Out of fuel at sea

For the first time in my life, I ran out of fuel at sea.  We were coming into Newtown Creek to have supper and prepare for a night pilotage exercise.  The fuel tank had shown half full at the start of the week’s charter, and the owner just said fill up the tank to the same mark as you find it at the end of the trip.  So with a tank of 130 l, I assumed we had enough fuel for about 2 day’s solid motoring.  When we ran out of fuel we had only motored for five hours or so.  The engine faltered and died on us right by the bifurcation navigation mark in the creek, so we dropped anchor and lay back on that for all of 2 minutes.  I got the engine going and we made it to one of the mooring buoys up the western arm of the harbour.   I called the owner and she asked me to call out Seastart, which we did.  They were very efficient and quick to answer our call, did all the necessary in checking the fuel system and it was concluded that we had run out of fuel.  We refilled the fuel tank and had no further problems.  The silly thing was that the engine was brand new, with a brand new fuel gauge, but showing half full when empty.  I was reading a link on one of the internet forums for yachtsmen where an owner had the sender for the fuel tank gauge replaced under warranty.     The installers had apparently failed to adjust it to the yacht’s tank, and the owner, like us, ran out of fuel whilst the gauge was still showing 1/2 full.  Lesson: if you have any changes made to your fuel gauge or senders, ensure the necessary adjustments are made correctly.

Black dust in the engine well

Do you ever notice black dust in the engine well or scattered round the engine compartment? If you do, it is more likely than not, due to extra wear on the drive belt connecting alternator to crank shaft. It may be that there may be misalignment, the belt may be rubbing against something or if belt tension is too loose, it may be slipping. Check the alignment with a straight edge; check the tension – the engine manual should give guidance as to how much slack there should be, and if needs be take up this slack. Has, at some stage, the wrong size belt been fitted? There is just the possibility that the belt may be too narrow for the grooves on the pulley wheels, it may be abrading on the grooves and the next item on the repair list is to fit a replacement belt. Well worth a check if you see signs of wear.