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Morning sailors,

This weekend I will be sailing my new F32 home from CT. It is about a 60 mile trip to her new home. My girl has been sitting idle for the past two years so Ive taken some precautions to ensure a pleasant ride.....

1) changed fuel filters
2) inspected raw water impeller - looked good and I have a spar onboard
3) cleaned raw water strainer
4) checked oil
5) ran motor for 30 minutes - no over heating problems
6) painted bottom
7) checked all rigging and lines
8) batteries are good
9) tansmition is good
10) sails are in working order.
11) running light work
12) life safety devices onboard

When a boat sits for two years what would you all recommend I look into before leaving the dock?

Good luck with your new boat

A few things to check:
All thru hulls and hoses. These things can get stuck and or hoses get brittle.
Head operation 5 or moe hours is along time to hold it in
Engine operation.. If in water we hope you ran her tied to dock or mooring under load

Yep, like he said. Under load is key. When I bought my 30 many moons ago she would run fine for hours until you increased RPM to 2000 or over then she would overheat. If i were you I would leave the dock and drive her hard for an hour or so, monitor temp and physically observe the engine, shaft, seal etc during the run.

BTW, problem was the heat exchanger core was almost completely blocked with gunk which I had to ream out of each tube in the core.

Mike

Congratulations!!

Ditto on the recommendations to take her out for an hour or two to run the engines hard under load. The exhaust elbows get plugged and it is suggested that these are changed every 8-10 years or so. You might also want to take a look inside the fuel tank or just get the fuel polished and make sure this includes siphoning up the bottom gunk.

I’ll second the recommendations to deal with what might be lurking in the bottom of the fuel tank, possibly to be stirred up when the boat starts rocking, and clogging the filter or injectors. Fuel polishing is I’m sure best, but as a low tech fix I installed an outboard style manual pump bulb inline so I can easily pump fuel from the bottom of the tank for inspection, before it gets to any filters. After an extended period at the dock, I will pump out a jug of fuel to eliminate the water and sludge, if any.

Congratulations George,

I'm jealous you are hitting the water so early in the season. Good luck with your maiden voyage. Are you looking for any additional crew?
Happy sailing,
Jim D.

Re fuel tank inspection. I think an internal inspection is really important if you have no idea the history of the boat or tank.

I got stuck offshore, no wind and clogged fuel uptake. It took me hours of troubleshooting to isolate while I sailed along at about 1/2 knot in a rolling seaway. Did come away with improved skills in light wind sailing though I also got really good at bleeding the fuel system after ding it about ten times. Carry lots of spare crush washers!!!

I wound up blowing into the fuel supply hose and got lucky clearing the obstruction which was a small ball of what appeared to be paraffin in the bottom of the tank. There were several chunks down there. I had installed a new tank myself so these must have grown up inside after 13 years. After this experience I installed an inspection hatch on top of the tank - they are available online - and plan to clean the tank periodically. In an emergency I can get down into the tank should it come to that.

I think it is an extremely wise investment.

Mike

Im in aggreement with all who recommend checking your fuel tank and contents to prevent clogging up things with gonk once your underway and the boat is rocking and rolling. An inspection port is the best way to deal with this as you can visually see inside the tank and clean whatever may be in there. It may save you the trouble and expense of having to replace your fuel tank in the future also. Very often the crud will pile up and sit in a corner of the tank and cause accelerated corrosion there leading to small leaks which you usually find when you begin noticing diesel fuel in your bilge. It can lead to a lot time wasted spent trying to track down the source of this fuel ,ie; fuel line connections fuel filter bowl etc. My 30 gal tank in my F-33 CK had one port in it already but since there is a full width baffle at the middle of the tank , it only allowed me to inspect and clean that half so I went ahead and cut a same size hole over the other half of the tank and made up a flat aluminum cover. I drilled and tapped the permimeter of the hole in the tank for machine screws and with a good gas resistant sealant screwed the cover on . It has held perfectly for 4 years with out any problems and allows me each year to open the tank and inspect and clean if neccesary. The inspection opening and cover was exactly the same as the one the was already installed..
Hope you have a wonderful trip to your home port.. Rick

I installed Seabuilt access plates on my fuel tank -- one on each side of the baffle. The bonus was when I poured fuel back into the tank, I did it in 2 litre increments and marked the fuel gauge with a sharpie to have a better idea of how much fuel was actually in the tank. It's most accurate under 1/2 full, but that's where I'm most concerned about accuracy anyway.