Any idea what is the zinc matching the Seakamp 200420 heat exchanger?
Seakamp just replied to me ”¼ npt thread zinc is 1.7 inch”
Checking on the catalina36.org association, I got recommended size E0 from this site.
They also have a page for the kind you screw into the brass cap – but you may have to cut that to length.
Anyway I had to cut to the length even the E0, as soon as it was inserted the water was not able to go through anymore.
So the plan will be to:
New priority project on Hotel Catalina! Let’s see how many week-end will I need to get it fixed 🙂
I just had to send a quick email to edson to be able to order the needed screw on boltdepot.com.
Those screws are 8-32 pan head machine screws 3/8” long.
First I went back with the old one before to replace them later on.
This project took me 2 week-ends, and some painting at home. When it happens I thought it will take a lot longer, but it got fixed pretty fast.
After the over heating issue we had last month, the water temperature alarm stopped to work. No sound anymore at the start of the engine.
After some troubleshooting it seems it was just a ground issue at the engine block level.
The wire with a resistor broke at one point and it seems to be the culprit for this issue
Ordered some 1K Ohm 1/2W Flameproof resistors:
Rebuilt it and it works great now!
After 2 weeks ownership we decided to go out for a small cruise, still the stress of the docking and undocking of this huge to us boat. Fortunately we will not have to dock it back ourselves this time!
Just out of the marina we started to hear the noise of the high temperature alarm yelling at us. Time to turn off the engine. Calling the radio and getting a free ride to our slip by the cost guard 🙂
After few calls and some troubleshooting we realized the issue was a leaking heat exchanger. Learning the hard way…
I posted first these troubleshooting notes on the Catalina 36 user association, if you have a Catalina 36 I highly recommend to join as a paying member. You will get more content and receive mainsheet magazine once a quarter.
In the process to troubleshoot the leak we discovered it was the time to replace the heat exchanger!
Yesterday I removed it from its very unaccessible location. I will definitely mount it back aft at one point.
Once removed I was able to read the part number / SKU: Seakamp 200420 and take some measurements.
Now here is my question, do I replace with the exact same model? And where should I buy it?
Some pictures of the little guy 🙂
For the inches to mm value, I was using my vernier caliper, and not sure if it’s in metric or standard. So maybe some numbers are a bit off, also since I guess this heat exchanger didn’t move for the last 10 years, they are not the exact value.
So far I saw the required part there:
$436.80: http://www.mrcool.us/200420cn-universal-westerbeke-medalist-heat-exchanger.html
$496.08: http://inetmarine.com/skuni200420cnheatexchanger.aspx
One other option would be to bring it to a radiator shop, have them clean it up, and give the outside a good coat of paint (or powder coat), but not sure about who I could ask to do that here in LA? And does it worth it? I have the feeling it needs more than a clean up.
Especially since it was leaking.
So I decided to replace it with the SEAKAMP model shipped by Mr Cool (http://www.mrcool.us/200420cn-universal-westerbeke-medalist-heat-exchang…(link is external)). For now, I just replaced in the same location at it was before, the ultimate goal is to move it aft, but I want to avoid to add more troubleshooting for now.
The heat exchanger came with brackets AND clamps as you can see in this picture:
So I felt a bit concerned about the brackets shipped with the HE, if I use them, I don’t see how I can use the clamps.
This is how it looked at first:
I also did few (ok a lot of them) flush of my radiator since it seems a lot of salted water has been living on the fresh water side of the cooling system.
A temperature gun (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K5QVBCU) pointing the top of the thermostat and a lot of free time! Not sure it was really useful but it made me happy 🙂
The Catalina 36 V berth is laid out with one large V shaped cushion and a separate insert to fill in the Vee area attached to an upholstered board that fits/rests perfectly onto the trim of the berth. Invariably, just as we become fast asleep, the insert falls to the cabin sole. Since our plan is to sleep on the v-berth to enjoy the nice custom mattress who came with the boat, it’s time to fix it!
The solution was to put some velcro tape:
I had to staple the velcro tape against the insert (update: so far after 5 months it still hold perfectly to the v-berth).
