Practical Boat Owner – August 2019

Ilfracombe inner harbour

SEAMANSHIP

I

was on the return trip to Cardiff, having

travelled down to Ilfracombe a couple

of days earlier in my bilge keel Sadler

25 Moonshadow. I was sailing

single-handed and had enjoyed the

trip down.

On the outward passage the wind, as

usual, wasn’t perfect but I’d managed to

get down with the aid of the tide. In the

last few miles the wind freshened and as it

did so also backed.

I started the engine and went into motor

sailing mode, thinking I might just keep

clear of the English coast and make it to

Ilfracombe without taking the sails in and

having to rely on the engine alone.

The young adult dinghy sailor part of me

would have persisted and put a couple of

tacks in.

But the more mature, slightly less

energetic person I had become decided a

quick turn of the key after a decent sail

down the channel would suit me just fi ne.

Peter Holwell suffers engine problems

east of Ilfracombe – not an experience

for the faint-hearted with a fi erce Bristol

Channel wind and tide running

Dodgy engine

dilemma

Spluttering motor

With the freshening wind, the sea was

turning a little lumpy and after the engine

had been running nicely for a few minutes,

it spluttered, faded, surged back and then

after a few more minutes cut out

completely. I checked fuel levels, which

were fi ne, the sight glass on the fuel fi lter

appeared OK but I loosened the bleed

screw and gave a few pumps on the lift

pump and made sure there was no air in

the system before trying the engine again.

It fi red up, but still wasn’t running

perfectly and seemed to fade as I tried to

open it up to full throttle (which doesn’t

equate to much on a single cylinder 6hp

Lister Petter). So I coaxed it along and we

made it into Ilfracombe and picked up a

drying visitor mooring in the entrance to

the inner harbour.

I spent some time the next day changing

fi lters, bleeding the system and topping

the tank up. This latter chore meant a trip

across the harbour in the tender with a

20-litre can and length of warp. Having

climbed the vertical ladder with said rope, I

then hauled the empty can up to the

pumps where 20lt of diesel was

dispensed. The now much heavier can

was lowered back by rope into my tender,

followed by the skipper and rope, and then

and a short row back across to