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posted to rec.boats.cruising
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Well, wadda you know?
I went back down to the boat for something I forgot and decided I wanted to
play around a little more. I've been telling myself since I got the boat that I should try hand starting the diesel. Better to climb the learning curve at the dock than while drifting down towards a steep lee shore after some electrical system disaster. I also have the hand start ability factored into my battery management strategy. Thanks to this newsgroup, I know that hand starting a 20 hp, twin cylinder, diesel is near the edge of feasibility but doable. I pulled the big forged or cast iron starting handle out of its handy brackets next to the engine and put it in place. HUH!? The fiberglass structure of the engine compartment enclosure makes it impossible to turn the handle more than a quarter turn. Since hand starting requires getting it spinning rapidly with the cylinders decompressed and then using the inertia of the flywheel and engine to (hopefully) kick it into life as you continue to assist with the crank, there is no way this could begin to work. I can categorically say that no one has ever hand started one of these boats unless they were originally delivered with a special handle that the PO perhaps replaced with the stock item (judging by the paint) not realizing that it couldn't possibly start the engine. This design defect has persisted through multiple models of a 1980 boat without ever coming to the notice of the builders or being noted on the owner's group web site. This is the most common engine installed in the class. It's a perfect lesson of the test-everything-and-assume-nothing principle. I now have a conundrum. I can spend more money to have the handle cut apart and an extension welded in. The leverage of the cranking force working over the longer length makes proper functioning questionable unless some structure with a bearing is provided. I just spent a couple hundred dollars on insurance in the form of chain so I'm not sure a starting handle for an engine that can just barely be hand started is the wisest next expenditure. I may just remove all of the hand start apparatus, which is pretty extensive and in the way on this particular model, and join the ranks of larger boat owners who live with the fact that their engines are not going to start without a functioning battery and electrical system. -- Roger Long |