Smokin' is bad for you...

[ancora]

Sittin' on the sundeck enjoying 80 degree plus weather and an adult libation, when I noticed two cleanin' ladies board the 40' Carver sundeck behind me, start the engines and go below. I noticed no water comin' out the starboard exhaust. It started steamin' and then later, puttin' out some blue smoke. Finally, the engine started stumblin' and the cleanin' ladies cranked up both engines and shut 'em down (real good for the turbos.) I wonder if they'll tell the absentee owner anything or let him find out for himself?

 

[Vyndance]

What was their reaction when you told them of the problem?

 

[ancora]

I didn't tell them anything. If the absentee owner is willin'to entrust his boat to cleanin' ladies he obviously doesn't care a whole bunch.

 

[CPseudonym]

Some folks are too cheap for their own good.

 

[Egregious]

Question one: is this a charter boat? Otherwise why have cleaning ladies for a 40 foot vessel?

Question two: why did they start the engines? If it was hot and the boat was on shore power, why not use the A/C?

Question three: if you saw someone start an engine where the intake seacock was closed and the engine was damaged, then why did you not at least say something to the dock master?

 

[swampu]

Question three::::have you ever tried to help someone launch a boat or pick a boat up? YOu get called an a hole and get the bird if your lucky. Like he said if he leaves the boat open to strangers to fiddel, he gets what he gets. I've driven 2 hours to check on my boat because a "friend" showed another friend my boat. He left the snubber line tied tight to the dock, but I just had a feeling. Nothing got damaged but could have.

 

[Egregious]

Question three::::have you ever tried to help someone launch a boat or pick a boat up? YOu get called an a hole and get the bird if your lucky. Like he said if he leaves the boat open to strangers to fiddel, he gets what he gets. I've driven 2 hours to check on my boat because a "friend" showed another friend my boat. He left the snubber line tied tight to the dock, but I just had a feeling. Nothing got damaged but could have.

Yes

 

[AusCan]

I didn't tell them anything. If the absentee owner is willin'to entrust his boat to cleanin' ladies he obviously doesn't care a whole bunch.

I don't quite get it. You stand by and watch thousands of dollars damage being done, because there's a chance someone might be rude to you if you speak up.
I would have said something as soon as I saw the lack of water flow. And I am glad that 99% of people around here would do the same.

 

[Tidahapah]

Must admit around our Marina and most likely any other in Aus someone would speak up if something like this was noticed.
If I saw it I would feel terribly guilty if I had not said something to the ladies or at least the owner when he returned, but most likely would have gone over to check if the cleaners needed a hand.

 

[Hendo78]

Question one: is this a charter boat? Otherwise why have cleaning ladies for a 40 foot vessel?

Question two: why did they start the engines? If it was hot and the boat was on shore power, why not use the A/C?

Question three: if you saw someone start an engine where the intake seacock was closed and the engine was damaged, then why did you not at least say something to the dock master?

Agreed. I'd be pissed if Someone saw something and didn't say a word

 

[Peter B]

Ancora, sorry, but I've got to say this..what you did...ignore a clear-cut case of damage being done in ignorance to a fellow boater's craft, without saying anything, is more contemptible than all the verbal rubbish you continually throw at your president, and leaves me speechless. I guess because there was no way to make political capital out of it, you just couldn't be bothered to interrupt your 'adult libation'.
If you don't right now or as soon as possible report that incident to the owner or marina authorities, so at least he finds out who wrecked his engine, and at least his insurance does not pay for it..well...words fail me...

 

[rwidman]

Sittin' on the sundeck enjoying 80 degree plus weather and an adult libation, when I noticed two cleanin' ladies board the 40' Carver sundeck behind me, start the engines and go below. I noticed no water comin' out the starboard exhaust. It started steamin' and then later, puttin' out some blue smoke. Finally, the engine started stumblin' and the cleanin' ladies cranked up both engines and shut 'em down (real good for the turbos.) I wonder if they'll tell the absentee owner anything or let him find out for himself?

I'll bet at this point you're sorry you posted this.

I would have said something to the cleaning ladies as soon as I noticed the problem and before damage had ben done. I would also have said something to the dock master and asked him to contact the boat's owner. I woul have contacted the boat's owner myself if I knew him.

How would you feel if something bad happened to your boat and your slip neighbors ignored it?

 

[swampu]

I'll bet at this point you're sorry you posted this.

I think that everyone is missing the point. It's not about that guys boat that fried, it's about boat maintenance. If the two ladies were cleaning ladies than they would have not known how to start the mains. They were either family or cleaning ladies who were instructed by the owner to run the mains during the cleaning. Most likely the later because family never cleans, right. It's bad on the owner either way. I'm sure the op didn't sit there and watch the thing fry laughing. He was making a point of what happened. Chronologically he probably saw the ladies get on and crank it up, took note.
Looked over again and heard the sputter, saw no water and cluck goes the engine. Sitting at idle and overheat is not the end of the world for the engine and probably not the first time for those engines.
Am I speculating to much?

 

[El Sea]

Regardless of a charter vessel or who can afford cleaning crews, I think for a fellow mariner to sit by and allow harm to a vessel is a measurement of character. FWIW: Most marinas are made up of absentee owners ........

 

[AusCan]

If it was my boat involved, Im not sure who I'd be more upset with; the person who played around without knowing any better, or the person who allowed it to happen completely aware of the damage being done.

 

[Northern Spy]

I wouldn't ask a cleaning lady to start my engine.

Nor would I own a Carver...

 

[dwhatty]

I wouldn't ask a cleaning lady to start my engine.

Tread lightly. The Admiral does a lot of our cleaning and she can start my engine anytime she wants.

 

[psneeld]

In some areas...the cleaning ladies have more sea time than all of us put together plus a really salty Navy admiral....

But that just a few I used to know in Ft Lauderdale.....

If it's part of the job...I would hope the owner would know their quals and expect them to follow procedure...if I find my boat's engines fried and the only other person aboard was the cleaners....they hopefully had insurance that covered their job description or the owner is a twit.

 

[Giggitoni]

Tread lightly. The Admiral does a lot of our cleaning and she can start my engine anytime she wants.

Lol! I was trying to come up with something witty....

 

[sunchaser]

Which begs the question, sea cocks - to leave open or not?

 

[Hendo78]

Old mate that posted this has gone a bit quiet. You think he's sorta kinda wishin hopin he'd spoken up ? Lolololol. Ah well we all make mistakes. Lets hope that (not just him) but everyone knows that it's better to speak up and say something to stop damage that could be sorted quickly than just sit back and watch someone's dreams go to poo. IMHO.

 

[AusCan]

"Which begs the question, sea cocks - to leave open or not?"

I'd suggest - Close, but hang a "Do Not Operate" tag on your ignition/starter whenever it is in an unsafe condition to start.

 

[RickB]

Old mate that posted this has gone a bit quiet. You think he's sorta kinda wishin hopin he'd spoken up ?

More likely wishing he had kept his fingers off the keyboard and not published his inaction.

 

[Hendo78]

Which begs the question, sea cocks - to leave open or not?

Depends on the application. Seacocks feeding into or out of a closed system, like the engine cooling system, are almost always left open.

Seacocks connected to something open, such as a sink drain, can be opened up in port but probs best to be closed when at sea. The reason for this way of thinking is that when the boat is level, the drain or other opening will always be above the waterline, and so water will only flow out. At sea, when the boat rolls in the waves, the opening may sometimes be below the waterline so If the seacock is open water may flood the boat.

But in this case if its just sitting there why not leave it open?

 

[psneeld]

my preferred method is to close and red tag if away from the boat more than a short period of time

 

[Marin]

I wouldn't ask a cleaning lady to start my engine.

Nor would I own a Carver...

No argument with either statement. However I would have-- and have-- pointed out the lack of cooling water no matter who was on the boat. When we start our engines one of us goes back and watches the exhaust until we see a proper flow of water ( and also to look for signs of rust in the water). Then we start the second engine and do the same thing.

But if we were at the dock or moving through the marina and someone noticed that we didn't have a flow of cooling water coming out one or both of the exhausts I'd sure as hell want them to tell me about it even if their observation was wrong. Same with the generator exhaust.

If the cleaning ladies or whoever don't want to do anything about it that's their choice. But I believe they should at least be made aware of the situation.

 

[Marin]

Which begs the question, sea cocks - to leave open or not?

We have eleven holes in the bottom of our boat and one in the side just below the waterline. All of them have seacocks all of which except the main engine intakes are kept closed at all times unless we will be using them in the course of using the boat. When we are done using the boat any that we've opened other than the main engine seacocks are closed again before we leave to go home.

 

[rwidman]

Here's the original post:

Sittin' on the sundeck enjoying 80 degree plus weather and an adult libation, when I noticed two cleanin' ladies board the 40' Carver sundeck behind me, start the engines and go below. I noticed no water comin' out the starboard exhaust. It started steamin' and then later, puttin' out some blue smoke. Finally, the engine started stumblin' and the cleanin' ladies cranked up both engines and shut 'em down (real good for the turbos.) I wonder if they'll tell the absentee owner anything or let him find out for himself?

Now he (we assume) never said how it was determined that they were "cleanin' ladies". Perhaps they were wearing uniforms or had mops and bucket in their hands.

Someone posted that it must be a charter boat to have cleaning ladies. Friends of mine at my marina had a cleaning service clean their 40' boat every two weeks. They were in rather poor physical shape because of illness and other medical conditions so they were unable to keep it as clean as they liked themselves. So - it didn't have to be a charter boat.

There is a company based at my marina that details boats and employes women as detailers. There's another female owned and operated boat detailing company that comes around from time to time to work on people's boats. Two females on a boat don't have to be "cleanin' ladies".

Many folks believe that boat engines should be run every week or two and that puts absentee owners in a position to have someone start and run their boats. Perhaps these ladies were instructed by the owner to start the engines. Perhaps someone else had been working on the boat and left the seacocks closed.

I think the OP was wrong for not at least warning these "cleanin' ladies" about the problem. Maybe the fact that he was enjoying an "adult libation" (or two or three) had something to do with it.

 

[ancora]

Let's say we are all in a private marina, owned, operated, and maintained by the membership. You have a member who takes advantage of all the amenities provided by the club but does nothing to help keep it running. Do you owe any loyalty to the parasite?

 

[LarryBud49]

Let's say we are all in a private marina, owned, operated, and maintained by the membership. You have a member who takes advantage of all the amenities provided by the club but does nothing to help keep it running. Do you owe any loyalty to the parasite?

Why is he/she a parasite? Are the dues paid? Assuming they are, then are there any rules being broken? Does the private marina require participation, or have expectations of a minimun number of voluteer hours? If not, then aside from keeping your own slip area presentable and not doing anything to harm or infringe or your neighbors, what's the problem? Some people don't have the time, capabilities, personality, or inclination to participate in group activities. Even if there are known, even written expectations, even if the dues are overdue, even if the guy is an butthead, I would still say something to save the boat. Two wrongs still don't make a right.