Not with 20 HP. That little engine takes all day to heat up the two
gallon galley hot water tank which the cooling water runs through
before going into the exhaust. One reason I want a keel cooler is
that I can use the thermostat to boost the operating temperature of
the engine. The engine will run better and I'll have more hot water.
What I do is plug in the shore power and heat up the hot water just
before leaving. AC brings it up to temp in about 5 minutes. The
engine then keeps it there if I'm doing some motoring.
And, yeah, I'm pretty hard core
--
Roger Long
"Thomas Wentworth" wrote in message
news
mKRf.1470$%b.892@trndny04...
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?
=========
"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