New Owner of 1987 Island Gypsy 36

[Vadim]

Hello everyone,

I just bought my dream boat. She is 1987 Island Gypsy 36 with twin Super 225 Lehmans and 6.0 Westerbeak generator. I am just getting acquainted with all schematics and controls. If anyone has one of her sister boats and can help me with a few questions that I have, I would mega appreciate. I would like to understand her fuel system which is four giant tanks. Electrical system. Basically any info will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[dwhatty]

Welcome aboard!

 

[BruceK]

... I would like to understand her fuel system which is four giant tanks.....

Mine is older but has 4 tanks you see in the ER.
2 are fuel, 2 are water, but they look similar.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Keep the shiny side up...

 

[Vadim]

Yes, I wish it would be that simple. My has 4 Diesel tanks about 450 gallons and 4 water tanks about 200 gallons 1 hot water tank and 1 gray tank massive setup. just the fuel distribution system is a puzzle to me but I hope some one would be sharing his experience and knowledge with me. And then the other story is the batteries. 7 of them, why? If the boat is equipped with the generator. This is the questions that come to my mind. I hope you forum mates would be able to educate me.

Thank you all.

 

[BruceK]

Yes, I wish it would be that simple. My has 4 Diesel tanks about 450 gallons and 4 water tanks about 200 gallons 1 hot water tank and 1 gray tank massive setup....

I`d like to see a schematic of the tank locations. We have 2 550L fuel tanks(1100 L total) and 4 water tanks totaling 1000L. Maybe the turbo Lehmans call for more fuel capacity. I think buyers could specify their own requirements,I know my water tankage differs to other boats.
IG had a practice of fitting a central grey water tank with auto pump, rather than plumbing multiple thru hull drains.
Did you get the original Manuals with the boat? Lots of info in there.
Is yours an aft cabin version?
Anyway, congratulations, and ask away on specific issues. There are around 5 Aussie IG 36s on TF,someone should be able to help.

 

[Vadim]

1 stb 1 port side tanks and 2 sitting across in the middle of the boat than 2 water tanks and in the aft cabin there is 1 more tank under port side berth and one more in lazaret.
Previous owner told me she is 5gph @ 8kn @ 1800 rpm boat. Have not try that. Another thing is that she equipped with tank watch system for 2 smaller diesel tanks and 2 water tanks. How would you figured out how much fuel left in the rest of the tanks. Big question?

 

[Montenido]

Hi Vadim,
Congratulations on your new boat. I don't have the same model, but would offer this advice. Once you are certain which tanks are for diesel, fill them all. Then, based loosely on your 5GPH estimate, track your usage in engine hours until the next fill up. Then you will be able to figure your average fuel burn. I don't really trust tank gauges, as I've never had any that were super accurate. So I use the engine hours starting with full tanks. It is easy if you use a log book.

Good luck, you are going to have a blast!

Cheers, Bill

 

[BruceK]

Vadim, looks like someone wanted extended range, the two tanks "across in the middle of the boat" sound unusual. We have 2 fuel tanks,port and stbd,aft of the engines. 4 water,one outside each engine, one in the lazarette,another under the fwd(and only) berth. Usually the fuel tanks interconnect,check that maze of plumbing on the ER fwd bulkhead.
All but the fwd water tank have sight tubes showing levels.
IG electrics are usually well done and shouldn`t give problems.
Hope you enjoy your boat,I`m sure you will.

 

[JohnS]

New boat mysteries

You may need to bring in a mechanical type person to sort out what you have and how it is set up.
I was fortunate in that my PO stayed on for a week after the sale to teach me about our new boat and her systems.
A book that I am working my way through which looks like it might be helpful is "Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual, 4th Ed" by Nigel Calder.
It also might help to make an outline drawing of the boat, and mark the pipes, hoses, and valves observed on it, then figure out what they are.
Welcome, and good luck.

 

[Comodave]

Good luck with your new boat. We also have SP225s in our boat.

 

[Brisyboy]

Mine is older but has 4 tanks you see in the ER.
2 are fuel, 2 are water, but they look similar.

Ditto for me re tanks in the ER- the forward pair are water, rear pair fuel, and I do have an extra water tank forward under the berth in the forepeak.

I think there was a lot of customization in those days; tankage, engines and layout. Looking through IG 36s for sale on various sites, the most common denominator is Lehman engines after which its not usual to see two saloon interiors the same.

 

[Vadim]

Would you be kind to let me know your vessel batteries setup. How large is your engine batteries? What kind are they? Like I posted earlier my boat is for one reason or the other is overloaded with thoughts. 7 batteries total. Why I am some what lost. My previous boat had only 3 batteries 1 for starting engines 1 for generator and 1 house battery.

 

[JohnP]

Congrats the new boat. Our 36 has 3 fuel tanks, port, starboard and center aft in the engine space. Total 410 gallons. I had fun figuring it out! First trip out I ran out of fuel with 300 gallons on board. Both engines were drawing from the near empty center tank.

First time I ever got towed in.. Learned how to bleed the air from my Cummins 6bt's. Figured out the fuel valves all on the first Weekend.

DUH JohnP

 

[Vadim]

This is the kind of things I would prefer to avoid by learning from your experience. I know it is not hard, but you have to know the steps. My owners manual shows various settings from 28 ft to 60's ft. My looks like a 44 footer packed in 36 ft hall. And even than it is different than drawn on schematics.

 

[High Wire]

How would you figured out how much fuel left in the rest of the tanks. Big question?

Look to see if the tank fill line is a straight hose to the tank. You can then use a "stick" to measure fuel level. You will need to measure the height of the tanks. There may be a "stick" onboard already.

Look for sight glasses on the tank ends. Make sure the sight glass valves are OPEN top AND bottom when you take a reading.

Find out which tanks you are currently lined up to so that you don't unknowingly run them dry.

There should be a supply and return valve for each tank. Since you have twins there may be TWO sets of manifolds. Usually labeled. Make sure you always supply and return from the same tank!!!

Post pictures of your fuel manifolds.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. V. Sounds like you DO need some help. I would suggest you contact the former owner, if possible or hire a knowledgeable person to go over the whole boat with you. It is nigh on impossible to accurately advise you over the internet given the seeming wide variety of differences in the same make and model of IG.

Find someone locally, yard manager/owner, mechanic, surveyor, friend, dock neighbor and arm yourself with a marker, roll of masking tape pen and paper and make notes and diagrams and label "stuff" with the masking tape as you and your "assistant" go through the systems and identify what does what and what goes where. Do NOT label anything until you are absolutely positive it is what you think it is and goes where you think it goes.

 

[Vadim]

Greetings,
Mr. V. Sounds like you DO need some help. I would suggest you contact the former owner, if possible or hire a knowledgeable person to go over the whole boat with you. It is nigh on impossible to accurately advise you over the internet given the seeming wide variety of differences in the same make and model of IG.

Find someone locally, yard manager/owner, mechanic, surveyor, friend, dock neighbor and arm yourself with a marker, roll of masking tape pen and paper and make notes and diagrams and label "stuff" with the masking tape as you and your "assistant" go through the systems and identify what does what and what goes where. Do NOT label anything until you are absolutely positive it is what you think it is and goes where you think it goes.

You are so right.
PO is a great gentleman, but he was not using her, to give you an example last year he was on boat twice for few hours to run the engines and that is it.
Boat was sitting in the slip for years. 2 years ago he serviced her (oil change bottom job) since that boat was used for 20 hours (according to PO). I was not being able to find a surveyor to go to her for no money. She is located in TN. I have to some how bring her to MD. It will be a trip of learning and joy or a complete disaster. I am taking oil samples for analysis, I will flash raw water system and replace antifreeze. Impellers, belts, basically a complete service. I hope to start move her in June. First leg is through Mobile AL to east coast of Florida or Georgia and in July up to MD. I clime and crawl pretty much every corner of the boat. I manage to replace raw water pump impellers. This week i will replace questionable charger and the batteries.
BTW I spoke with Lehman tech support engineer, great wealth of knowledge.
But my experience with trawlers are very insignificant, that is why I would really want to hear from seasoned trawler owner's their experience and boat configs to make my boat the same way.

 

[Marlinmike]

You have an interesting challenge, I agree with others in getting a seasoned mechanic on board to review systems with you and change out impellers and change out fuel filters before any trip. This might be a case of flying someone in and putting them up in a hotel for a couple days, in the end it will be money well spent.

 

[Brisyboy]

Would you be kind to let me know your vessel batteries setup. How large is your engine batteries? What kind are they? Like I posted earlier my boat is for one reason or the other is overloaded with thoughts. 7 batteries total. Why I am some what lost. My previous boat had only 3 batteries 1 for starting engines 1 for generator and 1 house battery.

We have three batteries - one each per engine and a stand alone for the generator.

Each engine/start battery is 200ah and is charged by its own alternator. There are no house batteries as such - the house runs off one of the "engine" batteries - i determine which one is used for the house and I usually switch between the two on alternate days. If push comes to shove I can link both together.

The generator runs the electric stove and hot water (also an of-take from the engine), 240v fridge (also eutectic via one of the engines) and runs a charger for the two engine/house batteries.

I am confident that this is how she was built. Each engine battery sits in its own fibre glass battery box immediately behind and outboard of each engine and in front of each fuel tank.

The generator sits at the aft end of the engine room with its battery boxed in the lazarette. This battery is charged by a small alternator on the generator .

Cheers

 

[Vadim]

This is exactly how I would envision and do it. If you do not mind me asking what kind of engines your boat equipped with?

 

[Brisyboy]

This is exactly how I would envision and do it. If you do not mind me asking what kind of engines your boat equipped with?

Hi Vadin,

If you are referring to my post, we have twin SP135 Ford Lehmans.
The battery set up on your boat may have started out as ours did but they are ginormous batteries and well past the ability of my back to lift them so someone may have substituted a number of smaller batteries to make it easier to replace them.

BTW, if you want to nail exactly who you are asking the question of, use the quote button at the bottom of the post

 

[BruceK]

My boat has the same battery set up as Brisboy, the standard system,even carried across to some Integrity boats.We still have 8Ds. No dedicated house bank, the batts do start and house, not usual but it works.The genset is your backup, do not use the genset batt for anything else, I gave mine its own solar charger.
With all those batts you may have a dedicated house bank, a better set up. You might need to get an electrician in to work out which batt does what. If you have 2 start,one genset,maybe a thruster batt or 2,you get to 4 or 5,the other 2 might be house. There will be charging connectors somewhere.
If you get someone to help in early for the delivery trip,they should have the knowledge to check the systems,if only for their own safety on the trip.
I still have the original Newmar charger, ancient but works well. I have solar for the main batts as well.Test batts before you start replacing. Same with the charger. Good batts "bleed" into less good tired ones so replacing all batts in one group is a good idea.
The systems will seem challenging at first, but IGs are well designed and built, you will come to grips with it, as you work on parts of it, you learn. Keep asking questions as you work through it.

 

[siestakey]

welcome and best of luck

 

[Vadim]

Thank you. Just an update. Yesterday I went to a marine store and got three new AGM batteries two for engine's and one smaller one for generator new xentrack charger with remote all necessary O ring crimp connectors. I am going to marina today after work for a weekend.
BruceK By any chance you know your batteries characteristics, because I get confused between owners manual for lehmann engines suggest 120ah batteries, factory suggest 420 cranking amp. Most of others say manual is 30+ years old and technology went far away. Get modern marine batteries and new charger and enjoy your boat. Well I some what agree with this thought, but I also follow the fact that that same boat has 30+ years old wiring. Any thoughts?

 

[Marlinmike]

For wiring it all depends on the environment, my boat's wiring is 30 years old and fine, but certainly you need fresh batteries and today's battery charger technology is FAR better then that of 30 years ago that would cook your batteries if left unattended. All the best!

 

[Vadim]

For wiring it all depends on the environment, my boat's wiring is 30 years old and fine, but certainly you need fresh batteries and today's battery charger technology is FAR better then that of 30 years ago that would cook your batteries if left unattended. All the best!

Thank you.

OMG BruceK I just check what is 8D batteries look like - it is a suit case and a half.
2250 cold cranking amps??? Why?? Could some one explain??
https://bdbatteries.com/products/no...8eXx0UJwXyeWx2rItgfUammEsN8MDow8aAulGEALw_wcB
And this is the one I bought yesterday
https://www.batteriesplus.com/batte...-(starting_cycling)/bci-group-24m/sli24agmdpm

I am just learning from experienced trawler owners.
I will post some pictures after this weekend.
Thank you all again.

 

[BruceK]

Vadim, I`m thinking 8D batts, commonly called 200Ah batts here(though some are now really around 250Ah) were less developed 35 years ago, and something smaller will do some jobs these days. Remember, in the IG set up, they do both start and house,so they need capacity.
From memory, my 8Ds are 200/240Ah,and 1200/1450 CCA. The Onan manual specifies a 150Ah batt(is there a 6D?),huge for starting a 3cyl Kubota dsl,but it has to do a preheat first.
The big problem with 8Ds is size and weight,I think they were intended to be lifted into trucks using a small forklift, not by 2 men at risk of a back injury shoehorning one into a boat.
If as I think, you intend the batt you bought to do house and start, you may be able to put 2 of them together in the box where the 8D used to sit, otherwise I don`t think you have enough capacity. Doing that twice,ie 4 batts in total, gets spendy. Lots of US TF guys get other kinds of batt a lot cheaper than than your choice, and I`m unfamiliar with batts over there,so I hope they chime in and make suggestions. I`ll PM someone who might help.

 

[Brisyboy]

Vadim, I`m thinking 8D batts, commonly called 200Ah batts here(though some are now really around 250Ah) were less developed 35 years ago, and something smaller will do some jobs these days. Remember, in the IG set up, they do both start and house,so they need capacity.
From memory, my 8Ds are 200/240Ah,and 1200/1450 CCA. The Onan manual specifies a 150Ah batt(is there a 6D?),huge for starting a 3cyl Kubota dsl,but it has to do a preheat first.
The big problem with 8Ds is size and weight,I think they were intended to be lifted into trucks using a small forklift, not by 2 men at risk of a back injury shoehorning one into a boat.
If as I think, you intend the batt you bought to do house and start, you may be able to put 2 of them together in the box where the 8D used to sit, otherwise I don`t think you have enough capacity. Doing that twice,ie 4 batts in total, gets spendy. Lots of US TF guys get other kinds of batt a lot cheaper than than your choice, and I`m unfamiliar with batts over there,so I hope they chime in and make suggestions. I`ll PM someone who might help.

Bruce , you are correct of course re size and capacity, although as a start battery they get little stress - I doubt the starter motors on our Lehmans have to crank them more than a quarter of the fly wheel before they fire and with all lights converted to LEDs they aren`t stressed there. We don`t have an inverter - the main stress comes from the elect flush toilet with a minimul amount for the sewerage treatment plant (chlorine injection pump). I guess LEDs have changed the battery equation.

My gut feeling is we could get away with two "car" size batteries per engine - one for start and two for house.

 

[Andy G]

I've come in late on this thread, so first things first, welcome to the wonderful world of the Trawler Forum.Secondly, welcome to the IG boat owners division. It is generally agreed on the forum (at least by fellow IG members) that the IG owners are the most erudite, knowledgeable, affable types.

To some extent we have to be, because as has been already noted, virtually no two IG's are the same, and unless you have the original specs you will need time & patience putting the jigsaw together. Still it's fun & you will get there.

Having seven batteries intrigued me, as did where they put them? Sounds like someone decided the original monsters were too unwieldy and opted for the smaller golf buggy types.

I would strongly support the idea, already posted, that you hire a capable mechanic/electrician to do the once over on the boat and make notes as to the setup of your boat.It won't tell you everything about the boat but it would be a very good base to start from. This I believe would be money well spent.

The only other observation that comes to mind is the boat usage. You mentioned that the OP has rarely used the boat in the last couple of years, this is not good, diesels need use. I would carefully check all rubber connections in the cooling system, fuel quality etc.

If I understand you, you intend to pick her up and undertake a fairly long trip to where she will be berthed. If you have the time, it would be a good idea to do some small trips, to run her up first before undertaking the long delivery trip. This may help you iron out any glitches that occur, rather than having to order some parts and sort things out in the middle of nowhere.That can sour the love affair pretty quickly.

Best of luck & post some pic's when you have time.