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Four new thru-hulls = one happy man !
I now have four new thru-hulls in ECHO, my Ericson
46. Fortunately three are above the waterline! http://support.pacificseacraft.com/Ericson/E46.pdf My new Yanmar engine is completely installed, but not yet tested or run in. I now have two high volume bilge pumps, one above the other, on brackets that I can pull up to service. Formerly, I could not service my electric bilge pump without removing the engine. My old electric pump was T'd into a cockpit drain --not the best set up. Each of the new pumps has its own through hull with a substantial anti-siphon loop, run with smooth hose for low friction. I have a new larger raw water inlet to service the new engine, and a much larger exhaust with two anti-siphon loops and a flapper valve thru-hull. That is like wearing a belt, suspenders, and tie wraps to hold your pants up. That is confidence in a rough following sea. The flapper valve was not planned but it was the only through-hull available for that size exhaust hose. I have a new SS strut, new cutlass bearing, new 20" Flexifold prop, new SS shaft, dripless packing gland, a gorgeous new engine bed made out of solid glass that adds to the structure of the hull. It is holding a spotless new Yanmar 75 HP engine. This is hooked up to a newly mounted engine panel that is protected by a waterproof hatch at an easy to observe location adjacent to the binacle. I have a second set of guages I plan to hook up at the companionway adjacent to the engine. I will have to cut part of my ignition key handle off if I want to close the hatch covering the gauges in the cockpit--I can live with that. I have some sort of engine alarm I need to mount that --I'm thinking about using the hole for the old engine shut off--the new engine has an electric fuel cutoff--very nice--no more sticking plunger engine shut-offs. The throttle and transmission cables are both new heavy duty cable. Everything in the auxiliary propulsion system has been replaced except the fuel tanks--that will happen in the next few months. I'm replacing my two old 50 gallon tanks with new ones and perhaps adding a third. I'll decide about that after I make the bulkhead forward of the rudderpost into a watertight to a level above the waterline. That is going to be difficult and means hanging upside down to tab that in. And it means two more bilge pumps. Also removed were two not used for many years, capped fuel tanks--the originals. These made space for a huge muffler about five times bigger than the old one. And gave room for the many runs of bilge pump hose. I still have to figure out how I'm going to run 4" air hose for engine space ventilation, and exactly how I'll configure the sound insulation for the engine space. I'm debating ripping the salon apart and reconfiguring the middle of the boat. I still have a little work on my manual bilge pump. ECHO originally had the manual pump near the helm and it was later moved next to the shore power--bad idea. I plan to move it back where it was before, using a better hand pump with a removable handle. Everyone knows why it is better to pump your bilge by hand when sailing on the ocean--right? All this sounds like overkill I'm sure. But consider this, a 46' sloop with a 3/4 keel and a "too-small" rudder, is not an easy thing to dock under sail--I've done it in light winds and would not want to do it in adverse conditions. ECHO is a good performing boat, but I'll admit it is a dog in a combination of light winds and big waves. A motor is not just a nice thing to have in a boat this size--it is a necessity. If I ever find myself short handed and want to get somewhere on a schedule, it will be very nice to have a reliable motor. I'm guessing fuel consumption will be on the order of 1.2 gallons @ 6 knots. It will be interesting to see what the fuel economy will be at hull speed ~ 8.5 knots. That would give me a range under power of 500 miles or so. The actually tank volume is more like 115 gallons. I left out a 15 gallon reserve. That would be more like 575 nm. I don't plan to motor that much when I cruise with ECHO, however, I do want be pelagic--free floating, independent of the outside world for as long as possible. 150 gallons of fuel would give me 52,500 Amp-Hours of power generating capacity if I buy one of those WhisperGen's. That 144 AH per day for a year running it two hours a day. The engine is predicted to need 65 HP to make hull speed. I have 10 extra HP. So I have a bit extra to handle any accessories I might want to add onto the engine. The prop has 5" of clearance to the hull so I can change to a bigger wheel (prop) if the size and pitch do not seem ideal. Ok, so I have four more thru-hulls? Is that bad? I have a couple I'm considering removing, and plans for a few others that are not being used now. |
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