What types of problems delayed your delivery?

[decktapper]

After you surveyed, purchased and prepared your used boat, if you had more than 8 hours of motoring and/or sailing to bring it home, how many failures and what type delayed completing your trip?
The things of most interest are:
Fuel system
Electrical
mechanical
rigging

As an example, we had 2 problems that cost us at least a day each on a delivery that should have taken 3 days.

Electrical many problems but only 1 extra day.
Fuel system, multiple problems but only 2 extra days, one getting towed to a marina, and 1 fixing what had to be wrong but was not. plus waiting for time off as it had to be done on weekends.
running aground, not knowing how to use equipment etc less than a day.
Thank you.
decktapper

[capngeo]

• Weather
• Dirty Fuel (carry spare filters)
• Debris in the raw water cooling lines
• Coolant pump bearing seized up in Genny
• Did I say Weather?
• Head not working
• Running rigging too old to trust
• No lights (nav)
• Small fire

[Capt Phil]

The biggest problems and most recurring issues during 25-30 years of deliveries have to do with fuel. In almost all cases it was caused by dirty fuel stirred up by taking the vessel offshore for the first time, sometimes in many years.
Owners or brokers will swear that the boat has regularly been 'outside' when in reality it is either a dock queen or just cruised around the harbor on the weekends.
Before embarking on any delivery in the last 15 years or so I have either sounded the tanks or insisted and watched the tanks being cleaned and the fuel polished. No amount of algae cleaner is going to deal with the sludge that develops over years of no use. I usually take along a case of filters for the mains and gen sets as well. Capt Phil

[decktapper]

Originally Posted by capngeo

• Small fire

What caused the fire if you don't mind me asking?

[decktapper]

[QUOTE=Capt Phil;936283]The biggest problems and most recurring issues during 25-30 years of deliveries have to do with fuel. ...

Thank you Capt Phil, what are the other top offenders ?

[barnakiel]

1. dirty fuel,
2. running and standing rigging.

b.

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by decktapper

What caused the fire if you don't mind me asking?

Green wire syndrome on the neutral leg in the main AC buss. It would seem the water heater and microwave hadn't been run together at the same time before I tried it!... Fortunately, my other career hat had me well prepared to deal with it. Cost me 2 days, but could have been MUCH worse, as I was 20 miles offshore t the time.

One of the things I do while still at the dock, is turn on everything at once to load the system good before I cast off (a suitable interval later).

[Mr B]

Hahahahahahahaha, It is funny, Now, But,

GPS going around in circles, in the middle of a reef. At night, My mistake, Lost 4 days, Simple fix by another Yauchty who rendered assistance to me,

Steering cables exploded. 3 days and a sunk boat,
Running aground in the middle of the night,

Fuel filters clogged, Middle of the North South, East Australian Shipping Channel.
Also clogged in big seas,

Broken drive shaft for Drive leg, 7 days,

Broken Dingy Davits, Show welds, not real welds, Their welds are there for appearance only, nearly a week.

Seasick passenger,
Wind and sea going the wrong way for me, Yes, I tried 5 metre waves on the nose,
3 and 4 metre waves on the nose for 3 days, That is not fun,

Waiting for daylight, so you can cross a reef,

Floating sideways while you sleep, It takes a day to get back to where you were the day before,

7 knots forward, 5 knots sideways, the GPS says 1.5 knots forwards, chucks in the towel and goes round in circles, Yikes, Its night,its dark, and your sailing through Islands and reefs,

Heading into the wind and waves to change the main sail.

Dodgy anchors,

Very strong north winds and waves, when I want to go south,

A Dunny pump that used all my fresh water, Till I found out how to change the valve for sea water,

[Jd1]

Originally Posted by capngeo

Green wire syndrome on the neutral leg in the main AC buss. It would seem the water heater and microwave hadn't been run together at the same time before I tried it!

Could you explain this in a bit more detail please/ I have no idea what was going on.

[maxingout]

When I delivered my Westsail 32 to Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico, I had a hard time getting the boat to come about, and the boat sailed slower than anticipated. It wasn't until the next day that I realized I had dragged a fish trap all the way from Humacao, Puerto Rico to Roosy Roads. There was even a Red Snapper inside the fish trap. The fish trap line was caught on the bottom of the rudder.

[gjordan]

Delivered a clapped out Tayana 37 from Morro Bay to San Francisco. It looked tired, but the engine started right up and the sails didnt have any holes in them, so I said OK.

The new owner was in love with his new purchase.

My crew checked the fuel tanks and I gave them a quick look. STB half full and Port tank full.

Left Morro Bay in light winds motor sailing north. About 2 hours out a block in the main sheet system exploded, and I had to jury rig a replacement.

Next morning near Point Sur the engine slowed down so I switched to the full tank, and that ran fine for about 3 minutes before it stopped dead. Went below and changed out the filters and figured out the real problem. The full port tank was full of water not diesel. The deck filler O-Ring must have let rain water fill the tank to the top. It took us almost 30 hours from Point Sur to Monterey with light winds, dirty bottom and tired sails.

We arrived at night and anchored outside and sailed in to the fuel dock in the morning Filled the empty STB tank and changed out filters again, and went to a slip to leave the boat to try again next weekend. The next weekend we arrived and did some work to the boat and prepared to leave for San Francisco.

We were side tied and just as we cast off a big gust hit us and the bow started falling off real fast. I realized I could not save it so I hit full reverse, with a big roar and a huge puff of smoke I managed not to hit the pier and restaurant opposite us. As we were motoring out of the harbor, my crew came back to the cockpit with big eyes and said JESUS! did you hear the glass breaking and the people screaming in the restaurant. She told me that people were diving away from the windows and glasses were flying everywhere. I didn't hear a thing and I was looking over my shoulder to make sure I didn't ram the dock in reverse.

I wondered for the next hour or so if there would be a Police boat or Coast Guard after us. We proceeded to motor sail in light choppy conditions north to SF, trading watch and watch.

About 3 Am I went below to roust the crew for her watch and realized that it was dark and smokey in the cabin. She was real groggy and I helped her to the cockpit where she proceeded to get very sick. It turned out that a weld had broken in the exhaust system and had filled the cabin with C.O. A few more hours might have been fatal.

We both stayed on deck until we tied up 6 or 8 hours later. She had a splitting headache for the next 3 days. I have no idea how much this slowed us up, but the crew was a real trooper. After almost killing her off, she did 2 or 3 more deliveries with me and I am sure she still tells her grandkids about her adventures. I will bet the breakfast crowd at that restaurant had some tales to tell.

Deliveries Are Fun(I Think)_____Grant.

[dana-tenacity]

Lots of similar stories, but here's a good one instead. Picked up a new Catana 431 from the factory in France and sailed non stop to Antigua. Nothing broke. Well done Catana.

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by maxingout

When I delivered my Westsail 32 to Roosevelt Roads Puerto Rico, I had a hard time getting the boat to come about, and the boat sailed slower than anticipated. It wasn't until the next day that I realized I had dragged a fish trap all the way from Humacao, Puerto Rico to Roosy Roads. There was even a Red Snapper inside the fish trap. The fish trap line was caught on the bottom of the rudder.

Hope you had a nice fish dinner, Dave!

A friend of mine did a delivery from Florida to Virginia, and hit some bad weather right off the bat. Water started rising in the bilges, and the bilge pump quit. They were manually bailing, dumping the buckets through the companionway to the cockpit. The water wasn't going down--quite the opposite. He found that the cockpit scupper discharge hoses had been disconnected. All the water was running right back into the bilges!

Seems to me you almost have to do a complete survey of a delivery boat to make sure you're not going to sink.

[scubascooter]

Originally Posted by capngeo

• Weather
• Dirty Fuel (carry spare filters)
• Debris in the raw water cooling lines
• Coolant pump bearing seized up in Genny
• Did I say Weather?
• Head not working
• Running rigging too old to trust
• No lights (nav)
• Small fire

Nearly all of the above except Pump Bearing and the small fire. I sure that was more was coming though. We trucked our boat home instead.

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by Jd1

Could you explain this in a bit more detail please/ I have no idea what was going on.

Electricity travels in a circle, the neutral leg of an alternating current buss carries the entire load to ground on "it's" cycle (remember the "alternating" part).

"Green wire syndrome" is a condition common on older boats where the connections and wires turn green (Cuprous Oxide) from corrosion. Corrosion equals resistance, resistance equals more heat, more heat equals more resistance..... eventually this snowball will reach ignition temperature of the insulation..... then you get a small fire! The trick (other than proper maintenance and avoiding the whole mess in the first place) is to keep the fire small, and not grow it into a large one!

A competent surveyor should notice the corrosion and recommend a corrective action before a load is applied. As a delivery skipper we often don't have time for a complete and proper survey.... One of my shortcuts before casting off is to load all electrical systems to the max and see what gives. In theory a breaker would pop before ANY sort of damage (or fire) would occur. Similarly, I will run the engine(s) in gear while still tied to the pier to shake out potential problems before casting off.