White Pepper Brought to a Stop by a Mud Dauber

White Pepper was motoring south through Daytona Beach on a break-in run of the new motor, a Yanmar 3JH. The previous day the motor had stopped because of a loose pin in the wiring harness of the ignition system. This day, however, was to prove even more stressful.

The motor had stopped once already. I had quickly changed the fuel filter which was dirty enough to convince me that this was the cause. I should have been suspicious because the newly installed vacuum gauge did not indicate a serious obstruction. We got though the bridges of Daytona Beach in good order . Then the motor stopped again. After checking on the filter which was clean I could not refill the Racor filter bowl. The fuel kept running out. “Oh, no!” I thought a new fuel line has ruptured. But the bilge was clean. There was only one place the fuel could be going—back into the fuel tank. There must be a vacuum in the fuel tank. I went topsides to the fuel fill line and opened the cap. There was a “whoosh” relieving the vacuum. I restarted the motor leaving the fuel cap open , and it ran fine.

All this time Jan had been sailing down the ICW with a rolled out jib. We diverted to Inlet Marina, which is a small marina between the ICW and the northern branch of the Ponce Inlet.

Inlet Marina was great! They welcomed us and were very helpful for the three days we were there trying to straighten out the problem. After all we could not continue on with the fuel fill line open to the elements.

The next day I took off the fuel tank vent line. Actually, one of the marina's dock hands, George Torzsa, did the honors as he was thin enough to fit into the very tight quarters of the stern. The line was completely blocked with the nest of a mud dauber. There was even a dead wasp in the debris. Once the mess was cleaned up the motor ran without problems.

Mud daubers are solitary wasps that build nests of mud in tight spaces. The issue is well known in boating circles. It coulda/shoulda been prevented by blocking the vent with tape or bronze wool when she was laid up for storage. This problem will not happen next year.

Of interest, Wikipedia Encyclopedia, records two episodes of fatal crashes of commercial airliners due to mud daubers clogging vital tubes.

I was so spooked by the motor stopping 3 times in 2 days that I arranged for the fuel to be polished. Neel Larsen of Fuelbrite LLC, Palm Coast, Florida came to the marina and filtered the old fuel. He pulled out lots of bio film and solid debris, but no water. He made the cloudy fuel clear. Maybe I wimped out by having the fuel polished, but just knowing that there is no water in the fuel tank will be reassuring.

The next day the motor ran great covering the 39 statute miles between Ponce Inlet and Titusville in only five hours. She never missed a beat.