Chertsey Marine News and Views

THE CHANDLERY ON THE THAMES

Welcome to Chertsey Marine's News and views the idea of this page is to answer a few questions we have been asked and to tell you about new products that we feel are worth a mention.

Q. We have had customers asking about smoking, no not the evil cigarette but Diesels and their exhaust smoke.

A. Diesel engines do need fuel and air or should I say clean Air and clean Diesel. First step is to make sure you have a new clean air filter, just changing this can stop smoking. Next new clean fuel is a must have! Old diesel mixed with condensation, dead spiders and rust from your tank that has sat festering all winter is not a good idea. Clean fuel filters and water separator and fuel additives do help and combined this with good fresh Diesel (this does not mean the old sludge out of your central heating tank at home or the supper cheap stuff from cowboy marine) and you are well on the way to cutting down the smoke and keeping your diesel happy.

One big problem that people do not realise is diesels HATE being run off load, do not do it! It will damage your engine, if you must run the engine for hot water or battery charging, secure the boat well and run it in gear.

No more running out of gas halfway through cooking lunch! This magnetic gadget just sticks on the bottle of gas and shows you how much is left. All this for £5 check it out in our on-line shop under general chandlery.

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Here on the Thames we have some large boats with even larger engines, these do the speed limit just in gear which is not good for the motors and even worse for the turbos. The simple way to at least help is running on just one engine when travelling between locks and starting both when at locks or mooring (check that your gear box does not mind free wheeling). The other choice is fitting smaller props which means the engines run at higher revs with less speed, this works well for people who just stay on the river, but if you go to sea you will have to change the props back again not a major problem with stern drives but if you have shafts it means craning the boat and the added costs that involves.

OK you have done all this and it still smokes, this is when the fun starts and you should call in the experts, the engine may just need a service which could also mean including injectors and even fuel pump, if you have a turbo that too may need a service, these three items are precision engineering and MUST to be sent away to specialist.

To sum up feed it clean air and fuel and exercise with the odd visit to the vet and your diesel will be mans best friend.