A mast then an Engine.
Those of you who read John Crawford’s intricate account of the loss and rebuilding of his mast on the Ranger VANITY would be sad to read the email I received from him earlier this week.
Motoring under the Harbour Bridge on Saturday morning headed for the SASC, there was a sudden and very loud bang from the engine. When I recovered my composure, I realised the engine hadn’t stopped but billowing smoke from the exhaust all but concealed the complete stern.
Since I was in one of the busiest sections of the harbour I had no choice but to continue until I had a bit more sea room. The mild SE breeze cleared the smoke so I decided that while the engine ran I would continue to my destination.
I made the mooring. Pulled all the engine covers off and the attached photos tell the rest….my next move was to have a whisky and contemplate the cleanup!
On Sunday, with Liam’s assistance and a well organised approach we managed (in about 4 hours) to collect nearly all the oil without spreading any of it any further. This was achieved with an American lift pump which was brilliant. A bag of rags from Bunnings and degreaser to remove the film of oil from everything in the engine bay completed the work. We have not yet found the cause of the leak, but what I did find was a piece of blue (engine colour) painted cast iron about the size of a fingernail…?? The damage and most of the oil was on the starboard side (injectors etc) but it’s impossible to see much of the crankcase on that side.
I will investigate further and let you know..
Cheers
John
Sometimes the trials of a wooden boat owner can seem overwhelming, but John’s positive approach to these two major setbacks should be a shining example to those of us who are occasionally prone to a bout of the “Woe Is Me” s.
Thanks for sharing John and the good news is…
“There is absolutely no empirical evidence that things "come in threes": they simply don't. Humans look for patterns in random data in a way to extract order from disorder. It’s basically confirmation bias… our tendency to cherry pick information that confirms our beliefs and conveniently overlook the examples that don't.”