Hi all

I had a bit of an embarrassing moment yesterday when returning from a sail on the river

Returning back to the bay in a nice breeze we started the engine and I dropped the head sail and was about to drop the main when the engine cut out

Tried to restart it and no luck and my mate said I don't suppose we have run out of diesel

I ducked down below and had a look at the sight tube on the tank and found that we had about 1 inch of fuel in the sight tube on the low side of the tank but because we still had the sails up and we're heading uphill into the bay the boat had a bit of a heel on it and the pickup in the centre of the tank was sucking air instead of fuel

Luckily I has 10 litres of diesel on board that I had intended to top the tank up with but had been slack so I found a funnel and tipped it in while my mate sailed her around the bay on the main

The tank in the Sailmaster is bolted under the cockpit floor and the cav filter is a fair bit Lower and the bowl was still full so I unscrewed the steps to access the engine and worked the lift pump and bled the yanmar filter on the engine and then the pump bleed screw and she fired up again after cranking her a few times

If she hadn't started we would have sailed her on to the mooring or failing that dropped the anchor but it was reassuring to have the diesel back running again

The lesson I learnt is to keep a eye on the fuel level and that the diesel in the fuel container Is better off in the tank

The locals here must have wondered what we were up to doing laps around the bay on the main as the sun was setting

Regards Don

Shanty1 said..

Donk107 said..
Hi all

I had a bit of an embarrassing moment yesterday when returning from a sail on the river

Returning back to the bay in a nice breeze we started the engine and I dropped the head sail and was about to drop the main when the engine cut out

Tried to restart it and no luck and my mate said I don't suppose we have run out of diesel

I ducked down below and had a look at the sight tube on the tank and found that we had about 1 inch of fuel in the sight tube on the low side of the tank but because we still had the sails up and we're heading uphill into the bay the boat had a bit of a heel on it and the pickup in the centre of the tank was sucking air instead of fuel

Luckily I has 10 litres of diesel on board that I had intended to top the tank up with but had been slack so I found a funnel and tipped it in while my mate sailed her around the bay on the main

The tank in the Sailmaster is bolted under the cockpit floor and the cav filter is a fair bit Lower and the bowl was still full so I unscrewed the steps to access the engine and worked the lift pump and bled the yanmar filter on the engine and then the pump bleed screw and she fired up again after cranking her a few times

If she hadn't started we would have sailed her on to the mooring or failing that dropped the anchor but it was reassuring to have the diesel back running again

The lesson I learnt is to keep a eye on the fuel level and that the diesel in the fuel container Is better off in the tank

The locals here must have wondered what we were up to doing laps around the bay on the main as the sun was setting

Regards Don

My mate did that in his tinny when I was with him as well. We where living in Sydney at the time and as our parents where at a party overnight. We decided to take the tinny for a spin ( that was already in the water). As I had my own tinny I though he would have checked the fuel, apparently not. Long story short ( to avoid a micky) we ended up rowing for 40 minutes back to the beach.

I have three 200 ml oil container filled with fuel as a backup keep on the boat.
I have used them twice in the last three months.

Bundeenabuoy said..

I have three 200 ml oil container filled with fuel as a backup keep on the boat.
I have used them twice in the last three months.

Yeah, I'm not really convinced that 600ml is really enough to get you anywhere.

+10
This explanation was the absolute in a long long time, amongst the plethora of facetious or inane excuses, this forum emitted.

I alway plan to have a full tank.
The 600 mls is the backup.

I started doing it after I had to sail into the berth three different times.
This turned out to be a 'blessing in disguise' as I now feel comfortable doing something I would never have attempted otherwise.