On Fri, 24 Apr 2015 06:31:07 -0600, slide
wrote:

Our 32 foot boat had a two cylinder Volvo engine which I considered the
worst engine ever conceived, much less made, by humans. Based on your
recent posts, I see I was wrong.


===

Not sure which 2 cylinder Volvo you had but trust me, it's not even
close to the worst. Our first cruising sailboat, a Westerly 28, had a
1 cylinder Volvo which is really the worst. It didn't even have an
alternator, just some sort of kluge combination called a dynastart or
something like that, which combined the worst characteristics of both
a starter and a generator. The engine also had bad bearings and
terrible oil pressure, all of which led to its eventual demise. We
upgraded to a 2 cylinder Volvo and it was a huge improvement over the
1 cylinder - almost twice the power, a real alternator which actually
charged the battery, and a proper instrument panel.

I still remember where, when and how the 1 cylinder Volvo died.
Sometime in the fall of the late 1970s we were motoring north up the
Hudson River near West Point against a strong adverse current. The
engine was throwing oil in profuse amounts from the main seal. It was
running slower and slower and making a strange knocking noise. We
were trying to approach a dock on the western shore so we could tie up
and sort things out. It became clear that we might not make it before
the engine died so I left my wife on the helm and I went forward with
a dock line. About 7 or 8 feet from the dock the engine breathed its
last and I made a flying leap with the bow line in my hand before the
current could sweep us backward. Fortunately I landed on the dock and
was able to tie up.

The engine never ran again after that and we ended up sailing back
down through New York harbor and on up the east river to Long Island
Sound. Fortunately wind and current were both favorable but it was
still something of an adventure.