Just read that a solo sailor in a 16 metre (52ft) yacht has been taken under tow into Coffs. Be interested in knowing the story.
From www.news.com.au
A YACHT stranded off the coast of Port Stephens, on the NSW mid north coast, is being towed back to Coffs Harbour after engine trouble.
The sole person on board - a 46-year-old man from Sydney - is not believed to have been injured, police said on Sunday.
The 16-metre single-masted sailing boat sent a distress radio beacon on Saturday night, 200 nautical miles offshore, reporting engine problems.
Water police left Port Stephens late on Saturday, reaching the stricken boat on Sunday afternoon.
The vessel, believed to have been sailing to New Zealand, is now under tow back to Coffs Harbour.
That was the article, would like to know what happened.
It seems to be the way with many sailors, engine troubles so call for help when not in immediate danger. There are times it is appropriate to take a tow, have done it myself, but this doesn't seem to be one of them.
I lost my diesel after sucking air into the system at Easter...sailing in 30 knots on the nose I tacked for 6 hours and arriving in the lee of a dark island dropped the pick in 7 meters of water , after rolling violently till 3 am while the 1kva Honda charged the battery's...I managed to bleed the fuel and was on the marina berth by 5am....no help was called although at times I did think about it!
Select to expand quotesouthace said..
Len are you ok? We warned you!
Nah, can't be Len. He said he was going to Fiji, not to Un Zud
Port douglas to cairns!
I have been through worse situations but my biggest challenge was trying to sail into a tidal marina which is near impossible in the conditions and the way the marina is set up. Lucky I got the motor started again thanks too some aero start and freshly charged battery's and fuel lines bleed!
Diesel engines are usually reliable but air leaks can be a real pain. They have an annoying habit of conking out just when you seem to need them the most, for example, if you've sucked in air after a bumpy passage. Every skipper really needs to know how to bleed their fuel system pronto, but it seems many don't 
.
Also, unless you're a cat with a spare engine, I reckon it's a very good idea to keep a sail up on the final approach to a marina, just in case you lose engine power. Then at at least you still have sail power.
Scruzin extra engine and sails ...what a back up, ....only CAT people have luxury like that ...
That's gold.
i have even better experience, crewing on Seawind 1000.
On Bass Strait, one engine stopped, lift the engine / 2 * four stroke Yamahas /
Lean over, clean the prop. and she goes again.
Select to expand quotescruzin said...
Diesel engines are usually reliable but air leaks can be a real pain. They have an annoying habit of conking out just when you seem to need them the most, for example, if you've sucked in air after a bumpy passage. Every skipper really needs to know how to bleed their fuel system pronto, but it seems many don't .
Also, unless you're a cat with a spare engine, I reckon it's a very good idea to keep a sail up on the final approach to a marina, just in case you lose engine power. Then at at least you still have sail power.
Just something that may interest owners of boats with older diesel engines (and some newer ones) the manual lever on the diesel pump used for bleeding the diesel lines only works when the engine has relinquished its use of it. Meaning, if the manual pump is olso the one used by the engine by an internal leaver that is actuated by a cam, then when this cam has fully depressed the diaphragm in the pump, no amount of manual agitation of the external lever will pump any diesel. You will need to rotate the cam (meaning rotate the motor) by hand cranking or giving the starter motor a quick plug.
Maybe some of you have diesel engines that never stopped in this position but my old Yanmar does (only sometimes). I can tell as soon as I go to use the manual leaver by the feel (resistance) of the lever's action that the internal lever has already been depressed by the cam. This is something I'm glad I learned in port and not out at sea when time is usually running out.
Maybe everybody else knew this and I was last to find out
Oh to have a new diesel engine with self-priming diesel lines, but I suppose that would removed another one of the joys of life on the sea.
The priming lever on the fuel lift pump can have you there pumping for hours even when it is off the cam.
There are two solutions to that problem.
1. An outboard motor fuel pump/priming bulb can be fitted in the line between the tank and the primary filter. This speeds up the process immensely and bleeds the primary filter as well. Especially handy if your fuel tank is low down and does not gravity feed.
2. CAV and Donaldson filter bodies can be fitted with a diaphragm pump which does the same thing. Just a few pumps and the whole system is bled real quick.
I prefer the second option which will cost about $30 to $60 to buy the kit. You may be able to fit the pump to your existing filter body or you may have to buy it with the filter body.
I hope this rings your bell.
Thanks Crusoe, I hadn't figured that out but I took Cisco's option 1 and fitted a outboard bulb pump between the tank and main filter many years ago. My tank is alongside the engine so unless it is really topped to the very top I have no gravity feed.
A few quick squeezes on the bulb and the primary filter is full, nip it up and open the secondary belled nut and a few more squeezes and it is full. Crank and she starts. Easy to do anywhere even in heavy weather, which might be when I will need to as fuel surge causes air to be sucked in.
