Close maneuvering a twin screw boat with one screw

Hello Everyone,

we finally took our first real shakedown cruise.* Three days out and two days back.* At the end of the first day back while waiting for a drawbridge to open I realized I had no thrust from the port engine.* Put her in gear and nothing.* Spent the night on anchor and limped the rest of the way home the next day on one engine.* The fluid leaked out of the transmission, probably into the exhaust.* Re-filling just emptied it out again.

When it came time to get into my slip, a heavy crosswind prevented me from backing in.* I put her in nose first for the time being.* This weekend I'd like to turn her around and also need to get into the fuel dock for a pumpout.

Any advice for backing in with just the starboard engine?* The prevailing wind usually comes across the starboard beam as I'm backing in, which makes it really difficult to keep the boat straight since the windage turns the bow away from the wind where I would usually use the port engine to push forward to keep the boat lined up.

P.S. if I'm making sternway in reverse, doesn't my starboard beam become the port beam?

If you can get to the fuel dock and back on one engine.
I would nose her in again and then hand line to turn her around. Till you get her fixed.
It takes a couple of friends and some long lines. No big deal. I've done it lots of times.

Beats playing bumper boats.

SD

Egregious wrote:


P.S. if I'm making sternway in reverse, doesn't my starboard beam become the port beam?

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You are kidding I hope.

*

"The fluid leaked out of the transmission,"

E,

I feel your pain. Had the front seal go on my velvet drive two weeks ago. If you can remove it yourself, the local transmission shop*may rebuild it for you. Mine in Groton, CT, was $748. Far less than the marine shops. I understand that it is not difficult to do if you have some mechanical ability. I would rather sand a floor while Joel fixes the tranny.

Rob
37' Sedan

P.S. if I'm making sternway in reverse, doesn't my starboard beam become the port beam?

Works that way as long as you turn around and face the stern, which becomes the bow.
I use that technique often, when backing into a slip or past other boats down a narrow space towards a slip at the end. You quickly get used to grabbing the controls that are now behind your back, and operating them as if you were driving ahead.
When I had a sailboat with a binnacle I used this technique for backing down, but was able to stand facing the binnacle from in front, facing the stern, so the controls, in effect, turned around with me. Push on the gear lever and you go towards your goal, pull on it and you reverseaway from your goal.
When doing this set the rudder to the direction you will want the stern to move with forwad power. the stern wont move the other way when applying reverse power, so no energy needs to be wasted spinning the wheel. You get a lot more steering out of your direction of propwalk in reverse than the rudder could ever give you, especially in a boat designed for speed that has tiny rudders.

Starboard is always starboard...port is always port!!!...maybe I missed something???

Kinda like saying when I am walking to the back of the airplane....does the left wing become the right wing....there is only one left wing and there is only one right wing....

Now you know why folks that have been cruising a while sometimes have a pair of sail winches mounted on each stern quarter.

If you need to warp the boat , it sure beats hanging on a line.

Baker wrote:

Starboard is always starboard...port is always port!!!...maybe I missed something???

Kinda like saying when I am walking to the back of the airplane....does the left wing become the right wing....there is only one left wing and there is only one right wing....

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But John you haven't listened to your flight attendants when the passengers are boarding.* Well maybe not yours but on a S80 the*overhead bins are deeper on the right (starboard)*side of the plane and the ones on the port side are shallower.* So they tell the folks as they are boarding to put the*large carry on in the left side wheels in first.* Which is really the starboard side.* But I guess it doesn't make any difference the folks boarding don't pay any attention any way.*

Just like on a car.* The left front fender is on the drivers side here but it still is the left front fender in England even though it is now the passenger side.*

It's the way the thing is suppose to travel that determines left and right.

Datenight wrote:

"The fluid leaked out of the transmission,"

E,

I feel your pain. Had the front seal go on my velvet drive two weeks ago. If you can remove it yourself, the local transmission shop*may rebuild it for you. Mine in Groton, CT, was $748. Far less than the marine shops. I understand that it is not difficult to do if you have some mechanical ability. I would rather sand a floor while Joel fixes the tranny.

Rob
37' Sedan

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After initial inspection the mechanic said it will take an entire day "and a little luck" to get the transmission out of the boat.* It is a forgone conclusion that the oil cooler will need to be replaced since that is obviously the source of the leak.* The reason he want to remove it is so that all the sea water can be removed completely from the transmission.* Ordinarily a simple flush might do the trick, but seawater had been circulating in there for a while.* In addition, he reccomended I fill it up with fluid which would protect it some until he could get there to perform the repairs (mabye a week or two).

I was able to get backed out of the slip and over to the fuel dock for the pump out with no problems.* Everyone reccomended I get one of the guys there to back her in for me with words like "if he can't do it nobody can..."* so we left from the fuel dock and I turned over the helm.* It took him four tries but we got it backed in.* On the last and successful try we used lots of speed and lots of throttle, and that lends credence to what others on this forum have said about docking in a strong wind or current.

As mentioned earlier, my Velvet drive front seal let go and I had it rebuilt.*A different mechanic*suggested that I replace the cooler at the same time. Mine is a dual unit that does the transmission and the oil from my 6.354. Rather than replace it just because, I made a tester and ran it up to 70 psi air which it held on both sides. I don't think I need to replace the cooler. Am I missing something?

Rob

37' Sedan

Am I missing something?

'Preventative Maintenance' as oil coolers are a common source of failure with the Velvet Drives.
If yours checks out ok, easily accessable and you're not starting that world cruise, you are probably ok.
Cooler failure can put seawater in your engine and tranny as well as letting your oil leak out. You have to consider that against the cost of a new cooler.

Just saying

I have a 6.354 as well with oil/tranny coolers.* After what happened to my transmission, I was thinking that I would go ahead and replace both coolers at the same time since they are side by side and share the same raw water plumbing*I think.* If the same thing were to happen to my oil cooler I assume I'd see the oil pressure drop as the oil leaked out through the exhaust, assuming the engine was running.* I'm assuming the bill for the transmission will be rather large, so now would be a good time to go ahead and do this PM.*

I need to clarify my post. When I said "Cooler failure can put seawater in your engine and tranny as well as letting your oil leak out." I was speaking of oil coolers in general - engine and tranny.
Your Velvet Drives should be self contained to pump, oil and cooler and separate from your engine. The common element between the engine and transmission cooler is usually the cooling lines.
As a rule of thumb, major overhaul of engines and transmissions merit a cooler replacement. Many warranties require it.
But, it's whatever your comfortable with.
Your question about lose of oil pressure. Most modern engine setups will shut themselves down on low oil pressure.