How to Start a Sailboat Engine

Video Transcript

Now we?re going to start the engine and we want to make sure that the engines running and we'll also check to make sure we have it forward and reverse before we actually leave the dock. There's a couple things once the engine gets going that we want to check. So this particular boat, some boats have a separate throttle handle for throttling up and throttling down and a separate handle for changing gears. This particular boat has a single lever and so it throttles up and changes gear simultaneously. You can disengage the transmission by pushing in the red button and then pushing the handle forward. Now you can throttle up without putting it in gear. To engage the transmission you pull it back to the neutral position, which is vertical and then you push it forward and now when we throttle it up it'll be in gear and it'll throttle up as we push it forward. And then to put it in reverse, we pull it backwards and it throttles up as we pull it backwards. So back to the vertical position and you can check to make sure it's in neutral by pushing down. The button, the red button won?t go in unless its actually in neutral. To start this engine, you want to turn on the key and continue to turn it to the right just like your car and it'll start up. It does have, it does have a glow plug with, most sailboats have, older sailboats in particular have a glow plug which heats the cylinders and allows for easier starts. This is a newer engine and generally it's not required to use the glow pug but if you were to use that you would turn it counterclockwise. And hold it there for about twenty to thirty seconds and then you would go ahead and start it. And there it goes. As soon as the engine starts you want to make sure that the engine is discharging water. You recall when we checked the engine valve there was a valve there that drew water in. In addition, you want to make sure that it's discharging it. That also tells you if the valves open or if there's a line is plugged or one of the filters is plugged with debris. So we want to make sure that the engine is discharging water.

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