I waited to see if delacova responded. You will note that he spoke of "white smoke" upon starting a cold engine. "White smoke", as most people call it, is raw, unburned, atomized fuel "cloud" and not smoke at all. This is usually indicative of a very worn engine, especially if engine block heaters are being utilized and given the fact that they are functioning properly.
The fuel doesn't ignite due to a lack of sufficient compression to create the heat in the cylinder required to burn the fuel. A fresh, properly operating, 2 cycle Detroit Diesel does not typically emit "white smoke" on start up in temperate climates and even in cold climate the starts are "white smoke" free when engine block heaters are used.
"White smoke" is obviously where his "fuel sheen" on the water was originating and I really don't remember if I did or did not try to respond to him at the time. I probably meant to but didn't for some reason.
At any rate, it is clear to me that his engines were, most likely, worn to the point of having fairly low compression when cold and were probably experiencing some excessive cranking before friction in the cylinder would build enough heat to fire the fuel. Not much to be done but to "kit" the cylinders to alleviate that problem although the block heaters are always a good first try.