A Close Call

[Bill S]

After working too many shifts, the roster god smiled on me with Monday off. Ripper :ohyeh: I love to fish on weekdays away from the madding crowds.

I watched the sun peek over the horizon at Sydney heads with a hot cuppa at hand thinking I should take a photo, but it was over in moments and I didn't want to spill my tea .

Large flocks of birds scoured the swells and headed north, in fact every bird I saw was heading north :confusuion: . With no salmon in sight I took their lead and, you guessed it, headed north. I trolled up to Queenscliff with nothing but birds bums in view .

Things went down hill at this point as the 115hp coughed spluttered and died. A turn of the key returned the sound of the engine turning but not firing. Not a problem thinks me as the boat is pushed towards the rock face . I hooked up the second fuel line from the main tank to the auxiliary and will it to life with a hefty pull. A cough, a half splutter. Another pull and zip not a cough. Another few pulls on the startyabarstard cord and nothing, not a cough.

The Queenscliff shoreline is really close by this stage and I go for broke and deploy the Minn Kota. The skeg, of the main engine touches down briefly as the bow swings east and is pulled away from the rocks. :sweat:

That was bloody close :yikes:

Once away from the rocks, logic kicks in and the common denominator is bad fuel. A check of the filter from the 5 horse leaves my palm covered in an oily base with beads of water running along the creases of my skin. S**t!

The 12 litre tank that came with the aux. is stowed under the front decks, full, with fuel purchased weeks before.

Access to the carburettor is a different matter, my onboard tools are limited and decidedly inadequate for a carbie o/haul at sea.

The cowl of the 115 looks strangely huge on the front casting deck; the thought of it toppling off somewhat diminished by the situation. A water trap sight glass shows the red float warning ring at its upper level, but access to the injector rail and filter are good :happy:.. .

(Thinks) OK, I can strip out the injectors, rail and filter and clean them out. Then run the injector pump to clear the lines. That leaves me with just the small fuel tank to connect to the main engine.

The Mercury’s have a short length of factory fitted hose from the filter to just outside the cowl, terminated with a double ended barb and as luck would have it, both engines run 5/16†hose. Out with the knife and slice off the quick connecter from the aux. tank then butcher the clip from the main engine hose. Plug the reserve tank into the main engine hose, zip ties for hose clamps and Bobs your Uncle :clap1:

A pump or two on the primer bulb and turn the key. She fired straight up and purred like only an injected engine can. :grogon:

I could have :boff: someone I was so happy

A conservative run back to the welcome vision of the Gladesville ramp.

The question begs, where did the water come from? The servo where I filled last night or maybe the twin breather points through the side of the hull.

I’ll strip the tank out tomorrow and maybe taste the water .

Then fit a large capacity water trap.

Either way, at least I’m alive to fix it.

Bill

[Guest Jocool]

Close calls are never wanted..but always interesting!

Good to see it ended wewll Bill! :thumbsup:

[Guest bluecod]

Good escape Bill!

Rule 1. Alternate power source

Rule 2. Adequate tool kit

Rule 3. Know how to use #2.

Rue 4. Reliable radio in case #3 doesn't work

With a bit of commonsense and bush mechanics its amazing what you can fix at sea.

[basic_fisho]

Dont hesitate put the bloody anchor out straight away, it is not such a big job to pull it in,if i am anchored near rocks i always start the motor first before pulling the anchor,It is a safety thing. :beer: Ben.

[The Iceman]

Close call Bill I would assume the bad fuel would come from the servo I dont know if I would anchor the fullboar in any swell they may cut through the swell at anchor resulting in water coming over the front into the boat not pretty

[Grantm]

Close call under pressure Bill. Sounds like some quick thinking saved the day. Water in the fuel is a definate pain. Its not as uncommon as you might think either. Mercury supply an excellent water trap which are easliy fitted which sounds like they way to go.

Nice save :thumbsup:

[Grantm]

Just another comment on fuel, Beefa's spot on. Most water entry is from old rusted or cracked underground tanks that have a mind of their own. They can let water in depending on conditions. Most tanks have some water in them believe it or not but sinks to the bottom. The pick up does not go all the way down so you miss it MOST of the time.

Other times it goes straight in the caps which dont seal properly in rain.

You know sometimes when your car just doesnt seem to go that well for a while then comes good ? Good chance its a bit of water, it makes its way through most of the time.

Best bet is to steer clear of old crappy servo's and stick with the big names, to give yourself better quality fuel.

Cheers

[Ken A]

Glad you got out of a dicey situation mate.

Good idea getting a filter & like Darryl & Ben mentioned dropping a pick quick smart is the way to go as well.

Like the other guys said water in fuel is a very common problem. You can get it from any servo you fuel up at.

Fitting a good filter is a MUST . I have used water catchment filters on both my boats & the amount of water I have tipped out of them would amaze you. Some service stations are worse than others.

Don't forget the "C " spanner & a spare cartridge

[basic_fisho]

Hi . Years ago when i was bread vendoring,i got a bad load of fuel and i called in at a service station and the lady there said here tip this in the tank ,it was a bottle of methalated spirits.It took the water out and i never had a problem after that, but i always carried a bottle in the truck.Has anyone else heard of this. :beer:

Ben.

[Bashir]

Basic I've added metho to the boat's tank before to soak up the water, but there are actually products on the market that are designed for this which would probably be even better for an engine.

[mark-fisho1]

CARY STUFF MATE GLAD IT ALL worked out well water in fuel is a pain i goty a load of diesel not long ago the alarm went of had to drain the whole tank & new filters i went back to servo complained of coarse it wasnt his fuel lol thankfully another guy drove in with the same complaint next he said write to caltex i just sell it not my problem well i worte to them i sent a sample i kept a sample 12months later i am still hasseling them for nothing out of pocket 100 bux but hey i am just the little consumer stuff them i say :-mad2

[Bill S]

:beer: ????????? salty. Yep it tasted salty, which is good as it means it will be a simple fix and I can still trust my local servo :thumbsup: .

As soon as I get some time, the investagation will begin. The duel breathers are looking suspect at the moment. More later.

Bill

[Viking]

Yes, I know this one well..

I filled up an almost empty tank on the way up the coast. Went fishing off Broughton Island and had a good day out. On the way back the motor died. It was getting dark and a wind had picked up..then the "Bush Mechanic" in all of us took over.

We emptied the Fuel Filter of almost pure water, tried to start, but no go. I guessed the old Jonno carbies were full of water. So we removed the fuel line, and stuck a screwdriver in the stop valve and pumped the bulb for a while until we could detect fuel again. Still no go. Then we switched to the aux battery, called the coast guard (Great Guys!!), dropped the para anchcor, and cranked the motor without fuel until the aux battery went flat ..about 10 mins later.. (Seemed much longer at the time). We then reconnected the fuel, switched to main battery and a few cranks later vroom!!. We got back to the ramp , and the boys on board thought nothing of the experience, but as skipper....well I was very relieved ... had a few beers that night, and donated a few bucks to the Port Stephens Coast Guard.

Learnings..

1.Murphy is always around and turns up when you least expect it.

2.Keep your tank full when parked at home, as condensation build up in the tank is normal, and when the tank is near empty the problem gets much worse.

:beer:

[Grantm]

Hey Ben,

Just a note about metho - Its commonly used in fuel tanks that have water in them . The reason water stops engines running is because water is ( for lack of a better word ) is "thicker" than fuel, therefore it blocks carby jets. The metho acts on the water by breaking it up into tiny particals therfore it can pass through the jets. Once water passes through and into the combustion chamber its blown away.

You can actually poor water straight into a carby and an engine will keep running. This practice is commonly used to remove carbon on old cars. Ive put a 750ml bottle of water straight down a carby (slowly) on many occasions for this reason. :yikes:

There is a product you can get from Repco etc , called DRY FUEL with is designed removing water, as an alternative to metho. Putting 30 or 40 mls of metho into a fuel tank will help dissapate any small amounts of water in the tank. Its no good if there heaps of water though.

Cheers

Edited October 12, 2004 by Grantm