Apr 07 2010
Diesel Maintenance Season
Sailboat owners have to be prepared for unexpected costs. They always crop up. The larger the boat the more complicated the systems and parts seem to cost incrementally more with every foot of boat length. For decades this basically put a giant neon flashing impediment across the entry of the sport. Today, those days are gone. SailTime Members just pay a flat fee to sail as much or as little as they like. They don’t concern themselves with the comings and goings of boat ownership. As well, SailTime Owner Members; the people who actually own the boats in the SailTime fleet, gain a 3-5 year break in all sorts of costs that incur over that period of time. They don’t have to pay for the slip during those years under our management. Or insurance. Or regular monthly maintenance. This adds up to a tremendous savings without sacrificing any of the sailing experience. It’s why our slogan is, “Your boat is ready when you are”. What could be simpler?
Case in point. Team JJ is shown here peering out of Imagine’s engine room. This boat has had a “smoking issue” for some time and we have worked our way up to a valve job now. All other remedies have not stopped the smoking issue. (this boat smokes more than it should at start up and when under load) We believe the culprit is actually another part, fondly known as the “heat exchanger”. Its made of cast iron. The only reason it is made of this horrible metal according to the parts distributor is so you need one replaced more often than you would like. The average lifetime of this part is 500 hours. But for some reason this boat seems to need one every 300 hours. The lesson is a valve job. So thats what these two are preparing to do. They’ve removed the head so they can take it to the shop.
The boat will be out of service for a few days. But as far as the Members are concerned its no sweat. It’s what we do at SailTime that sets us apart from any other program in existence. With a fleet of 5 boats its always maintenance season around here!
Way to go Team JJ! I was scared of engines so I joined SailTime!