Just another overhaul thread

[Surcouf]

So as part of my efforts to straighten the electrical system yesterday, I discovered the hard way that several circuits were not fuse protected, when they should. No Comment.

I am going to add fuses:
- on the positive supply to the key switch (40 amps as per MM drawing)
- on the lead between coil + and key switch (20 amps as per MM drawing)
- one fuse dedicated to all lighting of the instrument panel (with the number of modifications, it should really be). recommendations for amps?
- one on the Music/Radio/CDs combo, that was connected directly to the battery(!!!). What fuse rating should I use? It is a typical "car system"

The original 12V electrical of my Catalina 27 is in poor shape, toggle switches are failing one by one. I may replace the whole thing, but that is a next Fall project

Any other ideas / recommendations?
thank you

been going through a lot of threads, among those

http://www.moyermarineforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5732&highlight=fuse+rating

http://www.moyermarineforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3763&highlight=fuse+rating

[Surcouf]

so finally

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ59jWf_6q8

The last evenings have been brutal. Access on the Catalina is really ugly. My back is completely blocked now.

So of course the water plate that I had to flip is now leaking with the damaged gasket, extra Permatex was not sufficient. But that will not prevent me to sail for now. I am ordering new gaskets (plate + thermostat) to Ken right now. I will try to remove the plate without removing the thermostat housing, but it is hard.

But the to-do list on the electrical of that boat is now much longer...

[Ando]

Congratulations! Sounds great!

[roadnsky]

So of course the water plate that I had to flip is now leaking with the damaged gasket, extra Permatex was not sufficient. But that will not prevent me to sail for now. I am ordering new gaskets (plate + thermostat) to Ken right now.

One bit of advice is to mop up the leaking water when you can while you wait to re-do the side plate.
You won't want to lose the ground gained by having that water cause rusting/corrosion and possibly lead to other issues resulting from that.

But the to-do list on the electrical of that boat is now much longer...

Keep us in the loop on that upgrade.
Lot's of good guy's advice available (Neil, Joe, etc)

[Surcouf]

So, it took me 2 hours to change the water jacket plate gasket... when I see that Mo needs 2.5 hours to change a head gasket...
anyway: because it was installed 2 months ago, everything came apart easily. Access is not great, but not the end of the world.

As explained by Ken, I also had installed the thermostat wrongly. For my arrangement it is: gasket, then thermostat, then shoe-spacer, then gasket, then thermostat housing. And it indeed mounting was much better than last time!

Only impressive thing is that the plate seems to have already some significant corrosion after just 4 years. These plates are nearly a decade-consumable !!

[Surcouf]

so a follow up on first week ends of sailing: As I broke the 2 bolts holding the coil on the block, I fabricated a plate to mount it on, and fixed it on the same 2 gear casing bolts that hold the "arm" on which the rpm cable is held on to. Issue is that this way, the coil is close by an inch from the exhaust pipe.

A week ago, I had to motor 3 hours, and after an hour, the engine started to make a strange song and started to die on me... Detailed inspection of the engine (thank God for that rebuild, I now really know what I am looking at), and I find a very small oil leak on the top of the coil. I assumed that the coil overheated. Waiting 15 minutes with all hatches open; engine re-started right away and 2 more hours of motoring with the main hatch open, and the A4 ran like a charm.

I purchased in a car parts shop rolls of exhaust insulator resin bands, wrapped that in addition of the original ones around the exhaust pipe at the level of the coil, and added a thin aluminium plate around a foot of the exhaust to cut on radiant heat. I also move the coil away from the exhaust, bringing it very close to the distributor.

Good lesson: moving the coil away from a water cooled block, toward a hot exhaust is NOT a good idea. Best would have been to mount it on the wall of the engine bay. Maybe next winter...