Marine Diesel Class

In our continuing quest for knowledge of all things sailing and boating AND as an offensive move to be worthy of our Yanmar 56...we have just returned from Marine Diesel Class at the Annapolis School of Seamanship.














A VERY worthwhile use of time and $$. We both took Level 1.














(As one friend - who shall remain nameless (KIM) giggled as she pictured me in class)...I was a bit worried that I would be in a class with a bunch of guys that already knew a ton about diesels and I would end up being the.....Elle Woods (think movie Legally Blond) of Marine Diesel Class but I wasn't. There were 16 of us total in level 1, three nautical chicks including me.
OK - there was ONE Elle Woods moment involving a cap labeled 710 but everyone else in the class was questioning it too, I just happened to be the "blond" that asked. Turns out it's a little engine humor that Scott likes to throw in each class to see who he can trip up.
Figure it out yet? 710? Cap labeled 710? Turn it over.....710....OIL. See, not so easy.






The school setup, classroom layout, visual aids - (the engines) and hands on were great. John Martino, Annapolis School of Seamanship owner and Scott Segal (AR Marine) expertly guided through the mysterious and wondrous world of marine diesels.














This one even had "windows" cut into various areas so we could actually see inside. Scott -(of AR Marine) fired it up and let us look in the various "windows" so we could see first hand what
happens.


















Level 1 class was 9am-4pm for two days. Our syllabus included Principles of Operation, Anatomy of a Diesel Engine, Maintaining Your Engine and Troubleshooting. There was plenty of opportunities to get engine oil up under our nails as we took apart various areas of the engines, learned to bleed the fuel lines, changed impellers, changed the oil and filter, etc.... as well as some tricky troubleshooting.














Cap10 Tom went on to take the level 2 class while I made "friends" in Annapolis and specifically Eastport. I am going to let him personally share his experiences in Level 2 class.
For me, I now know the basics of marine diesel engines. How they work, the pieces and parts, maintenance musts, some of the things that can do wrong and how to best methodically troubleshoot any issues early on. I would strongly recommend this class for anyone with a marine diesel engine.