Engine Insulation

[ghebbns]

I notice that my engine insulation is only on the front and top (basically underneath the steps).  I was just looking at pictures of C34's that are for sale and noticed one also had insulation on the sides.  My boat has inspection hatches on both sides (one in the aft room and the other in the head) so I am not sure how insulation would work here.  Is this something that is important to have?  Will it make the engine quieter?

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Greg

[Dave Spencer]

Greg,
I have insulation on the sides but it is cut around the access panels in the head and the aft cabin.  I think the insulation is useful but not essential.  I have replacement and experimentation with sound deadening insulation on the hatches on my list, but it is fairly far down on my priorities.  I already have a roll of insulation that I got from HMP in Toronto a few years ago intending to improve my previous boat (CS27) but I didn't get to it.  It can be fairly expensive stuff.

[Jim Hardesty]

This is what I used for my airconditioner noise.  It worked well.  And, was so easy to do.

http://www.sailorssolutions.com/index.asp?page=Products&SubCategoryID=121&SubCategory=Soundproofing&Category=Engine Room

Jim

[patrice]

Hi,
I have the same projet about noise reduction.
Replacing the insulation in the engine compartment with something better.
The insulation being only on the side walls and under the engine cover.
I was thinking of adding a panel in the back too with insulation.  A panel with a reversed U shape cut-out to go over the shaft.
It feel that the whole area under the back bed amplify the engine noise.

[Stu Jackson]

It might be counterproductive to enclose the aft end of the engine.  Engines need air to work.  

Insulation does not only work to block the noise, it is there to absorb the noise, too.

I came across this material recently:  http://www.sailorssolutions.com/index.asp?page=ProductDetails&Item=SPM01

[Clay Greene]

We replaced our insulation with the product manufactured by Sailor's Solutions.  It was a more difficult product than we anticipated because the insulation panels are difficult to cut and there are many difficult shapes to match.  We put insulation on the side doors and the bottom of the lid in addition to the side walls.  There was a noticeable difference but we're still louder with our M25XP than our friend is with his 1997 C34 with the M35 engine.  I don't know that I would do it again - the benefit is pretty marginal compared to the cost and the hassle.  

[Ron Hill]

Greg & Guys : If you look in the Mainsheet Tech Notes of a couple of years ago, you'll find an article with pictures of how I changed out the engine compartment insulation.

The old insulation was glued and screwed in.  The old cut outs for the doors (aft cabine & head) were left open. 
The new insulation I purchased was from Defender and was 1 1/4" thick.  The article states the brand and I talked to that manufactures' tech people and decided on the thicker (1 thick origional) for the added sound attenuation - which was well worth it!!

Can't recall the amount right off (article states amount), but I had extra left over.  Since that time, I have replaced the insulation on both doors and found that the easiest and best way to cut to size is with a band saw.  The band saw does a super job making nice clean cuts.

As I recall the only problem that I had with the door insulation was with the head door and overhead cover.  The metalic outer covering was touching one of the outputs on my Balmar duel output alternator(SPARKS!!) and it also touched the screw head on the temperature sender (Higher temp than what was happening!!).  The solution was simple - rubber boots on each of those connections.

As I've mentioned before, most all of the projects that need to be done on a C34 have already done and documented (26 years worth!).  Why try to invent the wheel?  Look them up and you might want to change what or how it was done, but you don't have to start from scratch!!

A few thoughts

[Stu Jackson]

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,4361.msg25371.html#msg25371

Ask as many questions as you want.  

I try to provide links to earlier discussions.

I developed and continue to add to the "101 Topics."

I haven't written half as much as Ron has.  You can find the Mainsheet material he mentions right on our website.  If you're a C34IA Member you can access them online or look on the CD-Rom we sent you when you joined the IA.  The "Knowledgebase" is a great way to find that material Ron refers to.  Look here:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5260.0.html

One of the things that's great about the Knowledgebase is that it is a simple XLS spreadsheet.  You can download it to your computer, and use it to search (Ctrl-F) and find the stuff Ron mentions AND it gives you DIRECT links to the topics (if you're a C34IA Member) built right into the spreadsheet.  Our late Commodore Jon Schneider did all that work!

The REASON Ron can't provide links to his Mainsheet articles is that one has to be a C34IA Member to read them.  That's why we developed the Knowledgebase - like the "Too Much Information" topic explains, you can use it to find the topics that have been written.

Keep asking and questioning, always a new way to do stuff and learn.