BRIEP
Yesterday’s BRIEP (Boat Repair In Exotic Ports) involved draining all of the water out of our dinghy’s outboard engine. How did it get in there you ask? The answer contains a lesson so pay close attention: be very mindful of how much water is accumulating in your dinghy during large rain storms!
While we leave the dinghy’s drain plug out when it is raised in the davits overnight, we of course have the plug in while the inflatable is floating in the water, secured to our transom. On Thursday afternoon we had a huge rain shower which, without our realizing it, filled the dinghy with at least 6-8 inches of water, enough to float and flip over the gas can. We only became aware of this just as we were heading over to Earthling for dinner, and by then, a significant amount of gas had spilled out into the water in the dinghy. You might think that I’d be smart enough to realize that if the gas can get out of the tank, the water could get into it but if you did believe that, you’d be mistaken. After draining the water from the dink, I just fired up the engine and roared over to our friends. And it worked too, no problem, until yesterday that is, when it had sucked in enough watered-down fuel to kill it. Would you believe that engines don’t appreciate having water mixed in the fuel? Yup, it’s true.
So, as I sat there in the dinghy with the non-functioning engine, doing my best to get it running (pull cord — talk nicely to it — pull cord again — curse at it), I was being observed by Brother, one of the locals who was nearby our boat, helping our friends on Arctic Tern secure their stern line to a tree. When he saw that I wasn’t making a lot of progress (any!), he started calling out suggestions to me and then, seeing my bewildered look, took mercy and asked if I’d like some help. I’ll detail the steps that we went through to fix the engine, just in case anyone reading this didn’t pay attention to the lesson portion of the post, but before I do, I’d like to say that after spending better than half an hour helping me to get the engine fixed, Brother asked absolutely nothing in return. Nothing! We offered him a beer of course, which he accepted, but he helped just to be nice. How cool is that?
Anyway, here is what we ended up doing:
- Remove bad gas from tank. There was so much water in this gas that even filtering it wasn’t going to save it.
- Remove all water from tank. It took some time to shake all the water droplets out of the tank even after the gas was removed.
- Remove the hose which connects the tank to the engine and pump all of the bad gas out of it.
- Remove spark plugs. They were wet!
- Remove drain screw from carburetor. Now I know where it is!
- Remove fuel filter bowl and empty it.
- Mix a new batch of fuel (the engine is a 2-stroke so we need to mix oil into the gasoline).
- Pour a bit of the new fuel into spark plug holes.
- Pull starter cord several times. Gas will spray out of spark plug holes.
- Repeat previous two steps a couple more times.
- Reattach tank filled with new fuel to engine.
- Using the ball, pump new gas through carb. Watch for clean gas to flow out the drain.
- Replace drain screw in carb. Do not drop the screw in the water!
- Replace fuel bowl.
- Clean spark plugs with gasoline.
- Replace spark plugs.
- Start engine. Vrooom!!!!
Note to Environmentalists: Yes, some fuel was spilled into the water during this whole ordeal. It couldn’t be helped. Please don’t send me hate mail because of it!
I once overturned my grandfather’s wooden canoe ( Beechnut??) on the Mirimachi River with hip waders attached to my belt. As I sunk I saw his brand new that day, Johnson 5hp motor pull the aft end down. As the gas tank floated by me I then saw his tool box, with every salmon fly he had collected since he was a kid, sink to the bottom. We had to pull the engine and take it to a mechanic who tore it apart, reset points and other stuff that took a day. I managed to dive to the tool box but just as I got it within a foot of the surface the lid popped open and most of his lures floated away. I must have been 12 at the time but I will never forget that little engine hanging upside down in the water. I have never worn hip waders again.
In the overall scheme of things, although regrettable, your little gas spill is not the end of the world. On Crane Beach in Barbados we ended up with dime size globules of bunker C oil stuck to the bottom of our feet and on our towels and beach mats. You don’t see them in the sand and apparently nobody ever sees the tankers flushing their bilges offshore.
That must have really sucked, especially losing all the lures.
We have had several friends who have submerged their outboard engines. I hear the trick it is to fix it right away as soon as you take it out of the water.
M & R,
Get yourselves a small bottle of ‘Dawn’ liquid dish detergent (if you can). It’s powers of elminating the ‘sheen’ that is spread from fuel/oil on water is amazing. Just spray it on the affected water and POOF, no more sheen.
I’m told Joy works also but I have no experience with it.
Dawn is bio-degradable too.
Hth,
Jim
Will check that out. Thanks.
We’ve always had Dawn or Joy nearby whenever fueling.
Apparently not such a good thing I guess.
When you lock your “car” for the night, Do you just lock the painter line or is the motor secured?
ie, is the motor locked to the dinghy or to ZTC? Good to see the good side of human nature at work.
The engine is locked to the dinghy with a separate pad lock. We “sometimes” lock the dinghy to the boat but we always raise it in the davits. Someone would have to pretty stealthy, and FAST, to get the dinghy down off the davits without us hearing it considering we sleep in the aft of the boat.
NEVER use Dawn or any other type of soap to deal with a gas/diesel spill. It will definitely remove the sheen from the water but it does a tremendous amount of damage. Soaps become dispersants to petroleum. They break it up, surround it, and make it drop to the sea floor where it will stay for a decade before breaking up. Leaving it on the water’s surface will evaporate pretty quickly depending on the size of the spill. For us boaters, most small spills like you experienced will be gone in a day.
The absolute best thing you can do is to use some type of material that will absorb the petroleum. On a very small spill again like you experienced, even that probably doesn’t make any sense.
Thanks for this info, Jeffrey. I was not aware of this and I bet others weren’t also.
What is the square white thing you are holding up in the last picture?
Mike
It was his ID card, which said Brother (Brotha). 🙂
the trouble with the water you took in is that it is salty. Will you end up with corrosion inside your engine or did you flush it out sufficiently you think? I hope so.
Fortunately it was rain water, not sea water. The engine runs better now than it did before this episode!
I can’t believe you got fuel in the waters of the caribbean!!!! Kidding………What are you holding in your left hand? A $250,000.00 ticket for environmental clean up? Just busting the lollipop lamb chops!!!!!
Maybe in some places they would have tried to fine us! I am holding Brother’s ID card.
1. Adding Dawn is against the law in most countries. I’ve actually done the toxicity testing; an oil spill becomes 10-30 times more toxic when Dawn (it was one of the products we tested) is added. It really kills shrimp fast by drawing toxic materials from the sheen into the water. And yet I can’t get to excited about the spill you’re talking about; I worked on the Gulf spill oil recovery.
2. A gasoline sheen will simply evaporate within 5-15 minutes. You couldn’t clean it up if you tried. Diesel takes a little longer, but only a few hours in warm water.
3. My understanding is the the water in the fuel was rainwater. However, there is still a good case for running the 2-stroke oil a little higher (50:1) for the next tank. And perhaps changing the filter one last time–I don’t know the specifics.
Yep, I’ve seen rain sink a number of tenders, and I’ve seen exactly your scenario acted out. This is one more good reason (in addition to keeping humidity out of the fuel) to close the vents every night. My Merc would misbehave every time it rained hard over night, until I started closing the vent. It’s been flawless for years now.
I can always count on you for such excellent info, Drew. Always!
Actually, I just finished a long set of trials for Practical Sailor on gas treatments. It’s amazing–though not actually even a surprise–that many additives, even “top brands”, are snake oil.
http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/2012/05/gasoline-additive-corrosion-testing.html
Given that you fed your kicker some saltwater, perhaps a little Seafoam or Valve Tech Ethanol or Mercury Marine storage additive would be smart. Notice that I did not mention the most heavily advertised brands….
I think it was primarily (if not exclusively) fresh water but that might not hurt either. We met some other people who were big fans of Seafoam.
Know the feeling all too well!!!! Took a sailing trip in Malaysia a few months ago, saw a gorgeous uninhabited island, decided to anchor out. Took the dinghy in to explore… All was well until… got back into the dinghy to get back to the boat, and sputter sputter sputter…
1 hour later… still sputtering, and won’t start. Because there were lots of shallows around the islan, we had to anchor out quite a ways out – probably at least a few hungdred yards away. Ended up having to snorkel back to the boat TOWING the dinghy behind us.
Good times…..
We always have oars in the boat but because the oar locks don’t work, we must paddle it like a canoe. Pretty tricky with only one person on board and with a contrary breeze or current, just about ineffective.
i’ve both sunk my outboard and had water in the tank quite a few times unfortunately. after the second time of water in the tank, I installed a inline fuel filter, very easy, very simple. i have the one with replacable, washable filters so if neccasary I can whip out the filter and put in a spare even if i don’t have a massive toolkit onboard the dinghy
I purchased one of those but had yet to install it. Perhaps today. 🙂
When we were in the gasoline business we sold an absorbent made from dehydrated peat moss (from Canada, even) that would only absorb oil products, not water. Not sure if it ever caught on or if it’s even available any more (aside from the 2 pallets left in my warehouse) but it would be a good solution to clean up in a marine environment.
I have seen them use similar products on larger spills, after containing it with a floating dam. That was in the US though, not down here.
Maybe use some filler to smooth it out where relevant? as it looks from the pic that it may cause the cushion to chaffe? Great and practical job! Rob
Over time, you may be right. Thanks.