Engine Room - Water Heater Replacement

Replacing Felicity's water heater was a necessity of Project Motor Boat. Our goal is to ultimately stay "unplugged" because we don't plan on being at the dock on shore power forever! Also, we don't plan on running a generator 24 hours a day. Just because it's a power boat doesn't mean we will use our powers for evil instead of good. (tee hee hee) We are trying to set the boat up to use battery power created by solar, wind and our engine's alternators. We will use the generator mainly to run A/C or Heat and when/if the wind/sun aren't working in our favor!;) (In our experience, you usually have one or the other & sometimes both!)

We chose the Seaward 20 gallon 120V AC Water Heater with Heat Exchanger. This bad boy provides us the options to use it in anyway we like. We can make hot water by using the engine, the generator OR the shore power!

These big, box like water heaters are designed to sit on a platform or a shelf . Unfortunately, we have seen on other boats that the shelf holds moisture which allows it to deteriorate quickly. To be one step ahead of that issue we built a frame work, more like a bottomless shelf.

You'll notice in the "Before" photo the area was dark and dirty and in the "After", the walls have been painted white and the area was a bit more cleaned up. Well, that was the bulk of the work, we sprayed degreaser all over, scrubbed, hosed it down and dried it up. Then, we sanded, vacuumed and wiped the entire area down with acetone before we began to paint. Once the paint was dry we began the shelf creation. There was a lot of measuring to custom fit one arm of the platform around the approximately 8"exhaust hose.

The *hottest* thing about this water heater project is that the space we gained from the modification allows is to build a workbench with a drawer! It will make a great place for a vise, a bench grinder and we will have room on the walls around it for shelving!! Just one more check off our looooooong list!

The Right Tools

Oil change equipment! 

Having the right tools can make all the difference.

Here is West Marine's 6.9quart capacity Oil Extractor

This weekend GR did the oil change while I took notes. Next time, I want to do it. The set up we have made the whole process less messy and simple. West Marine's oil extractor is great! Using a powerful manual pump it creates a vacuum that pulls out the old oil from the engine. It's not necessary to keep pumping, the vacuum does all the hard work! One hose end goes into the engine's dipstick tube, the other tube hooks up to the unit. Give it about 15 pumps and just watch the cylinder fill up! We then dumped the cylinder into the oil 5 gallon bucket we had from the last oil change.

Ordering online is such an awesome way to get the tools we need, considering we work without a vehicle. GR found Northen Tools online and ordered this ZEE LINE hand pump for the fresh oil we'd be depositing back into Felicity's engines! It is designed to fit right over our 5 gallon oil barrels and it sucks the fresh fuel out and deposits it into the engine using the same method as the removal pump.

I was simply amazed at the simplified way we were able to stand up in the engine room and removal oil from inside the boat, taking it to the oil depo station here in the Dinner Key Marina, clean marina facility. Now we are prepping to top off the fuel tanks which we hope to do Saturday.

In Action

Do you know your level?

One of the things both power boaters and sail boaters can agree on is that the price of diesel these days is getting outrageous! Alas,every year during the Spring and Summer we see prices climb. It seems to happen just as we are about to start having some fun on our vacations! Knowing just how much fuel in your tank can mean extra money in your pocket for all those cold drinks! When we purchased Felicity we knew we would need to replace our fuel tank sensors and gauges. Coming down to Miami from North Carolina we would just fill her up every chance we got and monitored the tanks the old fashioned way, with a dowel. But not anymore...

Recently, we partnered up with WEMA USA Inc. We saw this company at The Miami International Boat Show and contacted them to begin the selection of products we would need. Their website explains in great detail just how to decide the right fit for you tanks, see here.  Dealing with the company was a breeze, we called and they answered the phone, big plus these days when most phone numbers are answered by a voice recording!

GR was able to do the entire job in about an hour! He removed the old gauge from our control panel and the two senders from the forward and aft tanks. The new WEMA reed type senders were the same bolt pattern so all he had to do was line them up. Reed type senders were a nice choice for our tanks because we have a lot of baffles (walls that keep the fuel from sloshing around too much) where the gauge is installed.

Overall we can say WEMA USA Inc. has exceeded our expectations by:

• Being just a phone call away. Knowing we could speak to a real, knowledgeable person.
• Having quality product. They were finished well, stainless steel welds all look nice.
• Giving us options. The gauge had an option for red or yellow light. (It's the little things!)
• Ease of operation, installation took all of an hour!

SPECIAL DEAL FOR YOU!!!

Because we love our readers so much, we are passing the savings on to YOU! When you place you order with WEMA, you will receive 20% off your online purchase! If you have been looking around and are ready to make the change your fuel tanks have been waiting for, now could be the best time!

New Sponsors & A New Project

Have you ever heard of WEMAUSA Incorporated? We hadn't either until the 2012 Miami Boat Show. Our goal  at the show was to seek out the companies that had products we were going to need for Felicity's upcoming projects. When we found their booth we took home the packet of materials and kept in our TO DO pile; until yesterday! WEMA has a whole slew of stainless steel products but our eye was fixed on liquid level sensors, fuel and water tank gauges. Their prices are incredible AND we got same day service; there was no waiting! What made WEMAUSA that much cooler? They agreed to sponsor us, so we LOVE them! Please spread the love, stop by their website & their Facebook page and don't forget to tell them we sent you!

Now, a full review of the actual products there will follow once we install these buggers, which I hope will be this weekend. Knowing the amount of full in your tanks is pretty imperative, especially when you want to do some long range cruising! We are going to be busy, busy this weekend getting ready for a boat ride we have coming up. Want to know where we are headed? Hang on to your hats folks and stay tuned because there's more news to come!

This is a show stopper!

Ouch! This is a show stopper!!

We found this little number while inspecting the engine. This is exactly what we were looking for; bad hoses, bad belts, places that hoses were rubbing. This hose was a wet exhaust hose. We ripped it open a bit more than it was so you could really see the damage.

We called Napa, we called West Marine, we searched Home Depot and Wal*Mart; no one had this hose! So we settled for West's fuel hose. It held up well for the first 4 hours and it appears as though it will get us Miami!

Fingers crossed and hourly engine checks continue....

Making a List and Checking it Twice

Everyone knows that boats need work. It’s just a matter of finding out what needs doing, and then listing them in order of importance.  First, decide what the most important tasks are; we call these show stoppers. Our list has been shortened already as we have been working away at completing these jobs so we can get off the dock. Just because we bought a motor boat does not mean we want to sit at a dock. Besides it’s pretty chilly up in North Carolina and we are ready to move!

Our list

Bow Cleat – The Starboard bow cleat needed re-bedding. This is a two person project. Someone (meaning me) has to climb into the anchor locker to hold the wrench over the bolt while someone else (meaning him) unscrews the bolts from the deck.  Actually, the anchor locker was a lot bigger than some of the many other bilge compartments and lazarette cabinets I’ve previously been shoved into. Fast forward through the 30 minute drive to West Marine and boom! We are back at the boat with the new hardware. We applied two sheets of fiberglass cloth to the inside of the cabinet. Once that dried, the holes were filled from the top deck with West System and Colloidal Silica. Once that is completely dry, we re-drill and re-bed with 5200.

Sampson Post – Pretty much same as above. Re-bedding is re-bedding.

Anchor Light – Simple enough. Order online, and insert. Turn on the switch and Voila! Let there be light!

Fuel Line – Eeek! This is a tricky one! Hatteras has a fabulous owner’s manual that show in-depth drawings of all the systems including the fuel system. It’s a 43 year old boat with copper fuel lines that have managed to get pin holes in them. With a can-do attitude and a lot of trial and error we replaced a few lines and think we have nailed it.

Engine Maintenance – Being cut from the same cloth of good ole’ Captain Ron we are fans of the motto, “If anything’s going to happen it’s going to happen out there.” Yet, we still prefer to prepare ourselves for what might happen by going through the general maintenance on the engine(s) before we set out on a trip. In the past few days, we have replaced all fluids and filters, installed new impellers in the water pumps and have scrubbed everything in the engine rooms. We have degreased from top to bottom so that if we should develop a leak we can spot it fast and trace it easily.

Ground Tackle - From the anchor well, we pulled out all the rode, measured and marked the line using a super simple method of stretching the line out on the side deck. We used zip ties to mark the lengths beginning at 50’ and then every 25’ thereafter. This is our get us home fix, in the long run we plan to have all chain rode.

Needless to say, we have been pretty busy, but we are seriously enjoying every minute of it. The boat makes for a super comfortable live aboard while working on all these projects and it sure is nice to cross things off the list as we go!Not to mention the pure satisfaction of a hot shower at night after a long days work, another bonus we’ve enjoyed since making the switch! (Our last boat not only didn't have hot water, it was only sea water operated by foot pump, seriously folks. We kept it simple.)