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Charlie · 23-04-2012, 11:37

Here is the situation. Everything worked right when I went out sailing two weeks ago. Engine spit out water. Engine started and ran. Electric fuel pump worked.

Saturday I started the engine it ran for a little while and then died. I tried to start it again after I realized that I hadn't turned on the electric fuel pump. Went to the switch and it was on. The engine driven pump has been bypassed because it is slowly spitting diesel into the lubricating oil system. I assumed that the electric pump had been left on and burnt out. tried to go back to the manual pump and it wasn't going to work. Took me an hour and $72 but I found a new electric pump. installed it and -- NOTHING. Ok so I checked for voltage. NOTHING. Checked the fuse. It was not blown. Started tracking down the wires. I didn't remember that the pump was wired into the battery switch. There was nothing wrong with the pump. I had bought a new one and installed it and then found out that the only problem was that the battery switch had been turned off. OH SNAP.

Now the engine wasn't spitting water. Once again I started with the basics. Seacock. check. Strainer. Check. Impeller. Check. While taking off the intake hose I noticed the valve that I installed for using the engine as a bilge pump wasn't in the right spot. Easy fix problem solved.

That ticked my brain. I had told my son to turn off the handle with the yellow tape on it. He turned off the handle that was yellow. (BTW the yellow tape was gone) Also it turns out when I had asked my son to turn off the fuel pump he had turned off the battery switch which did turn off the pump. Wasn't my son's fault.

Didn't the Greek Temple to Apollo in Delphi have an inscription, "Know Thy Systems"