Hi! On the T&T forum, this question was raised by me when Scott on Idlewild shut down his engine mid indian ocean to change the oil and then could not get it started because he had left it in gear. I think the general consensus was that if you know how much oil your engine is consuming, then you could add "blindly" to keep it at a reasonable level. You also could change it just before a long passage even though it is not due just to be on the safe side. You could also adjust your oil changes based on oil analysis sampling also. But, in the end, I think most agreed shutting down mid-ocean just is not worth the worrying about "will it start?" Twin engine folks had a different opinion.... Lee Ankara ____________________________________________ Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:55:41 -0400 From: Georgs Kolesnikovs <georgs@trawlersandtrawlering.com> Subject: [PUP] Bluewater 05/18/06: Contrary currents and oil checks To: Passagemaking Under Power List <passagemaking-under-power@lists.samurai.com> Message-ID: <p06230918c0926359b513@[10.0.1.2]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" At sea 635 miles south of Bermuda. Date and time: Thursday, May 18, Noon AST Position: 19-05.5 N 64-26.8 W ..... There's a question sometimes debated by offshore passagemakers: What do you do about checking the oil? My rule is to never shut down a well running main engine at sea just to check oil. As far as I am concerned, the downside of interrupting the heartbeat of a running engine at sea and not being able to re-start it is far outweighs the upside of making sure the oil is right up to the top mark on the dipstick. If the engine loses enough oil to pose a danger to itself, the oil pressure will drop, the alarm will sound, and THEN we'll shut down. In nearly 800 hours of engine time, our Lugger main engine has never consumed as much as a quart of oil so I am comfortable with the risk of not checking oil for days at a time. Bruce Kessler says the better choice is to have a Murphy Gauge which shows the oil level at all times, but my own take is that a Murphy Gauge adds plumbing and complexity, with the risk that entails. --Milt, Judy, Dean and Schipperke Katy -- Milt Baker Bluewater Nordhavn 47 #32 http://www.bluewaternav.com