The Critical $30 Safety Device Most Boats are Missing!!!

August 29, 2024 by Sailing Tips | Language: EN Play Time: 00:03:37 | SAILING YOUTUBERS

My heart always sinks when I see a sailing yacht on the beach, because it not only means the end of somebody’s dream, but maybe the end of their home as well.

And yet many of these losses are completely preventable with just a $30 part, which for the sake of manufacturer’s profits most boats happen to be missing.

Fortunately it’s an easy retrofit that I installed on my boat after a close call with a freighter at night and that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about in this video

Although the sails provide power for many conditions, most sailing yachts have auxiliary diesel engines like this one for maneuvering in marinas and docking, and for staying off the rocks when there is not enough wind to sail like this boat, or if somebody falls overboard and you need to rescue them in these conditions.

While auxiliary diesel engines are extremely reliable most of the time, there is an unfortunate combination of physics, biology, and poor design which causes them to stop working when you are likely to need them most in an emergency – like in very rough sea conditions when you’re being blown onto the shore.

And although we weren’t in rough sea conditions when our engine died in a shipping lane at night with a freighter coming straight at us, we had been earlier in the day, which definitely contributed to the problem.

In a standard marine diesel system the fuel flows in a loop starting in the tank, then through a fuel/water separator to remove water and big particles, then to a fuel lift pump that actually sucks the fuel out of the tank, then to another fuel filter for very fine particles, and finally the injection pump and injectors into the engine. The unused fuel flows back to the tank and the cycle repeats.

If you give a marine diesel engine clean fuel it will happily run like this for thousands of hours, and keep you safe and moving when you’re not sailing.

But when it’s rough there’s another problem. Being in a damp marine environment moisture always finds its way into the tank. And it’s not the water itself that’s so much of a problem, because there’s a fuel/water separator, but the microbes that like to grow between the fuel and the water.

These microbes form a sludge that stays harmlessly at the bottom of the tank, with clean fuel above it, until you encounter rough conditions and it gets stirred up and sucked into the fuel/water separator, completely blocking it.

One minute your trusty marine diesel is purring like a kitten, and the next minute it’s not, and there’s nothing you can do to restart it with that blocked fuel/water separator, which is at least a 20 minute job to fix under ideal conditions. You had better hope you have lots of sea room and a strong stomach!

But what if you had two fuel/water separators, with a clean one already installed that you could use in seconds with the flick of a $30 switch? Most smart boaters already carry spare fuel/water separator elements so worst case you need to spend a few extra dollars on another housing.
If your tank is really dirty the second one will probably plug soon too, but it will likely be enough to get you away from that lee shore and out of immediate danger.

Clearly it’s a good idea to keep your tank clean, but if you can’t get around to that before motoring in rough conditions, just fill the tank as full as possible before heading out to reduce the amount of sloshing, as you’re most likely to have problems when your tank is less than half full.
If it’s too hard to keep your tank clean then install an access hatch, which is just a piece of metal with some screws and a gasket.

It really blows my mind that it’s legal to make and sell a boat without redundant fuel/water separators, because it’s such a common problem and such an inexpensive way to make sure your engine is available to get you out of trouble.

But then again, maybe the manufacturers don’t mind it if a yacht or two washes up on the shore, because then they get to sell you another one paid for by the insurance company.

Disclaimer:
- This content is offered solely for your education and entertainment.
- There are no warranties, expressed or implicit, about any content or its fitness for a particular purpose.
- There are risks of injury, death, drunkenness, and financial hardship involved in sailing.
- The skipper is always responsible for the safety of their vessel and crew.
- Sailing Tips is not responsible or liable in any way for anything that happens on or anywhere near your boat or any boat that we are not in command of.

#sailing #howtosail #learntosail #sailingtips

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