Engine routine on long passage

[silverback]

I am planning voyage to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Longest passage 1000/1200 miles. What suggestions for maintenance whilst underway. I’m thinking to stop engine check fluids daily. Any suggestions welcome. Single 6BTA Cummins 315 hp.

 

[Comodave]

Get a non contact temp gun and shoot several places around the engine and record the normal temps so you can see a trend if it is starting to run hot.

 

[mvweebles]

Back in my delivery days, I delivered several new boats out of southern California north to Washington, Oregon, or BC to reduce sales tax. At the time, the engine OEM asked the break-in oil be changed out at 100-125 engine hours. So I changed oil a few times mid-delivery. I always had a bit of angst hitting the start button - always worried the engine wouldn't tick over.

You'll be doing around 150 engine hours. Assuming your engine is solid and doesn't have a history of oil consumption, I'd shut down midway and check oil level. You should not be losing any coolant

My ancient Perkins burns a quart of oil in 50-hours or so. I might just go to idle-forward and add a quart without shutting down.

Please share your trip details!

Peter

 

[Comodave]

We had a 46’ trawler with Screaming Green Leakers, otherwise known as Detroits, they would burn or leak about a gallon every 24 hours run time. I didn’t worry about stopping them to add the oil since they started at the push of the start button. Carried a lot of oil on our trip down the Pacific coast…

 

[proudsailor]

Echoing ComoDave above. I use a temp gun and do routine temp checks of my engine blocks, transmissions, stuffing boxes, and chart them so I can notice trends. If seas allow, I'd try to shut down for a bit and do fluid level checks also. One day discovered on my routine start up checks, that my transmission fluid was a milky caramel color. Wondering when in my previous day's run did my transmission cooler go belly up. Had I been underway for a prolonged period, no doubt would have killed my transmission.

 

[Lepke]

Some engines have a dipstick tube that extends into the pan so you can measure oil level without stopping the engine. If not other engines can be measured running at idle and oil isn't being flung around as much.

 

[rslifkin]

Some engines have a dipstick tube that extends into the pan so you can measure oil level without stopping the engine. If not other engines can be measured running at idle and oil isn't being flung around as much.

For measuring while running you'd also want to calibrate your expectations. With the oil at a known level (such as full), warm up the engine and check the oil with it running. If you can get a good read the level will likely be lower when running due to some oil sitting up in the heads, etc. Depending on the engine it may be a small difference or it might be a couple of quarts of difference in how much sits in the pan.

 

[North Baltic sea]

Hi,

I also recommend checking the water pump for leaks if it is a Sherwood. I would buy a new Seaboard Marin pump as a spare part, as well as fuel filters, oil filters, a belt kit, oil for the engine/gearbox, and coolant. In my opinion, the routine checks you have planned are sufficient, plus a check of the water pump.

 

[Comodave]

Yes, the Sherwood pumps are a known source of failure. I put the SMX pumps on my boat a couple of years ago. Sbmar.com is the source for them. They have an annual sale each year maybe around February or March. You should get on their mailing list.

 

[Don L]

Yes, the Sherwood pumps are a known source of failure. I put the SMX pumps on my boat a couple of years ago. Sbmar.com is the source for them. They have an annual sale each year maybe around February or March. You should get on their mailing list.

This is drift so sorry:

Are these pumps completely separate and not a built in part of the engine?

 

[rslifkin]

This is drift so sorry:

Are these pumps completely separate and not a built in part of the engine?

They bolt to the engine, and in the case of the Cummins pumps, I think they're gear driven. They're basically a replaceable bolt-on just like a coolant circulating pump.

 

[Don L]

They bolt to the engine, and in the case of the Cummins pumps, I think they're gear driven. They're basically a replaceable bolt-on just like a coolant circulating pump.

So a complete after market bolt on. I never would have thought. Thanks. I want to learn more but it is thread drift and I will look into for my knowledge.

 

[scurvydog_pnw]

My wife and I make a habit of doing a routine engine room check every hour while underway. It allows us to look for leaks, hear if there is a noise difference, check sea strainers, and check the fuel filter vacuum gauge, and coolant level in bottles. If you don't have it see if you can add vacuum gage on the external fuel filter. If you have a dual filter setup with a switchable valve then if you get a dirty filter you can swap the active filter and then change the no backup filter while the engine runs. No need to stop.

If you do shut down engines I would echo to check the transmission fluid. That way you can check level and fluid color at same time.

Last we write down in our log book any items of note or things to track. We also include the engine gauge data and SOG. That way if we suddely see a deviation in a gauge we have a history to reference.

We also have a printed table that for each RPM of the engine what would the gauge values be.

As Peter noted we have had to do a mid-crossing oil change before due to engine break in periods.

Many maintenance related items can be done pre-departure thereby avoiding potential issues. Like change impellors, oil filters, fuel filters, etc. Inspect the heat exchangers. For off-shore trips I would include doing a engine test at WOT prior to departure and noting if the engine performs with in specifications; this has a tendance to exposes potential failures as well while being still close to home port.

Good luck and clear skies on your trip.

 

[PierreR]

We had a 46’ trawler with Screaming Green Leakers, otherwise known as Detroits, they would burn or leak about a gallon every 24 hours run time. I didn’t worry about stopping them to add the oil since they started at the push of the start button. Carried a lot of oil on our trip down the Pacific coast…

OMG, I have one Detroit that doesn't use a half gallon in 150 hours and the other uses a gallon in 150 hours. I thought the gallon was excessive. Neither engine is diluting the oil with diesel.

 

[chanprr]

Other stuff. Pre-departure, check all bilge pumps, high-water alarms, sea cocks and strainers. Take spares.

 

[O C Diver]

If you're engine doesn't use oil, stop and check it every day unless the weather is bad. This notion of the engine not starting is ridiculous. I ran over 2,000 charters with my single engine Cummins, anchoring on a shipwreck and stopping the engine (sometimes 2 shipwrecks per trip). That's three to 4 starts (including fuel dock) every day without a failure to start! The notion that a warm engine won't run (other than the starter failing) is right up there with a whale breaching and sinking your vessel.

Now here is what you should have onboard:

A spare starter and the tools to change it (maybe remove it and reinstall it to make sure).

A spare alternator
A spare belt tensioner
Any idler pulleys and their bolts
A serpentine belt
A freshwater (coolant) pump
A raw water (seawater) pump
The lift fuel pump
The fuel separator filter
The fuel final filter (between lift and injector pump)

A failure of any of the above will stop your boat dead.

A thermostat
A radiator cap
Enough coolant to refill the system
An oil change including filter

I would also consider replacing or atleast inspecting all raw water and freshwater hoses depending on their age.

If it's old, maybe a transmission cooler and two oil changes.

Other than liquids, that's about two to three milk crates worth of parts.

If you can't change any of the above, learn how.

Ted

 

[Papik]

If not done before: new coolant for the closed engine cooling circuit before departure would be on my list.

If there is a certain level of corrosion it may show overheating only after several hours. Ask me how I know.

 

[Mambo42]

And like others do, we always check the engine every hour and it is always the same person who checks them. That way you can hear or see something that is different compared to last check. I also have 3 cameras in the ER, which are always visible on a screen on the flybridge.
We also have the IR thermometer, creates a nice log / trend.
Before we set off I will polish the fuel in all the tanks. All the fuel in every tank passes at least 5 times through the filter so that I know for sure the fuel in the tank is clean and no algae are present. From the tank the fuel then goes to the racors and then to the engine fuel filters. That way I know no contaminated fuel is entering the fuel pumps.

I guess that, if you have run your engines a lot in the previous years, you will also know how much oil it normally uses and if it leaks somewhere. That way you can calculate when you should add oil or fluids while underway. Shutting down both engines in a blue blue situation is something I won't do. I will shut down one engine, keep the other one running, cool down the stopped engine a bit, check all the fluids, start her up again and only then will I shut down the second engine.
I know this may be over the top safe, but you can never say never. I remember a colleague during my pilot training. On one of his solos he decided to shut down one engine, just to find out how it was to fly single engine. And surely enough, he could not restart it anymore, so now had to explain why he, as a student shut down one engine in flight. He never expected that engine not to restart anymore, but it did. So that was a good lesson never to assume, because it makes an 'ass out of you and me'.

 

[rslifkin]

Shutting down both engines in a blue blue situation is something I won't do. I will shut down one engine, keep the other one running, cool down the stopped engine a bit, check all the fluids, start her up again and only then will I shut down the second engine.

I take the same approach. If we're not docked or anchored, I need a pretty damn good reason to shut both engines down.

 

[Don L]

The thing I am taking away from this thread is that you need to log your oil use etc. so you know what to expect on a passage/trip.

I have a friend with a Nordhaven 57m he has been trying to sell. Finally had an offer and it fell apart at engine survey and he say "but it only uses "X" oil" I thought "X" was a lot, but I guess not and least he knew that rate.

 

[rslifkin]

Finally had an offer and it fell apart at engine survey and he say "but it only uses "X" oil" I thought "X" was a lot, but I guess not and least he knew that rate.

Acceptable oil consumption varies a lot. Some engine designs burn more by nature than others, and it's also a question of whether the consumption has been pretty steady over time or it if has been slowly getting worse. You may have 2 engines that each consume a quart in 75 hours, but one has been doing that since day 1 and the other didn't originally consume noticeable oil but does now. The first one wouldn't concern me much if other indications point to a healthy engine, while I'd be much more likely to suspect the second engine is tired. Especially if the first is a model known for oil consumption (without other issues) and the second isn't.

Think about it in terms of cars. A few models of higher performance European engines are known for burning a quart in 3000 miles or so from day 1, just as the nature of the engine. And at the other end of the spectrum, you have my wife's 2005 Camry V6. 319k miles on the engine and in 5k miles between oil changes, the dipstick level moves so little I'm never sure if it actually dropped or not.