Thanks Doug.
It gives the rest of us something to shoot for. After the 1st of the year, I’ll take a crack at removing the rest of the outer quiet box during one of our winter warm spells.
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T MACDONNELL
2004 Mainship 400
Bay Retriever
Yep, looks just like mine now. Need to change the coolant later towards the spring and I will try to use this new invention I created.
I made this contraption because I struggled with winterizing the air conditioning. I like to run the pink anti-freeze through it and I always made a mess spilling it everywhere in the bilge as I tried to pour it into the top of the strainer. It always took several tries because if I didn't pour fast enough the dang thing would lose prime and I had to stop an re-prime every time.
After another frustrating attempt this year I decided not to mess around anymore and used an old bucket and a few plumbing parts. I bought the strainer cap in the correct size but the Marine Hardware strainer that Mainship used must have a different kind of thread so I had to file it down a bit so I could get most of it into the opening and catch the last few threads on it.
I worked like a champ on the first attempt, and now I can do the job solo as I don't need an assistant to turn on the AC pump as I am pouring.
I think it will be just the ticket to re-fill the generator coolant as well.
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Gary Armstrong
If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. E.B. White
Quick tip on winterizing the AC/Heat pump Units - When the boat is on the hard close the AC through Hull take the bottom bolt out of the strainer open the strainer and let the water drain back and out the bottom of the strainer re insert the strainer drain bolt go to the Hull Drain for the forward AC Unit (In the Bow up High) and with a Jug pump pump pink in the outlet after about half gallon you will see the pink in the strainer and traces of pink in the aft AC hull Drain. In the spring with the through hull closed top up the system by pouring water or antifreeze down the hull Bow drain and when the strainer is full make sure Cover is tight and through hull is closed when in the water open through hull and fire up the Heat pump, the system is fully charged and will work without having to bleed the system.
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Joanne & Edward Billing
M/V Cartouche Mainship 390
Home Port Kingston Marina in the 1000 Islands
Quick tip on winterizing the AC/Heat pump Units - When the boat is on the hard close the AC through Hull take the bottom bolt out of the strainer open the strainer and let the water drain back and out the bottom of the strainer re insert the strainer drain bolt go to the Hull Drain for the forward AC Unit (In the Bow up High) and with a Jug pump pump pink in the outlet after about half gallon you will see the pink in the strainer and traces of pink in the aft AC hull Drain. In the spring with the through hull closed top up the system by pouring water or antifreeze down the hull Bow drain and when the strainer is full make sure Cover is tight and through hull is closed when in the water open through hull and fire up the Heat pump, the system is fully charged and will work without having to bleed the system.
Never thought of that idea, interesting. I'm wintering in the water this year so this won't work for me but might be worth a try for those on the hard.
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Gary Armstrong
If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. E.B. White
Never thought of that idea, interesting. I'm wintering in the water this year so this won't work for me but might be worth a try for those on the hard.
It works Great but to be totally honest the system is gravity and when you take out the strainer plug it self drains I put the pink in just in case, and it also works a charm for setting up in the spring so you don't have to prime the system. If you are in a dingy you could reach the Bow AC Drain
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Joanne & Edward Billing
M/V Cartouche Mainship 390
Home Port Kingston Marina in the 1000 Islands
Hey Doug, is there any way you can identify the coolant drain plugs in the photo of the generator?
I don’t know how to do the arrows on the pic deal. If someone can advise me I will do it.
There are at least two. Mine had little stickers on them that say “drain.” One of them is on the heat exchanger. It is the lowest but is also so low that you can’t get any sort of cup or bottle under it to catch the outflow. It may be possible to attach some sort of rubber tubing to it. I end up making a mess at every coolant change. I suck it up with a shop vac and oil diapers.
There is another higher drain on the block, also labeled, that is easier to reach, but it doesn’t get all the coolant out.I will be back down around the 20th and will find it for you then if that is not too late.
I don’t know how to do the arrows on the pic deal. If someone can advise me I will do it.
There are at least two. Mine had little stickers on them that say “drain.” One of them is on the heat exchanger. It is the lowest but is also so low that you can’t get any sort of cup or bottle under it to catch the outflow. It may be possible to attach some sort of rubber tubing to it. I end up making a mess at every coolant change. I suck it up with a shop vac and oil diapers.
There is another higher drain on the block, also labeled, that is easier to reach, but it doesn’t get all the coolant out.I will be back down around the 20th and will find it for you then if that is not too late.
Doug, I will look for the label on the block for the drain. I do see the drain on the exchanger. I'll be heading there next Wednesday or so, and I won't actually be changing the coolant until later in the spring, so there is no rush and I might not even need your help if mine has the same labels.
But in case you need to, here is an easy way to highlight or add freehand lines to a photo. Use the "Snipping" tool in Windows. First, have the photo to highlight on the screen, then search for "Snipping" in the lower left search bar and open the app. Looks like photo #1.
Next, select "New" (Photo #2). You can now use the mouse to create a rectangle that will be "Snipped" onto the windows clipboard. At this point you can use the pencil tool at the top, or the highlighter, on the photo. (Photos 3 and 4) Then go to "File" and "Save As" to capture the highlighted photo.
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Gary Armstrong
If a man is to be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. E.B. White
I don’t know how to do the arrows on the pic deal. If someone can advise me I will do it.
There are at least two. Mine had little stickers on them that say “drain.” One of them is on the heat exchanger. It is the lowest but is also so low that you can’t get any sort of cup or bottle under it to catch the outflow. It may be possible to attach some sort of rubber tubing to it. I end up making a mess at every coolant change. I suck it up with a shop vac and oil diapers.
There is another higher drain on the block, also labeled, that is easier to reach, but it doesn’t get all the coolant out.I will be back down around the 20th and will find it for you then if that is not too late.
The bottom drain should be Seawater not coolant
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Joanne & Edward Billing
M/V Cartouche Mainship 390
Home Port Kingston Marina in the 1000 Islands
The drain on the heat exchanger on my generator is coolant. You could probably drain the entire system from there, but I try to take as much out as I can from the upper drain because it makes less of a mess.
To drain the seawater out of the HE I just crack the end cap.
I am down on the boat this weekend and took a look at my gen-set to refresh my memory. There are two coolant drains, one on the bottom of the HE and the other on the block behind the coolant overflow tank. If you lift the overflow tanks off of its bracket, you will see the drain there, it's a petcock style. You can slip a piece of rubber tubing onto the block drain to make it less messy.
Thanks for the pic editing info Gary. Let me know if you need it and I will dig up the pics and draw some arrows!
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