A Tale of Two Engine Failures WHSE150 

Can't wait for your next upload!

Still can't get over how good this is!

It's so refreshing watching a 'real' person living afloat, as oppose ṭo all the 'richies' in their flash catamarans and product sponsors. In don't know how you do it, but bloody well done, lady. Lastly, always better luck than good, as they say.

Any thing that screws into a blind hole has to be shorter than the hole or it will bind on the hole bottom before the top pulls tight. That's why your banjo bolt is shorter than you expected. Decisions are made at the time, lessons are retrospective.

For future reference, the genuine fortress anchor like yours are actually pretty good in mud despite their lightweight and what you might think.

Didnt she just get this engine? And where is the original banjo bolt? I mean, shit happens but a bolt in a baggie must be on the boat somewhere, right?

if its any consolation the boat I use has a little 3 cylinder nanni engine, so far we have blown it up 3 times, with engine overruns, the last time it bent a con rod, but every time we have rebuilt it and we are still using that engine , this time it had a new con rod, fuel pump, injection pump and head gaskets (sourced from a kubota repair place) (we think our main issue was a split diaphragm in the fuel pump allowing diesel into the sump, then the last time oil got into the cylinder and hydrolocked the engine bending the con rod. so never despair, its probably fixable.

You need a "thread chaser" its like a tap but more for cleaning than actually making threads. You can make one out of a bolt you know it is the correct thread by simply cutting a straight line down the length of the bolt. Make sure there is no burrs on the cut, then simply run that bolt down and the dirt will collect in that cut. Clean it out and do it again if necessary.

I Warned You About Dealing with the Aussie Bukh Brothers when you were in NZ. Regarding the Cooling Water Problem; There is a 10mm Copper Pipe on the Front of the Engine that Clogs with Calcification. Remove and Clean. Good Luck.

I'm sorry you keep having problems with your engine. But I know this is going to come across as harsh but I have a lot of experience in engine mechanics. I don't know what availability is for motors where you are. However I will give you one word of advice which I have given to many people over the decades that is always come back as the best advice. Yanmar. Find yourself a 2QM15 of which they are plenty and call it a day. There's a motor you never have to baby. Change the oil once a year and change the impeller every few years and it will never fail you. As long as you have decent Diesel and and a steady stream of ocean going through it, it will run forever. Volvo's are the worst and universal and westerbeke are not far behind. But also whatever you put in there has to be properly aligned. If your engine is off even a few millimeters, you will put a tremendous strain on your transmission, your Cutlass bearing, your shaft seal and just about everything else. The vibrations will do the most damage.

Brilliant! - how did you have the spare capacity to film all that?!

Has nobody said about Dan's 100 bottles of beer, that you should "take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of beer on the wall"

I'm curious...are engine mechanics required to wear their T - shirts inside out when replacing Banjo bolts?

You are sooo pretty with your hair like that! WOW! You need a NEW RELIABLE engine!

Brilllllliant ⛵️ good decisions- especially Dan's 100 bottles of beer 🍺 cheers

Are you kidding! She is a badass MacGuyver teaching young people they can do other stuff besides live on the iCloud. I love Holly's grit. This is what astronauts have to do. Figure it out.

Built my 34' cold molded Kauri boat in NZ, then spent 9 years sailing 'round the pacific, eventually selling it in San Diego. Anyway, twice I had the issue of limited water coming out of exhaust. Turned out to be carbon build up in the mixing elbow.

Troll hole - that’s a keeper. Anyone slithering within restrictive boat engine spaces can relate

The not so fun part of owning a boat ….😊 good luck with this situation 👍

Nice video-cut! We stille hope for a parade in Copenhagen Habour when/if you and your danish 27 feet Bruun-design: Grinde, ends up here.

I'm so glad you both made it to the dock safely! I’m looking forward to the updates, and I always learn so much from you with all the fixes! 😍🙌💖

Lame! The little Red Bastard isn't even that old! Year? Little over a year? 'Redrum" Johnny's famous words! 🥴 Howl at the moon! 💕🦋

Fortress anchors are my fav because they're so lightweight to haul aboard and don't add a bunch of weight to your bow (which affects sailing perf.), AND they work really well in mud or sand. Try using it to gain some confidence in it, you'll be surprised.

No point in having an anchor you don’t trust. Try it out see what it does they are pretty good. Change the oil in the engine it will be fine great job you are one in a billion x

For future reference, you can just drill holes in a standard bolt to get you working , I have done this several times

The Fortress ought to work well with a boat length of chain and 7:1 scope.

... check for barnacles or mussels blocking your cooling system :)

I'm glad that Down Home sails on fresh water! No barnacles.

Ps. Awesome video. Looking forward to the next one.

Option 3…….don’t leave the marina until the shite gets sorted? Thanks, fun….Andrew

God I had a similar experience with a nut on our prop! Had us going all the place over looking for the right nut thread size etc when in the end it actually fitted but needed to be cleaned n gently turned more n more. 😅

Banjo bolts don't normally fail. The crush washers can fail. The cooling failure may be caused by the water cooling intake ingesting perhaps barnacles in the intake from sitting for 3 mths and wiping out the impeller. That motor is pretty bulletproof. They were used as lifeboat motors, so the testing at the time for longevity and reliability was pretty extensive

This is when you find a machine shop.

Great job! You can reuse the copper washers by annealing them. Heat them until they glow and then put them in cold water. That way the copper becomes soft again. Good luck!

This gave me flashbacks to having to come in to Nelson marina in NZ under sail. it's incredible how quickly things go from fine to incredibly stressful. That's boat life, I guess.

Jack Nicholson. "Here's Johnny!" Famous catch phrase shouted by Ed McMahon to introduce Johnny Carson every weeknight on the Tonight Show. The line was improivesd by Nicholson in the Shining. Anyway, it's so impressive the work you and the Teulu Tribe guys do on your respective boats.

Well done guys, what a bugger with the motor. Feels like you made the right choice for overall safety. Cheers for the vid am looking forward to the next one 😊

You got balls , mate and I parked in Nelly bay marina , he's a hull cleaner but after 1 night he had something trying it's hardest to get in . He ain't. A hull cleaner no more 🎉 great vid yay

Semi pro fixing of the banjo bolt. Good work chef on the cold snaks for the fridge. The adventure continues

Hahah, you’ll be surprise how the Fortress will outperform any other anchor in muddy and sandy seabeds.. don’t let their lightness fool you. excellent anchor for those situations, hence they are that expensive…. I have one and haven’t use it that much, because every single time I used it, it digs that well that had to release it by moving boat forward with engine power….

Big adventures on the high seas! Reminds me of the time the exhaust blew on mine and I had to do a rush redo and partial delete of the exhaust while my totally unskilled crew member did her best to keep us from running aground. We made it, just like you. Looking forward to heating what's up with your engine. The whole squealing when it's even a little keeled over has me scratching my head...

I have the same size BUKH engine but mine is SW cooled in my Laser 28 (4000lb displacement Farr design), this engine is intended for lifeboats rather than sailboat auxiliary engine. It is a very lightweight engine for a fast sailboat... I plan to go electric engine eventually.

Hi Holly, sorry to hear about your engine problems. I know you have a canoe stern and a windvane attached which might make this more difficult, but why don't you see if you can fit an outboard engine on your boat as a backup? Two stroke engines are cheap these days and lighter than 4 stroke, and I reckon on your boat a 5 HP two stroke would be able to propel the boat in an emergency. You can probably pick one up for a couple of hundred AUD. I had a similar situation to yours where a craypot rope wrapped itself around my prop and I had to call marine rescue, because I was in big winds and swell and could not sail into the marina. So I recently put a 6 HP Tohatsu long shaft outboard on the side (next to the windvane) as a backup to my main diesel engine. It makes me feel much better as if there is any engine failure on the water, I just deal with it later and use the outboard to get back into the marina.

Hi! Oh my-this episode reminded me of why I sold my old sailboat. Thankfully Dan loaded up on booze. Just watching this made me want a beer🍻😂of course you worked it all out!🎉

I'm guessing that the depth of the threads you measured is just the thickness of the engine casting at that place. It's 'threaded' all the way because it's easier to use a tapered tap instead of a blind tap. The tapered part makes it easier to start, easier to work. But because the bolt doesn't need to be that long, the actual full size thread/hole is less than the entire length. The original bolt never got to where it's too tight. The original banjo bolt you found is shorter. With a tapered tap, there will be threads beyond this depth, but the width won't be enough to for a longer bolt - but you might be able to force the bolt into the taper a little bit. But of course you're the amazing Holly and Dan duo and if you didn't already know this, you figured it out two weeks ago. Wouldn't it be great if instead of forums where people share sympathy, opinions, crack pot ideas (yes I understand this is pointing right at myself...sorry) there was a collective, sailing or more general where people going through this can share diagrams, measurements, part numbers, suppliers, workarounds, trouble shooting steps? This works for this particular engine, most engine by this company... ( I have two fancy Vacuflush toilets on my boat. There's no clear step by step troubleshooting for it. I spent three weeks of my life balanced between learning and my sanity. Now I have a troubleshooting step guide. Of course a couple of weeks later I met the local go to guy for this system. He said that sometimes they just take it all out and put in something simpler (noisier, smellier...) I realized I got past that step. Keep a list of "Things Gecko Needs." What always happens to me is I have a thought, but then when I go to the shops I forget that thing. Often it's something that will fix a problem I haven't yet had but expect. So just get in the habit of writing that thing down. And then when you get it, write down that you have it, and where you stowed it. And if there's anything you haven't found in a two major towns, let us know. We'll find it and ship it out. If it's cheap like the banjo bolt, we could ship two of them to a few places you think you'll be at in the future. On the boat I sailed on last year the pneumatic hatch lifter needed a new 10mm end. These lifters are everywhere. However, In four countries, three major chandlers, hardware stores... nope. I found it on Amazon, bought two types, like $15. Apparently they didn't have them in Canada either. When my friends came through Santa Barbara we met up, I gave them like 20 of the things. They have what they need, spares, and.... they can help out other boats, or even if they see someone with a pick up shell that the door won't stay up.

I would have called for a tow.

One can take a brass plug,one of the long stem type, center drill it and then cross drill it and either reuse the original copper banjo crush washers by heating them up to cherry red and then dropping them into water which will anneal them and return them to their original thickness... Typically banjo bolts are not tapered pipe threads but straight threads and I've even used a standard bolt that I center drilled and then carefully cross drilled when there wasn't any other choice... Any decent machine shop can do this at a fairly reasonable cost if one's in a pinch or there's a time crunch... You cannot run the engine without it unless you find a straight threaded nipple and then cross drill it at the appropriate depth and then clamp the hose end on which often times requires a step down in hose sizing..

Holly, I miss you between posting of your videos like a friend that I cannot wait to see. Great editing in this video too. You're so cool Captain Holly ❤

If you get checked they will open them life jackets and check them. Qld cops will use any excuse to help fund their Xmas party...that or they just don't like me 😂

Yikes, that was a spot of bother! 😞 Anyway, seems you seem to have made all the right choices. And sometimes no choice is the obvious choice. As for smallish spare parts, I learned the hard way to order double. If dropped those buggers tend to end up in an inaccessible place. So better have one extra at the same shipping costs.

No problems with screws of keel??! Sorry from my English...❤

Holy cow, what a frustrating project! As many nice things as solo sailing has to offer, having Dan there to offset the pressure with a problem like that just has to be a huge bonus!

It is possible to rig a "Get you home" electric saltwater pump to feed into the heat exchanger alongside the original inlet, or to tee into the existing pipe, any centrifugal pump will work as long as it can be easily primed if it needs it , but I always rig keel cooling and run a water-cooled or air cooled dry exhaust vented above the deck or at least the waterline. A lifting davit stanchion post with an insulated exhaust pipe inside it and a blow-open water-shedding vent on top makes a good outlet. Yes, it can be a little noisier, but it is trouble free and all commercial boats use this system because heat exchangers and rubber impeller pumps and sea water are not a great combination. If I can not use keel cooling, I use a fan forced radiator from a truck or tractor which serves quite a larger vessel up to forty feet, and vent the hot air from a ventilation hood facing downwind. In winter it provides useful clean cabin heat. For your small yacht, the couple of cubic feet space taken up by the radiator and its coolant tank is just the price one has to pay for reliability, but for such a small engine, a small car radiator with its own built-on thermostat-controlled electric fan would work fine.

Second guessing an already made decision wrecks confidence... Make a decision and own it... You doing just fine...

Considering all the joy and fun you get to have with your engine, have you ever considered adding a sculling oar for those "almost there but...oopsie there we go again" situations? Would be an interesting video.

Why did I have the theme to Deliverance going through my head? Amazing perseverance folks.

Poor Holly. I’m glad I’m at least buying you the occasional coffee. I may up my patreon. Crack on!

Once you go through the process. Next time is easier. Like the measuring equipment. Excellent understanding of threads.

Had the same problems with cooling. In my case I needed a new impeller, new lid for the impeller housing and a new cam plate. I also changed the thermostat…

If you count out ten threads on a bold and measure the distance using your vernier callipers, 10mm is 1mm pitch and 12.5mm is 1.25mm pitch.

Woohoo! Hi Tripp 😁

100K fantastic

Maybe time for engine repairs? Really important not to be let down by a motor when you want it to work😊

Check your exhaust hose, it might be burned and damaged from running dry.

I’m hoping to see newer boat buy, maybe. But regardless great vid

You are cracking me up. No anchor, no dinghy, bull sharks and crocks.

Take care be careful ok been watching you since you first started hun ok take care ❤

I wonder whose accent is shifting faster, Dan’s or Holly’s.

buhk diesels are made in danmark so all bolt are metric ,or som numnut screwed up you're engine

Exciting times for sure but just a step for a stepper. U guys got this. B safe sister…

Holly, what type of watch are you wearing? Is that a Seiko?

I love your problem solving ability

hello and good to see you this Monday, greetings from YVR

You took the right decisions. There's no need to run an engine you can't rely on.

😊❤ I can think of safer places to clean bottom of boat......😮

On the edge of my sit, once again, watching your video!

mcmastercarr and calipers are your friend for next time.

Banjo bolts dont go bad, but crush washers do .

Good job Holly & aussie squeeze! 🙏🦉

That bolt is absurd. Who designs an engine that depends on oil flowing through a bolt. Well apparently they did. Crazy world. Sorry for your troubles Wind Hippie.

That motor compartment looks like a nightmare. Nothing worse than an unreliable motor. I would consider throwing a used 15hp Yanmar in there.

Use new crush washers the bolt is fine.

what happened to your outboard ?

The OBVIOUS question here is what is wrong with the original bolt???

Who's a clever girl 👍😊

You can make those pretty easy...

jack nicholson is actor

You can make a banjo bolt from a regular bolt with a bit of drilling. In a 10mm bolt drill 6mm end wise down as far as the bottom of the head, then do a cross drill hole. It doesn’t have to be accurate. As someone said you don’t need a bolt to go full depth. A 10mm bolt would normally be 1.5mm pitch, but it could be 1.25mm. You generally use other bolts to compare thread pitches by holding them side by side up against the light. Metric standard (course) pitches go 5mm=0.75: 6mm=1.0: 8mm=1.25: 10mm=1.5: 16mm=2.0. Metric fine pitches can be a mix but you check the fine pitches with the smaller course pitch bolts. You really should have a small vice that you can bolt down somewhere, perhaps in the cockpit, so you can hold parts such as bolts to work on them. And a vital tool is a battery right angle grinder so you can cut things and importantly, sharpen drills. Engine parts are mostly all regular steel, not stainless. Important tip: use a smaller drill to pre drill larger holes, particularly in stainless. A 3mm drill (pilot drill) will go through stainless quickly as long as it is sharp, you keep the speed slow, and you cool the tip. Spit is a good backup for cutting fluid.

Hahahha "Johnny's here!" "hello."

Buy an outboard

Here’s Johnny!

First🎉

Hi🙂

Get a new yanmar for like 3 grand, and not have any crazy worries.

😢

👍🙂

I love hippies because they have hairy bushes. And i saw yours is quite hairy as well

Hun get a new engine ok about $2,000.ok ❤❤❤❤

This might be perceived as hate, but you really need to get your act together. That boat and all its systems is beyond hope. You need a well maintained 35 to 40 footer to live as an adult. Go do what you need to do, work for a while or start a go-fund-me. Maybe an elderly sailor wants to donate a vessel, who knows. If I was unable to look after my boat, I would love to see you take it out on an adventure I could never do. You have quite a skill set to get anything done. Limiting self believe is the only thing holding you back. No use putting more time and money into Gecko 1.