Tag Archives: maintenance

Boat Maintenance

Delayed in Scarborough Marina

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19th – 27th July 2011

Well after a truly lovely first leg we anchored outside the Marina at Scarborough for a nights rest before heading up to Fraser island. Next morning spent on deck doing little jobs and getting used to everything. Wind picked up perfectly but unfortunately the engine didn’t. Neil went through everything methodically and I helped by scouring the forums and engine manuals looking for extra clues. We narrowed it down to the fuel injector pump – a mysterious beastie that if broken can not be repaired by mere cruising mortals. It was broken. I blogged the checklist of how we found out it was broken if anyone is interested… So we needed a tow in, and lucky we had signed up to Coast Guard Rescue!

Long story short they towed us in the next day when it was blowing an absolute hooley and we spent the next week immobile whilst the Diesel Injection specialists did their stuff refurbing the injector pump. We had the 4 injectors overhauled at the same time for good measure and so now they, along with the almost new pump are all set for the next 20+ years. They better be, the dent in our cruising budget was humongous!

Prop is covered in weed from the Manly stay but we’ve no incentive to swim, sea temperature is 16C. Brrrrrrrrr

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Boat Maintenance, Life onboard

Scarborough Marina – the job list

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Sand engine instrument panel, repair joins and oil teak
Refurb main skylight hatch.  Remove teak trims and old window and replace with new.  Sand and stain the trims and hatch base.  Polish steel bars.  Re-assemble and remounted.
Sew spray hood patches where fabric has worn.  Replace old broken clears with new clear vinyl.
Align and install the spray hood frame mounts on deck.  Design and install a mount for the foot-rail of the spray hood to attach to.
Put up the spray hood and test for sturdiness, attach webbing straps where needed.
Glue and repair the interior drawers from the aft cabin.
Test out new 3.5HP Yamaha engine on the dingy.  Check out all the other boats in the Marina whilst doing this :0)
Complete overhaul of the engine fuel system – fuel tank emptied and cleaned, fuel filter lines replaced, manual lift pump removed and cleaned out (noted – need to buy new one).  Primary and secondary fuel pumps removed, cleaned, filters replaced. Electric fuel primer pump & filter cleaned.

Boat Maintenance, Young Sun 43

Tiki and her Perkins 4.236 diesel engine – Part I

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When it won’t fire up here’s the drill.

Check the stop valve is in the off position and open the throttle to full.
Check the fuel supply – like have you got any?
Before we go pulling everything apart, check the belt is turning the Fuel Injector Pump (IP).
Use the electric pump to check the input to and output from the primary filter is clean and air-free by disconnecting & reconnecting each point.

Working along the fuel line, switch to manual pump and push through to the secondary filter and again check in and out is clean and air-free.
Now we’re at the IP.
Disconnect supply at entrance and check as above to ensure it is not blocked.
Bleed (loosen them open until they drip) IP at the valves  and let them run to ensure clean fuel.  This is the Low Pressure section of the IP.
Crack (same as bleeding, different name..) the injector nuts -fuel should run clean and air free.  This is from the High Pressure area of the IP.
Check the internal “spline” is turning (ie able to create the pressure) by removing the plate cover and watching as you turn the engine over.

are you still with me?  Try turn it over again and if still no good then you will need to return at another time for Part II.   Good luck and please keep us posted on the outcome!  As for us, we’re stuck at the injector nuts as no fuel is coming through.  Good news is the spline does turn.

Coast Guard are towing us into the Marina where we’ll get a professional second opinion and probably end up having the IP bench tested.  We suspect the stop valve mechanism inside the IP has failed somehow – Neil’s money is on a spring-like component..

We’ll keep you posted.