel intake is – and then blocks the primary filter to the engine.
• It also loosens in rough weather – so diesel bug is even more likely to block the engine when you may really need it.
• This doesn’t happen in petrol as petrol is not a nutrient – therefore no bugs.

What to do?

Prevention

1. Keep water out of the fuel tank because
• water makes the fuel hazy and
• provides an environment the diesel bug loves!
2. If the fuel supplier is suspect then
• use a funnel or a ‘Baja’ filter or
• have extra tanks, let them stand for 2 days till the diesel bug sinks, and then decant the diesel into the main tank.
3. Check you tank filler cap and leave tanks full before layup (to keep air out of the tanks).
4. Run your engine for 30 minutes after layup and check separator regularly on your first trip.

Use biocide

1. It’s a fuel preservative that kills bacteria and fungus. It will clean your system – it takes 12 hours to clear. 
2. Do a regular biocide treatment of 1/2 a dose every 3-4 tank fills.
3. Add biocide before your winter layup.
4. If you miss the ‘pre-wineter layup treatment’ then dilute and add it in the Spring, 24-48 hourse before your first use.

• it’s fairly cheap (costs about £3 /100litres in the UK)

Emergency backup

1. carry a small 12 volt electric fuel pump and filter
2. practice connecting spare fuel can to suction of low pressure fuel lift pump

• this can fix diesel bug blockage in 10 minutes – which may be fast enough to restart your engine in time to avoid something really perilous!

Have you ever had diesel bug in your fuel?  

What did you do?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Previously: see also Diesel Bug

Engine Excitement

Photo by scrumblecatamaran

Four days out… and an engine gave out*. 

Mechanical warning beepings sounded that had us all racing round the boat to determine which system was telling us to turn it off before it melted. 

Those beeps are so imperious and seem to come from every direction at once. Kind of like aircraft carriers…

Sure enough – it was the port engine sounding off that had just been serviced a few days before we left Spain. 

Fortunately, catamarans have two.

Nonetheless we decided to skip the excursion around Sardinia (we were hugging the Algerian Basin at this point) and head straight for a major port in Sicily about a day or so away so we could get it looked at sooner. 

Some of the crew were disappointed but, although Sardinia would have been great to visit again, the Can Opener and I were okay with giving it a miss. 

We just love being at sea.

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* We had been running it to charge the batteries.

Diesel Bug

Just back from the Boat Show – which was brilliant!

Amidst all the boat and gear ogling, we also managed to attend 2 (free!) lectures, one of which was on ‘caring for diesel engines for cruisers’ with Tony Brooks. 

Tony is an instructor offering boaters’ courses and technical help. His site with some good technical notes on it can be found here.

He only had 20 minutes to speak but had great handouts and parts on hand to illustrate his points.

Here are the highlights…

For a long lived and happy engine you need:

• a clean fuel system
• a clean oil system
• a clean air system 

and

• regular maintenance prevents and pre-solves a lot of problems.

Okay. So far so good. Then came the meat of the talk…

Diesel bug
This is a pretty yucky bug that likes to live in your diesel fuel and turns it a burnt brown colour and lumpy (dead bugs). The solution previously appeared to be to add emulsifier to the fuel.

Unfortunately, this emulsifier caused a new problem – a waxy-like, light coloured fuel which blocks up the filter. Not good.


To get rid of diesel bug, you should:

1. stop using emulsifier
2. treat your tank by adding a de-emulsifier with a biocide included in it (eg Marine 16 or Grotamar)
3. let it stand to give the de-emulsifier with biocide time to do its job
4. pump out the cloudy opaque fuel from the bottom of your tank
5. then keep using the Marine 16 or Grotamar regularly

Listening to this lecture highlighted that… we don’t know a thing about engines yet. 

Even the Can Opener was motivated to jump to the engine section in our Don Casey’s Sailboat Maintenance Manual.

We’re also going to take the RYA Diesel course earlier than planned. As the wise bloke at the Boat Show’s Cruising Association stand said, being able to troubleshoot an engine will make us more appealing as crew. So bring it on.

Have you ever gotten diesel bug in your fuel? 
What did you do? 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Cruising Lectures

Next: Battery Capacity 
Previously: Stay Alive – How to Cross Shipping Lanes