Just call me N Diesel

Venture Out II has been plagued by an air-leak issue in the diesel fuel supply lines for awhile. Throughout the vessel, there are hints from the previous owner of his attempts to slay the air-bubble dragon: extra fuel pumps mounted on the bulkhead, fuel catch buckets beneath the fuel manifold, notes in his log book, customized fuel hose contraptions here and there, etc.

Our friend Rob has danced with the dragon a few times himself as well. I say "danced," because he had developed a routine for starting and shutting down the motors, which apparently made the fuel bleeding process more predictable, and thus easier to bleed (burb) the bubbles when they would occur.

The process requires opening the floors to enter the engine room, and one person bleeds the system, while the other person cranks the starter (which isn't very good for the starter and batteries, either.) With the distances we are planning to travel, we need a reliable pair of motors, that don't require us to jump down below every morning, nor die on us unexpectedly while we are cruising down-river. (Not to mention a process that would likely kill a starter prematurely enroute, and maybe cause battery failure as well...)

I grew up as a bit of a shade-tree mechanic. I worked on my bicycles, then my motorcycles, then my cars/trucks, and our boats. I have built/rebuilt several motors in my day. But, we have never owned or worked on diesel trucks/cars/boats.

I theory, they are actually easier and less-complicated than gasoline motors (because they don't have a "spark"-based system.) Thus, they have no distributors, no points, no condensers, no spark plug wires nor spark plugs, no coils, etc., etc. Historically speaking, MOST of my motor issues with my cars/boats/cycles in the past have been electronics/ignition-related. So, the concept of erasing ALL of this from a diesel configuration, was/is quite encouraging (from a reliability standpoint.)

Diesels is also supposed to be a MUCH SAFER fuel supply. First, it's flash-point is WAY higher than gasoline. I think the flashpoint for gasoline is something like minus 40 degrees or something like that? (Thus, a gas motor can still start pretty easily in fairly cold weather -- they are easy to ignite.) Whereas, diesel fuel has a flash point of something like 170 degrees or something like that? So, having a candle or open flame burning in the cabin is NO PROBLEM and NO WORRY! (Conversely, it's a no-no for gasoline boat owners...)

Anyway, when we moved aboard the boat, I don't think that I had ever even TOUCHED a diesel engine before (not even checked the oil on one.) But, for the past five weeks, I have been down in that engine room, and pulled out nearly EVERY diesel fuel line, fitting, valve, gasket, filter, and such this boat has. I have been literally elbow-deep cleaning spilled diesel fuel and sludge from the catchpans beneath both motors. My body and clothes now have a semi-permenant ode-de'-diesel scent about them. I wasn't a diesel mechanic when we moved aboard; but, now I ar' one!

Just call me: N Diesel

The story is quite long (weeks long in fact.) I tried a "soft" touch in the beginning, hoping that the issue was just too much non-use and sitting (some things just work themselves out with enough use.) Or, something that Captain Obvious could find/fix. When those two ideas didn't pan-out, I figured I'd call in a semi-pro team to fix it (I didn't want to pay the high costs of a PRO marine diesel mechanic!) The semi-pros were here for a full day, and pretty much took most of their directions from ME (the rookie!!!) What's up with that? I was expecting them to show-up with some semi-professional equipment -- maybe to pressurize the fuel supply system and inject/squirt some sort of soapy compound on it to see where the bubbles/leaks surface? Nope. That's too sophisticated for these two guys... Instead, they simply did the EXACT same stuff that I was planning to do (if I did it myself.) So, after a full day of the two of them monkeying around down in the engine room, the next day, the SAME EXACT SYMPTOM reoccurred. (Money NOT well-spent...) :-(

But, seeing them fumble worse that I was fumbling on my own, was enough encouragement for me to just deal with it myself! (Note for the record: All along, Kelly resisted the hiring of outside mechancis. She prefers that I fix our boat/cars myself. She trusts MY work, moreso than that of strangers.) So, down into the engine room I went, day after day, chaning fittings, filters, hoses myself. Trying, day after day, to identify/isolate the issue.

I don't have the luxury of time to SLOWLY diagnose the issue (one piece per day, then wait 24 hours for a cold-start to see if it's fixed.) Instead, I had to attack the situation in bulk. I owuld change a half-dozen things, and then wait 24 hours to test it. Then, change another half-dozen things, wait another 24 hours, and test it again.

After five or six weeks at this game, I'm pleased to (cautiously) report, that the boat cold-started PERFECTLY FINE this morning!!!! Yippee!!!!

We now plan a few more warm-starts, and then a short cruise around the marina, and then a cruise up-river for 30-90 minutes (just to make SURE all is well.) But, the successful cold-start this morning is VERY encouraging news!

Next lesson for N Diesel: Glow plugs. (Our generator starts/runs fine -- with a little priming. I discovered that the glow plugs are working properly. Guess what -- they are ELECTRONIC!!!) So, while diesels are MOSTLY non-electric, there is still SOME electric involved... I applied a DIRECT jump-start of the glow plugs, and they glowed BRIGHTLY. So, the plugs aren't bad/defective! There is something wrong with the electrical supply to them (probably a bad solenoid.) It's not a show-stopper for our journey. Just an opportunity for yet ANOTHER self-taught lesson in Diesel Mechanics 101 for yours truely...


Provisioning (Roud Two): Kelly returned from two grocery stores with BOXES full of stuff yesterday. I don't know HOW she got all that stuff into our fridge, freezer and pantry? So, this afternoon we will be returning our borrowed car, making the rounds to say farewell to family & friends, and preparing to launch tomorrow (Friday) morning (on Kelly's birthday.)

L8r g8rs,


N Diesel.

P.S. I mounted our new flat-panel TV on the aft wall of the cockpit. It looks clean/neat! This prevents it from coming CRASHING to the floor from atop the refrigerator when we hit an unexpected wave/wake. It also allows us to repurpose the space above the fridge for storing other stuff.