2017 - South from the Chesapeake

[PT26]

Well, I guess I should have checked the points before we left.
I did think about it and brought a spare distributer all ready to drop in thinking mine were just fine... Not!
Of course the engine died in the middle of the shipping channel
I had to drop the outboard on the back of the boat to get to the anchorage.
The coil was hot so at first I thought that was the culprit so I changed it.
She ran but not so well.
I pulled the distributer cap and what a mess.
When I pulled the spare out the magneto was in the wrong place it would rub the alternater belt, ugg.
Next best thing, I robbed all the parts out of the spare and put them in the old one.
Dropped it back in and the A4 is back to purring like a kitten.
Tied up in the dismal and it's time for a nap after being up late last night.

[sastanley]

whew..that is looking a little rough!

[PT26]

Yes it was points they were looking pretty bad but all is well now.
We made it to South Mills today.
Wow the duck weed was thick, and there were islands of it we had to motor around.
Thank God for the back up engine. We would get in the thick of it and the temp would rise fast on the A4 even though we have a large raw water intake.
If we had a thermostat or strainer there was no way we would get through.
As soon as we saw the temp rise we would shut down and run the other engine.
It seemed to wash the duck weed off the intake and then we could go again.
We passed a couple sailboats anchored in the middle of the swamp, over heated, dead in the water. We offered help but they said no, I'm ok with that.
The one bad thing about the duck weed and duck weed islands in the middle Of the Channel is you can't see the five logs ( big ones) underneath.
We hit them but no damage.
We also hit six or seven times branches or something with the prop but there again no damage, the man was looking out for us today!
So we're in South Mills, we made the bridge, and tied up between the lock and the bridge on the bulkhead, and I'm of to get some southern fried chicken!

[sastanley]

Yucko on the duckweed from a boat perspective. Is it good environmentally for the Bay and southern tributaries?

Regardless, go the PT-26!

[PT26]

We pulled into Elizabeth city, the A4 coughed some and died just before the bridge
She had been running for about 5 or six hours no problem.
We grabbed the new free dock at the college instead of trying the bridge.
I opened the gas cap and it sounded like it had pulled a vacuume!?
I was thinking it might be the water seperator, so I changed it.
After changing it she started and died, ugg.
I checked for a vacuume and there wasn't one but she did not want to start.
So I checked the coil it's fine, I pulled the distributer cap and it appeared to have had some moisture on it and I just changed all the parts out.
I cleaned it all thoroughly put it back together and then had a beer.
Boat yoga seems to require beer!
So it fired up and ran for an hour, so I quit and hit the berth for some shut eye.
I'm still at a loss as to what happened?
Then next morning I warmed her up for about 30 minutes just to make sure and went for the bridge and made it through fine. We motored down the Pasquotank a bit and then sailed the rest of the way.
We made it across the Ablemarle sound on a beautiful day, what a break!
We entered the alligator River and fired up the A4 and she acted like nothing ever happened. Same the next morning we motored all the way to Belhaven.
I don't like not knowing what happened, it just kinda freaks me out.

[ndutton]

If it happens again try running with the fill cap open provided you can do so without the risk of water entering the tank.

[PT26]

Ok, good idea that would show if it's a vacuume right?
But if it is, what could it be? I changed all the hoses to the new kind before I started because I knew I would end up with ethanol gas at some point.
Thanks for the help!

[zellerj]

spiders? kinked vent line?

Spider webs have been known to plug up the gas tank vent lines. Or the line could be old and kinked. If opening up the gas tank cap when your engine is bogging down fixes the issue, I would check out the gas tank vent line.

[PT26]

Super idea!
I never thought about a spider!
It sat on the hard about 18 months.
They are tiny enough to get past the vent screen.
I have a small air compressor on board and I'm going to take the vent line off and blow air through it.
I checked the line since you suggested it, tore everything out of the
lazzeret (sp) lol but the line is free of kinks so it might just be one of those little buggers.
Thanks for the suggestions.

[ndutton]

Check the vent line for a continuous uphill run from tank to vent fitting, no sags or traps allowed. If you have a low area it's possible a full tank could burp some fuel into the vent and seal it off at the trap.

[PT26]

Ok,
I will check it out and make sure it's correct, I didn't think of this either.

Thanks a bunch for the help!

[lat 64]

Super idea!
I never thought about a spider!
It sat on the hard about 18 months.
They are tiny enough to get past the vent screen.
I have a small air compressor on board and I'm going to take the vent line off and blow air through it.
I checked the line since you suggested it, tore everything out of the
lazzeret (sp) lol but the line is free of kinks so it might just be one of those little buggers.
Thanks for the suggestions.

Jack White spells it Lazaretto

I'll be in Fla. in late December. I'll check in on this thread and say Hi. We'll be neighbors for a few days.

[PT26]

Very cool, we are taking it easy so we will see you down there.
The A4 ran great yesterday afternoon coming into Oriental so I guess I got the vent tube cleaned out! No sign of the vacuume issue.
Thanks again guys.

[lat 64]

We'll be on the Gulf side and fly home on Christmas eve. Probably won't actually "see" you. We're doing the family and friends plan.

[Crazer]

Watching your progress with interest. I recently acquired a Grampian, although it's really such in name only. A Peter Van Dyne designed Classic 31. Glad to hear your trip is going well. Cheers!

As an aside, we recently worked on a boat that had a cracked holding tank that resulted from a clogged vent. I check all my vents as part of spring commissioning.