Lou_tribal
Guru
Hello TF folks!
This thread is about my story today, bare with me and read it will be interesting!
Today was our departure day for a 3 weeks cruise, that was a 4 weeks cruise at the beginning but went in a 3 weeks cruise because of some health issue in the family... anyway, yesterday we came to the boat, 2 kayak n the car roof, car loaded to the ceiling, 9PM we were on the boat, everything sorted wooo celebration.
Today I started to install my new setup for BBQ (Grill mister RTF
) everything is looking good, some leaks on the cooktop fitting... ok no drama, disconnected the cooktop will sort that out after our trip, the BBQ (grill) is working fine.
After setup, fresh water tank cleaning, sort everything, tie everything on the deck, we are good to go for refuel, pump out and start the cruise.
4PM, we go to the fuel dock and refuel, 335L all tanks full, connect the pump out... no luck, after 30 minutes the deck hands was not able to get it working, ok no drama (you see I am positive I never see any drama ), we will pump out somewhere else on our way...
Now time to start the beast and go cruising, turn the key, engine starts... and I heard a non familiar noise, run to the ER, open the hatch, immediately I saw a liquid cooler hose that was sliding on the alternator belt, urge, took the hose in hand, called my admiral, asked her to grab a tie wrap, tie the hose, ok no drama (again positive lol) just a slight rubber burnt but no real cut everything s fine.
Time to go, slowly go, when some hundreds meters from the dock put in neutral to let my wife grab the fenders, then start at 1200 rpm to warm up... approaching the bridge , increase throttle... then huuuurrrr heard a strange noise, engine is making an unusual noise... not the nice music... Called the wife "Hey look at the exhaust any water coming out?"... answer.... "No"... put in neutral.. run to the ER... open the hatch... half a foot of water in the ER!!! PANNICCC ABOARD WE ARE TAKING WATER IN!!! Run to the dashboard, force all bilge pumps on, the wife was like ""what? what? WHAT?"... asked her to keep a look in the ER if the pumps are running well to keep water level under control, yes, ok one thing in control... Called back the marina PAN PAN PAN taking water need to go back to dock... but the marina was closed nobody there... we headed slowly at the slowest pace possible to the marina (why the slowest? well I thought that if there was no water in the exhaust, and it was not a seacock failure it was certainly a hose that broke apart so lower the rpm, lower the water pumped in ( it was a guess right or wrong).
So after 10 minutes, the wife looking at the ER telling me every minute that water level is fine, we are back to our dock. Tie up, stop the engine, let the ER bilge pump empty the water... OUF we are safe.
Now the diagnostic... After looking at the engine, it revealed it was a hose that popped out on the exhaust manifold... between the heat exchanger and the manifold. Looking at it closely, the stainless collar on the hose was totally loose, not broken, just unscrewed!!!
My conclusions: The f*&^%$# mechanic at the marina unscrewed the collar last winter to winterize the engine (don't ask me why) and did not screw it tight. Why I say so, because first I saw that guy and he did not look to someone who know what he is doing, then because when I left the boat last winter the collar was perfectly tight). After repairing that deadly mistake, I check the engine all over... to discover that have 2 bolt on the exhaust manifold, one at each end, either used to empty the manifold, but I guess they are intended for anodes ( my engine is very rare so it is pure hypothesis here)... one of them as been replaced with a plastic screw that you can remove by hand without even to unscrew it, not even the correct size!!!!
Conclusion: tomorrow the marina owner will receive my sh$%t but I guess he will not care about it... but one thing I am sure... no mechanic here will ever get a foot on my boat.
With all this wasted another day of vacation and cruising. Positive thing I am back and safe, and found the bad sized screw that would have been an issue for sure... but at the end... people working like this, I cannot think good things about them.
L.
This thread is about my story today, bare with me and read it will be interesting!
Today was our departure day for a 3 weeks cruise, that was a 4 weeks cruise at the beginning but went in a 3 weeks cruise because of some health issue in the family... anyway, yesterday we came to the boat, 2 kayak n the car roof, car loaded to the ceiling, 9PM we were on the boat, everything sorted wooo celebration.
Today I started to install my new setup for BBQ (Grill mister RTF
) everything is looking good, some leaks on the cooktop fitting... ok no drama, disconnected the cooktop will sort that out after our trip, the BBQ (grill) is working fine.After setup, fresh water tank cleaning, sort everything, tie everything on the deck, we are good to go for refuel, pump out and start the cruise.
4PM, we go to the fuel dock and refuel, 335L all tanks full, connect the pump out... no luck, after 30 minutes the deck hands was not able to get it working, ok no drama (you see I am positive I never see any drama
), we will pump out somewhere else on our way...Now time to start the beast and go cruising, turn the key, engine starts... and I heard a non familiar noise, run to the ER, open the hatch, immediately I saw a liquid cooler hose that was sliding on the alternator belt, urge, took the hose in hand, called my admiral, asked her to grab a tie wrap, tie the hose, ok no drama (again positive lol) just a slight rubber burnt but no real cut everything s fine.
Time to go, slowly go, when some hundreds meters from the dock put in neutral to let my wife grab the fenders, then start at 1200 rpm to warm up... approaching the bridge , increase throttle... then huuuurrrr heard a strange noise, engine is making an unusual noise... not the nice music... Called the wife "Hey look at the exhaust any water coming out?"... answer.... "No"... put in neutral.. run to the ER... open the hatch... half a foot of water in the ER!!! PANNICCC ABOARD WE ARE TAKING WATER IN!!! Run to the dashboard, force all bilge pumps on, the wife was like ""what? what? WHAT?"... asked her to keep a look in the ER if the pumps are running well to keep water level under control, yes, ok one thing in control... Called back the marina PAN PAN PAN taking water need to go back to dock... but the marina was closed nobody there... we headed slowly at the slowest pace possible to the marina (why the slowest? well I thought that if there was no water in the exhaust, and it was not a seacock failure it was certainly a hose that broke apart so lower the rpm, lower the water pumped in ( it was a guess right or wrong).
So after 10 minutes, the wife looking at the ER telling me every minute that water level is fine, we are back to our dock. Tie up, stop the engine, let the ER bilge pump empty the water... OUF we are safe.
Now the diagnostic... After looking at the engine, it revealed it was a hose that popped out on the exhaust manifold... between the heat exchanger and the manifold. Looking at it closely, the stainless collar on the hose was totally loose, not broken, just unscrewed!!!
My conclusions: The f*&^%$# mechanic at the marina unscrewed the collar last winter to winterize the engine (don't ask me why) and did not screw it tight. Why I say so, because first I saw that guy and he did not look to someone who know what he is doing, then because when I left the boat last winter the collar was perfectly tight). After repairing that deadly mistake, I check the engine all over... to discover that have 2 bolt on the exhaust manifold, one at each end, either used to empty the manifold, but I guess they are intended for anodes ( my engine is very rare so it is pure hypothesis here)... one of them as been replaced with a plastic screw that you can remove by hand without even to unscrew it, not even the correct size!!!!
Conclusion: tomorrow the marina owner will receive my sh$%t but I guess he will not care about it... but one thing I am sure... no mechanic here will ever get a foot on my boat.
With all this wasted another day of vacation and cruising. Positive thing I am back and safe, and found the bad sized screw that would have been an issue for sure... but at the end... people working like this, I cannot think good things about them.
L.
