New Volvo Penta engines are only good for daytime use

[FlyingGoose]

Call me obsessed but I Look at my Rev counter, oil pressure , and temp quite regularly , but them I have a 39 year old engine and any new sound rumble , dial movement puts me into cold sweats

Oh no lights though, red head torch

 

[dom]

What's a fuel vacuum gauge? I mean what does that gauge measure/show?

It warns of an impending primary filter blockage enabling one to change filter in a safe place as opposed to a harbour entrance, etc!

 

[FlyingGoose]

It warns of an impending primary filter blockage enabling one to change filter in a safe place as opposed to a harbour entrance, etc!

Are there digital versions .i.e send a signal to the main gauge somewhere visible , I have looked round and it seems you install them into the pipe work and the gauge is then in the engine room ,
No good for me i would have to lift the floor up and dive in
I ask because we were heading into Arsaig and our engine cut out and in , primary clogged with bug , , Arsaig in a blow from the West is not where you want an engine failure heading in .
Bug found after we moored

 

[dom]

Are there digital versions .i.e send a signal to the main gauge somewhere visible , I have looked round and it seems you install them into the pipe work and the gauge is then in the engine room ,
No good for me i would have to lift the floor up and dive in
I ask because we were heading into Arsaig and our engine cut out and in , primary clogged with bug , , Arsaig in a blow from the West is not where you want an engine failure heading in .
Bug found after we moored

I've seen them in refrigerant/AC systems but not fuel lines. I'm sure they exist though and prv may well know one when he pops up.

Another line of defence is dual filters in parallel or my simpler option of using a top-loaded Racor 500 in which I could execute a filter change in sub-30s if necessary. By comparison, something like a CAV in tricky circumstances is the stuff of nightmares

 

[Graham376]

By comparison, something like a CAV in tricky circumstances is the stuff of nightmares

Having had to change one in a lumpy sea, I won't have one on a boat now.

 

[Beneteau381]

No doubt my lovely new engine will only work with the new control panel.

The old panel, wiring loom etc is a direct swop

 

[mainsail1]

The old panel, wiring loom etc is a direct swop

Doh! the old panel went with the old engine.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I don't have a tachometer and my panel is inside. It's got 3 lights, an ignition key a start button and a switch for the back light of the taco which isn't there! Close by but not on the panel is the pull stop handle. I've got my battery master switch mounted in the hole where the RPM would go as it was a convenient place The only time I'm interested in RPM is for cruising under power which I try to avoid but when I need to I set WOT and back it off a bit. it's from 1978 and purrs like a kitten.

 

[Stemar]

My 2003 was very second hand when I got it, and didn't come with a control panel, so I used the one from the old MD1 until I got fed up with having to go below to start and stop the engine, My panel now consists of a rocker switch for the "ignition", a push button for the starter and three warning lights, plus the cold start/engine stop handle, all near the throttle control in the cockpit. I consider a key superfluous because the battery isolator is in the saloon, behind a locked companionway.

 

[Sandy]

Having had to change one in a lumpy sea, I won't have one on a boat now.

Having had to change the filter on the mooring I won't have one on a boat now.

 

[Stemar]

My CAV filter was replaced by a pair of spin-on filters from a car breaker after a rather scary entry into Portsmouth harbour under sail in F7. They're plumbed in parallel meaning I can now switch between filters in seconds, so I only changed the cartridges after about 10 years because they were getting rusty.

They're Ok if you do them all the time, but the faff involved and, especially, two seals which aren't interchangeable, but are sufficiently alike to be confused in stressful conditions mean they have no place in a potentially critical system. I'm unlikely ever to buy a new boat, but finding a CAV filter fitted would be a big red flag. What other poorly engineered stuff have they used?

 

[prv]

Are there digital versions .i.e send a signal to the main gauge somewhere visible , I have looked round and it seems you install them into the pipe work and the gauge is then in the engine room ,

Certainly Maretron make a NMEA2000 pressure sensor that can be configured for fuel suction, if you have a high-tech boat management system to make use of that data. Otherwise you don't need "digital", I expect a suitable analogue pressure transducer and gauge could be assembled if you needed an electrically-connected remote system. The exact pressure value doesn't really matter, you just want to learn where is normal for your system and notice if it starts climbing significantly. Alternatively, some of the electronics tinkerers here will no doubt propose a DIY Arduino-based system using the same transducer and a numerical display. That would have the benefit of letting you add an alarm at a configurable pressure threshold.

You don't need to mount the direct pressure-reading type in the engine bay, though. You fit a T-piece into the fuel hose and adapt the side branch down to the smallest size you can conveniently get fittings for, then run a narrow tube in that size to wherever you want to mount the gauge.

Pete

 

[prv]

Another line of defence is dual filters in parallel

Indeed



The lever on the front of the twin-cartridge manifold allows instant selection of a new, clean filter. In this picture you can see it's pointing at the left-hand cartridge, which is in use and has accumulated some crud in the bowl (this photo was taken just before changing it at annual service).

The mount with the red cartridge is the "on engine" filter, removed from the engine because it would be hard up against the bulkhead and difficult to access. The plumbing is still in the same sequence, just slightly longer hoses.

There's a squeeze-bulb hand pump just below the drip tray, which can push fuel right through the low-pressure system and back to the tank through the return line, eliminating the need to open any bleed screws. There's a strap-wrench in a little pocket nearby for undoing filters, and a plastic jug can sit in the drip tray to catch the old filter and spilled fuel when changing. It's a very clean and convenient process.

Pete