Thanks, JGS for the info. So let's ask the post whose handle is steve what he
meant.

steve, is that what you were trying to say? The Andrea Gail had a pony motor
which needed its plugs cleaned the night before sailing to ensure that the
diesel would start when the boat was at sea?

Gee, steve, I would have though a commercial fishing boat would not shut its
engine down while at sea. Are you telling us, steve, that commercial fishing
boats shut down their engine(s) often while at sea and that getting them
restarted can be problematic?

In that case, by all means clean the plugs. This is after you "tear down the
engine" and do a major overhaul after each trip, as you have prior stated.

Again, thanks to JGS for the infomation.

a poster by the handle of steve is struggling with the name and function of
the
plugs on engines used on commercial fishing boats that need to be cleaned by
the crew the night be sailing. he knows they exist and he knows they are
not
cleaned as part of the normal engine tear down and rebuild done after each
trip. he knows the crew does in fact clean them, but he just can't remember
what they are called, nor what their function is.

can someone help steve out here? Does someone know the name and/or function
of
these required-to-be-cleaned-the-night-before-sailing plugs on the engine?
It
seems a couple of other people also have a blank spot as to the
name/function
of these plugs and also would like to know.

Thanks in advance.

I'm not following the thread this topic is being discussed in so
please excuse me if it has already been stated.

Just a wild guess, but here it goes. Large diesel engines require a
pony motor to start them. The pony motors are gasoline engines. The
reference to cleaning plugs may be for the pony motor.

As I said, only a guess. I know gasoline pony motors are used in
commercial mining equipment, bulldozers, large farming tractors,
commercial diesel powered vessels, etc.

A Google search for "pony motor diesel" will give you an idea of the
equipment I am referring too.