Click for Mag Bay Click for YF Listing Service Click for Burger Click for YF Listing Service Click for Perko

Diesel exhaust

Discussion in 'Technical Discussion' started by Gerdie, Nov 4, 2015.

You need to be registered and signed in to view this content.
  1. rgsuspsa

    rgsuspsa Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2009
    Messages:
    87
    Location:
    Melbourne, FL
    NYCAP123: Sir: The post was not an insult, simply a statement of fact and the laws of logical analysis. Neither are offensive, and you are embarrassed, not insulted. By the way, the post to which you refer HAS NOT been edited as of 4:31 P.M. EST, 18 November, nor is there any legitimate journalistic reason to. As for Craigslist, your citation of it is de facto admission of your readership of it. Are you certain you do not want to retract that admission?

    Name Removed

    (One of the few posters on this forum who will actually identify himself by his legal name, which speaks volumes about pseudonyms and those who use them in lieu of their true identity.)
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 22, 2015
  2. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2013
    Messages:
    7,132
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    Ron, I think it speaks about need to protect information on the internet and public forums. It speaks about identity theft. It speaks about many other risks from stalkers to just trouble makers. I've been threatened by personal message on this site by a drunk and crazy member. We are private people, not in the industry and disdain for publicity.

    I admire that you feel the ability to be straightforward with your name. Just as I do know the names of quite a few members here and some know mine as well and far more about me than I've ever disclosing on a forum.

    The same reasons we choose not to participate on social media are those that we choose to be private here. Some of those reasons we can't and won't discuss.

    Oh, and I didn't know it was so horrible to read Craigslist. I doubt we have very many of us here who haven't ever. I have. My wife giggles her way through it occasionally. Right now there are Three Bored Girls in Fort Pierce with a hilarious post there seeking a man. I can't tell the rest of their post here.

    Besides, Nycap is gone again (oh and many of us know his name so he's not hiding behind a pseudonym either) so might not see your reply, which is just as well. He should be enjoying retirement anyway rather than dealing with all of us.
  3. rgsuspsa

    rgsuspsa Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2009
    Messages:
    87
    Location:
    Melbourne, FL
    Hello olderboater: The original reference to Craigslist was by NYCAP123, not by me. Neither have I made any comment or implication about Craigslist's journalistic content, nor its merits. All implications by NYCAP123
    pertaining to Craigslist were and are solely those of NYCAP123.

    Regarding posting under legal name vs. pseudonym, your comments are noted. However the fact of the matter is that serious writers addressing nonfictional subject matter knowingly accept rigorous accountability for their words they choose to publish. When a writer identifies himself to the world with a fictional name which anyone else on the internet can lawfully and practically coopt and use, the writer's credibility is reduced to fictional level as well. In short, credibility demands accountability, thus lawful identity by an author. Pseudonyms are not for nonfiction writers who take their writing seriously as a means of exchanging
    credible information and thoughts with other credible, accountable writers of nonfiction. These realities cannot be avoided, no matter the writer's purpose(s) for attempting to do so.

    Name Removed
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 22, 2015
  4. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2013
    Messages:
    7,132
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    It's a forum. Serious writing? It's a forum. I don't choose to publish here. If I had something to publish, I'll choose a book or some other site. As to olderboater, if someone wants to steal it fine with me as my wife gave it to me as a joke anyway. If you think all the rest of us here have no credibility, then that makes you rather pompous, doesn't it? Because other than you and Ken, I don't see any real names on the forum. I'm not planning on holding anyone accountable for what they publish on a yacht forum. As to what you call realities, that's just your opinion, which does not make it fact by any means.

    I couldn't care less about your shots at me for posting under a pseudonym, but frankly I am offended for others that I respect here, whose names I know well, who choose to post under pseudonyms and whose postings (not their publishing) here I greatly respect, even when I disagree with them.

    I didn't read a chapter in Dale Carnegie's writings about making friends by lobbing an insult at everyone on a forum. Guess it's something new I haven't read as I've been too busy having fun.
  5. rgsuspsa

    rgsuspsa Member

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2009
    Messages:
    87
    Location:
    Melbourne, FL
    olderboater: I gave you credit for having some mental maturity, I was wrong. Please accept my apologies for treating you, and other posters on this forum as potential adults worthy of operating large nautical vessels. Obviously I was mistaken.

    Persons looking to proclaim themselves insulted have no problem rationalizing same. The child mentality in a an adult body. Truth may not be pleasant, but it most definitely is not my definition an insult, it is just the truth.

    Name Removed
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 22, 2015
  6. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 11, 2005
    Messages:
    14,432
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    Can everyone just get on with it already. It seems like every thread on this forum right now has people bickering back and forth over symantics and non essential B.S and picking at straws, rather than sticking to boats, engines and yachts. Is it that everyone's depressed that it gets dark at 6pm now because of daylight savings time or something?
  7. RER

    RER Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2009
    Messages:
    1,532
    Location:
    Newport Beach CA
    lol ...I think you may be on to something there.
  8. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2013
    Messages:
    7,132
    Location:
    Fort Lauderdale
    Rather than disrupt this further I'll limit any responses to private.
  9. Bahma

    Bahma Member

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2013
    Messages:
    61
    Location:
    Man o War Cay Abaco Bahamas
    Some me years ago I bought a 38FT Flush Deck Bertram from a good friend, it was immaculate, but with one fault,,,,,,,,,, it would smell of diesel unless certain operations were performed prior to setting off on a trip......... IIRC, the V berth cabin door had to be closed, the fwd head door opened, together with the fwd locker door to port. The aft cabin door had to be closed.
    If this was done there would be no odor.
    I later determined that it was impossible to open the engine room hatches when the boat was at cruising speed, it seems that Bertram did not allow the GM 8V53s to breath adequately, the intake vents being too small.
    I believe this created a vacuum in the engine room that caused the engines to run rich which in turn made the diesel smell.
    Allowing the engines to breath better stopped all smells.
    FWIW.
    Bahma
  10. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 29, 2008
    Messages:
    8,120
    Location:
    Miami, FL
    First you need to know whether you are smelling raw diesel or diesel exhaust. BIG differnce.

    If raw unburned diesel you need to look for a diesel leak somwhere or diesel left our in the bilge area after a sloppy filter change. Raw diesel smell will be smelled when the engines are off.

    If diesel exhaust, you need to look for an exhaust leak which will be soot or cooling water. For instance I ve seen pin holes in a fiberglass exhaust tube resulting in a wet carpet in an aft master staterrom yet ther was no exhaust smell underway. Diesel exhaust smell will smelled while the engines are running or immediately after. They can often come from loose bolts on the turbos or exhaust flanges which while in the ER maybe smelled elsewhere
  11. YachtForums

    YachtForums Administrator

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2002
    Messages:
    20,353
    Location:
    South Florida
    The comments and perceptions of Ron Sparks raises serious questions about his credibility. His membership has been banned and I will begin stripping his name from threads on YF. This kind of conduct will not be rewarded with exposure to our readers.
  12. K1W1

    K1W1 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 30, 2005
    Messages:
    7,388
    Location:
    My Office
    I was a little surprised by the contents of his posts. Previously I recall his posts being very informative and useful till the last few weeks when things started to go a bit weird.
  13. Marmot

    Marmot Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2007
    Messages:
    3,311
    Location:
    9114 S. Central Ave
    It is possible that a fitting is leaking fuel onto a hot surface where it vaporizes. Airflow can carry the vapor to a point where it can condense to create a lingering aroma.

    Is the fuel smell very strong just after shutting down the engine with vent fans off?
  14. Bamboo

    Bamboo Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 19, 2008
    Messages:
    934
    Location:
    Palm Beach, FL
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    I was "re"-asking what I already asked the OP about if there is a fuel vent near where the smell is strong. This is not going on on my vessel.
  15. Oscarvan

    Oscarvan Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2015
    Messages:
    969
    Location:
    Chesapeake Bay
    I would start digging in these spaces. Get yourself a REALLY bright flashlight and start tracing the exhausts.....
  16. RER

    RER Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2009
    Messages:
    1,532
    Location:
    Newport Beach CA
    I was thinking the same thing. Membership since 2009 too. Strange.
  17. Lepke

    Lepke Member

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2015
    Messages:
    123
    Location:
    US West Coast. Cruise NW Passage to Alaska.
    I'm 67 and have been running diesel boats since I was 13. Mostly my own, but also military, tugs, fishing and private. The key to boat/diesel smell is partly design and the rest up to the maintainer. I live on a 1942 wood boat with 2 Detroit mains and 2 diesel generators. So I also have the wood boat bilge odors, too.
    The engines and engine room have to be clean and kept clean. Leaks dealt with as soon as they happen and cleaned up right away. I have forced ventilation of both the engine room and all bilge areas. I have 5 WT bulkheads so 6 bilge areas. Each is setup to draw air from near the cabin overhead, down the sides between the outer planking and inside panels to the bilge where it's drawn out and expelled. About 100 cubic feet an hour per space. Because the cabins draw in outside makeup air, I have a little more heating cost. I don't go where it's hot. It keeps the bilge dry, mold under control and the bilge smells like the cabin not the other way around. The engine room is vented so outside air is constantly drawn in and expelled. It also has plenty of vent area for the diesel air needs. My boat smells like a house. Metal clothing fasteners don't rust and so on.
    It wasn't always so. When I bought the boat there was engine oil and about 50 gallons of diesel in the engine room bilge.
  18. Gerdie

    Gerdie Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2015
    Messages:
    33
    Location:
    Corpus Christi
    Thanks for the info. We recently had turbo and blower rebuilt because of the starboard engine smoking. Which it ended up actually being the turbo. We started just the starboard engine the other day and went into the engine room and the smell was there. It is an exhaust smell. The boat was taken out and you can smell the odor coming out of the vents right after it is docked, but it is still strong in the cabin and stateroom.

    The bilges are clean and there is no standing liquid in the ER anywhere that I can find. How can we find the issue? We have looked for soot for leaks.
  19. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 8, 2004
    Messages:
    12,649
    Location:
    Satsuma, FL
    If the turbo was serviced, there are 2 joints that need to be looked at. The exhaust in & out.
    You mentioned blower so I assume Detroits. I'm confidant its not a blower issue.
    Some times the turbo outlet connect to the exhaust system does not mate well and that V clamp just can not pull in tight enough.
    I remember a cast iron risor had cracked on a 12V under the foil wrap, one heck of a stink. Took a lil while to find it.
    You may need to call the tech back out who serviced the equipment.
  20. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 29, 2008
    Messages:
    8,120
    Location:
    Miami, FL
    Well then you clearly have an echaust leak on the stbd side, that narrows it a bit

    Soot or water leaks will usually be telltale signs. Often if a clamp isn't tight and the leak is near the turbos you will see black soot building up.

    Then I d follow the exhaust system and check all clamps and connections. I've seen leaks between rubber hoses and fiberglass tubing if your system uses them, they can be hard to seal if the glasswork is rough. Some boats have mufflers along th way and the leak could be there too.