Cruising positives (and negatives)

[Ram]

We just returned from a couple of weeks cruising, our first extended cruise in the R25. Our course took us from Vancouver, up the Sunshine Coast and Texada Island, across the Strait of Georgia to Campbell River, up the Discovery Channel and Johnstone Strait to the Broughtons (with numerous side excursions into the Discovery Islands), then back down through Desolation Sound and Malaspina Strait. Overall, it was a great cruise for my wife and I and our 12 year-old son. We packed our sailing/rowing/motoring dinghy on the swim platform and had a fun time both anchored out and in many marinas.

On the down side, things started out looking pretty bad. After cruising 6 hours the first day at 11 knots (our "high" cruising speed for covering lots of ground), we started losing power and barely made it into a port. I got a local mechanic to come by, we checked things out and replaced both fuel filters (thank god I had installed a primary filter before the trip which saved us). We seemed to have bad fuel, probably bacteria build-up from the winter. In any case, we got things going again and headed out. About 3 miles out in open water the engine started smoking - a lot. We shut things down immediately, got out the fire extinguisher and cracked the engine cover. Smoke was pouring off the exhaust manifold. At first I thought we'd blown a hole in the manifold or head, but as it cooled down I noticed a small stream of water from somewhere under the manifold onto the riser. So it was all steam.

Not having any means to deal with this at the time, we put out a "pan-pan" and the Powell River coast guard came out and towed us in. Quite embarassing, but at least conditions were mild and we were never in any real danger. I was able to get the same mechanic to come by the next day and we tracked down a water hose that was routed under the exhaust manifold, over a fuel line and kinked right onto the the fitting at the back of the engine. It was a very low-quality hose and it had burst at the kink. We replaced it with some good quality fuel hose I had aboard, and things were back to "normal".

After this, the only problems we had were changing the primary filter numerous times (thankfully, Racor spin-ons are pretty readily available and I stocked up), and the thrusters failing a couple of times, which I tracked to a loose battery terminal connection. Oh, and the Lowrance GPS has gone wonky and won't give us a position.

Given the extent of our journey and the remoteness of where we were much of the time, we felt we did really well. My wife got used to the helm and won't let me drive much anymore. The Ranger dealt very well with a short, steep, 4' chop coming back down the Malaspina Strait for 3 hours, which we didn't really enjoy much but there really aren't any places to put in along this stretch.

I thnk we are all convinced this is a really comfortable and safe boat.

 

[baz]

I'm wondering from your experience whether it makes for good practice when considering a long cruise such as your to take a small spin out on the water to ensure all as it should be. However, you say your first problem did not arise until you were some 6 hrs into your trip -- so a short spin may not have revealed any issues. :cry:

I'm glad you were able to fix things and enjoy the cruise eventually.

What precautions should be taken to avoid the "bad fuel" issue ?

Was the kink always there or did it somehow get the kink when the mechanic first resolved the "bad fuel" issue ? Seems that if the kink was there originally you would have known that almost straight away and within the first 6 hrs.

Just wondering as we can all learn from others, right ?

Nice post and thanks for the heads up on the "bad fuel" issue.

 

[Ram]

I've had the boat out for many "quick spins" and test runs, which I do after any servicing of the engine. As you said, a quick run doesn't reveal the same problems, and when it comes to dirty fuel, sometimes only running in rough conditions (which shakes up the stuff in the tank) will do so. It was recommended to me to replace the primary filter (a Racor spin-on) with a centrifugal one that will do a better job of removing water and particles from the fuel. I'm looking into this. I'm not sure what Ranger is using as a primary filter on the newer R25's (mine had no primary filter at all when I got it).

As to what produced the fuel problems in the first place, it could have just been bad fuel, but it was likely a result of not having the tank entirely full over the winter, allowing condensation to form, which then allows bacteria to breed. I've been using biocides for the past 4 months but it may not go away until all the fuel has been flushed from the tank.

With regard to the hose splitting, it had nothing to do with the fuel, and in my opinion was just bad engineering on the part of Yanmar. The hose was routed very poorly, over, under, around and through other things that get hot and put stress on the hose, and the quality of the hose itself was not up to the task. I'll be checking out other hoses on the engine and replacing them if necessary with better quality material. As much as I admire Yanmar engines in general, this was a disappointment.

 

[baz]

OK - thanks for the responses.

I guess the 'kink' issue was simply a problem waiting to happen. Shame on Yanmar. 🙁

 

[Levitation]

On filters, RACOR is the standard for much of the cruising community... However, I also like Gulf Coast filters... THe filter element is cheap, available everywhere and the unit has a good track record... Even the US military uses it...

denny-o