Woke up the other night while, in my dream, we were being run down by a freighter. No doubt a dream instigated by a conversation I had recently with another boater.

He was blowing off steam because he spent X number of hours, in difficult positions, banging up his knuckles putting an automatic engine shut-down switch on his main propulsion engine, the very same engine that "should have god damn come with one from the factory".

When I told him that I didn't have one, and my preference was not to have one, he went ballistic. See'uns how he had to rebuild "thousands" of engines, in his old life as a diesel mechanic, because they over-heated or lost oil pressure, he went on to rant and rave about how irresponsible it was not to have one.

Okay, I'll give him that, because that is a good reason to have an automatic shut-down switch installed on the engine, particularly a generator.

But on a main propulsion engine? There is another view on this subject and it is the one that I favor. Marine propulsion engines often end up in situations where it may be safer to ruin the engine than it is to ruin the boat, or worse yet, someone's life.

For instance, ever see one of those freighters come up over the horizon, and 10 minutes later, they've just passed you? What about when you are approaching a blind turn, and as you looked up, there in front of you is a tow? How about coming through a pass in heavy weather and those rocks along side look kinda close?

A slowly developing over-heating problem or a slowly developing loss of oil pressure often goes unnoticed, until maximum engine RPMs is called on, just the time when you need to get out of a bigger boat's path, or away from those rocks. Then the gauges rise, the alarm goes off and, if that shut-down is in place, the engine shuts off.

Great, the engine wasn't ruined. But what if your boat was directly in the path of that freighter? Or tow? Or the current is taking you into those rocks?

In situations like these, and others, an extra few minutes of propulsion could make the difference between a successful escape, or not.

Yes, you'll probably have the pleasure of repowering, but better that than other results that could be somewhat more serious.

So should there be one or not? I'm not telling ya'll what you should do, after all, a great deal of enjoyment from owning a recreational boat comes from getting to make decisions like this all by yourself. I just hope that you make the decision that is best for you.

Rudy
Briney Bug, Panama City, Fl

Rudi:
Option might be an override for the harrowing 3 or 4 minutes in an other wise boring 24/7 when less
attention is being paid to gauges and the fantail is much more attractive with that cigar and
cocktail of choice...............
Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces+bigirish2=comcast.net@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces+bigirish2=comcast.net@lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of Rudy
and Jill
Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 11:37 AM
To: trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Subject: T&T: Auto engine shut-down or not?

Woke up the other night while, in my dream, we were being run down by a freighter. No doubt a dream
instigated by a conversation I had recently with another boater.

He was blowing off steam because he spent X number of hours, in difficult positions, banging up his
knuckles putting an automatic engine shut-down switch on his main propulsion engine, the very same
engine that "should have god damn come with one from the factory".

When I told him that I didn't have one, and my preference was not to have one, he went ballistic.
See'uns how he had to rebuild "thousands" of engines, in his old life as a diesel mechanic, because
they over-heated or lost oil pressure, he went on to rant and rave about how irresponsible it was
not to have one.

Okay, I'll give him that, because that is a good reason to have an automatic shut-down switch
installed on the engine, particularly a generator.

But on a main propulsion engine? There is another view on this subject and it is the one that I
favor. Marine propulsion engines often end up in situations where it may be safer to ruin the engine
than it is to ruin the boat, or worse yet, someone's life.

For instance, ever see one of those freighters come up over the horizon, and 10 minutes later,
they've just passed you? What about when you are approaching a blind turn, and as you looked up,
there in front of you is a tow? How about coming through a pass in heavy weather and those rocks
along side look kinda close?

A slowly developing over-heating problem or a slowly developing loss of oil pressure often goes
unnoticed, until maximum engine RPMs is called on, just the time when you need to get out of a
bigger boat's path, or away from those rocks. Then the gauges rise, the alarm goes off and, if that
shut-down is in place, the engine shuts off.

Great, the engine wasn't ruined. But what if your boat was directly in the path of that freighter?
Or tow? Or the current is taking you into those rocks?

In situations like these, and others, an extra few minutes of propulsion could make the difference
between a successful escape, or not.

Yes, you'll probably have the pleasure of repowering, but better that than other results that could
be somewhat more serious.

So should there be one or not? I'm not telling ya'll what you should do, after all, a great deal of
enjoyment from owning a recreational boat comes from getting to make decisions like this all by
yourself. I just hope that you make the decision that is best for you.

Rudy
Briney Bug, Panama City, Fl

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