Joe Coons
Recently one of the boats in our charter fleet had a mechanical problem, and an interesting set of circumstances came together to make the situation a lot less of a disaster than it could have been. It's a lesson for us all, I think! Here's the story.
As the charterer was bringing the boat back to Bellingham, in fact, about halfway up the Bay from its south end, he noticed the port engine begin smoking black smoke more than usual. He quickly stopped the engine, and went below to investigate. He discovered a hole in one of the engine's valve covers about the size of a 22-caliber bullet, and lube oil that had been squirted out.
After he cleaned up the oil, he resumed the trip on one engine, and called me on his cell phone to ask me to be at the dock to help him moor, for it was that windy weekend we had in August, and it wouldn't be easy with just one powerplant!
After all was secure, the owner and a mechanic friend investigated. It seems an exhaust valve spring had broken, so the valve wasn't closing. The first time the piston hit the loose valve, it bent it, jamming it in its guide. The mechanics from a local marine diesel shop pulled off the head, and found only a "dinged," not broken, piston. This meant that instead of a complete overhaul and cylinder re-bore necessitated by a broken piston scoring the cylinder in an engine allowed to run too long after the spring failure, only the one piston was replaced and a rebuilt head and valve assembly installed. That's about a $15,000 saving on one of these CAT 3208 Diesels!
The moral of the story is, of course, to err on the side of caution whenever you detect something is amiss with your boat's machinery. For years I've said, "Boat problems are like traffic tickets: when you first get them, cheap. Wait a while, they cost more. Wait a long time, it's a felony arrest!" This case illustrates this truism perfectly.
One other thing‹Because we schedule most of our charter fleet's maintenance well ahead of time, the diesel shop knew that when we said we had an emergency, we were telling the truth. They got the boat fixed quickly enough to lose only one day of the next charter, and that contract more than paid for the work. Since we always try to accommodate the shop, they tried to accommodate us, and did! By working together with confidence and integrity, the payoff was great for both the owner and the vendor. And a stressful time was made much less stressful. Have fun with your fall boating!
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Last updated 10/4/98 by SCR