Small Things - Big Effects

Here a short story demonstrating how small things may have big effects on a boat. They may be even very costly and could ruin your vacation plan.


1 August 2011 - 07h00:

My girls are still sleeping while I am doing last preparation on the boat to leave port. With our Italian friends Edu and his family we agreed to sail in convoy and to leave early around 08:00. They rented a 39ft'er which is moored on the other side of the port. The plan is to head towards Vulcano Island, then further to Cefalu and along the Sicilian coast with a stop over in Palermo up to the Islands of Egadi at the western tip of Sicily.

We arrived the previous day by car from Rome and met Edu and his family later the evening at Lido di Nonno, our favorite bar/restaurant at the beach next to Porto di Tropea.

7h30:

I just tried to start the engine but besides a 'click' nothing happened. What is this? So far the engine was always reliable. Only once, many years ago, we had a problem in the Netherlands which was due to a short-circuited starter battery. Is it again the starter battery? Can't be. I changed batteries including the starter battery about one year ago and when I was on T-Fish two months earlier everything just worked fine.

I connected the domestic battery bank to the starter and tried again. Click! Nothing!

Later I tried to turn the flywheel mechanically but even with force I did not manage. The motor is stuck!

My girls took it easy. Beach day in Tropea, not a bad alternative to motoring for hours in the Italian summer heat. Edu and his family joined them, too.


2 August 2011:

'Il mechanico' arrived the next day.

Sh..! Indication of salt water at the glow plugs. The engine needs to get out of the boat and transported to the workshop. Edu kindly offered to sail together to Palermo in their boat where they will meet another Italian family who will join them for the rest of their trip. Only minutes later we carried luggage and provisions from T-Fish to their boat and helped the mechanics with disconnecting the engine, opening the cockpit floor and getting the engine out of T-Fish's hull.

The engine has to go to the workshop

3 August -  6 August 2011:

After a very pleasant cruise via Vulcano and Cefalu to Palermo we took the train back to Tropea. The mechanics informed us that all 4 pistols as well as the head gasket need to be renewed. The repair will put us back several thousands of Euros but is still more economic than replacing the engine. Spare parts need to be ordered and should be in Tropea within 3-4 days. This, at least, we were told.

Does not look good

18 August 2011:

The engine is back in T-Fish and seems to function like new! Well, apparently it took much longer than originally anticipated but at least they managed to get it back in T-Fish two days prior we had to leave because of the end of our summer vacations.

Anyway, we made the best out of the situation and had lovely and relaxing days in Tropea and met many new local friends. There are definitely worse places on this planet where you could be stuck because of a engine problem. See pics here: Summer 2011 with engine problems


Worthwhile noting is that none of the mechanics really could explain the reason for problem. They even argued that the exit of the exhaust pipe of our boat is too close to the water line which would cause water entering the engine when sailing with heel. Well, they are good mechanics but by looking at the exhaust pipe they immediately would have realized that this requires the boat to capsize.

Almost a year later, I was transferring T-Fish with friends from Tropea to Southern Sardinia. We stopped in Filicudi, a remote Aeolian island and enjoyed a delicious dinner as the single guests in a restaurant in the village while T-Fish was moored at a lonely pier. When checking the oil the next morning, I realized a relatively high level and guess what, the engine did not start. A local fisher brought us a heavy duty battery convinced that it is related to a faulty starter battery. The engine turned several times without starting. When checking the oil again the typical milky color of a oil-water mixture was visible. Sh.. - again water in the engine!

This time I realized the problem. Underpressure caused by the pump of the cooling system suck in sea water after the engine is switched off. To avoid this, there is a small ventilation valve in the sea water cooling pipe which I clean on a yearly basis. However, two years ago, I decided to change the whole valve and bought a new one from Volvo Penta. Apparently, I have applied too much torch when installing it or for some other reasons it sometimes does not open as I had several cruises in between without problems. Realizing this, I decided to change the whole system and built in the Vetus system instead, which is supposed to be much more reliable. Since then, I never had similar problems again.

Indeed - small things - big effects!

By the way. Moored at the pier in Filicudi, a very tiny island in the middle of nowhere and with a severe engine problem was a situation which I only could master with the help of my friends and the Italian hospitality. Via radio we ordered oil and a small oil pump from a nautical shop closest to Filicudi which was on Lipari, an island some 20 nm away. Without any pre-payments spare parts were given to a passenger on the last ferry to Filicudi that day. Payment was arranged after the friendly passenger handed over the spare parts on the pier. We then used the small oil pump and cleaned the engine from the salt water-oil mixture by emptying and refilling it several times. This took us about half of the night. After that the engine started without problems and we managed to arrive safe and still in-time at our destination. Thanks guys!

T-Fish at the pier in Filicudi