The great colossal mess of June 8, 2011

Now the Great Colossal Mess of June 8, 2011 really manifested itself on March 27th, 2011 but it was actually created February 12, 2011. The story of the mess was written at sea on February 19, 2011 when I discovered the mess which had not manifested itself yet.

　

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I have just gotten on board an hour or so ago and my relief told me that the newbie has overfilled the starboard lube oil tank and that when I change the generator oil to make sure I get the oil out of the port lube oil tank so as to make sure that when the starboard oil tank heats up it will make a mess.

He wants to teach a little school, I guess.

My prediction is that there is going to be a godawful mess made when the oil in the tank expands and forces itself out of the vent. With any luck it will happen when the diesel is running and the fans will splatter it all over hell.

We'll see what happens.

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I am home now and just got a call. It is March 30th and apparently the mess,which I had predicted for sometime in early June has happened and is now cleaned up. According to my relief the newbie spent over 30 hours cleaning the mess up. Apparently it was pretty spectacular and the youngster has learned a valuable lesson regarding the expansion characteristics of oil.

I'm disappointed in a way because I would like to have seen the mess because the way my relief told me the story it would have been hilarious to see.  After all I didn't have to clean it up. He said it was pretty spectacular. Readers can use their imaginations and visualize 5 gallons of lube oil being propelled by a huge fan from a roaring diesel.

As of now I know that if I ever sail with the newbie I can safely assign him the duty of filling the fuel tank because I know he will leave at least six inches of dead air space to allow for expansion.

The reader can say that my relief and I are cruel for doing this to a newbie but we are not. Some lessons for some people have to be learned the hard way and this newbie is simply one of those people.

For him this was a relatively cheap lesson because there is no room for error in the fuel and cargo end of things. This guy from now on will never overload a tank again.

He'll also make it a point to check the engine room nore often during pump-offs.


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