Sea Sled madness. It’s in my brain.

@baeckmo , if I run it hard for a minute or two at the end of every trip, would that be enough to clear the accumulated XD100?

Interesting water flow at the back. I have 12 of 25kg/55# sacks of concrete mix for the tidal grid repair in the cabin against the aft wall. And I pumped out 200kg/450# rainwater from the front lockers. Serenity is floating level for the first time.

 

Did you try to take it up to higher rpm?

 

Yes, I think it would be positive, as long as the cooling is ok. Any influence from the trim on prop performance??

 

It seems like. I got it up to 3500 ok. No overheating. Trimmed up to about 4°. Heavy vibration though, and not as fast as I'd hoped. But with the collapsed tidal grid, she has no bottom paint, just a field of barnacles. And at that power setting the prop would beeak free and race, then catch again and slow every few seconds. So the vibration might be from a prop having a bad time. Still, a minute of that won't end the world, and might save my plugs and air cleaner.

 

Ok, if the temp remains constant, the next step would be a fairly simple propjob. The prop instability is actually a positive sign that tells us that a slight change of blade shape is what is needed to "pull the plug". I'll send you a mail with some details.

 

There's also a water sensor in the fuel filter/water separator. Could that be shutting down the engine?

 

Definitely a clogged air intake. It's stalling frequently. Struggles to run. Fuel consumption is twice what I expect at my usual RPM. And every once in a while, the engine suddenly surges to life.

 

Today no start.

 

Is it cranking? Check lubrication oil tank. Is there a fault signal from the warning system? If not, then:

Open the air cleaner lid, check what's inside. If a foam filter, take out and wash. Take spark plugs out; best to change to new. If not available, clean old by heating them above a candle until oil residues are burned off.

 

A red brown colour in the gas in the filter, some fine debris.

More research: stumbling on idle, overheating, strange increase in reported fuel consumption from computer: running lean. Hopefully I haven't trashed the engine.

 

Cranking, yes. Briefly
Oil tank full
1st and fourth warning light on EMM lit.
Fuel pump running, dry
Fuel filter as shown above

 

Ouch, that looks like last years fuel...... what's the normal colour of fresh fuel at your horizon? I'd like to see the colour of the spark plug "hot side" also. And let the cup with fuel rest for a day or two, then check for sign of water. Is there a throwaway paper filter element? If water in fuel, they often swell and the internal pores get blocked.

Is the fuel pump upstream or downstream from the filter? How does the engine react to manual pumping on the bladder bulb while coughing/running?

 

New fuel from the jug looks like water
Cup with fuel has about 0.5 ml water in the bottom
No throwaway component. Filter is the white can

Fuel system goes:
Intake from tank goes to
1 hull mounted filter with Clearview bowl, showing only good gas, no debris or water.
2 riser pumps driven by crankcase pressure vacuum pulses to...
3 separator/filter to
4 vapor separator/return flow reservoir to
5 high pressure pump to injectors

So I crushed the bulb in my paw while a friend cranked. No effect
Took off the filter- a gentle squeeze of the bulb shot out gasoline from the filter fitting.
Cleaned out the filter, blew through it to check for restrictions, none.
With filter still off, turned over the engine. Riser pumps did function. Did pour out a few ml of 'oline from the fitting.
Reinstalled fitting. Pumped up system easily. Tried cranking engine. Coughed once in 10 tries.

 

Ok, so problem located between filter outlet and injection pump inlet then? What about the vapor separator, can it be opened and cleaned (any water traces there)?

Still curious about plug colour, have you had them off? If so, have you indexed them for correct orientation? IIRC the "open gap" must face towards the injector. Sorry, got to leave you for now, it's midnight here.......ZZZZ!

 

Yes. Some place there. Almost certainly in the vapor separator/ high pressure pump area. After that it's 6 individual injectors.
They seem to be serviceable.

Haven't gotten to plugs yet.