PRACTICAL
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Damian Walker is a recently retired flying
instructor and aerial photographer. Having
cruised for 3,000 miles, he has passed
Yachtmaster theory, Day Skipper practical
and RYA certificates for radar, diesel CEVNI
and first aid, and may now have the time to
do more, health permitting.T
he end of another
windy summer was
fast approaching
and the nights were
getting noticeably
longer, but I reasoned that there
would be an opportunity for one
more single-handed trip in Delta,
my Colvic Watson motor-sailer,
before the season ended. I had
planned to motor-sail northwards
from Lowestoft and revisit my
favourite place, Whitby, stopping
along the way at Wells-next-the-
Sea, Grimsby and perhaps
Bridlington and Scarborough.
The 12-hour passage to Wells
had been choppy, uncomfortable
and tiring, and I accepted an offer
from the Beach Patrol RIB to guide
me into Wells Harbour, where I
went alongside the visitor pontoon.
After a good night’s sleep, I was
just about to cast off, having
unplugged the electricity cable,
when the engine stalled. It would
not run for more than a few
seconds at a time, and then only
with the throttle near wide open. I
was unsure whether it was just fuel
starvation or perhaps an air leak. I
quickly reconnected the electricity
supply to keep the battery
charging: the two solar panels
were only providing an amp or so. I
managed to change the Champion
filter for a Crosland as the 5-micron
Champion seemed to clog easily.
At last I was happy to leave,
‘Shiny diesel is happy diesel’,
maintains Damian Walker, whose
engine stoppage woes were cured
by diesel polishing
Diesel
polishing
relying on being able to switch to
the second filter as I approached
Grimsby if there was any sign of
fuel starvation.
A few weeks earlier I had visited
Lowestoft Yacht Services when the
engine had stopped just as I was
approaching their service berth.
That failure was also due to a dirty
Champion L131 5-micron fuel filter.
I isolated that filter, cleaned the
bowl and replaced the three in-line
filters, one on the engine and the
two set for changeover in the event
of a blockage. I considered myself
fortunate that after fitting another
new Champion filter the fuel filled
the bowl under gravity from Delta’s
30-something-year-old stainless
steel tanks, and the CAV filter
needed minimal bleeding to
remove residual air. The engine
fired up again and ran sweetly
as I returned to my mooring in
Lowestoft Haven, so when
planning my late holiday trip north
I was confident that I had three
clean and new filters.
I arrived in Grimsby on the
Sunday night, but on the Monday
morning Delta’s engine stopped
again while I was attempting to
move position on the moorings. I
attempted a restart, and the engine
started for just enough time with
the throttle wide open to attain a
high rpm and rapidly switch from
forward to aft gear before it failed
again. I lifted the starboard floorpanel, reached down and switched
to the spare filter, and after a
reasonable but shaky start it ran
for some seconds at high rpm,
whereupon the fuel lines were
replenished with fuel. I was still
unsure if there was an air leak as
it had started after the overnight
rest, but again only ran for a short
while. I managed to change
moorings with the aid of some
typically friendly berth-holders,
and settled down to work out how
to cure my now obviously serious
fuel problem.
I was given contact details for
an engineer called Fozzie, who
generally did work for visitors with
boat problems and had a good
record of problem solving. He
offered me the use of a pump toempty the tanks via the fuel sender
opening, but I declined until I knew
the extent of the problem facing
me. I knew for sure that I had two
interconnected tanks with around
300lt in total of dirty diesel that
had been standing for nearly two
years owing to essential repairs
that meant the boat had been
forced to stay on the hardstanding.Polished performance
I’d had the foresight to add a bottle
of Marine 16 diesel bug treatment
in 2011 after buying the boat and
some Marine 16 fuel stabiliser in
2013 during winterising. I knew that
the tank sides were not polished
and smooth after fitting a
standpipe for the Eberspächer a
few weeks earlier, which required aAfter this bottle of contaminated fuel had settled overnight, a heavy
layer of dead diesel bug was apparent: some of it remained in
suspension, giving a darkened, cloudy appearance to the red dieselDelta, Damian Walker’s Colvic Watson motor-sailer