Trouble: the Atomic Four (again)

One Saturday in February I ran the engine. It was cold out (in the upper 30s) and very cold over night. The engine had trouble starting from low/weak batteries. So I charged the batteries and the engine started right up. I went for a sail, motored back, and docked no problem (all assorted strains, reversing, forwarding, etc, all went well).

Next morning (probably about 14 hours later), I was back at the boat trying to go for another sail. Engine would not start. It cranked, but wouldn't turn over.

That day I cranked without shutting the raw water intake. This is a risk because water could back up into the engine.

We tried charging the battery. We tried a battery booster. We tried starting fluid in the carburetor. Wouldn't start. So I went sailing on Filibuster.

I closed the raw water intake and haven't opened it since.

I tried dry gas in case there was water in the fuel tank.

I tried the Star Tron fuel additive that the guys at the auto parts store swore would help clean my tank from any nasty ethanol, e-10, detergent-filled gas.

Figuring it was time to change the battery anyway, I changed both. Wouldn't start.

I checked compression. I was getting compression.

So then I thought, it must be spark: changed the plugs and it still wouldn't start; changed the cap and rotor, and it still wouldn't start; changed the electronic ignition and it still wouldn't start; changed the coil and it still wouldn't start. I have a nice healthy spark. (Note to self: do not hold connected spark plugs and crank engine.)

So then I thought, it must be the fuel. The carb was getting fuel: the fuel pump was cycling and fuel was dripping from the bottom of the bowl. I cleaned the carb (there was black/orange goo in the carb, all over it, everywhere inside. It looked like a chain-smoking sixth grader sneezed into it), and it still wouldn't start. I hear this is a symptom of a deteriorating gas tank liner. I do not have a gas tank liner.

After I changed the fuel filter it still wouldn't start.

I ran some of the fuel out of the fuel pump to see if it was obviously dirty. It looked clear, and there was no water on the bottom of the coffee can (separated out from the gas, after I let it sit). And I was still getting the black/orange goo. I drained about 3 gallons of gas, one coffee can at a time, out of the fuel tank. This took a long time.

My oil has no water in it (a symptom of cooling water backing up into the engine).

So I got an outboard gas can, a universal hose, and the appropriate fittings. I hooked it all up to the fuel filter. STILL THE MOTHERFATHER WOULD NOT START.

How could it run fine one day and be completely busted the next?

I keep thinking electric - like a shorted wire or something, but as I learned in the good old USN, check for power first. All the connections are tight. Is there a switch that could be bad somewhere? Something else I'm not thinking of?

7. St. Patrick's Day One-Boat Regatta

I'm still having engine trouble (a full post when I fix it and there is something to report) so the planned scrimmage between Redwing and Ceol na Mara had to be postponed.

Anyway, we all piled onto Jack's boat and sailed down to Bay Shore. It was gusty and cold and upwind the whole way. Sailing with the full main and a #3, we got there in no time.

Then we pulled in to Molly Malone's, had some food and drink (Shepherd's pie, corned beef & cabbage, etc washed down with a few Guinness) and went on our merry way. There was a guy sitting next to us at the bar who was all decked out in his St Patty's day gear - green hat, green afro, and orange suspenders holding up green pants. He was a sight!

We left to a beautiful, sunny day! The wind dropped off and stayed light for the remainder of the sail except for these power gusts that would come through and remind us to concentrate more on the sails than the Jameson and Guinness.

So, with the light wind on our backs, the sun in our eyes, and nothing but nice, flat water between us and home, we decided to put up the chute.

I was able to stay in the back of the boat from setup to drop and it was a good experience for me. I'm usually the bowman so I have just about no idea how to run the back of the boat during a spinnaker run. So as Jack and Marty hoisted and got the chute flowing, I worked the pit, adjusting the topping lift, foreguy, and twings. Then I was able to manage the pole, forward as the wind went forward, and back as the wind went back, trying to keep the pole as parallel to the wind as possible.

It was also a good lesson in communication: as the wind went forward, Marty had to ease the chute, I had to ease the pole, and Jack had to compensate with his steering - all three of us working, or trying to work in concert to make the boat go fast.

We sailed way up into the creek, and started the motor at the last possible second, wanting to maintain the peace and the thrill of our good, sunny sail home.

We say, in a regatta or yacht race, that if the boats are anywhere nearly matched, it is the man that wins. Put the best sailing master into either boat, and he will win.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Essays and English Traits"

"Thus every year, generally in March, the people of Leti, Moa, and Lakor, islands of the Indian Archipelago, send away all their diseases to sea. They make a proa about six feet long, rig it with sails, oars, rudder, and other gear, and every family deposits in its some rice, fruit, a fowl, two eggs, insects that ravage the fields, and so on. Then they let it drift away to sea, saying, 'Take away from here all kinds of sickness, take them to other islands, to other lands, distribute them in places that lie eastward, where the sun rises.'"

from: this excerpt from The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer

I say, "Take away from here all kinds of mold, the carbon buildup on my spark plugs, the dirt and sand and grime that gets into the engine (ah, raw water cooling!), the funky stuff in the bilge, and the silt that settles in the scuppers and take them to other islands, to other lands, distribute them in places that lie eastward, where the sun rises."

Pirate Story by Robert Louis Stevenson

Pirate Story

THREE of us afloat in the meadow by the swing,
Three of us aboard in the basket on the lea.
Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring,
And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea.

Where shall we adventure, to-day that we’re afloat,
Wary of the weather and steering by a star?
Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat,
To Providence, or Babylon, or off to Malabar?

Hi! but here’s a squadron a-rowing on the sea—
Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar!
Quick, and we’ll escape them, they’re as mad as they can be,
The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore.

So another weekend has come and we are being blessed with big winds and a list of errands and obligations you wouldn't believe. It's not cold. It's not raining. We didn't get the snowstorm we were promised, just a bunch of rain. Next week we are supposed to have temps in the 50s and I am tempted to think winter is almost over! I can't wait for summer! Or at least, for Spring!

I'll be able to tell you a little bit more about the weather tomorrow after I return from the Weather Seminar the cruising club is hosting. Our instructor is going to be Ken Campbell from Commanders Weather. Normally I go to these things for the tshirt, but this time we're promised a workbook. Nice! After the weather report we are going to get some sail trimming tips from a North sales rep.

I'll leave you with this pic from this past summer, from the Louis Orr Memorial Race.