A few years ago I decided to find out what it would be like to use a blogging platform for topics on this site. I used Blogger, then transformed those posts to WordPress to see what that was like. It was OK, but not all that quick for me – I’m super fast with HTML code. Plus I don’t want to take the time to learn how to make a WordPress template that looks like the rest of the site.
So, no more topics in WP – here’s the link to all the maintenance, enhancements, and upgrades found here under the wp section plus my “How To” steps and missteps for some other things I’ve worked on on the boat.
Universal M25 diesel with breather hose into air intake
A couple of years ago a buddy suggested I put a nipple on the air intake on my Universal M25 and attach the breather hose to the nipple. What he was looking at was the breather hose from my valve cover stuffed directly into the air intake, apparently a completely acceptable method to eliminate the blow-by smell from these engines – the gases go right back into the intake manifold and so does any oil. My diesel go-to guy had fixed it up that way back in 2004 and I never gave it another thought. The engine seemed to run just fine and it certainly didn’t have any blow-by smell.
Time for a change
I’d bookmarked Compass Marine’s Air Filter & PCV Valve Upgrade some time ago and now revisited that website and various forum threads on the subject, but a complete redesign of the air filter on Reality Check wasn’t going to happen, at least not by me!
After cleaning the air intake part and taking a look at the breather hose that had a nice coat of oil on the inside, keeping the blow-by oil out of the manifold sounded like good diesel practice… hmm, the JEGS air/oil separator looks perfect for this application and I don’t have to fabricate anything.
Oil / air separator with filter
Before I ordered this part I made sure there was a place I could put it – the polycarbonate bowl can’t touch any hot surface. Not only did I have plenty of room, the location in the engine compartment is easy to get to when the filter needs cleaning.
The JEGS air/oil separator came with connectors that screwed into the unit at one end and had a hose barb at the other. The hoses I was connecting were 1/2″, too big for the barbs. I replaced the JEGS barbs with 1/4″ nipples from Home Depot. Perfect!
Breather hose tied to air intake with a nylon cable tie
How about a nipple on the air intake? Couldn’t find a part to make that work – if I were to drill a hole in the intake cover and stick a nipple in there, there aren’t any nuts that fit nipples in order to hold it in place (nipples are plumbing fixtures, they don’t have nuts). An easier solution was to cut the hose in two places and slip a cable tie over the cut hose to hold it next to the air intake. I like easy
Clean air intake part (#301138) without cover
Of course BEFORE I tied the hose, I cleaned up that air intake and put a new foam filter over it.
Air intake with foam filter part #301049
Parts
JEGS air/oil separator kit #52205 – $57 ($47+ $10 handling)
3 feet of 1/2″ heavy duty water hose – 2 1/2 feet of hose from the valve cover elbow to the JEGS air / oil separator, and about 6″ from the output of the air /oil separator to the side of the air intake – West Marine #135 – $4
2 nipples – 1/4″ brass hex nipple fitting #A-729- Home Depot – $5
2 stainless steel clamps
Foam filter (Universal #301049) – A-Z Marine $10.46
Distintegrating old foam and foil engine compartment insulation – long past time to replace this, but was anything actually going to help with the noise of the old diesel tractor engine?
The original foam and foil insulation
Trolling through forums last year turned up quite a bit of info and different products, AND lowered any expectations I harbored about a significant decrease in the noise from the diesel. But the old stuff had to go so I might as well replace it with something…
Something with lead was supposed to be the best for a sound barrier, but on the 1984 Catalina 36 I have to lift the engine compartment lid out of a bracket to access the engine and adding more weight didn’t seem too practical. The price of some products didn’t fit my cost to benefit ratio. What did fit was the SPM product from sailorsolutions.com – $105 (plus about $30 for shipping) for a pack of 12 tiles and it seemed simple to install.
Engine compartment ready for new insulation
Taking off the old stuff – simple! Unscrew the retaining screws and peel off. Next step, mineral oil to remove the remaining glue, then a little bit of light sanding – what the heck? Am I refinishing this thing or sticking glue tiles on it? Next step, analyze how best to put the tiles on there with minimum cutting.
Engine compartment insulation soundproofing tiles
Peel and stick – the glue is really sticky, you want to get the tile in the right place the first time. You can cut the tiles with a utility knife, would probably be best to use something with a blade long enough to cut all the way through on one pass. I cut it in two passes with my small blade and put the factory cut edges on the outside edges of the compartment to eliminate any flaking from jagged edges of the cut foam.
The alternator bracket rubbed through the old insulation, that was going to be true with the new 1 inch thick insulation when the cover was completely on.
Insulation / Soundproofing inside
But is it soundproof?
NO, it is not soundproof. With the diesel idling it IS quieter standing in the galley next to it, but in the cockpit with the diesel full throttle, thrumming along at sea – that noisy vibration sounds the same to me. Keep those noise canceling headphones handy for a long motoring trip!
2 1/2 hours out of Avalon on Tuesday and the Universal M25 RPM’s drop from 2600 down to 2000, then 1800, then 1600 and fluctuating. Sounds like a fuel problem – off with the engine to check the Racor 24T fuel filter/water separator – yuk what a mess. After attempting to sail back to Avalon with very little wind, we turn the engine on again and motor along just fine for another 2 1/2 hours. Then the RPM’s drop again. Fortunately the diesel doesn’t stall and we pick up a mooring and a bit later a mechanic.
Racor 24T fuel filter/water separator
An education opportunity – I’m now trained in changing the 2 fuel filters, draining the gunk from the Racor 24T filter/water separator, checking and cleaning the filter in the fuel pump, changing the fuel pump, clearing the outgoing fuel line and bleeding the fuel system.
Why 3 extra days for an hour’s job? The 2 fuel filters had to come from the mainland and missed the afternoon helicopter the next day. Another mix-up with delivery Wednesday night and the parts were finally retrieved and installed Thursday morning. So we had a few more days in Avalon…not a bad place to be stranded at all.
Secondary engine-mounted fuel filter
Fuel filters: Racor24T, ACDelco TP1200 25013415 (or equivalent)
Electric Fuel pump: Facet Purolator
Universal M25 fuel filters
Who thinks about the anchor locker? I didn’t for years until we wanted to anchor in the harbor and watch the air show. The big anchor chain was a rusted mass at the bottom. So begins the anchor locker project.
After clearing out the rust the bottom epoxy looked pretty thin. Sure don’t want leaks in the v-berth so smearing with siliconized latex seemed to do the job for about a year and then…
A bit of water in the bulkhead between the anchor locker and v-berth.
Fixing the anchor locker correctly involves fiberglass reinforcing and epoxy
Bottom of anchor locker
- that’s not going to stick to the siliconized latex so the first step is getting that out of the bottom. Head first down into the locker with a putty knife to scrape and peal that stuff out.
Now the pros can do the job right. Filling the anchor locker with water, Gary said “it’s not leaking” – unbelievable! Ultimately he found and sealed the pinhole leaks, then painted the whole thing with thickened gelcoat. No more leaks and looks pretty too 
Anchor locker after repair
When I bought the Yamaha EF1000 generator ages ago, it was great! Quiet and compact. Something happened over time and it still runs fantastic but it sure is LOUD now. So loud that, being respectful neighbors, we waited for the owners of boats near us to leave before using it.
Yamaha EF1000 generator on Reality Check
The last couple of trips to Catalina I’ve seen the Honda EU2000 generator on lots of boats. Mostly seeing because I really couldn’t hear these generators, not from the distance of the next mooring over from our boat.
Why do we need a generator? After all, the alternator charges the batteries on the boat… well, lots of reasons!
- Running the diesel in idle to charge batteries isn’t the best thing for an engine. If you’re motoring that’s one thing, but hanging out on a mooring for a few days is another.
- We like using the laptops and keeping the cell phones charged up.
- Would be nice to use the refrigerator instead of using it like an icebox.
Some people put lots of golf cart type batteries on board and use an inverter to power their AC devices. We don’t have that much battery power or even room for more batteries, much less changing out the alternator to handle charging a different configuration. A generator was a great choice years ago and now… time for an upgrade! Ordered that Honda EU2000IA generator from wisesales.com – will be hanging out in Catalina this summer in peace and quiet with plenty of power for all the toys.
We have a typical sailboat setup – 2 battery banks on Reality Check, selected through a battery switch on the panel “2 – ALL – 1 – OFF”. The switch is always on ALL when plugged into shore power to keep all three batteries charged – yep, only 3 batteries.
The method is supposed to be to switch from ALL to Bank 2 (House) when sailing. That’ll keep the engine battery on Bank 1 isolated from the house batteries so there will always be enough juice to start the engine.
What’s that got to do with replacing batteries? Well, when you can’t start the engine on the dedicated engine battery, but have to switch to “ALL” , it’s a good indicator that batteries need to be replaced.
Gel Cell 73 marine battery is bulging
I put Deep Cycle Gel cell marine batteries on the boat 11 years ago and now it was time to replace. Yikes! The price has tripled! Sure, 11 years is an unbelievable record for marine batteries, but after lots of battery experiences I had become a power miser when vacationing in Catalina – we used ice instead of running the refrigerator and used the portable generator to keep the house batteries charged.
Most people replace their batteries with the golf-cart batteries, like gel cell’s they can be repeatedly discharged and recharged. Looked into that, but… we weren’t going to change the way we used the boat so I didn’t really want to change a set-up that had worked so well for us for a long time.
Do I really need to replace all 3 batteries at the same time? That was the old rule, but a lot of time researching on the internet pointed out that wasn’t necessary. Sounds good to me – the 2 batteries on bank 2 (House) tested ok, the only bad one was the battery on Bank 1 (engine). Saved me a bundle.
Holding tank PVC T to macerator and deck discharge
When the holding tank was 3/4 full the Jabsco 18590 macerator leaked from one of the top acorn nuts and from the seal. The macerator was replaced in 2002 and used maybe 5 times since then, so why this kind of failure? It’s bolted to a bulkhead and attached to some rigid PVC, could be:
…attachment points don’t flex enough
…not used enough
…but probably, like everything on a boat, just deteriorated over time
PVC ball valve with plug
Instead of putting in a new macerator in place of the old one, how about removing this failure point and installing a valve to close it off from the plumbing when not needed?
If the holding tank was above the waterline, I could have a hose going out of the ball valve down to the thru hull and the tank could be emptied by gravity. But the tank is mostly below the waterline. And the fuel pump is in the way of adding a macerator.
I have some options:
- Move the fuel pump to another location. That means new fuel lines and wiring.
- Change the PVC and hose locations
- Don’t put a macerator on
Option 3 wins. Most of our sailing is inside 3 miles of the coast where it is illegal to empty the holding tank. The few times we’ve used the macerator was on the way back from Catalina. Just doesn’t seem worth it to add a macerator with the plumbing design the way it is. Didn’t really need that ball valve, did I?
OK! On to the next project 
Reality Check new bimini and sunscreen
Memo and crew measured on Monday, put the frame up on Wednesday, and came back with the bimini top canvas on Friday. WOW! Saturday we were sailing in the shade.
Another week and the sunshade screen for the back was done – kept that up just long enough for this picture. The middle piece rolls and ties up for boarding from the back ladder when we’re sitting on a can in Catalina.
The usual way to get a fresh water flush in a manual head is to put a T connector in the sink drain, close the thru hull, fill the sink and flush away. The advantage to the T is being able to use sea water when fresh water is scarce – open thru hull, put stopper in sink, flush away and the head pump pulls up the sea water just like designed. Use fresh water when available and to flush out the sea water from the hoses and head, keeping everything smelling sweet
Did it, but that setup didn’t work “ideally” for me:
head to sink drain with 3 way diverter
…the thru hull is really stiff to open and close – if I thought it was bad, imagine someone else struggling with it
…the T connector couldn’t be down near the thru hull because of space
…so more water was required to fill the hose that went out instead of into the head. OK that’s not a big one
Saw that the Sea-Lect Y-valve diverter could be converted from the default 2-way to a 3-way flow. That’s IT! Best of all, it’s really easy to turn to the direction you want the flow.
Sweet indeed!
Shower thru hull used to be for the head intake