Ken Juul in Sail Magazine

[horsemel]

Don't know if anybody noticed but our own Ken Juul has a letter in the new Sail Magazine on fuel line screens.
Mark Mueller

[prh77]

I also noted the article. Way to go Ken!

[Stu Jackson]

It seemed to me that the reply to Ken's letter completely missed his point.

Recommending that people put screens on their fuel pickup tube is ridiculous at best, dangerous at worst.

[prh77]

After posting my attaboy Ken, I went back and read the Sail reply.....you are 100% right Stu.....

[Ron Hill]

Haven't seen Ken's article, but Practical Sailor mentioned the "no no" of screens on the diesel fuel pick up tube back in about 1991/2. 
That's when I wrote the article on that same topic for the Mainsheet Tech Notes.

Anyway, you'd be surprised how many Catalina boats (all sizes) still have that screen installed.
 
Guess it just like the upgrade to the wiring harness - more that 10% don't get the word or don't care!?! 

[sail4dale]

Stu is exactly right.  I have sold and applied oil filters at Parker Hannifin Corp. - (Racor is one of its divisions) for over 30 years and also taught basic hydraulic systems
to professionals in the business. The bottom line is
"you don't want a filter where it can not be inspected".

We all must agree a screen in the fuel tank on the end of a pickup tube
is not easy to get to. 

I was a victim of this screen problem that came with my Cat30.  Caused major problems
with a stalled engine while motoring in a 20+ knot wind near shore.  I had a long discussion with the Catalina
design engineer about that quite a few years ago and I believe that is when they quit installing them.

[Ron Hill]

To amplify what Dale said I'll mention one of my observations when I took the screen out of my pick up tube 20 years ago.  

Para phrase from my Mainsheet(tech note) article in th early 1990s : The screen was a short screen about an 1 1/2" long and 3/8"OD (outside diameter).  The end was crimped flat so it closed the outside end and had some kind of fuel resistant caulk/sealant on that end.  The tube was screen was VERY fine. The tubular screen was shoved into the hose about 3/4".  The result was that there was very little surface area (3/4" minus the crimped end) of the VERY VERY fine screen surface for the fuel to "filter" through.  
The main problem was the boat manufacturer.  The tank manufacturer put the screen in there as they had no idea what kind of fuel that tank would hold - most likely gasoline in those days!!  Gasoline being a super solvent was no problem.
 
As I said the boat manufacture didn't wake up for another 2/3 years after I wrote my article.  Then they started pulling out those screens in the pickup tubes in the 1993? production !!  History

[Les Luzar]

You bet I noticed, and Ken Juul was absolutely right. Remove that pesky screen, and have more piece of mind that your fuel pickup will not fail in a time of need.