Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[Giles]

You will probably be very pleased to know that will likely be my last post for a while.....

[Twistlock]

I will be pleased to hear you had a smooth trip without any further incidents

[goosehd]

@Giles Don’t be a git…some of us enjoy your posts…very few, but there are some of us

[motojobobo]

Capitan, we look forward to your next trip update! Buen viaje

[Giles]

Almost made it…..couple of hours to the berth….

[endo]

congrats, capt'n

[Twistlock]

Vesselfinder did not update your position for quite some time whereas Marine Traffic did. Interesting...

[Giles]

Yes, I think that Marine Traffic maybe better, at one point earlier in the trip VF lost us whereas MT had us all the time....

Going into darkness last night....

[Giles]

Slowly slowly.....320nm run from Ribadeo on the north coast of Spain to Brest.....

We had planned to miss out Brest and go to straight Roscoff (because now we have to get stamped out of The EU - and it's a crushing fucking bore), but the sea state was awful a couple of hours ago, so we have peeled off into Brest....

[endo]

glad you made through the Bay of Biscay

[Giles]

So am I

[goosehd]

@Giles How was the fuel situation?

[Kasi]

Home sweet home very soon

[Giles]

@goosehd said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:

@Giles How was the fuel situation?

Fine. The issue only seems to appear when the vacuum in the tank overrides the pull of the fuel pump. That seems to be fast about 30% full if we have not opened the filler cap to get rid of the vacuum - which I am about to do.....

[Giles]

Fuck, no discernible hiss, which means we do not know what the issue is. But we do know how to make sure it does not happen - keep her filled up

[tody]

@Giles Just some food for thought, does ambient temperature probably play a role?

[goosehd]

Would have been my thought also with the fuel cap not venting properly creating a vacuum as the fuel was used…the only other thing I can think of is a obstruction in the line (as you mentioned with the cigarette butt). Maybe one of the inline fuel filter/water separators is clogged or partially obstructed.

Does it seem to run great for the first bit and then get worse as the day goes on? I’ll check with my brother in laws (farmers) and see if they come up with any good ideas. We’ve all chased diesel gremlins before on the tractors and sometimes the answer is staring you in the face, and sometimes….

[Giles]

There is a breather pipe, so there should be no need to crack the filler cap. Our current assumption is that it is blocked. It works fine until the tanks are at about 30-35% full, then the port tank gives up. It does not degrade, it falls off a fucking cliff......

[goosehd]

@Giles Doesn’t sound like it’s anything between the tank, fuel line, water separator, fuel filter, and the fuel rail and your theory of venting sound’s right.

If it was the fuel pump or fuel rail, the problem would manifest itself much earlier than the 30/35 percent fill.

Have you tried running the tank with the fuel cap removed on the port tank? If the vent is causing the issue, then no filler cap on the port tank would ensure that it’s getting enough air (as long as it’s semi protected to keep seawater out).

[goosehd]

...and a off the wall thought...I wonder if the pickup wasn't properly placed in the tank and is only 2/3 of the way where it should be. Maybe you're running out of fuel because of it's placement.

Edit: The more I think about this, the more I think that this might be your issue especially for the way you describe it falling off.