Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 21-04-2010, 15:52   #31
Senior Cruiser
 
boatman61's Avatar

Community Sponsor
Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: PORTUGAL
Posts: 30,586
Images: 2
pirate

I would not say sailors are paraniod... if they were they'd never go out there... its more like 40% are over the top, 55% are in the "zone".... the rest are frowned on and called NUTTERS by the other 95%....

The ones who never leave the Marina are only 'Bar Stool' sailors
__________________

It was a dark and stormy night and the captain of the ship said.. "Hey Jim, spin us a yarn." and the yarn began like this.. "It was a dark and stormy night.."
boatman61 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-04-2010, 16:08   #32
Armchair Bucketeer
 
David_Old_Jersey's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 10,012
Images: 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by boatman61 View Post

The ones who never leave the Marina are only 'Bar Stool' sailors
I'm not in a Marina and my Bar Stool is semi-retired

The secret to being safe and avoiding paranoia is............a tin foil hat
David_Old_Jersey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-04-2010, 16:20   #33
Senior Cruiser
 
boatman61's Avatar

Community Sponsor
Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: PORTUGAL
Posts: 30,586
Images: 2
pirate

Quote:
Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey View Post
I'm not in a Marina and my Bar Stool is semi-retired

The secret to being safe and avoiding paranoia is............a tin foil hat
I've not left the Marina for 5mths n my bar stools velcro'd on....
__________________

It was a dark and stormy night and the captain of the ship said.. "Hey Jim, spin us a yarn." and the yarn began like this.. "It was a dark and stormy night.."
boatman61 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-04-2010, 16:36   #34
Armchair Bucketeer
 
David_Old_Jersey's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 10,012
Images: 4
Quote:
Originally Posted by boatman61 View Post
I've not left the Marina for 5mths n my bar stools velcro'd on....
Velcro? I never thought of that . Would've saved a lot of "navigational" problems over the years
David_Old_Jersey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-04-2010, 16:57   #35
CF Adviser
 
Bash's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: sausalito
Boat: 14 meter sloop
Posts: 7,260
h46LE

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Cate View Post
[
And by the way, just what sort of a boat is a "h46LE"?
It's the kevlar-reinforced sort.
__________________
cruising is entirely about showing up--in boat shoes.
Bash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21-04-2010, 22:32   #36
Long Range Cruiser
 
MarkJ's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Australian living on "Sea Life" currently in England.
Boat: Beneteau 393 "Sea Life"
Posts: 12,822
Images: 25


Quote:
Check engine oil everytime you start the engine (when was last time you checked your car oil).


Quote:
Originally Posted by Hiracer View Post
What I've noticed is that those who have most extensive experience crossing oceans tend to be the ones most obsessive on their own boats about fundamental issues of safety. .


Well, I got an interesting story... when we went along the Gulf of Aden via sundry pirates we were in a convoy of 26 yachts motoring non-stop for 5 days. During that period motors were only off for 2 occasions for breakdowns on the last 2 days.
The first 3 days there were no stopping the engines whatsoever.

So how often would you stop to check your oil in 72 hours of non stop running?

OK now consider 26 boats all whom have cruised at least from Australia. but most from the USA or Europe (the long way around).

How many of them do you think would have stopped to check oil and how often?

Think now before reading on!

Highlight section below for the answer:

ONLY 2 boats stopped every 24 hours to do engine check. They dropped back through the fleet. One was me, of course! Our engine check took about 2 minutes and we really didnt lose place. The other was Fatty Goodlander the Cruising World writer. His stops were longer, about 10 minutes and he obviously did better checks than me! He dropped back from the front of the fleet to the back of the fleet each time.
Thats 2 out of 26 checking in 72 hours running.

So unless people did an oil check during the 2 break down times, and we know some didnt as they went in swimming, there was 24 boats out of 26 who NEVER even checked their oil in 5 DAYS constant running!!!

Surprised???????????????????????


Mark
__________________
Notes on a Circumnavigation.
OurLifeAtSea.com

Somalia Pirates and our Convoy
MarkJ is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 00:37   #37
Registered User
 
Minggat's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: South Pacific
Boat: Islander 36
Posts: 1,593
When you have a loss of power in a car, chances are you are not going to get hurt.

When you loose power in a boat, chances are you may get hurt or dead.

When you loose power in a plane, chances are you have used up all your chances.
__________________
Minggat
Minggat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 06:39   #38
Registered User

Join Date: May 2008
Location: SW Florida
Boat: Bristol (Alden) 35 Sloop "Zephyr"
Posts: 508
Images: 2
Unfortunately, a lot of folks who spend years getting their boat ready for cruising, with every possible piece of "needed" equipment, end up changing plans for one reason or another, and sell the boat. I've seen it a number of times.

Others, have endless repair and maintenance problems with all the "needed" gear. Long term cruisers know the marine environment is a killer on things.

Just read that the Wougula anchor is the best. Only $600. I'll have to get that also. LOL

KISS, but be safe.
over40pirate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 06:42   #39
Senior Cruiser
 
boatman61's Avatar

Community Sponsor
Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: PORTUGAL
Posts: 30,586
Images: 2
pirate

Quote:
Originally Posted by over40pirate View Post
Unfortunately, a lot of folks who spend years getting their boat ready for cruising, with every possible piece of "needed" equipment, end up changing plans for one reason or another, and sell the boat. I've seen it a number of times.

Others, have endless repair and maintenance problems with all the "needed" gear. Long term cruisers know the marine environment is a killer on things.

Just read that the Wougula anchor is the best. Only $600. I'll have to get that also. LOL

KISS, but be safe.
BRUCE..... 4 me
__________________

It was a dark and stormy night and the captain of the ship said.. "Hey Jim, spin us a yarn." and the yarn began like this.. "It was a dark and stormy night.."
boatman61 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 07:03   #40
Registered User
 
nautical62's Avatar

Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Live Iowa - Sail mostly Bahamas
Boat: Beneteau 32.5
Posts: 2,307
Images: 12
I do agree that many people drive and do dangerous things when they drive (such as texting) without giving it a thought. I also find the whole issue of real risk vs. perceived risk to be very fascinating. It's certainly an issue that comes up often when safety is discussed here.

For coastal/island cruising, I tend to rely much more on my ability to avoid issues and adapt to them than rely on gear. When my 30-year old engine bit the dust on my first Bahamas cruise, I simply sailed for the next few weeks.

I agree with a previous post: I'd rather be out there getting into minor trouble than sitting back at the dock worrying about it.
nautical62 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 07:27   #41
Registered User

Join Date: May 2008
Location: SW Florida
Boat: Bristol (Alden) 35 Sloop "Zephyr"
Posts: 508
Images: 2
Nautical 62,
I'm with you. I remember sailing up the Exuma chain, on a beam reach, doing about 4-4.5 kts. Beautiful sail.
3 other "sail"boats passed me doing maybe 5-6 kts. All 3 were motorsailing.
2 had the main out, 1 had the jib out. Guess they didn't know you can motor sail with both!

Listening to the radio was entertaining. Doing 2300 rpm.... blah, blah, blah.
Then one of the boats broke the alternator bracket. Holy cow, Batman, what will I do now?

His speed dorpped to 2 kts Heaven forbid he should raise all sail and sail the boat!

They were concerned about getting thru the cut to anchor. If they knew how to sail it would be a piece of cake. It would have been a broad reach in the cut.

The solution. The 2 boats that could still use their motors would anchor, and take their dinks out to tow the other boat in!

I really had to bite my tongue, and not get on the radio, and ask them, why they don't sail the boat. It is a sail boat.

I'm sure if in the states, they would have called Boat US towing, and added to the unnessary tows, that raise all of us sailors rates.

Just amazing.
over40pirate is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 07:47   #42
CF Adviser
 
Bash's Avatar

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: sausalito
Boat: 14 meter sloop
Posts: 7,260
excellent question

Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkJ View Post
So how often would you stop to check your oil in 72 hours of non stop running?
This might be one of those questions that deserves its own thread.

Because my engine is turbocharged, I would be concerned about a quick stop without a proper cool-down. If my engine had been running for 48 hours, lets say, I'd want to give it a good 15-minute cool down running at idle before I'd even think about turning it off.

My concern would be twofold. First, it would be unlikely that I've lost or damaged the oil. Second, it is possible that stopping a hot engine for a quick check could do harm to the engine.

I'm interested in other opinions on this. But I'm thinking that commercial vessels often motor 72 hours without an oil check. Shouldn't most diesels be able to do this?
__________________
cruising is entirely about showing up--in boat shoes.
Bash is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 07:56   #43
Registered User

Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 195
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bash View Post
This might be one of those questions that deserves its own thread.

Because my engine is turbocharged, I would be concerned about a quick stop without a proper cool-down. If my engine had been running for 48 hours, lets say, I'd want to give it a good 15-minute cool down running at idle before I'd even think about turning it off.

My concern would be twofold. First, it would be unlikely that I've lost or damaged the oil. Second, it is possible that stopping a hot engine for a quick check could do harm to the engine.

I'm interested in other opinions on this. But I'm thinking that commercial vessels often motor 72 hours without an oil check. Shouldn't most diesels be able to do this?
Solution:

  1. Check your oil as normal and make sure all is good
  2. Run your engine up to temp
  3. WITHOUT STOPPING YOUR ENGINE check the oil again and note the level - maybe even mark it on the dipstick with a centrepunch
Now you can check your engine oil level while it's running. If I ran my car engine (turbocharged diesel) without stopping for 72 hrs, I'd have done about 4500 miles. It being a diesel engine (more nasty combustion products than petrol engines), and especially because it's turbocharged thus needing nice slippery oil to cool and lubricate the turbo, it would be time for an oil change.
YourOldNemesis is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 08:01   #44
Registered User
 
Sailmonkey's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Houston
Boat: ‘01 Catana 401
Posts: 9,626
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bash View Post

I'm interested in other opinions on this. But I'm thinking that commercial vessels often motor 72 hours without an oil check. Shouldn't most diesels be able to do this?
The simple solution to this for a large engine such as a sulzer or a Bermeister is to have a sump seperate from the crank area. This enables oil level to be checked every few hours while the engine is running flat out(seperate sump keeps flinging oil from disturbing the results)
Sailmonkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22-04-2010, 08:43   #45
Registered User
 
mintyspilot's Avatar

Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 834
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minggat View Post
When you have a loss of power in a car, chances are you are not going to get hurt.

When you loose power in a boat, chances are you may get hurt or dead.

When you loose power in a plane, chances are you have used up all your chances.
Ever hear of a glider? Every approach is unpowered and a glider approach with full air-brake is similar in its descent profile to a engined aircraft with no power. The glide angle drops to something like 10:1 which isn't much. Admittedly you only get one chance at landing so you don't muck about. Google "Captain Sullenberger"

For skydivers, it is rare that novices die. Most skydivers involved in fatal drops are experts who start taking things for granted and do not check things as thoroughly as they should. Novices check everything 10 times and take nothing for granted.

More aviation wisdom... There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are very, very, few old bold pilots.

Paranoia is good... up to a point
mintyspilot is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
10 New Sailors Ex-Calif General Sailing Forum 2 08-12-2008 21:52
HELLO ALL SAILORS! perdiemboating Meets & Greets 5 16-09-2008 19:10
New Sailors Shockandyaw Meets & Greets 4 16-09-2008 14:36
Hi sailors Ariel Meets & Greets 0 02-03-2003 01:03

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 23:48.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.