Terry Streeter wrote: > Peter Stockdale asked: >> As a non boatowner I am perplexed ! >> Is "neutral" not a more or less a universal feature of boat >> engines these days. >> Why is it therefore necessary to run ones engine in gear to >> extract non propulsion power from it ? > > > AIUI, running an engine for long periods of time with no significant > loading can cause the bores to 'glaze'. An alternator does not > provide any real load for the engine to work against. This is > supposed to be bad for the engine, causing poor compression?? > > Terry Streeter - Belgium
I think the glazing issue is more to do with oil grade than load. The amount of "load" from the prop is not that great - after all it's usually at a low rev. I never run in gear as I can certainly know about the load of the alternator - as I hear the Adverc doing the cycles and the engine speed rises and falls. In general NB diesels never really work hard (except when you round a bend and see a boat blocking the next bridge 'ole!) Ron Jones Process Safety & Development Specialist Don't repeat history, unreported chemical lab/plant near misses at http://www.crhf.org.uk Only two things are certain: The universe and human stupidity; and I'm not certain about the universe. ~ Albert Einstein
