Sump Box for the Bilge

The people over at Carbo Rico_Tiburon36 have built a very nice sump box here's how they did it..........
I needed to add a separate sump to our grey water system. I have a store bought sump from Rule in the forward end of the bilge for the head and shower, but needed one to handle everything else including it. At a $100 bucks or more for one of these plastic boxes, I figured I could make one for a lot less.
Here is how I did it. You can build one too. It's fairly simple. I must add I had some scrap Plexiglas already. I bought the 500 gph bilge pump on ebay. The rest was scrap pieces of marine plywood.

Box measure 11x11x6 inches. It is 1/2 inch ply with 3/4 x 1 inch around the inside for a lip to help seal it and give a place to mount the bolts. The plastic screen inside is actually from a craft store. It is used for some kind of needle work.

Build the box. Then give it several coats of thinned epoxy inside and out. Save money, Don't buy CPES epoxy, just cut your already mixed epoxy with some MEK (NOT MEKP), thin till it's just a little thicker than water, almost half and half mix. MEK is just like Acetone, but evaporates much slower. Let it cure between coats, but put the first 2 coats on while still green. Sand for the last coat and thin it only a little or maybe not at all. You'll know you have enough coats when it is very shiny when finished.

Side note; this little trick will help you fix rotted post and the like without buying special epoxy. I actually apply it to porch post and columns before installing them. Then they never rot.

I used 1/4 inch bolts for the lid. Insert them as you make the box.

From Sump

Fit Plexiglas lid.

From Sump

Install pump and float switch.

From Sump

Install all the fittings in the box and screen plus the fuse holder outside.

From Sump

From Sump

Then install it. I eliminated 12 thru hulls with these two sumps. Now I only have 3 thru hulls.
I mounted it to the bilge with some stainless brackets I had. Screw them to the side of the box, make some pads that can be epoxied to the bilge , with bolts so that the whole thing is removable.
It is under the engine, but hopefully it will be somewhat accessible.

Heat Exchanger Modification

After installing a new heat exchanger for our Gen Set, we had no further issues. However, the primary issue of "stuff growing inside our heat exchanger" has not been resolved, and, because the Fischer Panda generator has it's heat exchanger in such an awkward place to service, we decided to modify our new heat exchanger so that it can be cleaned out with the minimal of fuss annually.

  We took our heat exchanger and removed the ends by "unsoldering", so that new ends could be attached that would allow for easy removal.
We attached some brass ends (by soldering) with a reducing thread and then used a threaded cap, and finally a threaded tail to give us our 19mm hose fitting.

In the picture to the right, you can see how easily it is now to remove the end caps to clean the internals of the heat exchanger. And with it's new mounted location, we should no longer have issues with our Gen Set shutting down to over heating.
Since we have been dealing with heat exchangers, we have learnt something. Heat exchangers made from copper and nickel last a lot longer than those just made from copper. All heat exchangers should have some provision for cleaning the "internals". A sacrificial anode is a must. A fresh water flush through the engine and heat exchanger before turning the engine off for prolonged periods, increases the life of the engine and heat exchanger.

Stove Top Plates, Force Ten Stove

And so it goes that not everything one does on a boat always works out the way you would like them to. You may browse an older post where I took our stove top plates that had seen some years of use and started showing signs of rust as the paint wore/burnt off, were refurbished with a coat of high temperature paint. This lasted all of about three months, before the new paint also was "decayed" and rust started to reappear. I could have continuously repainted them, but instead opted for this solution. Hopefully this will work for a longer period of time.

I took the stove tops and took all the paint off with an angle grinder (carefully), and then worked the surfaces back with finer sandpaper, to finally using a scotch brite wheel and then polishing the steel. These were then sent off to be chromed. The underside was just cleaned from the old paint and not finished as well as the top surfaces. You can see the under side of one at the top of the photo.
I know the chrome will discolor with the heat, but should not burn off. Hopefully these will keep rust free and my wife will find cleaning the stove a little easier.
Cost $20 and a little of my time in the workshop. I'll give a report after the next cruising season as to it's effectiveness.

New Autopilot Installation

We have had two autopilots on our Hylas44, but at a couple of times, both have let us down. We were not surprised with our original Robertson as it is very old (1985), but the Furuno has had it's moment too. That left us hand steering through a storm and 72 hrs out from New Zealand. There was just my wife and I. So, we decided after the last "play up" by the Furuno, (going from NZ to Fiji), we would purchase an independent, standalone, autopilot. This is what we installed, a  CPT autopilot, in which information can be found here along with pictures of other types of installations.

We received the package in Fiji after my wife returned to NZ to pick this and other items up. This order was made possible after many phone calls from both ourselves (at sea and using a satellite phone) and our "go between" in NZ. We received the templates via email while at sea (NZ to Fiji); we measured and sent the details back, and the unit was being prepared for export before we even arrived in Fiji. With all the issues that go with ordering an item like this at sea (measurements have to be taken so the correct items can be shipped), we were impressed with the courteous service, the understanding of our situation, and prompt delivery to NZ. We had a limited time frame in which to pick this up from NZ, while my wife was there, and hence the ordering while at sea. All this could have been easier for us if we were ordering while dockside.
We installed following the instruction booklet. We did this dockside and not while at sea. It was straight forward, but you needed a few tools to install; Screw driver, hacksaw verses dremmel, socket set, spanners.
The unit worked very well around Fiji's calm water's. We did not install the belt tensioner as this  was said to be optional. However, in going from Fiji to Vanuatu, the belt would slip and we determined that the tensioner would be needed to prevent this. This happened because we were in bigger seas and the unit had to work a lot harder. Upon reaching Vanuatu, I installed the belt tensioner.

You can see the tensioner mounted on the belt in the picture to the right and above. This proved very satisfactory and did the job well. In sailing from Vanuatu to Australia we tested this unit for the whole seven days it took. At times we had 5 meter swells, beam on, which pushed the boat around a little. We even had to slow the boat down from the 8.5kts-9kts to make the passage a little more comfortable, and yet the CPT autopilot handled these conditions very well. The only time we had to hand steer was when a squall came through at night with 35kt winds and we weren't sufficiently reefed. After reducing sail, the boat went back on autopilot for the rest of the journey with no other issues.
The cost was about $1800 plus some extras and freight. You can get more detail from their web site (linked above) and emailing Jeff. It's a small company, and the service was excellent.
Of note, the specs say the unit uses 0.3 amps, and compared to the Furuno autopilot, which is rated at 3-15 amps, we found this a considerable saving of power usage which we noticed on our battery monitors.
As an aside, we feel the Furuno issue is more to do with the Hydraulic Linear Drive than the Furuno itself. We will investigate this next year. The boat is now in storage till next years cruising season. All projects have been put off till March of next year. (2012)

Heat Exchangers; Somethings to consider for cruisers

For most people traveling in "well to do cruising shores", usually have the means to obtain spares quickly. There are some areas though where spares are hard to get, or if freighted in, present customs difficulties; let alone the cost of it all. So, most cruisers carry what they think they will need. We thought we had most areas covered, but when we arrived in Fiji, we had three of our four heat exchangers go bad in less than one month. The transmission heat exchanger had small pin holes which leaked sea water. This was easily fixed with some solder. The main engine heat exchanger presented itself to my wife and I, by us noticing we were loosing engine fresh water from the "small top off tank". We suspected the fresh water was being lost through a hole inside the heat exchanger to the seawater side. Fortunately I had a spare main engine heat exchanger and replaced it out. The old one was sent for cleaning and testing and our suspicions were confirmed by the engineering firm. A small leak inside the heat exchanger.
(BTY, we hunted for a heat exchanger of any kind and could not find one in Fiji. We knew there would be some place that had one, but we felt we were chasing our "tails". So we went to plan "B". Get one where we know we can source one. Read below.)
The last heat exchanger was on the generator. A Fischer Panda (FP).

You will notice the round heat exchanger, under the motor and bottom hose. Just looking at it, I figured that it is going to be one hell of a job to get that out. We reversed flushed the heat exchanger, and got out a handful of particular matter. Inquiries, told us that this stuff actually "grows" inside and even though we fresh water flush the generator after each use, (flushing out the seawater from the heat exchanger) this wasn't enough to prevent stuff growing and blocking the tubes inside the heat exchanger. The flush worked for a while and the generator ran for some weeks, before it started to over heat again.
So, leaving the FP heat exchanger where it was, and removal for a time when we are in a better location, I decided to install another heat exchanger, out side the casing, and one which I could easily get to the hoses and heat exchanger itself. My wife was making a quick trip back to New Zealand, so I had her procure through contacts, a heat exchanger. This was modified with the appropriate hose tail size to fit the hoses used on the FP. I was very lucky to have someone help me with this while I sat in Fiji. Needless to say communication was a major factor in getting this done. Many thanks to Charles Webster.
When, the unit arrived, I set about modifing the cooling system for the new heat exchanger.

The parts, were carefully checked to make sure I had everything. The 19mm radiator hose is not shown in the picture but I had 4 metres of the hose.
The fresh water and raw water side of the FP heat exchanger were identified  and the existing hoses removed from the fittings at the appropiate end. ( the other end was left attached to the FP heat exchanger, making for an easy reversal if needed.) New hoses were run to the outside of the FP casing, by which I had to drill 3 new holes in its base. The new heat exchanger was mounted to a cross member that sits behind the FP and in front of the main engine. The hoses were hooked up and the generator started. I'm pleased to report that the generator now runs for some hours and the water from the exhaust is no longer very hot but is warm to touch and the unit no longer shuts down itself due to over heating.

Some things to consider. I knew the FP heat exchanger was in poor location and if I ever get it out, will probably put removable end caps on it and mount it outside the sound proof casing just like the new one.
The new one works great, but in the next time the boat is laid up, I might also remove, (and now very easy to do so) and have it modified with removable end caps of a screw off nature.
I'll carry more heat exchangers as spares.
I'll carry a propane torch, easy flow rods, and silfos rods. Solder and soldering iron I already carry.
I will always consider the cost of an airfare to be part of my spares, to procure the item I neglected to have the foresight to carry.
As a bonus, the FP now shuts down from the control panel quickly, and I may remove the second solenoid modification, detailed in a prior blog, because it is not needed and the whole issue of not shutting down may have been due to a protective system in the control module. I'll give it another couple of months yet to see if all is well with the shut down. How do your heat exchangers look? Can you clean them easily? Happy cruising!