Diesels

What I have learned so far about diesel engines is that a twenty year old engine is better by far than a brand new one.

This is due to the fact that the older engine is beefier and and has more meat (mass) than the newer engines. It can be rebuilt ie: cylinder liners replaced. The newer models don't have cylinder liners.

The newer engines run at a higher speed (rpm) than their older cousins. Here is a not so well kept secret; the slower any mechanical system moves, the longer that mechanical system will last.

Think of an old one lung (a single cylinder) diesel, it chugs away at around 800 rpm, compare it to today's engines which run well over a thousand rpm. I can't give an exact figure here as different brands have different speeds. The slower engine has less stress therefore less wear than the faster running engines.

This trend for 'disposable' diesels comes from the desire for lighter engines. The older diesel is heavy, very heavy due to its thick, cast iron chassis, necessary for the high compression pressures required, the slower diesel need a heavy flywheel to allow the engine to continue rotating through three unpowered strokes until it gets to its power stroke. The newer engines have a very small flywheel due to the higher speeds carry the engine through the unpowered strokes.

The most important factor in a diesel is the fuel. The fact that the fuel injector ports are so small the can be clogged by the smallest particle. Clean fuel is paramount.

The first line of defense is your primary filter. This filter should have a glass bowl so you can see if there is water in the fuel, this filter should take the water out of the fuel. The bowl should have a drain cock on it to bleed out the water as per the black and white drawing.

I just previewed this and I don't like where Blogger has put the image. Does anyone know how to get Blogger to put the images where you want them?

I will publish more as I learn more.....Allan

Toronto Boat Show 2011 purchases

Here are my purchases in no particular order: A vest with lots of pocket, it also has two waterproof pockets. Nerdy but handy I think.

A wind indicator. I dropped mine over the side when we took the mast down for winter storage and I took it off for safety.....it sure is safe at the bottom of the harbour.

Marine Diesel Maintenance book, not a boat show purchase, just my text book from my night school course.

My daughter bought me the Cost Conscious cruiser by the Pardays.

Chapmans Piloting & Seamanship, every boaters bible, or should be. Regularly $70, but the West Marine booth was selling them for $30.

The boat show itself was kind of disappointing, there was only a dozen or so sailboats with huge line ups to get on them. I don't do crowds or line ups well. I am not sure if I will go to the next one. I much prefer the In the Water Boat Show they hold in the spring.

Winter project (and summer and probably fall too)

I just received my plans for Danny Greenes "Chameleon", a two piece nesting dinghy. I hope to do a modest job with it and will post picture of my progress or lack there-of. Here is a picture of one I got from google images. I just hope my finished project is half as nice. The other picture shows it in the space saving nested configuration. Each section can float and is joined by a couple of stainless steel bolt. There are three floatation chambers, one in the bow and two in the stern. It can be sailed, rowed or motored. It weighs (supposedly) less than a hundred pounds combined.

I don't think I'll be making the sailing version.

I realize that hard dinghies are not overly popular as they are tippy, but this puppy is going to be durable to the max. Those that know me know that I am hard on equipment. I need something that can take abuse and keep smiling:).

Oh, one more thing, last night I began a night school course on small marine diesel maintenance. I already learned a lot about fuel that I did not know, and I was a marine engineer in the navy!

More later.

THIS HAS BEEN AROUND BEFORE BUT ITS STILL GOOD TO READ






The difference in His and Her Diaries


Her Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving.



I can't explain his behavior I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed.



About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. To my surprise, he responded to my caress, and we made love. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.











His Diary:

Boat wouldn't start, can't figure it out, at least I got laid.

A great resource for DIY sailors...

http://www.cruisersforum.com/ is a great forum I use to solve any problems I come across.. For the most part the people are great, very quick to offer a solution with very little judging or criticizem thrown in. I would recomend anyone doing boat projects peruse the forum, because somewhere, someone has done what you are about to go through.

The forum members are such good people that they will even report on their own follies and mistakes, just so I can repeat them and confirm that that particular idea ond/or method was indeed a folly or mistake.

They don't call me "Do It Twice Allan" for nothing you know.

On a different note, we just moved closer to our boat and further away from work. We now live exactly 1000 meters from our boat, or 1 kilometer which if you still do distance old school about 5/8 th of a mile? It has been a while since I even thought in the old imperial measurements...lol

It is a smaller but way cheaper place, and even with the storage unit we rented we are saving a bundle.

Did I mention it is 1 kilometer from our boat?:)

Future Boat Dreams

Ahhh. Retirement in 6 years, I'll be 55. The Coronado 25 will be long gone by then. It is a wonderfull training boat but we will need something 10, 11 0r 12 feet longer.

We have no set make or model in mind but here are some necessities:

1) Keel stepped mast, chances of losing your mast completely is greatly reduced.
2) Wife insists on a wheel over a tiller, I do see her point.\
3) Shoal keel, the length of the boat.
4) Hammock, maybe two of them.

What we would love to have, but this is not written in stone:

1) Steel hull, for those times I decide to rub up against a coral atoll.
2) Twin keels for careening the boat for maintenance. (We will be on a budget)
3) Would love a center cockpit.
4) There is more but my brain is stalled out.

Here are some courses we MUST take in 6 years:

1) Marine diesel maintenance (Me at Humber College in Toronto)
2) Both of us must take a radio operators course.
3) First aid and CPR.
4) Learn how to use a sewing machine.
5) Take navigation courses, INCLUDING paper charts and how to use a sextant!

As for equipment, there could be an endless list $$$$$$. We are going to keep it simple, the less stuff you have the less breakage you have. That being said, I have to bone up on my refrigeration repair so I can earn a few extra folding dollars while cruising.

This is by no means complete or fixed, except for the first 4 things. We remain flexible about everything else.

Allan

New free stuff

Well, as a cheap sailor, I have to tell you of the cool things I got.

First, for my birthday, I got a brand new, 25 year old radio. Yup, still in its packaging, I have to look closer at it as I can't remember if its a VHF or a SSB. My ancient mind is leaning toward VHF.

Next, a friend in BC bought an old boat and is giving me (It is in the mail) his old GPS/knot meter. It is old, and the chip is only good for the Great Lakes and cannot be updated for some reason. I am excited.

We bought a new flare gun with flares. The old flares have expired.....That's it.