Balmar 912-75 and Universal 25xp

[Tom Glennon]

Vic,

I have an '87 #354, which had a Raritan 6 gallon tank.  I replaced it 2 winters ago after my first season with the boat, as it was rusted, and didn't look like it was going to survive much longer.  

The swapout was relatively straight forward, with minor modifications to the heat exchanger plumbing at the tank inlet/outlet as the new tanks fittings were not in the exact location.

[HydroTherapy]

Joe,

Do you have a model # on the Seaward water heater?

Thanks.......David

[Ran139]

Vic,

  As you can see our boats are very close in the production run. I recently replaced the stock Raritan (round) water heater with the Seward SEW600 (front outlet/inlet) 6gal unit.
I took Ron's advice and bought the galvanized case unit to save about one boat unit.Cost was 169.99 from Sail Net last January.
  I had to remove the drawer and frame above the heater and the side door and frame as already described. I also glassed in a wood block to screw down the mounting tab on the front of the heater.
  There are some good references to check out regarding this job. Another tip worth following is the replacement of the hoses while you are doing the change out.
  The challenege for me in completing this job was getting the air out of the system.
  Regards!

  Randy
 
  Regards!

  Randy

[HydroTherapy]

Thanks Ran,

With this model are all the positions for connections in the right place?  I just don't want to start the job and see I have to jimmy rig anything.

Thanks........David

[randy stolze]

David,
        If you choose the Seward heater you will have to do some "jimmy rigging" as noted. The hoses and mounting block are needed. You can go with a exact replacement Raritan heater that I think is close to 5 hundred. The hoses should be replaced even if you go with the Raritan.
         - Randy

[Jim Price]

Seward heaters work fine, are simple, and Seward will work with you to solve problems.  One big advantage, they will sell you PARTS, not just the whole heater.  I replaced my tank last year for about $70 and was able to use all other existing parts (I did also replace the heater element due to age - Home Depot $9).  Much less expense over new unit.

[David Sanner]

I would say no... it should quickly fill to normal operating levels once your engine is running.

If you don't see water coming out of your exhaust shortly after you start your engine you have other problems.

[Ted Pounds]

I agree with David.  I drain my muffler every winter (after running anti-freeze through it - I'm a 'belt and suspenders' guy sometimes  ;)).  No problems in the spring when I launch.  It does take a few minutes to fill up.  If there's still no water after  about 10 minutes start investigating.  The engine can easily run that long while the coolant is warming up.

Ted

[John Langford]

Has anyone tried to use an easily available substitute for the Catalina muffler? I have read the discussion on this re the M-25 but can't find anything on experimenting with the M-35. How do we know if the back pressure of one of the off-the-shelf units wouldn't be appropriate? It would be so much easier and cheaper to be able to snap on a Vetus or Vernalift unit for instance if you experienced a failure while cruising. Any experiences with
substitutes?

Cheers,
John

[reedbr]

Ron-

Regarding the long engine fuel filter thread from before , you'll be happy to know I changed the useless engine fuel filter this weekend with no problems.  Not even a hiccup from the engine.  Fuel spillage was minimal and all caught by my drip rag. I pre-filled the new one and screwed it on.  Access was very easy as that previous picture showed, I just came up behind the throttle cable from underneath.  Cracked the knurled bleeder knob a turn and turned on the key (and fuel pump) for a minute, then ran it for a minute with the knob 1/4 turn open before tightening everything up and running it for another 20 minutes.  I'll mark that as an every-other year project with the impellar and change the Racor every spring.  THanks for the tips.

By the way, sorry I couldn't join your raft in Baby Owl Cove on Memorial Day.  I had an obligation to pick up my daughter from another boat and then was kind of locked in without my own dink.  Maybe next time.

[Mike and Theresa Vaccaro]

Ron's correct--the key to clean fuel is a clean tank.  Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a maintenance free diesel fuel system.  Fortunately, the tank on the Catalina 34 is easy to remove.  

If the tank is aluminum, regular removal and cleaning also allows for corrosion inspection.  We are in the process of replacing the entire fuel system on our boat--one too many clogged filters finally pushed me over the edge!  We'll post the lessons learned on the project page when we get a chance, but I just wanted to share something interesting:  We developed a "weeping" leak due to pitting corrosion on the bottom of the tank.

Turns out the only thing preventing the leak prior to cleaning was the sludge on the bottom of the tank!  As Ron points out in his mainsheet article, it only takes about an hour to remove the tank from the boat.  Our tank was in great shape, except for a small amount of pitting on the bottom as well as oxidation and filliform corrosion on the sides and top.  The filliform is easily repaired with mechanical removal (scotchbrite or sandpaper), acid wash and alodine.  Unfortunately pitting corrision is a different beast, and this form of corrosion in aluminum is much like cancer--and the proper solution is to replace the metal.  Interestingly enough, the bottom of the tank looked better than the sides and top after initial removal!  We didn't discover the extent of the damage until the leak check after tank cleaning.      

Replacement of the metal is not practical from a financial or labor standpoint, so we ordered a new tank.  We also opted to replace the spin-on type Racor with a 500-series filter equipped with a vacuum gauge.

Cheers,

Mike

[John Langford]

The consensus of the very useful threads on fuel filter change etc seems to be that one should use a 2 micron Racor in the water separator/filter unit thereby rendering the fuel filter on the engine as not much more than a pretty face. I have done this for years on diesel engines and thought it was a good practice. However, I just found Westerbeke Service Bulletin #238 issued in 2003 and it instructs that no less than a 10 micron filter be used in the primary water separator/filter. Any views on that from those more experienced with the M25 and 35 than me?

See: http://www.atomicfourengineservice.ca/

Cheers
John

[reedbr]

Can I make a suggestion to ease up a little on the search button rhetoric.  Yes, there is a ton of information out there already and it would be in a readers best interest to do their research.  However, frequently a new post on and old topic gives us all a little more insight.  

Personally, after having done quite a lot of searching on this board on fuel filters, I had never come across this specific service bulletin.  The concept, yes.  This SB, no.

Westerbeke and Universal 2-28-2003 Fuel Filter SB

I'm all ears for learning something new from anybody.

How about this Yanmar repowering doc suggesting a 30 micron prefilter and a 5-10 micron filter on the engine.

Yanmar Repowering

[Stu Jackson]

Brian

OK, I'll stop.

The reason I responded as I did is that regardless of what references are available, and the more the merrier, Ron covered this in his recent post, as follows:

Ron Hill
Registered User

  posted May 19, 2004 07:10 PM  
I checked with the engine people at Kubota. The only spin-on fuel filters they make are 15 micron.
So I think that you're best to stick with the 2 micron Racor first and let the Kubota as a backup.

This was on Fuel & Stuff at http://c34.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=329609511&f=829605811&m=529105115
 
 
So, if they don't make it, all the ideas about different microns on the engine filter become relatively meaningless (for Universal engine owners).

Thanks for the additional Westerbeke information.  It appears to me that they finally are recognizing that boat manufacturers are incorrectly installing the engine fuel pumps before the pre-filters, and are adding yet another filter before the engine fuel pumps.  We have suggested that the simplest way to avoid the clogging of the engine fuel pump internal filter is to plumb the pre-filter/separator before the pump.  Adding yet another filter would seem to complicate an already simple situation.  In fact, Ron discussed his own tries at this in the above-mentioned post.  

Seems simple to me.  We've kinda discovered what works:  plumb the Racor first, then the engine fuel pump to avoid crudding up the filter on the pump, use a 2 micron pre-filter and the "available" 15 micron Universal OEM on the engine.

Ron has over 4,000 hours on his engine and it works.  New information is always helpful, but why reinvent the wheel every few years?  Unless I hear Universal is making different filters (OEM, that is, as compared to "unfitting" replacements, which is what started one of these last threads), I'll stay with what works.  I've replumbed the fuel supply to the Racor, then to the pump.  It's very simple to do, takes about a foot or two of new fuel hose and it's done.

Your boats, your choices.

Thanks again.

Stu

[Stu Jackson]

Vic

There was a photo essay in Mainsheet last year or so about how to keep doors open.  That one used door hardware.  Another one used a latch on the face or side of the nav station.  We use a bungie cord screwed into the face of the nav station and twisted over the knob.  We also put a hook in our aft cabin door.  We do it for improved ventilation. Because the hull flexes when underway we never close the doors, not because of the locks, but because we may need to get into the head or the aft cabin while underway.

Stu