What color engine smoke is this?
- Thread starter Geoff W.
- Start date
I have calibrated myself to the amount of steam that I see when "everything is working OK." I obsess a little about it too. As a result I do take notice when there is more steam sooner than usual in a normal 2100 rpm run. Recently we had excess steam and a slow boat by about a knot at cruise rpm. Probably a dirty bottom, but I wonder. I'm still working on understanding what was going on. I found my transmission fluid slightly low, but I doubt that is the problem.
Another time we had excess steam it was due to a partially blocked raw water thru-hull and we turned around and re-anchored to troubleshoot. Weeds were plugging the thru-hull and once cleared "everything was working OK."
I do get exhaust odor in the cockpit when wind conditions are right (wrong?) and our dodger can catch and hold the fumes. A following wind usually is the cause. Ordinary exhaust smells bad and is colorless, so knowing what oil smells like vs. regular clean exhaust is pretty important.
Another time we had excess steam it was due to a partially blocked raw water thru-hull and we turned around and re-anchored to troubleshoot. Weeds were plugging the thru-hull and once cleared "everything was working OK."
I do get exhaust odor in the cockpit when wind conditions are right (wrong?) and our dodger can catch and hold the fumes. A following wind usually is the cause. Ordinary exhaust smells bad and is colorless, so knowing what oil smells like vs. regular clean exhaust is pretty important.