baddogg
Crew Member
I posted this on another site but wanted to post it here also as it could be helpful to someone down the road.
Yesterday while out for a cruise I had to go back to the dock to pick up a late arrival. I putted around for about 10 minnutes waiting for him to arrive. After he jumped on board we headed out of the harbour. When it came time to accelerate the carburetor sputtered a bit and stalled the motor.
I went to re-start it and nothing but a grinding noise. It sounded like the bendix on the starter was spinning on the flywheel and would not turn the motor to start it. Being a somewhat half-assed mechanic, along with my appliance repair friend, a 3/4 assed mechanic, we deduced that I needed a new starter.
Before actually replacing the starter we tried to turn the engine over manually to see if we could engage the bendix. It was then we realized that we could barely turn the motor at all. The starter wasn't the problem.
Okay, here's what happened.
The flapper valves in the exhaust system are faulty and allowed water to back up into the cylinders of the engine creating a hydraulic effect.
Because the water won't burn off like gasoline, and there is no place for it to go, the pistons won't move and the engine won't turn.
Solution, remove the spark plugs allowing the engine to turn over. Turn it over several times to eliminate water from the cylinders. Clean and dry spark plugs. We did this with a torch, very effective., and of course, replace the flapper valves.
Here is an article on the subject, a little lengthy but informative just the same.
http://my.boatus.com/consumer/poweroutage.asp
Good thing this happened in the Nanaimo Harbour and not Bamfield last weekend.
I hope this is helpful to anyone else that may experience a failure like this. Might be worth changing the valves also if they've never been done.
Yesterday while out for a cruise I had to go back to the dock to pick up a late arrival. I putted around for about 10 minnutes waiting for him to arrive. After he jumped on board we headed out of the harbour. When it came time to accelerate the carburetor sputtered a bit and stalled the motor.
I went to re-start it and nothing but a grinding noise. It sounded like the bendix on the starter was spinning on the flywheel and would not turn the motor to start it. Being a somewhat half-assed mechanic, along with my appliance repair friend, a 3/4 assed mechanic, we deduced that I needed a new starter.
Before actually replacing the starter we tried to turn the engine over manually to see if we could engage the bendix. It was then we realized that we could barely turn the motor at all. The starter wasn't the problem.
Okay, here's what happened.
The flapper valves in the exhaust system are faulty and allowed water to back up into the cylinders of the engine creating a hydraulic effect.
Because the water won't burn off like gasoline, and there is no place for it to go, the pistons won't move and the engine won't turn.
Solution, remove the spark plugs allowing the engine to turn over. Turn it over several times to eliminate water from the cylinders. Clean and dry spark plugs. We did this with a torch, very effective., and of course, replace the flapper valves.
Here is an article on the subject, a little lengthy but informative just the same.
http://my.boatus.com/consumer/poweroutage.asp
Good thing this happened in the Nanaimo Harbour and not Bamfield last weekend.
I hope this is helpful to anyone else that may experience a failure like this. Might be worth changing the valves also if they've never been done.
The thetis get together is coming up the weekend of the 17th. 13 boats so far confirmed 30+ people. 
