Not the Best Week-end !

Pilotpak · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 5:11 pm

Since buying our 2006 Vista 378 a few months ago, still haven't had a completely trouble free week-end on it.

I've been travelling for work, and hadn't been down to the boat for four weeks. Did all my usual checking stuff in the engine room, oils, fluids, no-leaks etc...all looked OK. Closed hatches and started he up. A little sluggish on the start but got going OK.

Ran for about 4 minutes, then wife noticed smoke -

Wife: Hey
Me: What
Wife: I see smoke
Me: Nothing to worry about - probably cause we haven't used the engines for a while
Wife: No ! it's coming out of the electrical box
^&#%^$

Stopped engines, turned off all power, got our 5 y.o. kid into his life jacket and got our 3 x 1kg fire extinguishers out.

Switch panel was cool to the touch, but smoke still continued to come out. 2 minutes go by, smoke is getting worse. Lift the carpet, smoke now coming out of all the hatch joints in the floor. I'm on a swing mooring at a large marina, so I phone the marina and get them to bring out some extra fire extinguishers. Having had the marina offices and workshops completely burn down some 12 months ago, they are very quick to send two work boats & staff out. I put the wife and kid into the marina boat.

I very slowly open the day hatch. huge amounts of pungent smoke, but no heat or flames. At least the smoke isn't getting any worse now, but I still can't get into the engine room.

Now, probably about 5 minutes after opening the engine hatch, smoke has cleared enough to let me have a careful look inside. At the end of the port engine was a mangled mess of smoldering rubber - it used to be the serpentine belt !

Not sure what happened yet - but the last trip a cooling hose came off it's spigot, spraying salt water around. I'm wondering if this has caused the alternator to seize during the 4 weeks I was away - will have to wait for the engineers to look at it today.

Anyway, some lessons learned -

1/ The place you see smoke may be different to location of the problem (I thought it was a switch panel fire)
2/ A small issue can generate vast amounts of smoke - I was really surprised with the density of the smoke.
3/ I should have got the wife & kid into our inflatable right away (Mine takes ages to launch due to the height of the V378's platform above the water and the current snap-davit design which jams unless released before the inflatable is at rest)
4/ I'll need to teach the wife how to launch the inflatable when I get the davits re-worked - maybe a goose-neck will help lower the davits.
5/ We'll have to make sure that we can all escape thru the bow hatch in case there's ever any issue aft.

and something I need to find out - Does anyone know how the Fireboy fire system activated - mechanically or electrically ? Will it activate if there's a fire and power is turned off ?

neutron · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 6:08 pm

glad to hear all was well and no one hurt and your boat is fine
that salt water that sprayed most deffinitly coroded your alternator. I would have washed and degreassed everything in the engine area after the repair was made.

My fireboy is completely mechanically automatic. there is a caged sensor that would trip the system

kinda like an overhead fire sprinkler system in a building

LouC · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 6:53 pm

Glad it turned out to not be a serious issue in terms of safety.
I think that its a good idea to loosen the serp belt or individual belts on older engines and check each accessory for smooth operation of the bearings (water pump, p/s pump, alt, and idler pulleys if so equipped). Any roughness in the bearings is a sign that it will eventually seize up. On my boat I was hearing roughness in the front water pump bearings and I did that check, and I could feel the roughness in the bearings. Changed the pump (22 years old) before it caused a problem. I found a couple of worn serp belt idlers on our older Jeep the same way (at about 105,000 miles). Then at 147,000 miles the p/s pump started moaning and sure enough the bearings were getting really tight. Changed that one before it self-destructed. I can hear the difference in sound between a good bearing and one starting to fail.
Same thing with gimble bearings. When I do the yearly drive pull I stick my hand in and turn the bearing by hand feeling for roughness. I also check the trailer wheel bearings same way, spin and feel for roughness. They should all be really smooth....

schoolsOut · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 7:18 pm

Glad it didn't turn out any worse. I always watch my gauges pretty close after start-up. You may want to get in the habit of doing the same. In this case you probably would have seen that you were not charging your port engine.

I'm sure next time out will be smooth sailing. I had to work some bugs out of mine after I first bought it used as well.

strick · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:07 pm

I feel your pain. We bought a 2007 meridian last fall (after closely considering several four winns) and have had several minor but irritating fun-busting engine problems. Thankfully, nothing nearly as scary as your issue, but enough to make us decide to re-list the boat and re- think our priorities and hobbies, since our tolerance for irritation and unwelcome surprises is evidently too low for the cruiser lifestyle. Hope your situation improves soon!

firecadet613 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:19 pm

Fireboy has a plug that melts at 175 Degrees and then it will discharge the agent.

ric · **Posted:** Sun Mar 09, 2014 9:26 pm

firecadet613 wrote:

Fireboy has a plug that melts at 175 Degrees and then it will discharge the agent.

Correct. No power needed. If that plug melts, it sends a firm and wide jet of it's gooey mess all over the engine compartment. Smoke alone won't set it off.

Pilotpak · **Posted:** Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:10 pm

Thanks all for your kind thoughts & info on the Fire system.

Engineers have looked at the damage. As someone suggested, it was caused by a seized alternator and one of the plastic pulleys had melted. They need to replace a water pump as well as removing the drive pulleys and refinishing them.

Clownfish: Before the GFC, I also owned a 2007 Meridian 341. After delivery, I worked closely with the Australian Meridian dealer & the factory to solve some design issues with the new central drain / scupper system. If you have any issues with the drain system backflowing, drop me a line. Best thing about a new boat was the warranty ! :roll:

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Fri Mar 14, 2014 9:26 am

On a boat that size, and with the plethora of problems you have had, an engine room camera would be a good idea.

Who is clownfish ? :lol:

fly&floatpgh · **Posted:** Fri May 16, 2014 2:57 am

Thanks for letting us know about your scary experience and what caused it. I am pro-pilot (you too?) and we are trained to do thorough pre-flight and have extensive check lists to test systems before we launch. However, mechanical/electrical systems still fail. I have sort of a pre-launch ck list for the boat; and one of the things i do is before I load any gear on the boat... I lift engine hatches, do standard fluid ck. and visual inspection of engine compartment. While the hatches are still open I start both engines and let run for 2 minutes and watch/listen for anything unusual. I can hear the sound of the engines better and any out of the ordinary noise with hatches open (not sure set-up on yours if possible?). Certainly no guarantee... but it is just my little routine before we leave the safety of the docks.

Love the name of your boat! Season 2 and we are still deciding on one. I think the winner is "Floating Under the Radar"

www.iFourWinns.com

Not the Best Week-end !

Who is online