Success!

We had our first trouble-free journey on Friday (midsummer's eve). We visited the Iso Vasikkasaari and ate a great lunch there and headed back to Tervasaari. Engine worked like a charm and so did the crew :-) Even the weather was favorable, a bit windy but sunny during the whole journey.

Okay. Let's be honest. I did once accidentally drove over a buoy and Teemu did drop the aft rope into the sea (too short rope, too eager captain :P) and Inka wet her shirt, pants and towel on the shore but using our standards the journey was trouble-free.

It works! It works!

And hopefully now it will work for good, thanks to the helpful engine service guys at MM-Marine.fi. We booked them to get to the bottom of the engine gremlins, and after two hours they did it. The crap from the copper gasoline tanks was to blame again, and once they got the carburettor clean, all worked splendidly, from idle to high revs. They also changed the oil filter, the seawater impeller, adjusted the ignition timing etc. All that's left for us is to check the oil level and gas filter before starting.

We also screwed with the registration plate that Mikko had prepared from wood and genuine marble. We "borrowed" the Meri-Kukka boat next to us to install the plate:



Compared with the old paper printout, the difference is amazing!



For future trips, we might buy replacement impellers, even though the Volvo Penta original part 3593659 from the seawater pump looked fine. One choice is Biltema where 8,99€ will get you a part number 25-200.

It works! It works!

But for how long?

This time during a 45 minute intensive engine workout our Volvo B18A worked without a hitch. No problems at idle, 1000 rpm, 1600 rpm, 2000 rpm nor 2600 rpm. All this with no change in the idle rpm setting etc. Of course, this was without any load on the engine, and the weather was cold +13 Celcius.

Photo of the day: garbage collection (or lack of it) at the Tervasaari pier:

Oh No, Not Again...

Engine trouble again that is. We had a nice 4 hours at sea, first taking the scenic route via Laajasalo to Malkasaari outside Vuosaari, and returning via the Hevossalmi channel. Unfortunately our engine started shutting down at idle, just as we were in the middle of the Degerö narrow channel! We had to push her from the side of the channel. And similar problems again when returning to the pier.

But we will take this with a stiff upper lip, and just learn to adjust the idling speed of the engine. Time to dig out the Weber carburettor PDF manual again...

It works! It works!

Hallelujah, after changing the gas filter the engine was back to its normal, great running self! So the next time we (or you dear reader) see a filter full of green gunk like this, do change the filter before blaming the carburettor:



For future reference, our carb is Weber type "36DCD14". Thanks also to Pertti for helping to identify the problem, and cleaning the jets in the carburettor. For the future we'll equip the boat with a load of replacement filter (of the see-thru and not opaque kind).

May Day!

Almost at least. Our reliable Volvo B18A engine gave up the ghost after just half a mile into our last Sundays journey. More precisely, the engine stalls when giving it any gas. Our first idea was that one of the barrels of the dual-barrel Weber DCD carburetor was stuck, but that seems to be just part of the progressive design: the first barrel starts opening instantly, whereas the second opens only when the pedal is about 75% to the metal.



Check for yourselves this clip:

So this week we'll consult our engine specialist Pertti, and also some online resources:
Weber carburetor troubleshooting guide
Weber DCD manual (PDF)

Spiders and Plates

We have now made 3 journeys with Summertime, and approximately 10 approaches to pier :-)

Tomorrow's going to be the fourth, as we plan to head west and check out an island.

I visited her today to fetch the varnish for the license number plate and noticed that we are not the only ones loving to hang around in the boat:

I got the varnish and applied first layer to the license plates. After a couple of layers they'll be ready and we can attach them to the sides underneath the side windows: