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On 13 Dec 2004 15:12:28 -0800, wrote:

FINALLY, after taking an extra week to finish my nesting dinghy and a
weeks worth of bronchitis and two days of waiting on weather, I set off
on my coasthopping cruise down the west coast of Florida by myself. It
nearly took an act of God to get my wife to not freak at my going
alone. I had to buy a Personal Locator Beacon, then she got my kids
and my employees to conspire to try to convince me not to sail at night
alone. Finally, I agreed, ok, ok, I'll TRY to get to shore at night
and agreed that my first leg would be a measly 40 miles from Carabelle
to St. Marks, FL.

Set out, nearly no wind, engine running well, going 5.5 kts, no probs.
Had to go out around a shoal south of Alligator Pt about 7 miles.
Rounded the buoy (#26) and the engine RPM dropped, i went below and
heard an odd mechanical noise then engine quit. Suddenly wind picked
up out of SW, Great, I sail, what a novel idea.
Wind picks up to 18 kts and I wonder if I should check my new reefing
system that I had just modified. Good thing I tried cuz it took me 15
minutes to get it done with jammed stoppers, etc. By then I was glad
to be reefed. Suddenly JIBE as the autopilot is overwhelmed. Get back
on course realizing I really cannot trust my old AutoHelm 800 too much
in any real wind.
Finally realize that sailing into St. Marks may not be a good idea
because I want to call my wife to come get me so I can do something
about the engine. The Channel into St. Marks is 6 miles up river and
probably has flukey winds so I decide to sail into Shell Pt, my home
port 10 yrs ago.
Wind tapers off as I get deeper into Apalachee Bay with wind out of
west. It is nearly 20 miles from #26 due north to Shell Pt so it was a
good sail with wind abeam. Finally sight the channel marker and also
get a cell phone signal. I call my wife and tell her I'll call back in
a half hour telling her what I am doing. I get into channel just as sun
hits horizon. I try to tack to go down an east-west canal to get to
some vacant docks but it cannot happen. Wind is too light in here and
tide is rushing out like crazy. Finally, I say screw this and put the
nesting dinghy in water, assemble it, and row while pulling "Ragtime"
(28' S2 weighs 7800 lbs) against the tide. Damned difficult. A local
guy standing on his dock offers to let me use it so I tie up there.
I tie up, call home only to find my wife has panicked cuz I didn't call
back in the half hour (I was rowing then). She has called the marine
patrol. She calls them back to tell them I am fine. Fortunately, they
had realized from what she told them that she is simply a worrier over
nothing.
She comes to get me and we go home, i get a good nights sleep and then
drive back to "Ragtime" and meet the dock owner. He is a retired
engineer who is into boat building. He has built a beautiful Maine
Lobster Boat with beautiful varnished trim. His work is truly
beautiful whereas my homebuilt dinghy is merely utilitarian. We go
have lunch and talk engineering. This just what I want out of
cruising, meeting interesting people.
Unfortunately, I am not able to fix the engine. SO, I humbly ask
knowledgeable people (JAX) on this subject for help. The only
available mechanic says he is booked for 5 weeks.
So, here is the info. Yanmar 2GM13
Prop is clear, I know cuz the tide was so low it was out of the water
and I checked. Prop turns freely in neutral.
Plenty of oil. changed a month ago.
Coolant looks good.
Belts look good.
Fuel filters look good
I have an electrical fuel pump in series with the mechanical one on the
engine so it is easy to prime the fuel system.
Batteries fully charged.
Engine turns over well, runs for 5 seconds and then dies.
I verified low pressure fuel up to the filter assembly but did NOT
check at the high pressure pump.
I now think the mechanical noise I heard when RPM dropped was the
electrical pump.
Is it possible that the fuel return line is bad in some way? I am not
sure of its function.
Tomorrow, i will go back and check for fuel pumping up to the
injectors. Is it possible to easily verify that the injectors are
spraying?

When the rpm dropped, I had only used about 4 gallons out of a 20 gal
tank.

Any ideas?

==========================================

The one thing you know for sure with a diesel is that it's almost
always fuel related. The only exception I can think of is automatic
shutdown for low oil pressure, or over temp due to a sensor or wiring
issue. Do you have guages? Is oil pressure OK? Do you have
automatic shut downs, and if so, can you bypass temporarily?
Not a good idea of course unless you can independently verify oil
pressure some how.

Moving back to the fuel system: Have you replaced all fuel filters?
Is it possible you have a clogged tank screen or clogged tank vent?
One good test is to rig a temporary, gravity fed fuel source, plumbed
directly to your final fuel filter with clear PVC tubing. If the
engine runs OK on that you obviously have an upstream problem
somewhere and need to work backwards towards the source.