Roger ,, couldn't you set up a fan unit to take the heat out of the engine
coolant in the winter? Like a radiator in a car?

Then, you could have a warm boat.

This seems extreme though. Are you this hard core?

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"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
"Thomas Wentworth" wrote
It just seems like $500 dollars is expensive..

Any thoughts?


I'm always good for a thought. $500 isn't expensive. That's just about
one BBU for a reasonably complex piece of gear that isn't produced in
quantity.

What's a BBU?

Oh, I though everyone knew. That's a "Basic Boat Unit". For rough
estimating of any boat project, just count up everything you need and
figure each item costs $500. Total cost should then average out close to
the same price.

You can pump the water through the heat exchanger with the raw water pump
but then you'll still need:

A second pump to pump cooling water to the exhaust.
Bracket fabricated to hold second pump.
Belt and pulleys adapted.
Heater tank
Piping, hose, and clamps.
Header tank.
Thermostat

Let's see, that's seven more BBU's.

I'd like to get my raw water cooled boat set up so I can use it
conveniently in freezing weather. Being from the commercial world, I'm
getting a proposal on a keel cooler. This is heresy for a sail boat but
the fact of the matter is that the drag is pretty minimal. The boundary
layer is so thick in the hind quarters that I'll never notice the effect
of dragging this small radiator like device through the water.

With a heat exchanger, you still have seawater in the boat that can freeze
and bust things, (like the heat exchanger) so you still have to worry
about draining or filling the system raw water side with antifreeze. With
the keel cooler, instead of bringing the salt cooling water in, you just
pump the antifreeze and fresh water mix outside and let the ocean cool it.
You still have to worry about draining the muffler but, if you should
forget and crack a Vernalift, it's not as big a hit to the pocketbook as
an engine block or heat exchanger.

The ideal thing is to convert to dry exhaust but then you need a muffler
and it's a lot of hot insulated pipe to arrange for in most sailboats.
Water backing up into the hot exhaust pipe is also likely to crack it.
That's why most commercial boats that work all year have stacks and keel
coolers. No salt water in the boat and no salt water pumps.

--

Roger Long