Grawr
Confusion has set in...
What fun is being cool if you can't wear a sombrero?
Sunday, August 21, 2005
*twitch*
Yeah, so last Saturday. Not yesterday, but rather the Saturday before that. There was a race. A race at a place 2 hours and 15 minutes away doing 25 mph. I wanted to leave at 530 hrs or so, so I didn't have to have anyone tag along behind me. But my crew wasn't ready so I had to wait and I didn't get my wish. So, anyways, I set out with this guy following me and we were going to wait for two others to meet up with us in the next harbor over. They weren't quite ready yet so they said to go on ahead and they would fall in behind us. No big deal. Did I mention it was foggy? Because it was. You couldn't see more than 50 feet infront of you and as luck would have it, my radar was not doing its thing. Nothing was showing up on the screen. My chart plotter was working though, but it would be nice to know whats out there bobbing around in the fog. I tried messing around with my radar, trying to get it to work, but to no avail. So I stopped and radioed back to the two behind us telling them my plight, and the guy I was with is brand new to radar, so he wouldn't have been much help. In theory it would have been easier for me to have gotten onto his boat and taken point once again, but.... I like MY boat.
So they shoot out of the fog and we get behind them. Neither of them have their running lights on (that's a no-no) but the lead boat did have on his halogen deck lights, we use those in fog so we can keep track of each other. The boat behind him didn't have his on. I was the third in line with the other guy behind me, he had some halogens on his radar mast in the front, so it was easy for me to look back and see him. The guy infront of me was eratic with his speed, slowing down to where the lead boat is almost out of sight, then speeding up to keep him in view. We went around some bouys up through some narrow passages and under a big bridge *which was the only thing to show up on my radar, and that was when I was directly under it* when all of a sudden, the boat infront of me just stopped! So I avoided him and slowed down while radioing ahead to tell him to stop so we don't get seperated. While the guy infront of me cleaned his glasses the lead boat went into the fog, far out of sight. If my radar was working... not a problem. But it wasn't. So we traveled ahead on my plotter, at a much slower speed because of the fog and I was hailing the lead boat on the radio. I got their location and went there, only to find that they weren't there! They were still going. We lost a good half hour there in the fog before I looked over at the other guys radar and said "ohhhhh I see them now" and we went there. Back underway I was second boat with the guy I was following with my original follower picking up the tail. So we got to the place, fashionably late, but still before the race. Foggy as hell. And not many boats. Which is a good and a bad thing. Good for me *my competition wasnt there* and bad for them *low turn out*. So I signed up and was doing my merry little thing. A friend, well an acquaintance rather, asked if she could use my boat for the lady skipper race, which I agreed to and was promptly hugged by a very excited person. Time kept on ticking away, the start of the race was supposed to be at 10, but the fog was still thick so it got bumped back. My competition did finally show up, so I put the big injectors in the engine to give him a run for his money only to be given word right after I got it done that the races had been postponed two weeks from then. So I had to take the injectors back out so I could travel to an island for the night. After following a white boat in gray fog, and having to be about 30 feet behind him in order to see for 3 hours we made it to the island. We had a good time that night, a nice lil party with fireworks and stuff *I made some movies with my camera* and hit the sack. That morning we had a lil jaunt to the next race, just over an hour away. Here the races were scheduled different than the other 7 races in the season, so all the boats get jumbled and put in classes with some they usually wouldn't run with. I lucked out and my competition didn't show up, so I didn't put the big injectors in. We lined up and the flag dropped and I got an easy first place with a speed of 36 mph or so. Not bad for 16,000 lbs being pushed by 410 hp. *some of the boats have over 1000 hp and one has 2000!* We came home that night in two hours. Since my radar still didn't work I followed some people and when they broke off to go up the east side of an island because it was closer for them I pushed the throttle all the way down and smoked up the bay on the west side. On a more personal note, I hate traveling at 25 mph, normally I go 33 mph just because that is where the engine is at 90% load in theory. So that was a real nice trip home, basicly flat calm, the sun had broken through the fog and some light rain took the whisps away. Got home and put the boat on the mooring.
Monday morning, I got up and went to the dock to get the boat so I could call customer service and get my radar working. Called them, waited on hold for a while....and a while longer.... and longer still. Finally I got put through to some guys voice mail. Apparently Monday is when everyone in the WORLD calls because their stuff messed up over the weekend. I got my reps cell number and called him directly. He suggested that I call on Tuesday when the *rush* had died some. Not a big deal so I said alright. Went to lunch, I forget what I had... and came back to the boat. Fired it up and "rap rap rap" hmmm *turn boat off* I wonder what THAT noise is. It wasn't there before. *turn boat on again* "rap rap rap" Damn. *turns boat off and takes valve cover off* thinking it was a valve *turns engine back on* "rap rap rap" which sounded like it was coming from cylinder 2. So I grabbed ahold of the rockers and the exhaust on #2 was a little loose, when I put my hand on it, the rap quieted down some. So I got some tools and adjusted the rocker arm. *turn engine back on* "RAP RAP RAP" Hm, I guess I didn't get it adjusted... Fuck it, I'll get the feeler gauge and fix it proper tomorrow *since I had to come back for the radar* *puts boat back on mooring*
Tuesday morning, I called about the radar, not on my cellphone this time so I didn't care how long the wait was and got to talk with someone who told me to run the self diagnostic on the machine and how to get to that setting. I got a gauge for the valve and I brought the boat in. I used the gauge and the rapping got worse so I decided to look up the RIGHT gauge. I was told 0.015" was equal to the 0,35mm But in reality that is 0.0138" So in a precision engine that extra 0.0012 is quite a bit! I fired up the radar and took the self diagnostic and everything checked out fine on it. Went back and talked with the radar people, and it ended up with them telling me to take out the display, take the radar array off, and all the cable with it and ship it to them. All because "it sounds like the IF board is shot" and they don't think I could replace it if sent a board. So I will call my rep and see if I can get a board. Went to the boat with a 0.014" gauge and reset the rocker once again. rap rap rap... hm well it could be a messed up injector too, so I pulled all of those which looked fine. I freewheeled the engine some with the starter and there was no rapping anywhere so that must have been it. I put the big injectors in since if the others were messed up I certainly didn't wan those back in there and fired it up again. rap rap rap.... fuck it, rev this bastard up. After being revved up for a bit, the rap smoothed right out and went away, I looked down at the valve guide and the adjustment screw was spinning a bit, so it must have found its level and sorted things out on its own. SUPER! *tightens lock nut* there. Yea rap is gone, yay and I put the boat back out on the mooring. A while later I got a call to go help pull moorings to set up the race course that we run so I went down and got the boat which was running nice as nice can be. So I pulled some moorings, a few of which were much heavier than I had anticipated, but not a problem, just give it a few hundred more rpms and it was all good. But at those low speeds with the big injectors in it was sooting up a bit so I shot out across the bay after 5 moorings to clean the exhaust pipes out. Fun ride. I thought I smelled more diesel than normal so I opened the hatch. When I swapped injectors I didn't get the washers just right on the return line, so every now and then a single drop of fuel would come out. So out in the bay I shut the engine down to adjust the washers. Got those lined up and fired the engine back up and BANG BANG CLANK BANG
Woah... *turn engine off*
What the hell was that?
*start engine*
BANG BANG CLANK BANG CLANG BANG!
Evidently something HORRIBLE happened when I adjusted that screw. And the engine got serriously messed up. Well isn't this just great!
Pulled the engine out on Thursday.
People showed up for the race on Friday, we have a pig roast at the dock so they spend the night there, rather than coming up in the wee hours of the morning the day of. So Friday I was running around getting everything set up and it was very tireing.
Friday night when I got the chance to get away for a bit, I did. Then I was called back to give a person a ride back in from their boat, so I went to the dock again, only to see someone else bringing them in. Wish I had known that... So I left again. I met up with this girl that I hadn't seen in some time and we got to talking...
Fast forward to Saturday morning and I dragged myself away and back to the race that was being put on. More running around getting stuff done in the last few hours. The turnout was pretty poor. Probably due to the weather forcast, high fuel prices and bad fishing but that allowed the races to get done in record time. My competition showed up and put me right out of the point standings and there were some fun things that happened too. Like the airplane that went down the course :-p Made some movies of that too.
So my boat is drydocked for the season. Maybe this winter I will find out what went wrong in it. Alot of theories have been mentioned but I think it best to not think of such things, why create situations when it might be something simple?
So this upcoming Sunday is the last race, then it's back to work for me
Oh the joi
I didn't get any sleep Friday. I'm not complaining one bit :-D
When I did finally get some sleep on Saturday, I had been up for 40 hours
So yeah
Yeah, so last Saturday. Not yesterday, but rather the Saturday before that. There was a race. A race at a place 2 hours and 15 minutes away doing 25 mph. I wanted to leave at 530 hrs or so, so I didn't have to have anyone tag along behind me. But my crew wasn't ready so I had to wait and I didn't get my wish. So, anyways, I set out with this guy following me and we were going to wait for two others to meet up with us in the next harbor over. They weren't quite ready yet so they said to go on ahead and they would fall in behind us. No big deal. Did I mention it was foggy? Because it was. You couldn't see more than 50 feet infront of you and as luck would have it, my radar was not doing its thing. Nothing was showing up on the screen. My chart plotter was working though, but it would be nice to know whats out there bobbing around in the fog. I tried messing around with my radar, trying to get it to work, but to no avail. So I stopped and radioed back to the two behind us telling them my plight, and the guy I was with is brand new to radar, so he wouldn't have been much help. In theory it would have been easier for me to have gotten onto his boat and taken point once again, but.... I like MY boat.
So they shoot out of the fog and we get behind them. Neither of them have their running lights on (that's a no-no) but the lead boat did have on his halogen deck lights, we use those in fog so we can keep track of each other. The boat behind him didn't have his on. I was the third in line with the other guy behind me, he had some halogens on his radar mast in the front, so it was easy for me to look back and see him. The guy infront of me was eratic with his speed, slowing down to where the lead boat is almost out of sight, then speeding up to keep him in view. We went around some bouys up through some narrow passages and under a big bridge *which was the only thing to show up on my radar, and that was when I was directly under it* when all of a sudden, the boat infront of me just stopped! So I avoided him and slowed down while radioing ahead to tell him to stop so we don't get seperated. While the guy infront of me cleaned his glasses the lead boat went into the fog, far out of sight. If my radar was working... not a problem. But it wasn't. So we traveled ahead on my plotter, at a much slower speed because of the fog and I was hailing the lead boat on the radio. I got their location and went there, only to find that they weren't there! They were still going. We lost a good half hour there in the fog before I looked over at the other guys radar and said "ohhhhh I see them now" and we went there. Back underway I was second boat with the guy I was following with my original follower picking up the tail. So we got to the place, fashionably late, but still before the race. Foggy as hell. And not many boats. Which is a good and a bad thing. Good for me *my competition wasnt there* and bad for them *low turn out*. So I signed up and was doing my merry little thing. A friend, well an acquaintance rather, asked if she could use my boat for the lady skipper race, which I agreed to and was promptly hugged by a very excited person. Time kept on ticking away, the start of the race was supposed to be at 10, but the fog was still thick so it got bumped back. My competition did finally show up, so I put the big injectors in the engine to give him a run for his money only to be given word right after I got it done that the races had been postponed two weeks from then. So I had to take the injectors back out so I could travel to an island for the night. After following a white boat in gray fog, and having to be about 30 feet behind him in order to see for 3 hours we made it to the island. We had a good time that night, a nice lil party with fireworks and stuff *I made some movies with my camera* and hit the sack. That morning we had a lil jaunt to the next race, just over an hour away. Here the races were scheduled different than the other 7 races in the season, so all the boats get jumbled and put in classes with some they usually wouldn't run with. I lucked out and my competition didn't show up, so I didn't put the big injectors in. We lined up and the flag dropped and I got an easy first place with a speed of 36 mph or so. Not bad for 16,000 lbs being pushed by 410 hp. *some of the boats have over 1000 hp and one has 2000!* We came home that night in two hours. Since my radar still didn't work I followed some people and when they broke off to go up the east side of an island because it was closer for them I pushed the throttle all the way down and smoked up the bay on the west side. On a more personal note, I hate traveling at 25 mph, normally I go 33 mph just because that is where the engine is at 90% load in theory. So that was a real nice trip home, basicly flat calm, the sun had broken through the fog and some light rain took the whisps away. Got home and put the boat on the mooring.
Monday morning, I got up and went to the dock to get the boat so I could call customer service and get my radar working. Called them, waited on hold for a while....and a while longer.... and longer still. Finally I got put through to some guys voice mail. Apparently Monday is when everyone in the WORLD calls because their stuff messed up over the weekend. I got my reps cell number and called him directly. He suggested that I call on Tuesday when the *rush* had died some. Not a big deal so I said alright. Went to lunch, I forget what I had... and came back to the boat. Fired it up and "rap rap rap" hmmm *turn boat off* I wonder what THAT noise is. It wasn't there before. *turn boat on again* "rap rap rap" Damn. *turns boat off and takes valve cover off* thinking it was a valve *turns engine back on* "rap rap rap" which sounded like it was coming from cylinder 2. So I grabbed ahold of the rockers and the exhaust on #2 was a little loose, when I put my hand on it, the rap quieted down some. So I got some tools and adjusted the rocker arm. *turn engine back on* "RAP RAP RAP" Hm, I guess I didn't get it adjusted... Fuck it, I'll get the feeler gauge and fix it proper tomorrow *since I had to come back for the radar* *puts boat back on mooring*
Tuesday morning, I called about the radar, not on my cellphone this time so I didn't care how long the wait was and got to talk with someone who told me to run the self diagnostic on the machine and how to get to that setting. I got a gauge for the valve and I brought the boat in. I used the gauge and the rapping got worse so I decided to look up the RIGHT gauge. I was told 0.015" was equal to the 0,35mm But in reality that is 0.0138" So in a precision engine that extra 0.0012 is quite a bit! I fired up the radar and took the self diagnostic and everything checked out fine on it. Went back and talked with the radar people, and it ended up with them telling me to take out the display, take the radar array off, and all the cable with it and ship it to them. All because "it sounds like the IF board is shot" and they don't think I could replace it if sent a board. So I will call my rep and see if I can get a board. Went to the boat with a 0.014" gauge and reset the rocker once again. rap rap rap... hm well it could be a messed up injector too, so I pulled all of those which looked fine. I freewheeled the engine some with the starter and there was no rapping anywhere so that must have been it. I put the big injectors in since if the others were messed up I certainly didn't wan those back in there and fired it up again. rap rap rap.... fuck it, rev this bastard up. After being revved up for a bit, the rap smoothed right out and went away, I looked down at the valve guide and the adjustment screw was spinning a bit, so it must have found its level and sorted things out on its own. SUPER! *tightens lock nut* there. Yea rap is gone, yay and I put the boat back out on the mooring. A while later I got a call to go help pull moorings to set up the race course that we run so I went down and got the boat which was running nice as nice can be. So I pulled some moorings, a few of which were much heavier than I had anticipated, but not a problem, just give it a few hundred more rpms and it was all good. But at those low speeds with the big injectors in it was sooting up a bit so I shot out across the bay after 5 moorings to clean the exhaust pipes out. Fun ride. I thought I smelled more diesel than normal so I opened the hatch. When I swapped injectors I didn't get the washers just right on the return line, so every now and then a single drop of fuel would come out. So out in the bay I shut the engine down to adjust the washers. Got those lined up and fired the engine back up and BANG BANG CLANK BANG
Woah... *turn engine off*
What the hell was that?
*start engine*
BANG BANG CLANK BANG CLANG BANG!
Evidently something HORRIBLE happened when I adjusted that screw. And the engine got serriously messed up. Well isn't this just great!
Pulled the engine out on Thursday.
People showed up for the race on Friday, we have a pig roast at the dock so they spend the night there, rather than coming up in the wee hours of the morning the day of. So Friday I was running around getting everything set up and it was very tireing.
Friday night when I got the chance to get away for a bit, I did. Then I was called back to give a person a ride back in from their boat, so I went to the dock again, only to see someone else bringing them in. Wish I had known that... So I left again. I met up with this girl that I hadn't seen in some time and we got to talking...
Fast forward to Saturday morning and I dragged myself away and back to the race that was being put on. More running around getting stuff done in the last few hours. The turnout was pretty poor. Probably due to the weather forcast, high fuel prices and bad fishing but that allowed the races to get done in record time. My competition showed up and put me right out of the point standings and there were some fun things that happened too. Like the airplane that went down the course :-p Made some movies of that too.
So my boat is drydocked for the season. Maybe this winter I will find out what went wrong in it. Alot of theories have been mentioned but I think it best to not think of such things, why create situations when it might be something simple?
So this upcoming Sunday is the last race, then it's back to work for me
Oh the joi
I didn't get any sleep Friday. I'm not complaining one bit :-D
When I did finally get some sleep on Saturday, I had been up for 40 hours
So yeah
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