It's official. I'm a trawler owner.

That after cooler looks like it will cleanup just fine. Then lots of grease, o-rings, and a pressure test and you should be good to go.

By the way, when I did mine i bought two rubber plumbers plugs for the seawater openings, and made up an air fill and gauge assembly out of off the shelf fittings that screwed into one of the zinc plug holes. That allowed for pressure testing overnight to verify everything was good. It was probably $20 or $30 worth of parts.

I soaked mine in vinegar and simple green for a day and a half. After that it was easy to clean out every tube with a rod. Worked perfectly and your tubes look to be in about the same state as mine when I started. The pressure test is a great idea. I didn't do it but will on my next clean up.

When you reassemble the aftercooler the grease to use is Alco Metalube. You can get it from Seaboard. It's on their site or just call them.
It is the best grease that Tony has found and he recommends it heavily.

ALso for hoses I use Rectorseal #5 - just a thin smear. Some greases may attack some hose rubbers. The #5 was Tony's idea also. That you can get at Home Depot or Seaboard when you get the Alco.
VERY Good going. You won't be sorry you are doing this work now and not waiting for the overheat you were headed for.

twistedtree said:

That after cooler looks like it will cleanup just fine. Then lots of grease, o-rings, and a pressure test and you should be good to go.

By the way, when I did mine i bought two rubber plumbers plugs for the seawater openings, and made up an air fill and gauge assembly out of off the shelf fittings that screwed into one of the zinc plug holes. That allowed for pressure testing overnight to verify everything was good. It was probably $20 or $30 worth of parts.

Click to expand...

What psi did you pressurize to? I think i can handle that.

C lectric said:

When you reassemble the aftercooler the grease to use is Alco Metalube. You can get it from Seaboard. It's on their site or just call them.
It is the best grease that Tony has found and he recommends it heavily.

ALso for hoses I use Rectorseal #5 - just a thin smear. Some greases may attack some hose rubbers. The #5 was Tony's idea also. That you can get at Home Depot or Seaboard when you get the Alco.
VERY Good going. You won't be sorry you are doing this work now and not waiting for the overheat you were headed for.

Click to expand...

Alco metal lube. I need to order a couple more things from them as well. I will just add that to the list. Thank you!

Go bligh - GO! Nothing like re doing your new girls insides during first dates! Better than breast enhancement, IMHO... I prefer nats! Probably last longer too before a blow out!!

bligh said:

What psi did you pressurize to? I think i can handle that.

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I don't recall, to be honest. My turbo boost is just under 30 PSI, so there is an argument to go to that pressure, but I don't think I did. I know I was unsure how well the plumbers plugs would hold, so I'm sure I chickened out before 30 psi. I probably went to 15-20, assuming that any leaks would show at that pressure. Just be sure the plugs point somewhere harmless in case they pop out.

I think the air couplers assembly parts sequence was, starting at the zinc fitting:

1) Tee to a pressure gauge

2) ball valve

3) Nipple to connect an air hose.

Just connect the air hose, crack the valve to pump up the aftercooler to the desired pressure, then close the valve to seal off pressurized assembly.

I then checked all the joints and plumbers plugs with soapy water to be sure I didn't have leaks in the fittings and plugs that might cause a loss of pressure other than through the AC seals.

When it held overnight, I declared success. Been running on them (I have twins) for two years now.

Hey, while you have the air hose out, you should fill up a few bladders and float that boat in your profile

twistedtree said:

Hey, while you have the air hose out, you should fill up a few bladders and float that boat in your profile

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Peter, are you waiting for delivery before doing the same and updating your avatar? IMO, if you're going to post pics of her backside, we deserve to see her topsides!

FlyWright said:

Peter, are you waiting for delivery before doing the same and updating your avatar? IMO, if you're going to post pics of her backside, we deserve to see her topsides!

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I'll have to see if I can dig up one. I have over 2000 pictures so far, but most are super close-ups of little details, hidden wire chases, and all the stuff that you can't easily see once a boat is finished.

That's what I'm talkin' about!!

Here's an Avitar candidate, at least for now.

But lets not hijack this thread - it's a good one.

This thread is a must read for those with a new to them or contemplating the purchase of a used trawler. Bligh has sought advice, gone to the pros, and got right with it regarding a proper cooling system service for newer engine designs.

Also Bligh has noted the surveyor was clueless (common) and the PO not boat savvy (unfortunately common too) in letting things slide as he did.

Bligh, a question/comment - given the state of the fouled TX cooler are you planning on setting up a TX temp or pressure gauge to be able to spot any issues that may be lingering? Also, the minimum pressure to test your AC at is boost plus about 20% or nearing 35 to 40 PSI.

Good job, you're obviously not a rookie at this.

Was that a transmission oil cooler, or an engine oil cooler?

sunchaser said:

Bligh, a question/comment - given the state of the fouled TX cooler are you planning on setting up a TX temp or pressure gauge to be able to spot any issues that may be lingering? Also, the minimum pressure to test your AC at is boost plus about 20% or nearing 35 to 40 PSI.

Good job, you're obviously not a rookie at this.

Click to expand...

1) Regarding the TX temp/pressure gauge: No, I hadnt thought of it. Knowing the previous owner, I know he never ran the boat at higher RPM's. He was too cheap to possibly stand that kind of fuel burn. At this point , I'm going to rely on the oil survey from the transmission, which recommended that I change the oil and retest after another 150 hours.

2 FYI, I am a rookie at marine diesel engine work. Everything I have done so far is from reading the cummins engine manual, advice here, and advice/literature from boatdiesel.com. I do have a mechanical background, though, that helps a lot.

Bligh, you have saved yourself several thousand dollars by doing this job. I suggest that you check the HX end caps carefully for corrosion. Depending on the attitude of the boat salt water can remain on them to some degree.

Kudos for having the drive and ability to get this job done.

Moonstruck said:

Bligh, you have saved yourself several thousand dollars by doing this job. I suggest that you check the HX end caps carefully for corrosion. Depending on the attitude of the boat salt water can remain on them to some degree.

Kudos for having the drive and ability to get this job done.

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Thanks MS. Heat exchanger is on the other side of the engine. From what i can see, salt water is in the entire raw water system all the time. I don't see any way it can drain out when the engine is shut down. It looks like it gets shot into the exhaust after it is cycled through all the coolers. And it is pretty high up on the engine -well above all the heat exchangers. I haven't gotten over there yet. But I do have a new one on the way. I do t want to take any chances with my cummins and the exiting one is original from 1999. I have heard that people clean them with acid, and that can't be too good for it longevity wise, so I figured I'd start fresh.

I was cleaning my aftercooler with a sump pump and 4 gallons of vinegar today in my shop sink. I ended up getting called out to a job. I forgot to turn the pump off before I left. Someone called me later and told me vinegar was spraying all over the place and they unplugged my pump. I didn't go back to the shop today. Hopefully no damage, I'll find out tomorrow.

Here is a little tip if you feel it's worth doing. When you are going to leave the boat close the engine intake seacock. Take the top off the sea water strainer, and run fresh water in it with the engine running. It will only take a few minutes, and you will leave fresh water in your system. Of course, then put the top back on, and open the seacock.

Or you could ditch the whole Redwood City idea and stay in the Delta Bligh. I prefer my water un-salted

CPseudonym said:

Or you could ditch the whole Redwood City idea and stay in the Delta Bligh. I prefer my water un-salted

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I have to say that although we are surrounded by crackhead (no, really!) livaboards in our 'marina' living off the 'system', the place is really growing on me. It doesn't hurt either that my 10 year old caught 5 LM bass off the docks last Sunday.

If you need help selecting a marina shoot me a PM. Trust me, you can do better. I'll be on the boat Friday doing boat chores.

Redneck heat exchanger cleaning.

Now that I'm a delta rat (for now) I thought I would employ some down home strategies to clean my heat exchanger. Here I have a sump pump, a washing machine hose , a male x male hose to hose fitting, my office trash can, two gallons of white vinegar, and a garden hose watering contraption that just pours water out without splashing. Watch the video for some 'live action'.

my new heat exchanger came today..
sorry, I'm going to leave it in the box for a while.
note the smaller box with the 3/16" brass rod from amazon ($2.97 +$9 shipping)

Update

After cooler went in without a hitch. The orings that seal the core inside the heat exchanger seemed a little thin to actually make the seal, but the crew from seaboard marine assured me that they would seal.
We ran the boat to Pittsburg and back over memorial day weekend and it ran fine.

I did , however notice about a gallon of water in the bilge after our trip. I though it might have come in through the air intake while we were washing the boat down at the Pittsburg marina. But just in case, this weekend, I ran the boat pretty hard for about 15 minutes and jumped down in ER and found a couple of leaks on the RW hoses. I didnt have a lot of time as I had to get back to Santa Cruz, but I plan on adding another set of clamps on each hose to seal them up so they dont leak.

In other news

I noticed the bowls in my racors were dirty. The first time I drained the bowl, there was water in it and I couldn't even tell because the bowls were so dirty. I only drained about 1/2 cup of water out of the 900fg, but I was concerned that I should at least be able to visually detect water in the fuel, so cleaning the bowls was on my list.
I got a racor rebuild kit off of ebay for about 26 bucks- see picure.
Also shown is the racor drained of fuel. notice the dirty bowl.

Here is the Racor disassembled. Notice the dirt and some of the parts. There was dirt in the bowl, but there was also something else. It was plastic that had been damaged by the diesel (or something in the diesel) i think. It looked like varnish, but wasn't. I tried carburetor cleaner, but it damaged the bowl as well. Ok, so time to order a new bowl. Thats ok, though because my insurance company want the fuel bowls to have a heat deflector as well. The stock bowl is amber plastic. I'm not sure why they colored the bowl in the first place. A clear bowl is much more appropriate anyhow. I sent an email to discountracor.com to get the right parts. I'll give them a day or so to get back to me. Regardless, I re-assembled the fuel filter wit the old bowl. After all, I still want to be able to leave the dock!

Here is the racor reassembled. Notice the coloring compared to genny racor next to it. Definitely cleaner.

Windshield wipers

When I bought the tug, I know I was going to need to replace the windshield wipers. They weren't even touching the windshield.

I called A&M Equipment and Butch knew exactly what I needed and
I ordered new arms and pantographic adapters.

Well they arrived and we got the old arms off of the posts which seem pretty corroded. See picture. We couldnt get the 'knurl' off the post so I gave them a shot of Kroil and let them soak in that for the week. I called AM Equipment again to see if I should replace them and they said to try and use them if you can so I'll try taking them off with a gear puller next weekend.

At this point, I must make the observation that even buying a boat with a relatively clean surevey is a lot of work. If anyone out there reading this is contemplating buying a boat, definitely remember that any boat you buy is going to require work. In my case, I'm 8 weeks into this and I am only able to work on the boat on weekends when I dont have family obligations. As you can probably see, if you have read this thread, very few of the projects go 'as planned'. they often require multiple trips to the hardware store or internet orders. Also in my case, I am working on weekends and don't have access to parts on weekends other than west marine. In general, I dont mind most of the work- sometimes I even enjoy it. I also know that working on the boat will help me understand it better- which give me greater confidence in myself and the boat.

Knowing that my boat has not been used in a while, I had the option of getting the fuel polished by an outside contractor after I purchased the boat. Second had quotes for this service ranged from $1200 to $2500. Instead I opted for one of these. I'm trying to figure out where to mount it. Once it is mounted, installation should be a snap. But I am wondering where to poach the DC electrical supply from. All of my DC breakers are taken up, but I think one of them is for a SSB radio that I can abandon. I can tie the SSB into one of the existing navigation equipment breakers. Does anyone else have ideas for the electrical connections for this device?
Thanks
Scott