On 20 Dec 2006 22:31:36 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:


Wayne.B wrote:


Most of us with big diesels buy our oil in 5 gallon pails. Keep the
old pails and after you've done a few changes you will have no need
for 1 gallon jugs.

I like the gallon jugs, myself. Much easier to use if you ever need to
add a little oil beween changes. Also easier to get containers of waste
oil out of the engine room and off the boat with less risk of spilling
or wacking into something with a dirty oil bucket. When a friend
approaches on a cruise and says he's out of oil and needs to borrow a
gallon, it's easier to loan a gallon jug.

And, the plastic jugs make two really useful oil changing tools. If you
slice off the top of a jug just below the shoulder, you can turn the
top upside down and use it for a funnel. In engine rooms with limited
vetical clearance, that can account for a useful difference in height
when compared to a standard conical funnel. The lower portion of the
jug is now a square bucket with a handle on the side- and is exactly
the perfect size for catching a screw on oil filter and the associated
mess when it's removed.

I understand your point but my setup is a little different. NAPA
sells a lever action pump which converts a 5 gallon pail into a
dispenser. I leave that in the engine room for topping off and doling
out small quantities. It is very convenient.

The boat came with a 12 volt reversible oil change pump which is
valved to both engines and both generators through a manifold
arrangement. It takes less than 5 minutes to pump the old oil from
each engine into 5 gallon pails. After changing the oil filters (and
topping them off with the manual pump), it is easy to reverse the
electric pump, stick the hose extention into fresh 5 gallon pails and
fill the engines back up. No lifting/pouring, and very fast.

When we were looking at Hatteras 53s a few years back this seemed to
be a very common configuration. Now that I've practiced the routine a
few times I can change both engines and both generators (15+ gallons)
in less than 2 hours. Most of that time is in the filter changes
which is still a PITA.