RYA Diesel Engine Course

This year I have decided to try (no guarantees available) and take things a little more seriously on the sailing front. While I passed my RYA Day Skipper Navigation theory some time ago I haven't really taken full advantage of the trips to increase my skills significantly. I have tended to go along and 'enjoy the ride' rather than using them to improve my skills which is easy to do as there are always far more experienced crew on board to do the thinking for you.

As part of this change of attitude I decided to do the RYA Diesel Engine course. I tracked one down with a little company called Mustang Sailing based near Eastbourne. Mustang are only a small organisation and it took a bit of chasing to get onto the course as the chap on the phone was never actually in the office to take all my details when I called. This made me a little worried that the quality of the course may leave a bit to be desired. My fears were not improved when I eventually found my way to an obscure Farm near Arlington and found only two others on the course, although the organiser did say that they normally restrict the numbers to eight or less.

However the course proved to be a great success.
At the appointed time the trainer appeared and shepherded us through the farm buildings to his workshop in a converted barn. All around the bleating and mooing of animals in adjacent barns and fields made a surreal contrast to the workshop full of mechanical paraphernalia.

The workshop had four or five different types of Diesel engine of various ages and designs with parts cut away or exposed such that turning the flywheel by hand allowed you to see how all of the various internal and external parts moved. He took us right through the concepts and functions of the engine and all of its parts and support systems, fuel supply, oil system, electrical, cooling, showing design variations on the various cut away engines. He also had dismantled injection pumps, fuel injectors and even turbo chargers and explained how each worked and the common problems associated with each.

There was a modern Volvo Penta marine engine on a rig with all ancillaries. This one could be started and run. On this engine we all got to do the main routines - changing the fuel & air filters, oil filter, impeller, adjust the tappets and bleed air throughout the fuel system. A serious lecture on how failing to open the sea cock for the cooling system can cause overheating of the exhaust and potential fire. Additionally you could practice dropping tiny screws into inaccessible places and spilling diesel fuel over just about everything without the consequent hours of cursing and fiddling that would normally ensue when performing such tasks on a boat.

The advantage of an engine on a rig like this is obvious – everything is clear and accessible, parts can be properly identified and routine tasks will never be easier to practice than here. Change an impeller? no problem mate, 2 minute job!, Fuel filters and bleed?, 5 minutes easy! For an extra fee Mustang may be prepared to dangle you from a trapeze into a dark box partly filled with a foul smelling cocktail of water, fuel, oil and 20 years of old biscuit crumbs in order to make it more realistic, but then most owners get to do this every couple of weeks anyway.

Although I was already fairly familiar with engines in general, having had to take most of my old Mini and VW Scirocco petrol engines apart on a few occasions this was all a long time ago and I knew very little about Diesels and the differences for a marine engine. For the last 6 years or so I have been running VW Turbo Diesel cars, but being excellent modern designs I rarely ever lift the bonnet (I sold my Mk3 Golf at 217,000 miles without a major breakdown). Also the engine management systems mean I leave it all to the garage these days so this course was a refreshing chance to get back to basics and get the soft office hands dirty. It was good to get to actually do the jobs rather than just sitting in a classroom looking at slides and handouts. The tutor was both an engineer and Yacht master instructor so was full of interesting advice and stories. We broke at lunchtime for a pub lunch in a local place dating from 1733 that had a splendid old open fire.

I would recommend this course and Mustang Sailing to anyone who owns or plans to sail regularly. With their current facilities I would say that more than four students would be too many if you want to get hands on doing things so ask how many people are booked in and try and get one that’s not fully subscribed. However Mustang are in the process of moving the course to new premises in the near future so they may have more equipment available.