Good stuff Alex. My remote diagnosis for what it is worth is the oil pressure relief valve and/or a blocked port that it screws into. I will not depress you with another more troublesome possibility.😉 Of course it is sad that Alan will not be joining you on the further adventures but you made a sound mission critical decision. The journey thus far with Alan is not wasted, you have just paid a price to accumulate the experience - and that is always valuable. Look forward to the next video.😀👍
As an accredited ex lifeboat service engineer all I can say is a TELB is really only "single use" to transport people away from a distressed mother ship, and Alan as a air fed self cooled (sprinkler system) boat is the highest spec of the style, I agree with your decision not to continue but compliment you on the depth of time and research you have put into all the conversions along the way, the Shetland locals will indeed be purchasing some fine equipment. Thanks for sharing.
he could have converted it into a kitesail boat but its best to start with a proper platform like an aluminum catamaran or lifting keel mono sailboat as i told him when he first started.
@@ysesq there were a few possible angles I think he could have taken. in retrospect electric propulsion, charged by solar, wind and generator, could possibly have been a much better fit for Alan's use as an expedition boat, but that would have required spending *quite* a bit more money on components than I think Alex was prepared to do. you would need many, many LiFePO4 batteries (not in itself a problem as they make good ballast, but spendy), and probably quite a bit of creative engineering to make it all fit together.
Gee, a few negative comments written here. Alex, you’re a very interesting bloke, full of the wittiest things to say and observations about life to mention. Alan’s journey is not what the channel was about, it is your journey that I came to watch, I am staying on for as long as you do. Best wishes for the future.
Stuck or blocked pressure relief valve is my guess. Usually the screw you can get to is the adjuster, it compresses a spring that holds a ball on the seat.
High pressure….hmmn , filter mesh in the oil pickup in the sump is blocked….that was my first thought….given that you’ve been in rough seas , and the oil in the sump has sloshed about and thrown up any dirt from the bottom 👍😐🇮🇲
Possible, although we did a near total evacuation and used a magnet the last oil change, as we had the front off the engine. The oil and sump was clear of debris.
If the pump is starved for oil by a blocked pick up mesh....the pressure would fall....not rise? The pressure cannot logically rise by the pump "getting better at pumping"...as it would normally be wearing the components down while rotating......not building the surfaces up and decreasing tolerances... so it must be some factor AFTER the pump... and the only things could be blocked oil passageways, the wrong grade of oil.. or the pressure relief valve getting stuck..... thereby not regulating the pressure to the factory standard. Hopefully to be fixed by the new factory part......
The pressure sending unit has inside it a hollow spring that acts against a hairspring, like a mechanical oil pressure gauge has inside it. Over time the hollow spring can start to flatten out, resulting in high readings. The original equipment VDO oil pressure gauges and sending units have been independently tested and found to be accurate and reliable. Once they are a couple decades old, that changes things. Not sure about water temp gauges. I know Dakota Digital cylinder head temp gauges are spot on.
One of my dreams (fevered of course) was to own a lifeboat and sail around the UK as a little retirement present to myself. Perhaps it will happen, but probably not.
@@AlexHibbertOriginals I would be retired, time would not be a constraint, money however would, that is why it will remain a dream. Maybe in the next life.
I know you're not using AI as you have covered that in the past, but wow... this particular video sounds as if you are! It's the first time I have heard what previous comments have mentioned, but you do sound like a bright, shiny Bot here. The back of your hand to that treacherous recording software! Great video as always.
I am watching it in 0.9 Speed. And lime that it sounds fine to me. But also English isn't my first language so the speed of his talks were just a little bit too fast for my ears.
Some things are worth more than money, but equally I'm not giving stuff away, or even close to. The channel is valuable to me - you guys - and I do also have a responsibility to subscribers/members.
@@JamieSteam So Triple Air-Horns that play Dixie would to much for narrow-boaters, I suppose, just to warn them of Alan's Approach, of course, not wanting to get them "snobby" ...
This seems very disjointed from the last episode with the rescue. Did Alex provide a retrospective on this where he discusses the factors leading to scrapping the boat? I feel like this channel is very direct with the audience - I am confused…
The boat's not being scrapped. The announcement epsiode was some weeks ago. It was posted out of sequence so that I didn't hold the news back for longer than necessary.
The oil pump is working. Wear usually makes an oil pump offer less pressure to the engine lubrication system. The pressure rise is AFTER the pump. Two sensors agree to higher pressure. The only adjustable control to oil pressure fitted to this engine is the spring loaded ball bearing screw-adjustable (and old) pressure relief valve.... a new pressure relief valve most likely will solve the problem..... (this engine sat for 99% of it's life not working. Rust never sleeps even in parts of an oil laden system (see YT vids of engine teardowns of Detroit diesels on fishing vessels internally very badly rusted) and if the oil had drained back to the sump leaving the relief valve exposed to rust...
Your personal Bukh gremlin hunter checking in. Two, sorry, three points. - All lifeboat engines suffer from salt air corrosion. In electric connections, bearings and sensors. - Bukh is known for its poor engineering. - Boeings whistleblowers mitigation team started its career working for the Bukh company. Greetings, stay an adventurer and steer clear of Bukhs.
The engine in Allen was really never interned to run for as long as you operated it, so I suspect that the factory runs that they came from were not the best in the quality control of all of the parts or that the engine's primary use is backup power or propulsion for limited periods, allowing for less durable parts and design than what a main engine would have or even what automotive, agricultural, or utility motors would be built with. The oil passages have either become blocked, the bearing surfaces somewhere have become fouled with something (likely the cam bearings according to most internet information on marine diesels as I know agricultural/generators. This is the opposite of a gas engine where main bearings are usually the culprit.), or the pressure relief valve that you mentioned, which is the most likely problem. The pressure relief valve could just be out of adjustment and had came loose or a spring failed in it. Just a little problem that should be solvable, but you might have damaged the engine and the only way to be sue would be to partially pop it open on the head or look at the ECU. As this has no ECU, you have no idea how long it was operating like this. It is still most likely that the stalling issue experienced by Allen was caused by the air bubble in the fuel injection system. This is a common problem and bleeding injectors is a very common thing to need to do, but it did highlight safety problems with your plans for the expedition with the reliability of that engine and your ability to repair it while underway. It also highlighted that any vessel intending to go on an ocean expedition really needs two independent forms of propulsion, with very remote or extreme locations needed triple redundancy for safety. Your decision to pull the plug on the expedition based on the reliability o f the engine aboard Allen was the right call and likely saved the lives of the entire expedition. This is why all vessels have sea trials in safe areas near shore that get steadily more dangerous and remote to see if anything breaks, how the vessel handles the conditions, and how the crew operates on the vessel in those conditions. You did everything right according to my friend that was a Warrant Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard from the instructions he gave me when I was planning to build a boat and test it at sea. Still a sad result, but you learned what not to do and if you want to try another project of this type, you know what to do different and you have taught all of the internet what to do different.
@@AlexHibbertOriginals Years isn't the question on engines like this, its operating hours. Breaking in instructions I am sure were followed with the first 25 hours only at 80% throttle (3200 RPM), as per the Owner's Handbook. Looking up the engine, It should be fine since it was only start tested while in a lifeboat, so the hours should be low. The design was to be in a lifeboat for the model you have, as there are other model numbers that were used for other applications, such as ME for general marine environment and even a sail boat motor model according to one of the maintenance manuals I found for the DV48's. So, it most likely has softer bearings than the other models to save cost, but you are right that it shouldn't have died this soon. What likely is the problem is what we call in industrial maintenance a "crib death". It's when machinery that works fine on very light duty cycle is taken up past more than just the few hours it has been run and then it just dies with no explanation. It's usually from a weak part or manufacturing error that just never got caught until you put full power to everything. Had Allen been only used as a lifeboat, even deployed, he would have likely never suffered an engine failure as the hours would have never reached what you have put on the engine, so the design and manufacturing met with intended purpose. I do suspect that if we were to look up the parts for the engine bearings that the lifeboat motor has different bearings than the others, but that is just more work than the reward is worth since the replacement parts might be the same number. Taking it apart and testing the two with Rockwell tools or other diagnostic methods would be the only way to know for sure and I don't think it would be worth it since a spun bearing isn't suspected. No glitter in the oil.
You have actual receipts that the DV20/24/36/48s installed in lifeboats are fundamentally less well made than those installed into thousands of (and run for 1000s of hours) sail boats and other motor boats? The irrational Bukh hate from a few is so strange.
@@AlexHibbertOriginals I do not have those stats, but it is a different sub-model of the engine that the marketing material pushes it for lifeboats and standby use for emergency equipment, so it will be engineered for purpose. It's not a hate on the engine manufacturer or model of engine that I make that statement. It's an educated guess based on my experience and training as an industrial electrician and in the industrial maintenance field working on equipment like small generators and agricultural equipment. There is no reason to have a sub-model unless the company is going to have a reason for it. It might be a certification to go in lifeboats, but that likely is for starting and then running for a certain number of hours after sitting on standby, not constant running. So we do a check list for what the value engineer is going to hallow out of that model and what a certification body/design engineer/use is going to require. Long running life isn't on that list and bearings for long life is where they can save a lot of money on the engine. Not much, but some. Same goes for the sleeves and valves. That being said, I don't think that this is what is wrong with Allen's motor. I think you had an air bubble in the fuel system and the high oil pressure is from a problem with the pressure relief valve. I would be looking at pulling the valve as you had planned with an expert at this point, so oil comes out as part of that procedure and check for glitter in it because you do just end up with a crib death with an engine once in a while.
Your diagnosis is flawed, remove electric sender for oil pressure, screw in adaptor to engine block, use an old school oil gauge with no electrics, chinese gauge with various adaptors set up on amazon around 40 quid. The electric sender is so expensive I'd have needed to be 100% sure.
Thanks for the journey. A shame the plan changed. But such is life. I wil be unsubscribing since I couldn't care less about how you sell Alan. All the best. Cheers.
A Man is more than the things he owns. Alex is a Genuinely Interesting guy, why not stay for the next interesting quest? it will be your loss. if not, then goodbye.
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk no but ive sold boats. you sell it as is and disclose defects if you want to satisfy your conscience but never throw good money after bad. fixing defects has nothing to do with having ethics -- its just stupid. the next buyer might not even need a diesel engine and may go electric.
@@AlexHibbertOriginals how much more ? would you get significantly more for your boat than what you put into fixing the engine ? i dont think so. ask your buyer and find out.
![Alan's FINAL voyage (with me). Motoring in Shetland for a crane lift. Expedition lifeboat Ep136 [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/l6kMAv77_MM/mqdefault.jpg)
![Alan's FINAL voyage (with me). Motoring in Shetland for a crane lift. Expedition lifeboat Ep136 [4K]](/img/tr.png)
![How we made our Sailboat's Engine 50% quieter - [Ryan's Tech Corner]](/img/n.gif)
It’s sad to see it all being taken apart but I do like hearing the design decisions being assessed, it’s a small silver lining!
Well, we have something new to build....
So lessons learned 👌
I do so wish I was just a wee bit closer, I would love to give Allan loving home!
Cheers from Dallas!
Good stuff Alex. My remote diagnosis for what it is worth is the oil pressure relief valve and/or a blocked port that it screws into. I will not depress you with another more troublesome possibility.😉
Of course it is sad that Alan will not be joining you on the further adventures but you made a sound mission critical decision. The journey thus far with Alan is not wasted, you have just paid a price to accumulate the experience - and that is always valuable.
Look forward to the next video.😀👍
As an accredited ex lifeboat service engineer all I can say is a TELB is really only "single use" to transport people away from a distressed mother ship, and Alan as a air fed self cooled (sprinkler system) boat is the highest spec of the style, I agree with your decision not to continue but compliment you on the depth of time and research you have put into all the conversions along the way, the Shetland locals will indeed be purchasing some fine equipment. Thanks for sharing.
he could have converted it into a kitesail boat but its best to start with a proper platform like an aluminum catamaran or lifting keel mono sailboat as i told him when he first started.
@@ysesq there were a few possible angles I think he could have taken. in retrospect electric propulsion, charged by solar, wind and generator, could possibly have been a much better fit for Alan's use as an expedition boat, but that would have required spending *quite* a bit more money on components than I think Alex was prepared to do. you would need many, many LiFePO4 batteries (not in itself a problem as they make good ballast, but spendy), and probably quite a bit of creative engineering to make it all fit together.
The journey is as important as the destination, even if the destination is a journey. 🤭
Well done and thanks for sharing.. Most appreciated🥂
Gee, a few negative comments written here. Alex, you’re a very interesting bloke, full of the wittiest things to say and observations about life to mention. Alan’s journey is not what the channel was about, it is your journey that I came to watch, I am staying on for as long as you do. Best wishes for the future.
Cheers for that
Sad to see Alan end, but i cant wait to see what shape Alan 2 will take
I think we'll retire the name Alan.
Stuck or blocked pressure relief valve is my guess. Usually the screw you can get to is the adjuster, it compresses a spring that holds a ball on the seat.
To be fair, you did also own those M10 nuts and bolts before. It is just that they were indisposed, and have now been liberated for other use.
Positive spin, I like it. Accurate too.
Glad to have bought a tee shirt just in time to wander around searching other Alan fans, 😢
High pressure….hmmn , filter mesh in the oil pickup in the sump is blocked….that was my first thought….given that you’ve been in rough seas , and the oil in the sump has sloshed about and thrown up any dirt from the bottom 👍😐🇮🇲
Possible, although we did a near total evacuation and used a magnet the last oil change, as we had the front off the engine. The oil and sump was clear of debris.
If the pump is starved for oil by a blocked pick up mesh....the pressure would fall....not rise?
The pressure cannot logically rise by the pump "getting better at pumping"...as it would normally be wearing the components down while rotating......not building the surfaces up and decreasing tolerances...
so it must be some factor AFTER the pump...
and the only things could be blocked oil passageways,
the wrong grade of oil..
or the pressure relief valve getting stuck.....
thereby not regulating the pressure to the factory standard.
Hopefully to be fixed by the new factory part......
That causes low pressure, ask any Ford ecoboost owner with a wet belt.
causes low pressure
The pressure sending unit has inside it a hollow spring that acts against a hairspring, like a mechanical oil pressure gauge has inside it. Over time the hollow spring can start to flatten out, resulting in high readings. The original equipment VDO oil pressure gauges and sending units have been independently tested and found to be accurate and reliable. Once they are a couple decades old, that changes things. Not sure about water temp gauges. I know Dakota Digital cylinder head temp gauges are spot on.
Cheers - yep that's my understanding.
The excessive oil pressure issue sounds like a stuck pressure relief on the oil pump.
So weird and a bit sad to see things going back and being removed.
02:15 Love the moored big work boats
Good luck!
Cheers
One of my dreams (fevered of course) was to own a lifeboat and sail around the UK as a little retirement present to myself. Perhaps it will happen, but probably not.
It would be a slow and rolly dream
@@AlexHibbertOriginals I would be retired, time would not be a constraint, money however would, that is why it will remain a dream. Maybe in the next life.
I know you're not using AI as you have covered that in the past, but wow... this particular video sounds as if you are! It's the first time I have heard what previous comments have mentioned, but you do sound like a bright, shiny Bot here. The back of your hand to that treacherous recording software! Great video as always.
I am watching it in 0.9 Speed. And lime that it sounds fine to me. But also English isn't my first language so the speed of his talks were just a little bit too fast for my ears.
When in doubt, get a sailboat.
Blocked oil way, or relief valve!
Net net … wondering if you will break even parting out all the wonderful work we’ve enjoyed over the last 12 months or so?
Some things are worth more than money, but equally I'm not giving stuff away, or even close to. The channel is valuable to me - you guys - and I do also have a responsibility to subscribers/members.
The channel is good … know you know that. Learned a lot and even have had some suggestions considered on air.
Cheers
Did you film a final tour of Alan before dismantling began?
Not as such, but I did think the interior had been well filmed !
i'm crying
Maybe Alan should be a Narrow Boat on English Canals, he might fit in better ...
Narrowboaters hate lifeboats on the canals. They're weirdly snobby about it.
@@JamieSteam Excellent !!
I agree - the only thing better than annoying channel trolls.
@@JamieSteam So Triple Air-Horns that play Dixie would to much for narrow-boaters, I suppose, just to warn them of Alan's Approach, of course, not wanting to get them "snobby" ...
This seems very disjointed from the last episode with the rescue.
Did Alex provide a retrospective on this where he discusses the factors leading to scrapping the boat? I feel like this channel is very direct with the audience - I am confused…
The boat's not being scrapped. The announcement epsiode was some weeks ago. It was posted out of sequence so that I didn't hold the news back for longer than necessary.
Oil level?
Filter?
Need a thinner oil?
No, no, no.
The oil pump is working.
Wear usually makes an oil pump offer less pressure to the engine lubrication system.
The pressure rise is AFTER the pump.
Two sensors agree to higher pressure.
The only adjustable control to oil pressure fitted to this engine is the spring loaded ball bearing screw-adjustable (and old) pressure relief valve....
a new pressure relief valve most likely will solve the problem.....
(this engine sat for 99% of it's life not working.
Rust never sleeps even in parts of an oil laden system (see YT vids of engine teardowns of Detroit diesels on fishing vessels internally very badly rusted)
and if the oil had drained back to the sump leaving the relief valve exposed to rust...
Your personal Bukh gremlin hunter checking in.
Two, sorry, three points.
- All lifeboat engines suffer from salt air corrosion. In electric connections, bearings and sensors.
- Bukh is known for its poor engineering.
- Boeings whistleblowers mitigation team started its career working for the Bukh company.
Greetings, stay an adventurer and steer clear of Bukhs.
Do you have receipts for any of that?
The engine in Allen was really never interned to run for as long as you operated it, so I suspect that the factory runs that they came from were not the best in the quality control of all of the parts or that the engine's primary use is backup power or propulsion for limited periods, allowing for less durable parts and design than what a main engine would have or even what automotive, agricultural, or utility motors would be built with. The oil passages have either become blocked, the bearing surfaces somewhere have become fouled with something (likely the cam bearings according to most internet information on marine diesels as I know agricultural/generators. This is the opposite of a gas engine where main bearings are usually the culprit.), or the pressure relief valve that you mentioned, which is the most likely problem. The pressure relief valve could just be out of adjustment and had came loose or a spring failed in it. Just a little problem that should be solvable, but you might have damaged the engine and the only way to be sue would be to partially pop it open on the head or look at the ECU. As this has no ECU, you have no idea how long it was operating like this.
It is still most likely that the stalling issue experienced by Allen was caused by the air bubble in the fuel injection system. This is a common problem and bleeding injectors is a very common thing to need to do, but it did highlight safety problems with your plans for the expedition with the reliability of that engine and your ability to repair it while underway. It also highlighted that any vessel intending to go on an ocean expedition really needs two independent forms of propulsion, with very remote or extreme locations needed triple redundancy for safety.
Your decision to pull the plug on the expedition based on the reliability o f the engine aboard Allen was the right call and likely saved the lives of the entire expedition. This is why all vessels have sea trials in safe areas near shore that get steadily more dangerous and remote to see if anything breaks, how the vessel handles the conditions, and how the crew operates on the vessel in those conditions. You did everything right according to my friend that was a Warrant Officer in the U.S. Coast Guard from the instructions he gave me when I was planning to build a boat and test it at sea. Still a sad result, but you learned what not to do and if you want to try another project of this type, you know what to do different and you have taught all of the internet what to do different.
Do you have receipts to show that a Bukh DV48 is not designed to run for more than 300 hours?
People have Bukhs running regularly for 30+ years.
@@AlexHibbertOriginals Years isn't the question on engines like this, its operating hours. Breaking in instructions I am sure were followed with the first 25 hours only at 80% throttle (3200 RPM), as per the Owner's Handbook. Looking up the engine, It should be fine since it was only start tested while in a lifeboat, so the hours should be low. The design was to be in a lifeboat for the model you have, as there are other model numbers that were used for other applications, such as ME for general marine environment and even a sail boat motor model according to one of the maintenance manuals I found for the DV48's.
So, it most likely has softer bearings than the other models to save cost, but you are right that it shouldn't have died this soon. What likely is the problem is what we call in industrial maintenance a "crib death". It's when machinery that works fine on very light duty cycle is taken up past more than just the few hours it has been run and then it just dies with no explanation. It's usually from a weak part or manufacturing error that just never got caught until you put full power to everything.
Had Allen been only used as a lifeboat, even deployed, he would have likely never suffered an engine failure as the hours would have never reached what you have put on the engine, so the design and manufacturing met with intended purpose. I do suspect that if we were to look up the parts for the engine bearings that the lifeboat motor has different bearings than the others, but that is just more work than the reward is worth since the replacement parts might be the same number. Taking it apart and testing the two with Rockwell tools or other diagnostic methods would be the only way to know for sure and I don't think it would be worth it since a spun bearing isn't suspected. No glitter in the oil.
You have actual receipts that the DV20/24/36/48s installed in lifeboats are fundamentally less well made than those installed into thousands of (and run for 1000s of hours) sail boats and other motor boats? The irrational Bukh hate from a few is so strange.
@@AlexHibbertOriginals I do not have those stats, but it is a different sub-model of the engine that the marketing material pushes it for lifeboats and standby use for emergency equipment, so it will be engineered for purpose. It's not a hate on the engine manufacturer or model of engine that I make that statement. It's an educated guess based on my experience and training as an industrial electrician and in the industrial maintenance field working on equipment like small generators and agricultural equipment. There is no reason to have a sub-model unless the company is going to have a reason for it. It might be a certification to go in lifeboats, but that likely is for starting and then running for a certain number of hours after sitting on standby, not constant running.
So we do a check list for what the value engineer is going to hallow out of that model and what a certification body/design engineer/use is going to require. Long running life isn't on that list and bearings for long life is where they can save a lot of money on the engine. Not much, but some. Same goes for the sleeves and valves.
That being said, I don't think that this is what is wrong with Allen's motor. I think you had an air bubble in the fuel system and the high oil pressure is from a problem with the pressure relief valve. I would be looking at pulling the valve as you had planned with an expert at this point, so oil comes out as part of that procedure and check for glitter in it because you do just end up with a crib death with an engine once in a while.
Are you going to miss the sea life? Why don't you get a yacht to finish your journey?
Are you insane?! Like telling someone who loves outer space to get a spaceship. 😂😂😂
I prefer my seas frozen 😂
@@AlexHibbertOriginals So you are building an icebreaker? 🙂
Us lightweights work with the ice, not against it.
Sad. 😢
Your diagnosis is flawed, remove electric sender for oil pressure, screw in adaptor to engine block, use an old school oil gauge with no electrics, chinese gauge with various adaptors set up on amazon around 40 quid. The electric sender is so expensive I'd have needed to be 100% sure.
"Death Sticks"? Passing judgement on smoker?
Yes ! And well earned
Thanks for the journey. A shame the plan changed. But such is life. I wil be unsubscribing since I couldn't care less about how you sell Alan. All the best. Cheers.
A Man is more than the things he owns. Alex is a Genuinely Interesting guy, why not stay for the next interesting quest? it will be your loss. if not, then goodbye.
What can I say. Some are just here for episodes about installing toilet seats.
🤣
Shame you will miss out on some amazing expeditions ahead don’t let the door hit you on the way out
dumbness this episode -- trying to fix a boat youre going to get pennies for.
That's what persons with a conscience do....
Are you in the car dealer trade?
@@JohnSmith-pl2bk no but ive sold boats. you sell it as is and disclose defects if you want to satisfy your conscience but never throw good money after bad. fixing defects has nothing to do with having ethics -- its just stupid. the next buyer might not even need a diesel engine and may go electric.
A working engine is worth much more than a nearly working engine, disproportionate to fair deductions. It's psychology.
@@AlexHibbertOriginals how much more ? would you get significantly more for your boat than what you put into fixing the engine ? i dont think so. ask your buyer and find out.
A 'broken' engine is huge negotiating leverage for a buyer. All the uncertainty that can be mustered up. If you don't believe me...... oh well.