Course Outline
Learn how to look after a marine diesel engine and practice simple maintenance procedures on this enjoyable and informative hands-on course.
This course will give you the knowledge to carry out routine daily maintenance checks on a marine diesel engine and diagnose and rectify common minor malfunctions. You will learn how a diesel engine works and how all the sub-systems – fuel, oil and cooling – work. You will learn how to bleed a fuel system, change fuel filters, do an oil and filter change and replace a defective cooling water pump impeller. You will gain hands on experience working on a real diesel engine with real components but in a classroom environment.
On any small craft, a reliable diesel engine is an important piece of safety equipment to say nothing of the inconvenience and pressure on the skipper when something goes wrong. Mechanical breakdown is the most common cause of RNLI launches to assist small craft. When things go wrong at sea engineering help is usually some way away. Even in a harbour it may take days rather than hours to get help – especially on a bank holiday weekend. Yet most problems can be avoided by simple housekeeping and proper maintenance. Even simple daily inspections before setting off can detect problems and solve them in the convenience of your home port. And if you have some basic knowledge the most common problems can often be diagnosed and perhaps fixed. At least you will be able to talk sensibly with a technician on the end of a phone line.
