The engine, before you need it

A yacht’s diesel asks for almost nothing — but it asks every day. BEFORE STARTING, with the engine cold and the electrics isolated, the round takes two minutes: engine OIL on the dipstick; COOLANT level in the header tank; the drive BELT for tension and black dust (dust means wear); the raw-water SEA STRAINER clear and its seacock open; FUEL enough for the plan plus reserve; and a plain look around the engine bay and bilge for anything new — a drip, a smell, a loose clip. Five looks and a sniff; the acronyms vary, the ritual doesn’t.

BEFORE TURNING THE KEY: battery isolator on, gear lever in NEUTRAL, throttle set, and a glance over the side and under the stern — no lines in the water waiting for the propeller. The mooring warp around the prop is the classic self-inflicted MaydayMaydayThe distress call: grave and imminent danger to vessel or life. Outranks everything on the air.full glossary →, and it is prevented entirely at this step.

AFTER STARTING, the engine reports in two ways and you check both: COOLING WATER spitting rhythmically from the exhaust within seconds — none means a blocked intake or dead impeller, and the answer is stop NOW, before heat wrecks the pump and worse; and the oil-pressure alarm silent. Then a brief test ahead and astern while still made fast, because the moment to discover a gearbox problem is not mid-berth. Keep a one-line engine log (hours, oil, anything noticed): trends catch failures while they are still cheap.