We set out on a trip heading about 35 nm. up the Hudson from Nyack on our Tartan 27' with a north wind building. We sailed while tacking the first 5 nm. or so and then decided that the building wind was just going to make us too slow to get all the way to our destination for Plan A so we began motoring up river and into the wind. I should add that our engine is from 1967 and has been moderately maintained and is raw water cooled; we have a 2 blade prop and probably need a new Cutlass bearing but we were still up for it to see some fall foliage on the hills by the Hudson.
At one dog leg in the river we decided to raise sails again and try to sail past the Indian Point nuke plant but the fitting on our main halyard (also 41 years old) decided to disconnect and the halyard went to the top of the mast. We motored on and got to the narrow parts of the Hudson with hills on either side and the wind was whipping up to 30 knot gusts and the waters surface was showing regular white caps. We could only make just under 4 knots SOG against the head winds and waves.
We made about 20 nm. up the river during which I sighted a young Sturgeon jumping or leaping out of the river in broad daylight when we decided that because we had lost the main halyard it was time to head back down to our home port. In some sections we were able to achieve hull speed with just our 150% jib with the 30 knot gusts pushing us south. In other sections we motored to make it to the next open north/south section of the river.
[This is where it gets A4 related.]
As we headed back south into Haverstraw Bay our A4 became a bit sluggish and would not respond with vigor to an increase in throttle under load (forward) so we shut her down and were still able to see 5 knots on the GPS. We set about checking the engine while under sail.
First, we checked the choke linkage to the butterfly valve and discovered that it seemed ok. Next, we checked the spark plugs and replaced with brand new Autolite 437's and then we added a little Rotella T SAE 30 oil (1 pint) to the oil reservoir. Once we started the engine back up the engine responded normally to requests for more throttle and we shut her down as we were still able to make about 5 knots with just the wind pushing us along in our jib.
It would seem that our plugs were not that dirty but, we had cleaned these plugs before with sandpaper to clean the gap and they were neither the Champion RJ12C or J8C plugs that are recommended but some generic spark plug I had picked up at an Auto Zone store some time before. Our analysis is that it was basically one or perhaps 2 plugs that had given up the ghost after over 5 hours of motoring that gave the engine its hesitant sound as if one cylinder was not firing. The engine did not quit running but it refused to accelerate and sounded like it would have preferred a lower RPM setting; mind you, we had probably not exceeded a 2000 RPM the whole time we motored. We were consciously being a bit cautious with our old engine and trying to avoid any overheating issues as we normally run our engine for about 5 minutes to get out to a race and back.
I have read that the Autolite 437 plugs are hotter then even the RJ12C from Champion and have high hopes that the issues I have with our engine are largely related to spark plug fouling.
We made it back to our home port and I got to spend another slightly cooler night onboard our boat which really is a cruising boat rather then a racer.
We covered 40 nm. between sailing and motor/sailing giving an average speed of 4 knots over about 10 hours.
At least the engine got hot and we were able to do some maintenance while underway that seemed to help considerably.
Repairs at the dock are one thing. Are you prepared with enough spare parts and tools to do some minor repairs while underway?
I have to prepare for both as my engine is 41 years old.
All my best,
Caleb D
T27 #328 "Odalisque"
At one dog leg in the river we decided to raise sails again and try to sail past the Indian Point nuke plant but the fitting on our main halyard (also 41 years old) decided to disconnect and the halyard went to the top of the mast. We motored on and got to the narrow parts of the Hudson with hills on either side and the wind was whipping up to 30 knot gusts and the waters surface was showing regular white caps. We could only make just under 4 knots SOG against the head winds and waves.
We made about 20 nm. up the river during which I sighted a young Sturgeon jumping or leaping out of the river in broad daylight when we decided that because we had lost the main halyard it was time to head back down to our home port. In some sections we were able to achieve hull speed with just our 150% jib with the 30 knot gusts pushing us south. In other sections we motored to make it to the next open north/south section of the river.
[This is where it gets A4 related.]
As we headed back south into Haverstraw Bay our A4 became a bit sluggish and would not respond with vigor to an increase in throttle under load (forward) so we shut her down and were still able to see 5 knots on the GPS. We set about checking the engine while under sail.
First, we checked the choke linkage to the butterfly valve and discovered that it seemed ok. Next, we checked the spark plugs and replaced with brand new Autolite 437's and then we added a little Rotella T SAE 30 oil (1 pint) to the oil reservoir. Once we started the engine back up the engine responded normally to requests for more throttle and we shut her down as we were still able to make about 5 knots with just the wind pushing us along in our jib.
It would seem that our plugs were not that dirty but, we had cleaned these plugs before with sandpaper to clean the gap and they were neither the Champion RJ12C or J8C plugs that are recommended but some generic spark plug I had picked up at an Auto Zone store some time before. Our analysis is that it was basically one or perhaps 2 plugs that had given up the ghost after over 5 hours of motoring that gave the engine its hesitant sound as if one cylinder was not firing. The engine did not quit running but it refused to accelerate and sounded like it would have preferred a lower RPM setting; mind you, we had probably not exceeded a 2000 RPM the whole time we motored. We were consciously being a bit cautious with our old engine and trying to avoid any overheating issues as we normally run our engine for about 5 minutes to get out to a race and back.
I have read that the Autolite 437 plugs are hotter then even the RJ12C from Champion and have high hopes that the issues I have with our engine are largely related to spark plug fouling.
We made it back to our home port and I got to spend another slightly cooler night onboard our boat which really is a cruising boat rather then a racer.
We covered 40 nm. between sailing and motor/sailing giving an average speed of 4 knots over about 10 hours.
At least the engine got hot and we were able to do some maintenance while underway that seemed to help considerably.
Repairs at the dock are one thing. Are you prepared with enough spare parts and tools to do some minor repairs while underway?
I have to prepare for both as my engine is 41 years old.
All my best,
Caleb D
T27 #328 "Odalisque"
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