Engine Failure – Maiden Voyage

Once you take the leap to purchase a yacht, we all know there is a big list of jobs that should be done before you sail it anywhere. When you first step aboard your new boat there should be an audit stating the contents of what is aboard – check everything! You need to find the location of all safety equipment, sea cocks, gas cut off and familiarise yourself with the boat’s electrical systems.  Unfortunately in our case we had no handover or audit and, no matter our insistence of a more thorough viewing, had only sailed the boat for 45mins with the owner aboard before we bought it. Not much time to understand the idiosyncrasies of a ‘new’ boat.  So then why did we buy her? Simple -she was a diamond in the rough. Well under her value in price, excellent survey results and well over three quarters of the equipment we had planned to buy already installed... too good an offer to pass up.

Once we had her we had to move her ASAP from the current location to Harwich, some 3-4 hours away. To get to her from London in the first place...No problem. We just needed to take the tube, then train, then another train, then a bus, then a long walk and finally a 10 minute dingy ride to arrive where she sat anchored ready for the sail on the next day. We arrived at sunset and had little time to do all the checks required for the 6am start the next day to catch the tide. So assumptions were made and, most regrettably and stupidly, some checks left out.... bad idea.

After casting off our mooring buoy and motoring the unfamiliar yacht out of the river mouth we heard an unwelcome sound. A very loud screeching ensued akin to a jet engine which was followed by an overpowering smell of burning. The engine immediately went off and the sails came out ready to sail our way out of the densely sand banked area we were in and past the other challenges on the east coast of England. To top it off the weather decided to blow up to a force 7 which made the sailing more exciting.

THE CAUSE; 

In the rush on a Sunday morning we did not check the raw water sea cock to ensure it was  open to cool the engine. With no sea water to take the heat away from the engine through the heat exchanger the coolant boiled dry. The sea water is also used to cool the exhaust gases as they go through the exhaust system. Without either of these actions taking place a fair amount of damage was done.

THE DAMAGE;

• Firstly my pride ;) 
• The  imprellor needed replacement (thankfully we had planned to do this anyway) 
• Nearly every rubber component in the raw water system needed replacement; 2 elbows for heat exchanger, many meters of reinforced exhaust hoses and siphon hoses. 
•  Replace water cooled muffler and as it had partly melted from the heat 
• Thermostat failed and needed to be replaced 
• During the process of replacing hoses found the exhaust elbow needed replacement (£150)

·         Get Travis the amazing mechanic to check cylinder pressure on each cylinder to see if there was any damage (very lucky it was ok). Oil pressure was also checked as the gauge was faulty. Oil and filters changed.

·         Our credit card says there are several other small cost as well

·         We were very lucky that the cylinder head did not crack

LEASONS LEARNED;

• Not every sailor thinks the same or would leave their boat in the same conditions i.e. I wouldn’t have closed the sea cock in the first place. Lesson ... don’t assume. 
• No matter what the circumstances check everything possible that there is to check and familiarise yourself with all the systems before setting off for the first time. Next time I will be up at 4am on a winters morn if need be.