Today I made a blunder after having topped up with diesel fuel and waste pump-out at my Marina.
I had arrived at the fuel dock and cut engine with it in neutral (more on this later) and tied up. Topped up with diesel and emptied the waste tank although I wasn't able to get it completely emptied as the sunction simply would not pull out a remaining 1/8 of the 30gal holding tank.
My fuel tank was registering 49% full and I was able to get 39.697 gals into it. Hmmmm, 51% of 75 gals is 38.25 gals which tells me the fuel gauge is reasonably accurate. 🙂
I found that the nozzle of first diesel pump I tried simply would not go into the fuel filler neck because of the ball chain that secures the fuel cap. I tried several methods but I gave up as I did not want to snap the securing ball-chain. Without the ball-chain I believe the nozzle would have fitted OK. No matter, it was a simple matter of hand moving the boat down the dock some to another pump that had a smaller diameter nozzle. This worked well and was sure to protect the ball-chain. I must say, fueling without a helper is a PITA as I had to stop pumping several times and run over to the pump to see how many gallons had been pumped. I did not want to overfill nor cause any fuel spills. I had calculated I would pump 35 gals but because of me having to constantly check the pump gauge I ended up pumping in 39.697 gallons in all without spilling any fuel overboard. 😀
OK then onto the waste tank pump out and this was another back and forth exercise between boat swim step and the pump box some 50 feet away from the boat. Couldn't get the last 1/8 of the 30 gals tank sucked out.... 😉
OK -- so now I was all done and proceeded to caste off from the dock. I let the lines go and jump into the boat and made sure thrusters were ON and then started the engine -- BUT no-go. The engine did not start up. 😱 😳
The was a slight breeze and the boat started to drift away from the dock at an angle and was heading toward another boat docked for fuel top up. I tried several times and the siren came on but engine refused to start. At this point I became anxious and called out to one fella on the fuel dock what my predicament was but my line wasn't long enough to reach him as I had drifted off too far. My next warning was to the boat I was drifting toward. I hailed the owner and told him I was adrift with no engine power -- so watch out and fend me off. I then decided and realized I had a line attached to the bow cleat but could not reach any portion of the line from my position. I quickly popped the forward cabins overhead hatch and reached out and got hold of the line and was able to throw it to the matey on the boat I was drifting toward. After a bit I was able to throw a stern line to the fella on the fuel dock and we managed to get the boat back to the fuel dock and tied up. 😳 🙂
So now I had to figure out why the engine had not started. I checked everything and still no-go. I grabbed the Operator Manual and ran through it but it gave me no clues either to what my problem was. I scratched my head some....
Then I wondered about the power lever position which was presumably in neutral. I checked this and at first it felt like it was -- but decided to move it forward and aft trying to sense where the neutral position was. I settled for what I believed the neutral position was and tried starting the engine -- WOW, it started up without issues. 😀
Lessons learned...
1. NEVER EVER caste off without engine running.
2. ALWAYS check that engine fwd/rev control lever is in FACT in the neutral position. It would be nice if there was a LED that indicated the lever was in neutral or some other visible indicator showing the same condition.
3. Have a 50' line always handy in cockpit area. I dod have two of these but they were hidden in a locker somewhere -- not much good there for this event. 😉
If the breeze was stronger and if I had not taken action quickly this could have been a nasty issue for me to recover from in a busy fuel dock location, close to the Marina rock barrier and the busy entrance to the Puget Sound with boats coming and going.
In retrospect I guess I could have used my bow and stern thrusters to save me from this embarrassment -- but didn't think of that at the time. However, the thrusters only provide sideways motions, circular motion and very little to no forward and reverse motion.
Anyone else found themselves in this type of predicament ?
I had arrived at the fuel dock and cut engine with it in neutral (more on this later) and tied up. Topped up with diesel and emptied the waste tank although I wasn't able to get it completely emptied as the sunction simply would not pull out a remaining 1/8 of the 30gal holding tank.
My fuel tank was registering 49% full and I was able to get 39.697 gals into it. Hmmmm, 51% of 75 gals is 38.25 gals which tells me the fuel gauge is reasonably accurate. 🙂
I found that the nozzle of first diesel pump I tried simply would not go into the fuel filler neck because of the ball chain that secures the fuel cap. I tried several methods but I gave up as I did not want to snap the securing ball-chain. Without the ball-chain I believe the nozzle would have fitted OK. No matter, it was a simple matter of hand moving the boat down the dock some to another pump that had a smaller diameter nozzle. This worked well and was sure to protect the ball-chain. I must say, fueling without a helper is a PITA as I had to stop pumping several times and run over to the pump to see how many gallons had been pumped. I did not want to overfill nor cause any fuel spills. I had calculated I would pump 35 gals but because of me having to constantly check the pump gauge I ended up pumping in 39.697 gallons in all without spilling any fuel overboard. 😀
OK then onto the waste tank pump out and this was another back and forth exercise between boat swim step and the pump box some 50 feet away from the boat. Couldn't get the last 1/8 of the 30 gals tank sucked out.... 😉
OK -- so now I was all done and proceeded to caste off from the dock. I let the lines go and jump into the boat and made sure thrusters were ON and then started the engine -- BUT no-go. The engine did not start up. 😱 😳
The was a slight breeze and the boat started to drift away from the dock at an angle and was heading toward another boat docked for fuel top up. I tried several times and the siren came on but engine refused to start. At this point I became anxious and called out to one fella on the fuel dock what my predicament was but my line wasn't long enough to reach him as I had drifted off too far. My next warning was to the boat I was drifting toward. I hailed the owner and told him I was adrift with no engine power -- so watch out and fend me off. I then decided and realized I had a line attached to the bow cleat but could not reach any portion of the line from my position. I quickly popped the forward cabins overhead hatch and reached out and got hold of the line and was able to throw it to the matey on the boat I was drifting toward. After a bit I was able to throw a stern line to the fella on the fuel dock and we managed to get the boat back to the fuel dock and tied up. 😳 🙂
So now I had to figure out why the engine had not started. I checked everything and still no-go. I grabbed the Operator Manual and ran through it but it gave me no clues either to what my problem was. I scratched my head some....
Then I wondered about the power lever position which was presumably in neutral. I checked this and at first it felt like it was -- but decided to move it forward and aft trying to sense where the neutral position was. I settled for what I believed the neutral position was and tried starting the engine -- WOW, it started up without issues. 😀
Lessons learned...
1. NEVER EVER caste off without engine running.
2. ALWAYS check that engine fwd/rev control lever is in FACT in the neutral position. It would be nice if there was a LED that indicated the lever was in neutral or some other visible indicator showing the same condition.
3. Have a 50' line always handy in cockpit area. I dod have two of these but they were hidden in a locker somewhere -- not much good there for this event. 😉
If the breeze was stronger and if I had not taken action quickly this could have been a nasty issue for me to recover from in a busy fuel dock location, close to the Marina rock barrier and the busy entrance to the Puget Sound with boats coming and going.
In retrospect I guess I could have used my bow and stern thrusters to save me from this embarrassment -- but didn't think of that at the time. However, the thrusters only provide sideways motions, circular motion and very little to no forward and reverse motion.
Anyone else found themselves in this type of predicament ?
