You know it's gonna be a rough one when

What am I missing? Why wouldn’t a deep socket work in lieu of the cool tool you made?

You’ve obviously never had to remove a fuel erosion plug from the back side of a MAN 32/40 fuel pump with about 1-inch of working space between the pump and the cylinder liner/head!

1 Like

Or an EMD JW pump.

3 Likes

This arrived in the sump as we were transiting from Bermuda To Newport RI! We were off Chicken Shoal and I thought we’d encountered fishing gear. Chart shows fish traps there off entrance to St Georges Harbor. The mate shut down the engine, it was a 3208 Cat. Was is the definitive description as I found this after the mechanic dropped the oil pan and left. Best I figure a rod sheared at wrist pin to piston and did the deed to cam. That schooner now has a Cummins 5.9 BT. Long story short 12 days later we sailed to Lunenburg NS for engine refit. 8 weeks after that I returned stateside the day before new engine sea trials.DSC_0569|690x458

1 Like

(gives best “concerned Captain expression” to screw with the chief) …soooooo, I take it that doesn’t belong in the oil pan? :laughing:

Gah, seriously though, that sucks.

My “it’s gonna be a rough one” wasn’t quite so bad, more funny really, but it still sucked… Headed out the Bonny River with the morning convoy barely a care in the world… hear “BOOM!” and the joyous sound of fans shutting down as everything goes dark and alarms start going off… Me being a new Captain in Nigeria ducking for cover from “the next RPG” from the militants… Nope… generator somehow went kaboom (technical term) and threw a piston through the side of the block. Long trip back to the dock with no escort and my Nigerian crew trying not to giggle at me at the same time they’re terrified we actually will get snatched now.

4 Likes

Saw sparks coming out of the stacks upon approach to Jacksonville.Called chief, “Everything o,k,” while in bound, generator burned up. Maybe World Series on tv had something to do with the equation? Same engineer in Corpus Christi harbor, saw weird stack smoke and engine pulsations while maneuvering to dock before crew change the next day. Called him that something doesn’t feel right. He said all his guages looked ok. Called him again, a few minutes later, he said “Loose nut at the wheel”. 5 minutes later we filled the harbor up with smoke with blown packs. Was not quite proud of that fellow, a Mass Maritime grad. Nor would the Academy he came from.

1 Like

Customer: “Here’s this outboard carb. I already cleaned it, just need someone to slap it together.”
Shop Manager: “Sure, our man is your man.”
Me, looking at what a layman with a wire wheel can do to an aluminum casting: “I’m sorry, but hopelessness can’t really be quantified.”

(Also, is there a definite necromancing policy around here?)

Oh, man. . . I hope it wasn’t the same Mass Grad I had as an assistant for less than one trip. He saved me the trouble of firing him by jumping ashore at our first port. . . that said, a couple of the best engineers I have sailed with were Mass grads, so it wasn’t the school . . . .

2 Likes