Other ways to start engines

JUST A FEW days ago I overheard a cruising sailor bemoaning the fact that he could not start his very expensive diesel motor because his comparatively cheap starter motor had failed. It reminded me of a column I wrote several years ago pointing out that cruising sailboats are rarely pure sailboats these days. There are very few that do not carry engines of one sort or another. The reason for this is that, even if you normally keep your boat on a mooring, sooner or later you’re going to have to maneuver in a harbor or marina, and small-boat harbors and marinas have become so congested that most are not navigable under sail in anything much over 20 feet in length.

It is actually possible to maneuver a boat in a crowded harbor by warping and kedging, or even sculling, as sailors have done for centuries, but we have either lost the skill or the will, and certainly the patience, so we now find ourselves far too dependent on the engine to get us out to where we can use the wind to sail.

And to get the engine started in the first place, too many of us are dependent on the electric starter motor. It would be a great relief if we could start our engines by hand, instead of having to rely on electricity, and indeed a few inboard diesels can be started by hand, but they are necessarily of low horsepower and fit only for small yachts.

Now, there are other ways to start engines. One way is to use a small hand pump to pressurize a tank of air that will spin the engine vigorously for a couple of minutes. Think what a blessing that could be when your battery is flat or your solenoid has passed on to its final resting place. There are clockwork engine starters, too, that you can wind up slowly and easily before releasing them to spin the motor over.

But these mechanically simple starting aids are not common and they are therefore expensive, so the great majority of sailors are stuck with electric starter motors. They are obviously not ideal for boats, but because most boat engines are derived from the ones landlubbers build in huge numbers for their cars, tractors, and generators, we are stuck with their method of starting them.

The one thing you can say for electric starters is that they don’t draw much energy from your battery. Surprisingly little, in fact, if the engine is working properly. For example, starting a medium-sized diesel will draw about 4,800 watts. That sounds like a lot, and it is, but even if you crank away for 20 seconds you’re taking only 2.5 amp-hours from your 12-volt battery. That’s about half of what a dedicated CD player would consume if it were running 4 hours a day. And even with a modest 30-amp charge, your alternator will replace that energy in less than 10 minutes.

Nevertheless, this is not the best way to start a marine engine. Salt water and electricity don’t get on well together, and most of us could well do without that sickening feeling in the pit of the stomach when you turn the key and nothing happens but a little “click” that foretells all kinds of trouble and frustration to come.

Today’s Thought

Simplicity, most rare in our age.

— Ovid, Ars Amatoria

Tailpiece

“Dr. Livingstone, I presume.”

“Yes. Do you have medical insurance?”

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for another Mainly about Boats column.)

When boatyards built engines

IT’S ALMOST EXACTLY 100 years since one of the most famous American small-boat architects designed and built a wooden boat called  Cabrilla. William Atkin and his boyhood friend Cottrell Wheeler were the owners of a small boatyard on Long Island, New York, and Cabrilla was the largest boat they built there. She was a high-speed express cruiser, 115 feet in overall length.

But one of the most interesting things about her was the fact that young Atkin and Wheeler themselves designed the twin V-8 gasoline engines that powered her. Not only that: they built the engines, too, and installed them of course.

Atkin said later in his book Of Yachts and Men:  “Reviewing those days . . . I am astonished at the work we undertook and produced. The design work on Cabrilla was no small item.” This, naturally, was long before the days of computers, or even calculators, and all the work was done with pencil, paper, drafting ink, and the human brain.

Atkin described those engines as “big fellows of more than usual interest.” Each was of V-type with eight cylinders. The cylinder bore was 8 inches and the stroke 14 inches. Each bank of four cylinders was cast en bloc and, to insure perfectly even cylinder walls, was cast without the water-cooling jackets; the jackets were fitted to the cylinder blocks after all the machine work was completed.

In his book Atkin says: “The crankshaft was a steel casting and turned on Hess-Bright ball bearings, three bearings to each engine. To give some idea of the size of the crankshaft: the races of the bearings ran on balls having a diameter of 2 3/4 inches. The inlet and exhaust valve sets were made of heat-treated steel and were removable. The exhaust-valve stems were cooled with sodium. All the reciprocating valves were closed by positive cams rather than by compression springs. The crankcase was of skeleton form, cast of vanadium bronze and had 1/16th-inch-thick Tobin bronze plates to cover the openings.”

Atkin used outside contractors to manufacture several parts of the engine to his designs, but hundreds of other parts were made and assembled in his own boatyard basement.

“Yes, shipmates, Cabrilla’s engines were big fellows,” Atkin reflects, “and when, in these later years, Cottrell and I contemplate the fading past, we marvel at our youthful courage in tackling this job, which then seemed very simple, but which if attempted now would embarrass the engineering department of a large corporation.

“Cottrell designed all the mechanical and electric fittings for the hull, the disk clutches and reverse gears, and supervised their construction. The design of the engines was my contribution to the work then in hand. All this we accomplished within nine months and without the assistance of draftsmen or additional help.

“Fortunately, Cabrilla was designed before the days of expeditors, industrial efficiency, inspectors, personnel managers, safety engineers and all the other complicated and expensive claptrap of present-day production confusion. If we had had the fellowship of today’s industrial top-heaviness and discord, the yacht might never have been launched at all.”

Today’s Thought

Often ornateness goes with greatness;

Oftener felicity comes of simplicity.

William Watson, Art Maxims

Tailpiece

“Man, I never realized how short of living space the world has become.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, I came home early last evening and found a strange man living in my wife’s wardrobe.”

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)

A better way to start the engine

I’VE SAID IT several times before, but nobody seems to take any notice, so I’ll say it again:  It’s high time all inboard engines for pleasure boats were fitted with starters that don’t rely on electricity. There are other ways. There are hydraulic starters, compressed-air starters, and even a wind-up spring starter — but have you ever seen one fitted in a yacht?

It’s quite wrong that we’re so dependent on electrical batteries for starting our motors. I guess it’s a hang-over from the automobile industry, where there is usually no safety concern if a battery goes flat.

But things are different on the water. A fully discharged battery can be a much more serious matter, particularly on a single-engined boat. A flat battery can involve discomfort, embarrassment, expense, and even danger.

Hydraulic starters are used on some commercial craft. Hand-pumping an accumulator tank for five to ten minutes will spin a big diesel for two minutes or so. Some fishing boats used similar compressed-air starters.  There used to be a British company that made a spring starter, maybe still does. It fit on your engine like a regular starter, only it had a crank like a winch handle sticking out. Twelve turns of the handle would give you enough spring power to start a six-cylinder diesel.

Haven’t there been times when you’d have given a back tooth for a system like that?

I once owned a single-lung, 12 h.p. BMW diesel which had a valve lifter that automatically snapped shut after you had spun the engine with a crank handle about four times. Without compression it was quite easy, using both hands, to crank the engine up to a fair speed in four revolutions. It is a great emergency back-up system for engines up to about 15 horsepower. Won’t someone please whisper this fact in the shell-like ear of a marine engine manufacturer?

Today’s Thought

You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God: you shall not have both.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Power,” The Conduct of Life

Tailpiece

The maitre d’ of a New York hotel watched in amazement as an Ohio tourist carefully washed his dessert spoon in the finger bowl.

He rushed up apologetically, saying: “There’s no need to do that sir.”

“Oh no?” said the tourist. “This is a new suit, buster. You think I want ice-cream all over my pocket?”

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)

Engines on the way out

WILL NICE QUIET electric motors take over from diesel and gas engines on small boats? Given the current state of evolution of the electric motor and its batteries, it seems unlikely to happen soon. Fossil-fuel engines have, after all, become very reliable and economical. But I believe electricity will eventually take over.

We’ll need better, lighter batteries or other methods of storing electricity, and more efficient ways of generating it from sunlight or chemicals, but I believe we’ll eventually get there.

In any case, history tells us that we should believe the unlikely, if not the impossible. For example, according to the eminent engineer Benjamin H. Latrobe, there was no way that a steam engine could be used to propel boats. No way.

Now, this man was no lightweight. For a start, he designed the United States Capitol. In a paper delivered to the American Philosophical Society in 1803, he listed the reasons why:

1. The weight of the engine and the fuel.

2. The large space it occupies.

3. The tendency of its action to rack the vessel and render it leaky.

4. The expense of maintenance.

5. The irregularity of its motion, and the motion of the water in the boiler and the cistern, and of the fuel-vessel in rough water.

6. The difficulty arising from the liability of the paddles to break, if light, and from the weight if made strong.

Well, Latrobe might have been eminent, but he was also wrong. He lacked foresight and he lacked faith.

I don’t have much in the way of foresight, but I have lots of faith, which is why I say diesel and gasoline are on the way out. It will take a while, certainly, but the writing is on the wall and the electric motor is coming to the bilge. In its turn, it might be overtaken by some other form of propulsion. But meanwhile, I can’t wait.

Today’s Thought

The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance — the idea that anything is possible.

— Ray Bradbury

Tailpiece

“You look lonely.”

“Yeah, my wife’s gone to the West Indies.”

“Jamaica?”

“No, it was her own idea.”

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for a new Mainly about Boats column.)

Engines of a by-gone era

From The Rudder, 1911

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, when Thomas Fleming Day was the renowned editor of the equally renowned yachting magazine, The Rudder, there was a lot of interest in maritime engines for launches and sailboats.

Internal-combustion engines for yachts were still in the early stages of development in those days, of course, and manufacturers were springing up all over the place. There were literally scores of different makes of yacht engines to choose from. They weren't shy about proclaiming the merits of their wares, either. It's fascinating to read some of the claims they made.

Here are the texts of two advertisements from a 1911 copy of The Rudder:

u SPEEDWAY GASOLENE ENGINES

No material purchased is too good, no workman is too expert, and no improvement device is too small, not to be utilized in building.

The engine is the heart of the launch, and heart disease in Motor Boats is most frequent, insidious and ofttimes appalling.

In owning a Speedway Engine, you fortify yourself with reasonable insurance against the malady, and

WE CAN PROVE IT

(Gas Engine and Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury & Co., Morris Heights, New York City)

u LAMB ENGINES

("It Always Goes and Keeps Going until I Stop It")

(They) Are Ideal Yacht Engines

They are silent and powerful in operation and one of the surest and simplest engines to start and run.

While some men enjoy hearing the trip of steel rods, the snap of springs and cams, the smell of burning oil and grease--to one not accustomed to a roaring racket it takes all the pleasure out of cruising.

The nerve-racking moving parts have been eliminated in the LAMB--that's why it is an ideal yacht engine.

The absence of noisy or exposed moving parts is a revelation to many present engine users.

 (Lamb Boat and Engine Company, Clinton, Iowa/Lamb Engine Company of New York)

Today's Thought

Progress is the mother of problems.

— G. K. Chesterton

Tailpiece

More sporting definitions:

Sumo wrestling: Survival of the fattest.

Fishing: The eternal try-angle.

Fencing: Getting a sword in edgeways.

Golf: Tee for two.

Surfing: A loaf on the ocean wave.

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)

Talking about engines ...

A READER IN SAN DIEGO says he’s noticed in his travels around the world that almost all commercial fishing boats have just one diesel engine. “Why not two — for safety reasons?” he wants to know.

Well, the simple fact is that two engines are rarely twice as good as one. Twin-screw installations are comparatively wasteful of power. They cost more to start with, of course, they need bigger fuel tanks, they require twice the amount of servicing, and they weigh far more. Two engines side by side are usually very cramped and have poor access, which almost guarantees poor maintenance.

It’s true that the commonest reason for twin engines is safety, but it doesn’t always pan out that way because many planing powerboat hulls are almost unmanageable under one engine in heavy weather.

A boat with two 100-hp engines cannot make the same use of all the available power as a boat with one 200-hp engine. You pay dearly for the added weight, added friction in drivetrains, and added drag from extra struts and rudders. In fact, it’s commonly taken for granted that a twin-screw installation wastes about 20 percent of available power, compared with a single engine of comparable horsepower.

One well-maintained engine is better in many ways than two poorly maintained engines, but if safety is the prime issue, then one big diesel backed up by an outboard “kicker” of 9.9 hp or so is a reasonable compromise for pleasure powercraft.

Today’s Thought
Power, like a desolating pestilence,
Pollutes whate’er it touches.
— Shelley, Queen Mab

Boaters’ Rules of Thumb, #50
Designing new yachts. The general rule is that in any new design nine-tenths is 90-percent borrowed from existing plans and 10-percent adapted. Of the remaining tenth, 9 percent seems to fit in place by luck, 1 percent is genuine inspiration or “art,” and 90 percent is pure trial and error.

Tailpiece
Two monkeys found a loaf of bread.
“Great,” said one, “let’s make toast.”
“How are we gonna do that?” asked the other.
“Simple, I hear that you just stick it under the gorilla.”

Upgrading your engine

WHEN THE DREADED day comes, and your old auxiliary engine finally decides to head for the great scrapyard in the sky, what are you going to replace it with? There’s almost complete agreement these days. You’ve got to get a new diesel, right?

But why a diesel? It’s not necessarily the right choice for everyone who owns a good old boat. In fact, it’s more of a fashion than a logical choice. There’s much to be said for modern gas engines with fuel injection and solid-state ignition.

The most popular reason given for choosing a replacement diesel is that it’s safer. But sailors who own diesels mostly cook with propane gas, which can blow a boat to pieces just as easily as gasoline can.

A gas engine is cheaper, smoother, and more powerful than a diesel of the same weight. It’s easier to crank, easier to repair, even for an amateur, easier to remove from the boat, and much quieter in action.

Gasoline engines in cars are designed to run about 3,000 hours, or 100,000 miles before they need an overhaul. Now, the average boat owner logs 200 engine hours a year, so, if you maintain it faithfully, it would take nearly 15 years before a gas engine needed an overhaul.

As for safety — your nose is very good at sniffing out very small concentrations of gasoline. Together with a bilge blower run for five minutes before every start, it will virtually eliminate the chances of a surprise explosion.

So, when the time comes to replace your auxiliary motor, don’t be stampeded into diesel. Gasoline engines have been used in small boats for many decades. Consider their advantages very carefully before you make your choice.

Today’s Thought
To some will come a time when change
Itself is beauty, if not heaven.
—E. A. Robinson, Llewellyn and the Tree

Tailpiece
Yet more notices we noticed
Outside a muffler store:
“No appointment necessary. We heard you coming.”