A friend recently left our area on a long distance cruise after we two and
others spend a fair amount of time going over some specific gripes he had
about his 36-foot single Ford-Lehman 120 Taiwan trawler (1980s vintage I
think). The boat had been unavoidably sitting for a bunch of months.
Everything we worked on in preparation for his cruise did fine; other things
did not.
At the end of the second day, he was reaching to engage the engine shut-down
switch when the engine died. It would not restart. Long story made short -
water in the fuel, all the way to the injectors. You know what that means;
pull and repair injectors and get rid of the water.
While the injectors were being taken care of, they pumped five gallons of
water out of one tank. The other tank had no water. Both tanks were
aligned to provide fuel to the engine, and the sluice valve between them was
open resulting in identical levels. Fuel comes off the tops of the tanks,
meaning a standpipe in the tanks. He also noted that when trying to get rid
of the water via the fuel supply hose that barely a trickle came from the
tank (plugged or air leak maybe). He eventually used the bottom of the
sight-gauge to draw it off. I guess that is why the water did not show up
as a problem earlier - the engine was getting most of its fuel from the
other tank and maybe a trickle of water was moving into the system from the
other tanks. Makes me glad I have water sensors in my filters.
Source of the water - any guesses before I tell you?
Tank had a several inch long split in the top and was under a leaky deck.
They got all that taken care of and were moving the boat to get fuel.
Engine would die when shifting gears. Last restart attempt was accompanied
by very ugly sound from the engine room. Boat ended up colliding with quay
and placing its bow pulpit anchor through the stern of a sailboat in a
cradle on the hard close by the pier.
later examination of the engine room revealed the Borg Warner transmission
detached from the engine and lying in the bilge. Apparently there were but
two of the six bolts in place that hold the tranny to the aft bell housing
of the engine, and they were sheared off. They were the upper two bolts.
The other four bolts had apparently never been installed in the several
years he has owned the boat (I know nothing of the purchase/survey process).
Today I counted tranny bolts and looked at my fuel tank sight gauges and
Racor bowls. Oh, I also rubbed my rabbit's foot.
Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42-295)
Southport, FL
A friend recently left our area on a long distance cruise after we two and
others spend a fair amount of time going over some specific gripes he had
about his 36-foot single Ford-Lehman 120 Taiwan trawler (1980s vintage I
think). The boat had been unavoidably sitting for a bunch of months.
Everything we worked on in preparation for his cruise did fine; other things
did not.
At the end of the second day, he was reaching to engage the engine shut-down
switch when the engine died. It would not restart. Long story made short -
water in the fuel, all the way to the injectors. You know what that means;
pull and repair injectors and get rid of the water.
While the injectors were being taken care of, they pumped five gallons of
water out of one tank. The other tank had no water. Both tanks were
aligned to provide fuel to the engine, and the sluice valve between them was
open resulting in identical levels. Fuel comes off the tops of the tanks,
meaning a standpipe in the tanks. He also noted that when trying to get rid
of the water via the fuel supply hose that barely a trickle came from the
tank (plugged or air leak maybe). He eventually used the bottom of the
sight-gauge to draw it off. I guess that is why the water did not show up
as a problem earlier - the engine was getting most of its fuel from the
other tank and maybe a trickle of water was moving into the system from the
other tanks. Makes me glad I have water sensors in my filters.
Source of the water - any guesses before I tell you?
Tank had a several inch long split in the top and was under a leaky deck.
They got all that taken care of and were moving the boat to get fuel.
Engine would die when shifting gears. Last restart attempt was accompanied
by very ugly sound from the engine room. Boat ended up colliding with quay
and placing its bow pulpit anchor through the stern of a sailboat in a
cradle on the hard close by the pier.
later examination of the engine room revealed the Borg Warner transmission
detached from the engine and lying in the bilge. Apparently there were but
two of the six bolts in place that hold the tranny to the aft bell housing
of the engine, and they were sheared off. They were the upper two bolts.
The other four bolts had apparently never been installed in the several
years he has owned the boat (I know nothing of the purchase/survey process).
Today I counted tranny bolts and looked at my fuel tank sight gauges and
Racor bowls. Oh, I also rubbed my rabbit's foot.
Rich Gano
CALYPSO (GB-42-295)
Southport, FL
