[Public-List] Brought SURPRISE home

[Gordon Laco]

Good morning gang -

Caroline and I brought SURPRISE home from her winter harbour after dinner
yesterday.  That involved a 90 minute run on the engine at about 1200 rpm
with occasional spurts to full power just to try things out.  Before leaving
Penetanguishene I did an oil change.  On my mechanic friend¹s advice I went
for a heavier grade of oil and used the Œsnake oil¹ additive, which I had
earlier put a little of into each cylinder through the spark plug holes.

Guess what.

At 1200 rpm there was no discernable smoking from the engine.  The wisp I
had earlier detected from the manifold disappeared.  The engine ran cool and
smooth the whole time.  I opened the throttle to full power a couple of
times to see what would happen... The only result was the boat bounding up
to hull speed, settling between her bow and quarter waves... And a slight
wisp of vapour in the exhaust.  At the end of the run the oil was still
clean and there was never any pressure evident in the crank case as might
have been the case if worn rings were allowing blow-by to blast down past
the pistons.

So what am I to think?  Did the Œsnake oil¹ additive work?  Were the
symptoms that alarmed me earlier caused by remnants of the fogging oil I
winterized the engine with burning off?  Was the vapour from the manifold
just exterior water steaming off?  Is there indeed a tiny crevice there, but
it was closed by a piece of crud in the manner an old car¹s radiator can
seal itself?

I suppose I will not do anything to the engine, just use it as usual, and
watch it carefully, also as usual.

Interesting...

Gord #426 SURPRISE