So with a decent weather report, I left St. Michael's to sail down to the Choptank again. I had a great sail until I got to the Poplar Island Channel where the 20 knots of wind was dead on the nose, so I decided to motor through the channel and also Knapp's Narrows. But right after I started the engine, it cut out. With 20 feet of water and the wind blowing the boats out to the deeper water of the Eastern Bay, I lashed the tiller and let them drift. I have to say, they rode really well. Ca Ira kept her nose pointed slightly into the wind and Morgaine drifted backwards to Ca Ira in her wind shadow. For about half and hour this worked great, then Morgaine started coming up and bumping Ca Ira, I don't know if the tide had changed or what. At any rate, I assumed I had an air leak through the top of the Racor Fuel Filter, so I changed the two top O rings. I bled the engine and then it started. I resumed motoring south. The the engine cut out again. This time I anchored and changed the fuel filter and bled the engine. I let it run about half an hour and it seemed fine. I went to get the anchor up, and discovered that it was holding great in the 20 knots of wind. I had to run the rode to the jib sheet winch to first pull the boat up to the anchor, and then raise it. I motored south for about half and hour until I heard the engine hiccup. I decided to turn around, which was a great decision because as soon as I got clear of Poplar Island, the engine died again. It seemed to be happening when the boat rolled in the waves. I got the mainsail up broadside to the wind... that was hard... then the jib. And I had a great run up the bay. I sailed into the madness of July 4th in Annapolis, decided not to try to sail through the drawbridge back to my slip in Eastport, and sailed through all the anchored boats waiting for the fourth of July fireworks. I sailed up the Severn, tacked through the boats anchored at the mouth of Maynedier Creek, got the engine started at the last minute, but kept the main up as I docked at the end of my parent's dock. I only slightly banged up my dad's boat, Interlude, with Morgaine and Ca Ira's boom.
At that was the end of my sailing trip. Now I have an engine to fix...
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2 comments:
I'm sure you've figured this out but it sure sounds like crud in your tank getting sucked into your fuel system. Not every yard can, but some yards have the gear to clean your tank and fuel system thoroughly.
That's another vote for crud in the fuel tank. I'm going to look at that next week in my spare time. My fuel tank is only 13 gallons, and hence too small for the commercial tank cleaners to worry with. I know how to clean the tank though :)
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