My shame, my nasty engine room.

[markpierce]

Mark: Whos recovery system did you use?

I'll try to remember to look it up the next time on the boat (Sunday)?

 

[sea hag]

I brought all three switches up into the cabin (as recommended by the experts here for easy access in an emergency) under the bottom stair to the portside door. The battery bank/tray is located just underneath this in the engine room. Maybe one foot or less. Made a little box out of King Starboard and drilled a pretty good size hole under the step and lined it with foam to prevent chaffing the wires. Hang on... I think I have pics.

Thanks for reply. Any suggestions on finding helpful wiring schematic ?

 

[Tom.B]

Thanks for reply. Any suggestions on finding helpful wiring schematic ?

You need to draw your own based on your needs. No two are alike. Mine is kind of complex and was expensive (to me) to build. I thought it out for a long time, got lots of advice about it, started more than one thread here about it, changed the design MANY times, and built it from scratch. I will try and dig up my final drawing, but it will only be a suggestion to how you will need to do yours. You should start a new thread so we don't take over Ben's attempt to clean his dirty-ass engine room.

 

[Ben]

You should start a new thread so we don't take over Ben's attempt to clean his dirty-ass engine room.

Hey, I got a big bag full of slimy mechanic's wipes for ya right here!

Engine room in progress, just got interrupted by buying a house.

Probably our offer is insulting and the seller will self-defecate, and I won't have this new financial worry for long. Plus, my wife will stress me to death on all the mods she thinks she wants and I'll be done from this earth.

But, anyway, back to the thread...

I just need my shop-vac down there. I burned out my current boat shop-vac. Time for a new one or industrial strength one from home.

I'm thinking of replacing a bunch of the solenoid and other small semi-corroded wires before something leaves me stranded. Not sure how long my starter is good for either. How do I check it's efficiency/life-left?

Also - can I put more than one temperature sensor on the engine, digital? Has anyone done this? Also I want some kind of long-term data recording computer. I want an auto-log. Hours, temp, pressure, RPMs, fuel flow, fuel level, oil viscosity if I can get it. <OK, the coffee has kicked in, but seriously>. It's freaking 2013. Got to stop pretending it's 1967.

Got to also re-do the water system, main belt, and clean my heat exchanger.

 

[bluebyu]

Take your starters and alternators to a trusted rebuild shop. They can determine what they need.

 

[Darylat8750]

You are an inspiration. "Clean, Paint engine room." Added to the winter to do list. Any suggestions on how to deal with the OLD, flaking ceiling tile type insulation? I was thinking of trying some primer paint that may soak into it enough to stabilize the surface. ???

When re-wiring my old boat I had to chase many elusive electrical gremlins. Unlabeled wires that went nowhere, wires that went to inop equipment and intermittently conducting wires and equipment that worked on the phases of the moon. For trouble shooting I put a 30 amp breaker and a 0 cable from the + battery buss in the engine room. With it I can reach all the starters, solenoids and all other electrical equipment in the engine room. After finishing with the engine room wiring I left the heavy + wire coiled up with the breaker tripped. We had a starter solenoid fail when trying to start to leave a lock on the Trent-Severn. I put the Admiral on the helm and dove into the engine room. Jumped the engine, tripped the breaker, coiled the cable and we were moving in less than 3 min. Put on the spare solenoid the next morning when the engine room was cool. Very handy to have power available.

I also had a long 10ga. ground wire and breaker-ed 10ga. 12volt wire from the main distribution panel in the salon during the rewire. It is really handy to have a known 12 volts and a known ground when you are trying to find what works and what doesn't. (These have been removed for neatness, but coiled up in the electrical spares.)

 

[healhustler]

Darylat8750: I'm just hashing over your resourceful post here, and while I'm scratching my head about any risk involved in having these charged wires "available", I'm thinking it would truly save a lot of time in diagnostics and quick fixes like you reported. Still, I'm not sure I trust myself enough to switch off the breakers, and I'd probably bury the ends in some kind of super insulated boot.

 

[Darylat8750]

Darylat8750: I'm just hashing over your resourceful post here, and while I'm scratching my head about any risk involved in having these charged wires "available", I'm thinking it would truly save a lot of time in diagnostics and quick fixes like you reported. Still, I'm not sure I trust myself enough to switch off the breakers, and I'd probably bury the ends in some kind of super insulated boot.

Heal hustler;

I share your concern about safety. My 32 year old son and I are the only ones to go into the engine room. Our procedure is that we have the live end in our hand (snake held right behind the head as it were) before setting the breaker and trip the breaker before "releasing the snake". We have both messed around with machinery that can hurt you enough to have respect for procedures.

The positive wire set up for the main panel has a female push on connector so the contact is recessed. Even so I put electricians tape on it if it is left so turning on the wrong breaker would make it "live".

 

[bluebyu]

Darylat8750,
Neat idea, thanks!
May do that some day.

Today, I leave battery jumper cables in the engine room.

 

[markpierce]

Mark: Whos recovery system did you use?

It was a John Deere crank case ventilation system kit 6081. Wouldn't be surprised if it was manufactured by Racor.