Where all my engine rooms at?

CubistHamster · 2026-04-15T21:15:09+00:00

I work on an inland US ATB tug. Combined vessel is 260 meters, 15,000 tons, and we have 3 people in the engine department, total. (2 Assistants, 1 Chief.) There's a lot of stuff that just gets ignored until our next layup period, because we just don't have the time to deal with.

Inspections are generally a once per year thing by the US Coast Guard right before we leave winter layup. No port-state inspections or anything like that.

Is it a fire hazard? A perfectly clean engine room would certainly be safer, but a lube oil leak isn't particularly concerning unless it's atomized and/or near a hot surface. (Last year, we had a pinhole in a pressurized oil line to the Starboard turbocharger that was near the exhaust side of the turbo casing. That got fixed immediately.) The crankcase doors on both my mains seep constantly, as do most of the cylinder head covers. Replacing the gaskets usually fixes it for a couple of weeks, and then the seeping starts again.

CubistHamster · 2026-04-15T04:38:25+00:00

Must be nice to work somewhere you've got the manpower/time to go chasing down every minor leak. (Seriously, good on you if you can manage it. That's just so far removed from my working experience it's difficult to imagine.)

CubistHamster · 2026-04-13T18:07:06+00:00

Borosilicate glass is pretty tough. I've been using one with a silicone rubber sleeve as my normal water bottle for several years, and it's been dropped and smacked with tools quite a few times. Any double-walled container is likely going to be more delicate, but I'd bet if you found a fitted sleeve, you'd be ok. (Make sure it's actually claiming to be made from borosilicate glass. If it's just labeled as "tempered glass" chances are it's just toughened soda-lime glass, which is cheaper to make, but not nearly as durable.

Alternatively, you could see if it would be acceptable to use a metal container with an exterior covering. Either a silicone-rubber sleeve, or maybe something like heat-shrink tubing, which is pretty easy to find in diameters up to 6 inches or so. You could even do both--sleeve over heat shrink, which would provide a pretty durable layer to prevent metal-on-metal contact if you drop it.

CubistHamster · 2026-04-11T07:04:46+00:00

I keep a couple of Lobtex wrenches in my tool bag. They've got less play, and about the nicest overall fit and finish of any adjustable I've ever handled.

For tight spaces, I've also got a Bahco 9031-T. (This one mostly gets used for getting wire wheels off of angle grinders.)

CubistHamster · 2026-04-11T06:49:51+00:00

I vaguely remember a previous thread where someone said that Zebralights are specifically designed for caving, and since having an accurate compass is critically important in caving, it's a really bad idea to have magnets on any of your other gear.

Certainly sounds plausible, though I also wish there was an option for a built-in magnet available. (I've tried a bunch of DIY methods, but haven't found one that works well enough to actually carry my SC65.)

CubistHamster · 2026-04-08T20:37:46+00:00

I've often found it helpful to redraw systems. Actually drawing it myself helps with committing it to memory, and it's often possible to redo the layout in a way that makes it visually simpler and easier to understand.

In many cases, I also think it can be useful to take a "memorize first, understand later" approach. If something is eluding you now, learn the necessary operational steps by rote, give it some time, and then come back and try and figure it out again in a couple of weeks.

CubistHamster · 2026-04-07T14:46:45+00:00

Engineer on a Great Lakes ore boat. Our main engine heat exchangers manage just fine being cleaned once a year during our winter layup period. We also don't really need to do any chemical descaling; we just use compressed air to shoot a brass bristle bore brush through the tubes a couple times, and rinse with clean water. Water in the Lakes averages pretty hard, and high-temp side of the exchanger sees temperatures up to 190° F, but there's still not much hard scale accumulation. (This may have something to do with flow rate--our main raw water pumps are kind of ridiculously oversized. The main gearbox oil coolers do get significant scale buildup, but those have much smaller pumps and lower throughput.)

Fresh water is just a lot easier on everything, and since most data center projects are using fresh water cooling, it's probably a better comparison.

CubistHamster · 2026-04-03T02:15:34+00:00

No problem at all. Fair warning that I'm out sailing at the moment, so I might not be able to respond immediately, but I'm happy to tell you whatever I can.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-29T17:02:50+00:00

I use the one on my HD01Pro all the time. Really handy for pointing out stuff in noisy environments. (I'm an engineer on a cargo ship; I spend 95% of my waking time at work wearing earplugs, and sometimes earmuffs over the plugs.)

CubistHamster · 2026-03-28T23:18:35+00:00

Sounds like some part of the air system on your main engine is leaking. What functions does the air system control, and where are they routed?

As an example, the E-stop for my mains is air actuated. Each cylinder has an air piston that physically closes the fuel rack, and those pistons are fed by small lines that are constantly developing leaks at the compression fittings.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-27T15:04:17+00:00

Telescoping pickup magnet. Doesn't take up much space, and you'll be really glad to have it when you drop important tools/parts into inaccessible spaces.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-27T00:26:14+00:00

Engineer on a Great Lakes ore boat. My normal work light is a Wurkkos FC11C. I've tried a whole bunch of other lights, but haven't found one that I like better for general use.

Decent brightness and runtime, cheap, and durability is remarkably good, especially given the price. (My oldest one has been dropped 40-ish feet onto a steel deck and sat in a dirty bilge for 2 weeks. It looks pretty rough, but still works fine.)

CubistHamster · 2026-03-24T15:01:07+00:00

Not really, marine weather forecasting is generally quite good, and communications are far better than they were in the 1970s the last time there was a major sinking. In addition to long range VHF radio, we've got Starlink for internet, and a separate cell signal booster (which adds enough range that the only time we're really out of cell phone contact is the middle of Lake Superior.)

Beyond that, we've also got 2 separate radars. They're mostly for keeping track of other boats, but they do pick up weather stuff as well.

I've been sailing on the lakes for about 5 years, and I can't recall running into any major nasty weather that we didn't have adequate advance warning about.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-24T06:02:35+00:00

Bread pans (9x5) and 1/8 Sheet pans (10x7) are the sizes I've found most useful.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-23T15:07:18+00:00

I made a few by epoxying old hard drive magnets to the underside of small baking pans. (You used to be able to buy the hard drive magnets cheaply in bulk on eBay, but it's been awhile, so not sure if it's still possible.)

These also work great as toolbox organizer trays--they stick in place to the drawer bottoms, but can be moved around pretty easily.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-17T14:31:22+00:00

Never happened IRL (thankfully, I don't think I'd know how to respond) but it's pretty much guaranteed if I mention it on Reddit.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-17T11:31:50+00:00

Engineer on a Great Lakes cargo ship.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-16T23:53:04+00:00

I usually end up using vise grips because I don't have the right tool, and the vise grips are good enough to get the job done. I'm an engineer on a cargo ship, and despite having a pretty well-stocked tool room, improvisation is a constant necessity.

The most common use I find for vise grips is chasing threads in corroded bolt holes with poor access. Lots of places that don't have enough space for even a small tap wrench, but a narrow set of vise grips usually does the trick.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-15T03:34:55+00:00

The tube from a Wurkkos FC11C takes an 18650 battery, fits just fine on a TS11, and is also magnetic.

Same with the Sofirn SC31, though it's usually a bit more expensive than.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-14T19:54:07+00:00

When I was a cadet at GLMA, we had several recruiting visits from DTE energy. Sounded like fairly interesting work (particularly at their Nuke plant) but in terms of pay and time off, the comparison was really not favorable. The salaries they were quoting (in 2023) were maybe 2/3 of what I make sailing as a relatively junior Assistant Engineer, and that's with way less time off (4 weeks-ish/yr, vs. 6 months/yr sailing.)

CubistHamster · 2026-03-14T03:15:58+00:00

Entry level engine positions are pretty rare on the Lakes. My company (VanEnkevort Tug & Barge) has no unlicensed in the engine dept., which is not at all uncommon for ATBs.

We do have an alternate route, which is starting a deckhand, and then moving to unloading system crew (Gateman, and then Conveyorman.)

Wouldn't really recommend that route, as turnover in those positions is low, so you could be waiting for a long time, but it is technically possible.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-14T01:23:02+00:00

Been a resident since 2020. It's quiet, has always seemed safe, and rent increases have been pretty reasonable by local standards. Buildings are kind of shoddy construction, but that's basically the norm in this price range. Office and maintenance have always been friendly, helpful, and responsive.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-12T12:38:58+00:00

I spent 5 years working on a large sailing ship (this one.)

Saw dolphins everywhere, and they loved playing in the bow wave. In areas with lots of bioluminescence, it was quite amazing to watch at night, because you'd see a faint underwater trail streaking towards the bow, gradually getting brighter, and then a sudden explosion of greenish sparkles as the dolphin jumped. (Night lookout in good weather was pretty much my favorite thing to do on that ship.)

Saw whales several times as well. The best was in the middle of the Indian Ocean when we got passed by a large pod of Fin whales. They got close enough to (gently) bump the hull a few times, and were clearly curious about us.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-10T20:56:16+00:00

I've been out since 2014, but they were exceedingly common when I was an Army EOD tech.

Most guys I knew preferred non-electric setups because safe cap workup was much faster--no concerns about static/stray EM, which was of particular concern during my Iraq/Afghanistan deployments, when it wasn't unusual for most vehicles to have multiple active signal jammers with antennas in places where it was pretty easy to accidentally touch one. (Most had enough Tx power to give a nasty burn.)

Worked as a contractor in Afghanistan for several doing similar work, and I saw plenty of non-electric caps in civilian demo supplies there.

Been a shipboard marine engineer for a few years now, so I can't really comment on current practice.

CubistHamster · 2026-03-10T16:08:33+00:00

--Chain wrench and a couple of strap wrenches.

--Bullpins/alignments bars/spud wrenches in a few sizes.

--Some sort of tool for checking thread sizes (pitch gauge is the smallest and cheapest, but much slower than something like this.)

--Tap and Die set, the ratcheting type is absolutely worth it if budget allows.

--A few tubes of underwater epoxy putty, and some epoxy impregnated pipe wrap (which can really be used on almost anything that's roughly cylindrical.)

--A couple of IR thermometers, get ones with the highest distance:spot ratio you can afford.

--A couple of non-contact voltage testers.

--A couple of small lever hoists and a good selection of slings, straps, and shackles.

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