Check lists underway

Ok, there was a post here somewhere.....that I can't find now.....about a guy who takes a half a dozen temperature readings every hour underway.* Anyway, beyond checking that the engine room isn't filled with water or on fire, what should I be looking at every hour?

While I believe in ER checks, I rarely do them while underway. I would have to roll a rug up and remove a hatch. I am not doing that every hour. I do a good visual and PM when the boat is not underway.

So what I choose to do and since I run from the flybridge, is "about" every hour I walk below and make sure water is comming out the exhaust and that it looks like enough, there is no steam or smoke, and the noise is about right.

Then I go inside and check the lower station gages to make sure they look reasonable. Listen to the enigne and for odd noises. Then I cycle the bilge pump and look at the discharge to see if there is fuel, antifreeze, etc. Usually there is nothing or a squirt or two of water.

Than I go back topside and enjoy the ride.

A few times a season I will lift hatches and do an inspection. I use a temp gun in a few places and take note of the readings. I look at the Racor vacuum gages, and at the manual engine temp gage.

*

All this has worked for me for my 20+ years of boating. Yes I have had a few problems, but those have always showed up on a gage. When that happens I address the issue.



-- Edited by jleonard on Friday 6th of January 2012 03:32:58 PM


-- Edited by jleonard on Friday 6th of January 2012 03:33:14 PM

What are you shooting with your temperature gun? Just got one of those things and my wife is sick of me shooting her. Strangely, her temperature doesn't seem to go up when she is mad at me!

Eric, Here you go, http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/engine_temp . Although I much prefer to enjoy my time on the water rather than spend it all in the engine room. Chuck

@Chuck, Wow, think I will just keep shooting the wife.

the only check before leaving the dock, that is important is:

make sure wife is aboard

When cruising I am in my ER for about 5 minutes about every 90 minutes checking:
<ul>[*]Water pumps for leaks[*]Shaft seals for leaks[*]Any water or oil in the bilge[*]Visual look around each engine[*]IR gun on water pumps, transmissions, oil pans and shaft seals[/list]
About every 3 - 4 hours I look at rudder posts and laz bilge by lifting*a hatch.

**************

Make Inspections every 2 hours.* Log inspections every 5-10 operating hours.

NORMAL OPERATIONS (gauges):* RPM:1500-2000** WTMP:170-180F** OIL#:min20# (idle hot) - 50# (cold) - 38-40# (cruise/hot)*** FOVacuum:0-5 in** Pyro:400-580F** Turbo Boost:1.5-5.5#* *B1 Temp:65-85F

NORMAL OPERATING TEMPS (heat gun at 1600-2000 rpm):* *ME Expansion Tank:175F-185F* HO-ALT:* <160F*ME SW Injection Elbow:* <110F [max 40F above incoming SW temp]*ME Oil Bypass Filer (oil temp):* 155-185F* *Transmission:90-120F* IntBearing:100-115F**

VISUAL INSPECTIONS:* *Steering pump reservoir - ER Bilge - Shaft Brush - Shaft Seal - Rudder Post/Steering Ram Lazarette Bilge*

should I be looking at every hour?

Traffic on a collision course.

Install Murphy alarm gauges and everything will be monitored at ALL times.

No scan required , just respond to the alarm , set to call, before bad things happen.

Baggiolini wrote:
What are you shooting with your temperature gun? Just got one of those things and my wife is sick of me shooting her. Strangely, her temperature doesn't seem to go up when she is mad at me!

Click to expand...

*I hear ya. lol

I have a Lehman 120. I shoot header tank temp, temp gage sender (to see how close it is to the gage), ex manifold in a few places, exhaust elbow, tranny cooling lines. Once in a while I'll hit the prop shaft stuffing box (dripless). That's about it really.

I just check the oil and coolant and do a casual visual inspection of the engine and bilge before getting underway each morning. I check the gauges while underway and of course, if an alarm sounds, I react appropriately.

I own an IR non-contact thermometer and use it once in a while when diagnosing a problem.

Let me add - I check the steering, forward and reverse operation and bow thruster before leaving the slip.


-- Edited by rwidman on Saturday 7th of January 2012 06:44:12 PM

Baggiolini wrote:
Anyway, beyond checking that the engine room isn't filled with water or on fire, what should I be looking at every hour?

Click to expand...

Whatever you want.* Some people like checking engine rooms hourly, some of them do well if they check them yearly.

We have a pre-start checklist that includes items in the engine room.**Underway, I usually take a mid-run look in the engine room to check transmission temperature (by hand), shaft log temperatures (by hand), and determine if anything is leaking that shouldn't be leaking.

If the run is short-- say only a couple of hours or so--- I generally do not do an underway engine room check unless I haven't done one for awhile.

I do not do a post-shutdown engine room check unless I think there is a problem or want to confirm that there isn't one.

One thing we started doing*a number of years ago*is using a simple little*push-button*oven timer at the helm that we set for a five minute countdown.* So it starts beeping every five minutes which is a reminder to check all the engine gauges.* Then whoever is at the helm hits the button to reset it and it starts counting down again.* We do this because it is very easy to get distracted at the helm by stuff in the water, nav displays, the scenery in general, conversation,*or the whale off the port quarter.* The timer reminds us to pay attention to the instruments.

The two we are most interested in are oil pressure and coolant temperature.* There is no faster way to kill a Ford Lehman 120 than to let it overheat.* Monitoring the gauges has on three occasions to date*enabled us to catch a gradual*temperature rise in an engine in plenty of time to do a precautionary shutdown long before the temperature got high enough to do any damage.* Both engines are fitted with oil pressure and coolant temperature alarms but I place no faith in these sorts of things whatsoever.* Particularly alarm systems dating from 1973.

I should add that we were not smart enough to come up with the oven timer idea ourselves.* We stole it from Carey of this forum, as well as Australia's trans-continental railroad which does or did the same thing but for a*different reason.

*