thanks John.
i have twin cats 3216 (300hp). Agree with you. ref. redundancy, what I
really meant was the avility to change the filter element while
underway without having to shut down the engine....have you or anybody
there heard of a product call: Marine Cal-5 ? it is made by a company
called Fuel Tek and they claim to be very efficient to "clean" fuel.
Capt John wrote:
map wrote:
ok so here is an old question that I have not seen discussed recently.

My mechanic says not to polish, will be better off by installing two
(twin engines) of the redundant big racors, I'm sure that's the best
way to go, but at $1,200 each I'm looking at spending aprox. $4,000
when you include instalation.
I was thinking to buy a couple of the large single Racors, one per
engine and leave the old small units for redundancy, if I can make this
work I can probably get it done for under a thousand bucks and still
have a redundant system for each engine.....
And of course there is the question of professional polishing...
thoughts out there??

What size and type of engines do you have. You only need the big Racors
if you have very large engines. The redundant units really aren't
redundant, your only using one filter at a time, you select the other
filter when the first is clogged. Racor filters are very easy to
change, it only takes a few minutes, so the single units really are
just fime (I've only seen the dual units on very expensive boats). The
units are also easy to install, you just need a hose supplier nearby to
get the hoses from. Just install shut off valves on the inputs and
install the units so that you can get the filters out of the housings
as easily as possible. Your price of 4K sounds like a lot of money, but
I do agree with your mechanic, a good set of filters makes a lot more
sense than "polishing" (I've never heard of a knowledgable boater
(their are lots of people that think their knowledgable) falling for
"fuel polishing" which is nothing more than running your fuel through
filters and putting it back into your tank).