Only for mechanics

[OldBawley]

During my years as a chandler I followed a few workshops given by Sikaflex. Yacht windows, deck chalking, ex. Almost two decades ago but basically they still sell the same stuff.
In Turkey, shops in the Sanaiye ( Industrial site ) had everything. I used often the Sikaflex polyurethane used in building constructions. Needed a longer curing time but costed 2€ / cartridge. I am pretty sure it is the same glue but curing slower than the stuff sold for 22€ in chandler shops.
Car body shops sold unmarked cartridges used to glue car body parts together for 1 € / cartridge. Perfect as a glue.
Think the best quality nowadays is made by 3M.
The guy laying teak decks at our marina liked to use Simpson to chalk teak decks. The reason he liked to use it was the ease of applying. He did not care about the quality, the longevity, he was sitting on his knees for weeks, so an easy to apply product was his choice.
I laid a few teak decks myself, can understand the guy.

To glue the inserts into the cooler I used Sika 291. Just simply because it is part of my toolkit.

 

[heart of oak]

Good evening OB......................I must apologise if my post implied that you had carried out a " bodge"....I really must chose my words more carefully in future.....My intention was to point out a simple , cost effective solution to the problem you had.....................I really didn't mean to cause offence.... I know what it can be like to come up with a workable solution when you are away from home shores and easy to procure spares...and I think your solution was well engineered and inspired......................................................although i think for £7 i would put a silicon reducer hose over the top of your repair just for peace of mind when you have the chance.. ; )

 

[OldBawley]

Testing of the new oil cooler complete. Two hours motoring, all is fine. Cooler does not even get hand warm.

So I can start with the next winter job.

Fuel tanks infested with bacteria. Two 90 litres galvanised steel tanks, fitted into the boat before building the cockpit. ( 1980 ) No cleaning opening, no way to remove the tanks completely without ruining the cockpit.
Plan is to buy a 20 l outboard motor gasoline tank, connect that to the engine. ( return of excess diesel back to intake line.)

With the engine able to run from the plastic gasoline tank I can empty the fuel tanks and start cutting a hole in the side of the tanks or just cut them in pieces and get them out.
Nasty job, I only have hand tools but a lot of time.
Twice this year the engine stalled to almost dead slow due to clogged fuel filters. Changing filters is a pain in the **** job. Old style engine, needs to be primed on a lot of points and is hardly accessible. Fresh diesel gets black in a month.
The engine is used very little, so a small tank is a better solution. The more turnover the better.
Those big fuel tanks ware needed because the boat was used as a shrimp fishing boat on the Flemish banks. In those days fuel was of a different quality then the drab sold here in Greece.

Oh boy, how I hate the smell of diesel.

 

[RichardS]

Testing of the new oil cooler complete. Two hours motoring, all is fine. Cooler does not even get hand warm.

So I can start with the next winter job.

Fuel tanks infested with bacteria. Two 90 litres galvanised steel tanks, fitted into the boat before building the cockpit. ( 1980 ) No cleaning opening, no way to remove the tanks completely without ruining the cockpit.
Plan is to buy a 20 l outboard motor gasoline tank, connect that to the engine. ( return of excess diesel back to intake line.)

With the engine able to run from the plastic gasoline tank I can empty the fuel tanks and start cutting a hole in the side of the tanks or just cut them in pieces and get them out.
Nasty job, I only have hand tools but a lot of time.
Twice this year the engine stalled to almost dead slow due to clogged fuel filters. Changing filters is a pain in the **** job. Old style engine, needs to be primed on a lot of points and is hardly accessible. Fresh diesel gets black in a month.
The engine is used very little, so a small tank is a better solution. The more turnover the better.
Those big fuel tanks ware needed because the boat was used as a shrimp fishing boat on the Flemish banks. In those days fuel was of a different quality then the drab sold here in Greece.

Oh boy, how I hate the smell of diesel.

I'm sure you know all about biocide additives which many of us use.

Someone on the current PBO thread says that their fuel and tank were black so they added a huge dose of additive (Fuel Set I think but it's on the thread) and they now have clean fuel and clean tanks without doing any tank cleaning or removal.

Richard

 

[Sarnia]

Removing the old diesel should not be a problem, using an electric pump, many available driven by power drill.
Following an intake of dirty fuel which caused an embarrassing engine stop until blocked filters removed, I installed a 'fuel polisher' fairly simple to do, a 12v pump sucks fuel up through two filters, first is one which separates any water out, then through a fine filter and back into the tank, circulating the fuel 'polishes' it. Not my original idea, but I have modified it to be able to switch the fuel, via a three way switch, to provide diesel for refilling filters following filter changes, no more sore thumbs from mechanically pumping the fuel pump

 

[OldBawley]

Sure I know additives. I have sold them myself when I was still in the rat race.
Have a bottle on board as well. In our case additives wont work. If you put them in the tank, the only way to get the sh*t and additives out is to burn it in the engine.
Tanks are 35 year old, and galvanised. Diesel “eats “ away the coat of zinc. Outside looks as new, inside ???
Have read that old engines as our Perkins 4108 don't like the mix. They have problems with the new diesel already. “New diesel is less lubricating than “Old” diesel, the bio additive is probably even more aggressive for inner parts of the fuel system.
Here in the Med a lot of fiddling is done with diesel fuel. So the problem is for ever. Put fresh diesel into a clean tank and a month later the stuff is black. De fuel coming out of the pump is contaminated. So it means having the engine running on dirty diesel with a mix of chemicals or burning the diesel before it gets black. Witch is what all cars do. So after a series´s of clogged filters I decided to go for a small tank.
We hardly use the engine. I like sailing and our small heavy boat with its 4 sails is perfectly manoeuvrable under sail. Wind and sun provides all electricity. Haven't used the engine alternator at all this year. ( I shut if off )

 

[Sarnia]

Sure I know additives. I have sold them myself when I was still in the rat race.
Have a bottle on board as well. In our case additives wont work. If you put them in the tank, the only way to get the sh*t and additives out is to burn it in the engine.
Tanks are 35 year old, and galvanised. Diesel “eats “ away the coat of zinc. Outside looks as new, inside ???
Have read that old engines as our Perkins 4108 don't like the mix. They have problems with the new diesel already. “New diesel is less lubricating than “Old” diesel, the bio additive is probably even more aggressive for inner parts of the fuel system.
Here in the Med a lot of fiddling is done with diesel fuel. So the problem is for ever. Put fresh diesel into a clean tank and a month later the stuff is black. De fuel coming out of the pump is contaminated. So it means having the engine running on dirty diesel with a mix of chemicals or burning the diesel before it gets black. Witch is what all cars do. So after a series´s of clogged filters I decided to go for a small tank.
We hardly use the engine. I like sailing and our small heavy boat with its 4 sails is perfectly manoeuvrable under sail. Wind and sun provides all electricity. Haven't used the engine alternator at all this year. ( I shut if off )

Must say having been in the Med 14 years never experienced what you have, with one exception, when I took on some dirty diesel, following which I fitted a fuel polishing system.

 

[OldBawley]

My tanks ware contaminated at the fuel pump in Fethiye marina.
It was known that taking fuel at that pump leaded to problems. For years I avoided loading fuel there although it was a lot easier than carrying Jerry cans from the road station in Göcek.
Then, after clearing out in the passport police station Fethiye, they insisted I left without stopping in Turkey again. For some reason I have thing with police and mad dogs.
So I had to leave, tanks ware empty, and I had a long trip ahead of me in very early spring so I risked taking fuel at the yacht fuel pump.
Bingo. That is where it started. Gets worse by the years.

Here in the Saronic with lots of charter yachts playing around, clogged filters are a source of income for at least two people I know. Almost on a daily base yachts on their way to Poros get into trouble. Engine won´t start. Phone charter company, these advise to phone the Coast guard, and they relay the call to a guy with a big boat. He comes over, tows the yacht straight to the quay in front of the Coast guard. Then comes the bill. …. I know what this guy asks, it is a lot. A lot lot.
See, for this guy towing is salvaging.
Charter boat with 15 Russian guys on board, say *** a person, just count yourself. They pay, intimidated by been tied directly in front of the CG office. ( Who have nothing to do with this way of earning money. )
Second in charge is the mechanic solving the problem. He asks normal money for his honest work.

 

[Artic Warrior]

Hi All,

Ive been using this epoxy glue putty product I bought here in a little shop in oropos
Its like the white and off white two part stuff we get in the uk.
Its a 50/50 mix two .5kg tins.
I use it for filling holes in my steel, but can be used for potting or repairs as well.
Its thick like mixing up a filler, so keeps its shape as you apply it.
Awsome stuff

 

[OldBawley]

Was completely forgotten about that epoxy. Good stuff, easy to mix and apply. Cheap.
Have used it to glue the new front “deck “ into our dingy. That deck is also the upper support for the sailing mast. Big forces onto that piece of wood so I used four extra long screws and a royal upper and lower fillet to secure the deck.
The epoxy held good for a few months, then the wave of a Flying catamaran ferry passing at exactly the speed to create the biggest ugliest wave threw de dingy onto the back of the boat.
Heavy dingy, thrown from 3 yards up to the stern of our boat, nothing survives that. A blow with a sledgehammer would do less damage. Epoxy fillets cracked.
One of the disadvantages of a rigid dingy.

 

[rotrax]

OB-when fixing up your outboard tank as a temporary supply, consider sending the return direct to the tank, not as you said the feed line.

The return is normally much more than the feed-you might over pressurise the feed line.

I had to do exactly what you are intending recently when I suffered a blocked tank outlet that could not be fixed at sea in the heavy conditions.

Topping the outboard tank up while at sea was messy without a good deep funnel and a pretty full 25 litre jerrycan.........................

 

[OldBawley]

Thanks for the warning.

After the tanks I have an oversized Separ water separator / filter. Nexst in line is the engine fuel delivery pump, the fine filter and the high pressure fuel pump.
Between tanks and water separator ( big size to cope with violent movements of the boat ) I also have a magnetic “Filter”. I had the Algae X fuel conditioner lying around so when the bug contamination started I mounted this gizo into the fuel delivery line. Seems to be doing not a lot of good since our filters blocked twice this season.
I plan to connect the return in front of the water separator. That way I would have no pressure build up do I ?

Since we use the engine only if there is no wind at all or in quay mooring I have been using a jerrycan to get diesel from a road fuel station for years. The fuel truck does not like to be called for 45 l of diesel. So I learned fiddling and spilling.
After a few spells and different hand fuel pumps ( All crap ) I made a simple spill free siphoning device.

Made a wooden bung that fits into the jerrycan opening. Drilled a hole trough the top of that bung to take a long one piece ¾ “ hose. That hose is fed trough the hole so that the suction side of the hose just reaches the bottom of the jerrycan. Airtight seal, ( Dot of Sikaflex ) Drilled a second hole to take a short small size piece of hose.
So I position the jerrycan higher than the tank, bung in my bung and feed the thick hose into the tank. Other end is on the bottom of the jerrycan. Then I blow on the thin hose, creating pressure into my jerrycan. Siphoning starts. Fast ( 3/4” hose ), no fuel in mouth and no way to spill a drop.
I used my toy lathe to turn a conical fit onto the bung ( Teak ) But with a knife and some sanding paper an airtight fit is easy to make.

 

[OldBawley]

Update :

Oil cooler repair was ok. Inspected once a week for a leak, all was well.
Then I was cutting a hole into the side of the SB diesel tank. Have to clean the tank out, is full of ??? black stuff. Laid a wooden board over the engine compartment to sit on so I could use the hacksaw in a more comfortable position.
Used a bit to much power, board slipped into the engine compartment with me following.
Did not fall deep, half a meter, then was stopped by the cooling pipes of the engine and coolers.
Two days later a noticed water in the bilge. Sh*t. Eighty kilos of pure muscle ( all concentrated around my belly ) was to much for the sika.
My cooler repair was leaking. Drip,drip.
Taking apart the insert from the cooler, it turned out the sika seal was bad made. Inserting the insert had removed most of the sika,leaving just a 5mm seal.
This time I made good seal. I hope.
Engine running again, all is well.

 

[boatmike]

I hope you don't think I am stating the obvious here but a new oil cooler can be purchased from a UK supplier (Lancing Marine?) on the internet and couriered out to Greece for you to collect at any Marina Office or Post Office. Probable cost about £350 plus carriage.