Cleaning of the Coolwater Cooler.

                                                    Cleaning of the cooler.

The cool water cooler for the starboard engine was cleaned last year but for the port side engine this was impossible due to the fact that the cooler could not be removed since the fuel tank was in the way. Since the fuel tanks were removed it was now possible to remove the cooler as well. How the cooler needs to be removed speaks for itself loosen the nuts and pull the cooler out.

Although difficult to see on the pictures the cooler was pretty dirty and I presume that it has never been removed since the engines were installed.

The cooler was placed in a bin filled with normal house hold cleaning agent, vinegar. To make sure that there was a reasonable flow through the cooler a small aquarium pump was placed into the bin and the flow through de cooler was directed opposite the normal flow from the round part to the square part.

Since I did not see a lot of difference after 24 hours I let the cooler into  liquid the for another 48 hours.

When the cooler then was removed one could see some improvement and looking into the bin there was quite some dirt on the bottom.

For those interested there is a number on the cooler which I presume is the part number for the Volvo Penta MD 32A.

New O-rings were installed on the cooler new gaskets made and the cooler was installed again on the engine. First impression after having a test run with the engine while docked is that the cleaning of the cooler was required, engine temperature stays now cooler than before the cleaning.

Fuel Tanks Replacement

 

                                                      Replacement of the Fuel Tanks

 The last two years I have had issues with one engine in particular, starboard side, was that the fuel pump got clogged with dirt. First idea is as always did the filters perform as designed , I think they did but nothing could be found in the filters. Water ingress into the fuel tank is then the next guess but no water could be found in the thanks. Nor was a “ bacterial slime” visible on the fuel filters. Bear in mind the  fuel is not completely consumed which is loaded on a yearly base. Looking into the tanks through the levels sensor hole I did see in the tank a kind of brown floating particles. So I added chemicals to let them clog together which the filter then should catch them. Well this did not work fuel pump got clogged for the second time with brown material. Contacted a tank cleaning company to have the tanks cleaned and hatches in the tanks installed , these are the original tanks delivered with the boat in 1969, no without cleaning hatches to access the tank.. This became an challenge due to space available for working as well as that only two hatches could be made into the tanks one on each end. The middle part no hatch could be made and this is between two baffle plates in the middle to prevent fuel moving too fast through the tanks.  In my opinion the tanks could never be 100 cleaned and disinfected.              The price for this upgrade was beyond my budget compared to two new tanks with equipment and new fuel lines, which should be replaced anyway even if hatches were made in the original tanks.

 Tanks, stainless steel, were removed and inspected and as can be seen from the below pictures tanks do have a buildup on the inside.

The removed tanks Diameter 54 centimeter and 155 centimeter high capacity 300 liter.

Next step was to remove all the fuel lines inspect them and clean them .  The fuel lines between  the tank en the engine supply and return were thrown away. The fuel lines on the engines were cleaned , first soaked into white spirit and then manual with the following method.

A small brush was pushed through the pipe, this worked but I was not able to completely clean the pipes 100% as well that I was unable to inspect them. This resulted into that the pipes were cut at a point where they would be easy to reassemble and not at a point of a support bracket. Pipes are made from hard steel.

The brush is of the type used to clean for example aquarium hoses.

The next step was to go through the pipe with a small piece of cloth to make sure that no residue was left behind.

The last step was that all pipes were blown through with air. 

Although difficult to see on below pictures one can see the difference between a dirty and clean pipe. Below Dirty pipes , you can click on the picture and it will enlarge

The below pictures show the cleaned pipes.                                            

The cut fuel lines were reassembled with a fuel hose with clamps. Although this looks not very professional one should bear in mind that the pipes are filled with low pressure fuel and that they are supported with brackets or connected to the fuel filter or engine and are unable to move.

Not only the pipes were cleaned but the fuel filter housing completely taken apart and completely cleaned with chemicals, brush and rags. The same for the delivery pump, which had a lot of small parts.

Delivery Pump was tested with clean fuel before mounted on the engine again. The above was done for one engine. For the second engine which was still operational the supply and return fuel lines to the engine were replaced. The fuel pipes on the engine were not cut but cleaned in the same way as described above. The same for the delivery  pump and fuel filter housing.

The next step was to decide what seize new tank would be installed as well the material, I decided to install a nonmetal tank smaller in seize. Less chance of condensation and less chance of that the fuel will get bad due to standing too long in the tanks.

The advantage after removing the tanks was that I was now able to clean and paint the hull  which was impossible till so far. The actual removing of the tanks was actually simple , after removing the floor boards and the foundations for the floor boards the tanks could be lifted out between the engines and the walls of the steering cabin without having to remove any other structure.

Instead of making complete new foundations for the new tanks , which was the original plan, I decided to modify the original tank foundations since they are following the hull roundness. The darker wood is the original tank foundation.

To fill the the round foundation to a flat foundation the same thickness of wood was used and with bras screws connected to the original foundation. The most forward foundation was placed one frame to the aft since the new tanks are shorter. To make the "perfect" round fill piece with a reciprocating saw a support was used to make a straight cut in the wood, below picture will explain the process.

The pieces which filled the original foundation were cut in such a way that the new tank would lay horizontal in the boat the same way as the original tanks, this was checked before removing the original tanks. The parts were then checked again if there were no mistakes made before installing them onto the frames. 

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For extra strength additional beams were placed between the frames at the same time the beams will support the wood where the tanks will be placed onto.

The fix the tanks in position straps should be used this is a recommendation from the manufacturer of the tanks if the tanks get full they might expand a bid and the straps will adjust to this expansion.             I bought tank supports with straps as suggested, unfortunately I'm no pleased with this construction the thanks slide over these plastic supports and I decided to remove them and place a so called non slip mat under the tanks, same type of non slip mats which are used under a rug to prevent it from sliding over a wood floor.

Tanks were temporarily installed with the straps to see how the straps would end and could be positioned in the best way with the most support to keep the tanks in place.

Some different positions of the straps were tried out to get the best fixing to the tanks support. Eventually it ended with 4 straps over the tank two lengthwise of the boat and two transverse

at the end of the tank I noticed that the straps could slide off the tank this was corrected with straps between them further the end of the straps were fixed onto the ships construction see also below pictures for additional information.

Next came the running of the fuel hoses  this since I stepped away from the original copper pipes and hoses between the pipes and engine connections. I ran only hoses between the tank and engines taking in account that there should be some slack in the hose where they are connected to the engine.

The hoses themselves where connected to the ships structure with special hose clamps which are metal with rubber lining , hose outside diameter is 15 mm the hose clamp when tightened is 14 mm this way the hose can never be compressed while at the same time it is fixed to the boat. Hose clamps were placed on a short distance from each other.

New tank filling lines were installed on one tank the heating unit was connected , vent lines were connected to the tanks those were fixed again in such a way that no water ingress into the tanks could be possible, big loop was made under decks next to the filling point. Vent point in the hull is lower than the highest point of the ventline.

Tanks in position and partly filled with Diesel, The plan is to switch to HVO 100 fuel in the near future.

 

Tent and Window cover

 When the boat was bought there was a tent placed to cover the steering cabin completely. This tent was in a bad condition and a new one was made in house by my neighbor Jan who helped me over the years with restoring the boat. Going over several web sides covering the Storebro 34 I noticed that originally there is no tent to cover the steering cabin, this also explains to me the two large drains in the steering cabin floor. The pictures contain some dimensions and additional text as further explanation, but as with any boat port and starboard side might not be the exact same length and height.

The old tent was not used as example for the new tent since the windows in the tent did not lined up with the metal supports which keep the tent up and in position, it was just used as an idea how to fabricate the new tent. Materials were bought and with the help of U-Tube short films a plan was made to fabricate the tent. The metal support was kept as original and positioned the same way onto the deck. One disadvantage of this tent is when it is closed that during arrival and departure the aft deck is difficult to reach since the railings on the aft cabin are covered by the tent so there is no way one can keep " One hand for the boat and one for yourself"

The tent is connected to the hard top by way of a aluminium rail with a groove where a tendon ( Cord) is placed in, This tendon is sowed to a strong material where the actual tent is sowed on.

The connection to the hard top is made with a zipper to be able to remove the complete tent when required, mainly during a sunny day. The zipper is also connected to strong material to give it a reinforcement for holding the zipper onto the tent.

To make sure that not all the tension of the tent is placed onto the zipper a Velcro connection is made between both sides of the zipper,on side onto the rail in the roof other onto the tent.

The tent is kept in position and giving the required height by two round metal bars which are on a sliding rail which is mounted on the roof of the aft cabin.

The tent is hold into position around  these round bars by means of tent material and a full length zipper, this way the tent can be removed from the support bars .

The side windows are now made in line with the tent supports, which gives it a nice look from outside, originally the supports could be seen from the outside through the window.

On positions of the corners and where tension is expected where the tent touches the hand rails additional tent material was sowed onto the tent at the inside this way expecting that the tent will last longer.

The tent around the forward side windows I would make it different if a new tent is made in the future. I would make it a straight line with the roof , which would give it a nicer look in my opinion, this was not done since we followed the original design at this point. One challenge could be mounting the tent clips under the roof, difficult drilling a hole.

The height of the tent was kept the same as the height of the roof of the steering cabin.

The aft  window can be completely opened for a not so sunny day but still warm enough to sit dry while sailing. This is accomplished by a zipper on either side of the window.

The tent is made in such a way that on the aft side it hardly touches the hand rail and in such a way preventing rubbing of the tent against the hand rail and this gives the tent a straight line from the top to the bottom at the aft side.

Below some pictures with dimensions. At the aft side both corners straps are placed to give some tension on the tent and to keep it in place , supports are mounted onto the aft cabin roof.

Over the last few years I noticed that the wood in the steering cabin started to discolor again , my boat in the marina faces south, asking my friendly neighbor Jan again if he could make a window cover for the steering cabin.This cover goes over the forward window and side windows. I admit it is getting a bit dark inside but on the other hand temperatures stay a bit lower and the discoloring of the wood will be slower.Minor advantage the sliding side window is now also covered which will prevent from water entering inside.

The cover is as with the tent connected with clips onto the wood a few at the front and the sides, to make it easier for fabrication the window wipers are placed on top of the material.

On the side the cover is placed under the tent so that the gap between the tent and the wood is minimized. In the past I had some ingress of rainwater and even snow depending off course on the wind direction.

Where the cover meets the tent the cover does have so called tent rings , this way the clips hold the cover in place and under a minimum of tension.