engine installation

Replacing the old Universal 5432 32 HP at 3600 rpm diesel cast iron block engine with a Beta 35 HP at 2800 rpm. The new engine is about 50 kg lighter and has a smaller size so required some reconfiguration of the engine bed.

Although the Beta has four feet as opposed to the three on the universal it is less in width.

The Universal removed shows where the three mounts sat...with the front mount beneath the paper Towell.

The jig lined up with the propshaft showing the amount of additional rise needed for the aft engine bed. The rise needed for the front mounts is five or six

more inches.

The jig is built to simulate how the engine will mount. Each bolt on the crosspiece is exactly where the engine mounts will be..

I needed to raise the engine bed 6 inches at the front and about 2 inches at the back.

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The bed was made of plywood laminated together with west system epoxy and screws then bedded and leveled in thick epoxy putty. Once the bed had cured sufficiently I layed four layers of alternately heavy Roven cloth and coarse mat.

Next was a coat of 'bilge coat' Interlux paint.

The engine is fitted and the mounts locations marked. The engine is lifted back out and the bolt holes drilled. The  engine is returned and bolted down.

This shows the mount with two lag end SS bolts. Once the mounts are all bolted down the engine is aligned with the prop shaft by attaching the   flexible coupling and then rotating the shaft while measuring the distance between the flange of the shaft coupling with the transmission coupling with feeler gauge at fifteen thousanth inch thickness. By raising or lowering the aft mount until the measured distance between the two couplers is equal through 360 degrees. This takes a bit of consideration and focus but is straight forward. If the jig is accurate and the engine is placed at the correct angle relative to the prop then it should line up with minimal adjustment. I had to raise the one mount four turns of the nut to get it lined up. The final test is to run the engine up to speed first in stages at the dock then under load on the water.

This is the flexible coupling attached to the prop flange.(with the shaft extension between) The aligning measurement is done at the red bolt as it is rotated through 360 degees once attached to the transmission.

The new engine had to sit quite a bit forward to accomodate the footprint in this engine well. It is a very smooth running engine though even at low rpm and doesn't jump about like some older engines can.

Update 2023

Still running well. No issues so far with close to 500 hours on the clock. Regular maintenance and clean fuel. I struck a submerged item and thus had to pull the prop to be tuned. While she was out on the hard I repacked the gland and applied some Teflon grease to the shaft. So no drips and no hot shaft. I'm interested to see how long the Teflon will remain.

August 2023..now 750 hours and the new stuffing box is still smooth. I have reconfigured the filters and added two new vacuum gauges to give more room to access the watermakers and also replaced all the fuel lines and reconfigured the furnace feed line after having a minor issue with air getting in the line and causing a loss of prime

 moved the second set further aft

Probably overkill however I hate power loss when it is critical.

Projects..Anchor Locker

 Windlass and Anchor locker 

The boat came with a single Simpson Lawrence manual windlass, 60 feet of 3/8 bbb chain and 200 feet of 7/16 nylon rope as the primary bower. The 35lb Bruce holds well but the manual part was getting to be a bit tough on me so I installed an electric windlass. The Lewmar Pro-Fish 700 lb delivers 88 fpm without breaking a sweat. It also has the fast release feature should you want to drop it faster. Some folk have disparaged this brand, but it has worked for me for 11 years so far, can't complain. I do pull the boat as opposed to motoring up for a vertical pull...if done with care it is not a problem. Doesn't take much to get the boat moving even with an opposing wind. The first mate is generally at the helm in case of problems though. The manual will still work should there be a failure. 

The Bomar hatch. The lift handle broke right where the pin goes through the shaft and had to be replaced. Otherwise it gives plenty of room to get into the locker for cleaning etc. The locker is not especially roomy and so I must watch that the chain doesn't pile up and jam the windlass. 

That is 220 feet of G4 1/4 chain. In the bag is 200' of polyester rope spliced to the chain. I generally put out 150 feet no matter what when we anchor in 40' or less then adjust for conditions. 

The Starboard plate bolted and 5200 caulk to the deck holds the windlass in place. On occasion I have come up short with a hard set before getting the short snubber on the chain but this hasn't caused any problems with the placement although I wouldn't want to stress the windlass gypsy and shaft by doing that too often. Have seen some boats that have yanked the windless right out of the locker.

This is the low cost version of the control switch..just a common three way rocker that I covered with a cast  exterior switch plate on the gunwhale.

I figured that one small hole in the gunwhale as opposed to two holes for the commercial foot switches that are commonly used. Not to mention the cost of those packages. But you can get cheaper ones on amazon eh...

The SS anchor holder extension. The seadog SS swivel is rated at 2000lb WLL which is a little less than the chain at 2600 but the best I could find short of titanium that would fit the chain. I should have had an enlarged link welded in. However I think it is pretty hard to put that much force on an anchor line without really trying. I use the grab hook in settled conditions. When it is going to blow hard and there is a long fetch ahead of us I add a 3/4 brait snubber about 30 feet long. 

The Bruce. I will probably get a Mantus 45 lb one of these days. Bigger is better.

The scupper..one each side piped to a through hull.

I use the Simpson Lawrence as a King post.

This is the Lewmar control switch at the cockpit helm station. The other button is a remote engine start. I painted the cockpit last summer with Interlux Brightside paint as you can see. When I single hand I can see the chain from the cockpit and watch for the depth markers..sometimes I will count off the seconds but either way can lay out the chain  while drifting back then walk up and lock it off before going back to set the hook. Retrieval I do at the bow.

So the entire fore triangle was formerly a hinged triangular door with a 3 or 4 inch margin all around and level when closed with the rest of the sunken area. The water from that area would flow under the door and theoretically exit through the anchor locker scupper which is 1/2 inch diameter. In reality, on this boat, the water dripped down under the door and onto the bulkhead. When there was a bit of mud and shell brought up with the chain and not cleaned, and then the boat suffered normal PNW weather, the anchor locker flooded due to the tiny scupper being plugged by debris. End result was a rotten bulkhead that required replacement in the forward berth. So to remedy this I bolted said door down through the wood and fibreglass molding by cutting 3/4 inch marine plywood to fit the whole fore triangle then cutting and hole drilling out the access hole for the water tank and the hatch. I then lined up the piece of starboard with the windlass template on and bolted that through the works after the fibreglass mat had been laid on the plywood. The SS anchor holder extension had been placed prior to all of this as well. Once all the epoxy paint had been applied to the faired mat, two coats of Interlux primer and two of two part Interlux topside I reset the water access, and set in the hatch and caulked the starboard with 3M 5200 caulk prior to bolting it down. I ran two 4 gauge cables from the solenoid switch that comes with the windlass right aft by the battery compartment all the way under deck to come up through the water pipe aperture into the anchor locker. I also ran a separate 14 gauge dual cable to operate the bow controller via the same route. The heavy 4 gauge cable ensures that adequate power is received at the windlass with no wire overheating. I have had no issue with this set up. I solder and crimp all wire joints. 

 

 

Just pulled the chain and rope out to switch the chain and re splice the rope. The chain is nine years old now. With several hundred deployments on it. It is showing some surface rust on the first 130 or so feet but no large flakes. Good quality Yankee steel. Tried a different style of splice this time..quite a bit easier to do and supposedly results in > than 95% strength retention. Which would still make the rope pretty strong..testing has been done which has shown that failure does occur at the bend of the rope to chain, however at that failure there is significant distortion of the chain links. This means that the amount of force required for failure is truly large..larger than what could be expected in any anchoring scenario. From the research I have previously done on rope strength and chain strength I can see that the ultimate strength of polyester rope spliced in this fashion to high test G43 chain is considerable. Nylon rope has some more elasticity..a few percent compared to polyester but has some deficiencies as well. The smaller chain size does seem to have reduced strength compared to 5/16 chain but the overall strength is still very good. When the time comes to replace the windlass and chain, I may

 go up one size in an abundance of caution but am not going to run out and do that just yet. 

In fact I may just stay with the 1/4 high test. It looks like I will be replacing the chain before the windlass anyway. I had alot of rust with the chain on the first hundred feet and may just cut that off and go with more rope rode for a while. I attempted to ameliorate the rust using Corroseal and it worked but in the transformation the magnetite caused the chain to jump on the gypsy in some spots and I don't like that action on the windlass. 

Update

As it turned out G43 chain came on sale so I got two hundred feet. I was able to salvage 60 feet and will c link that to the back end. I will then just connect rope as required with a Wichard D link. Not often that more than a couple of hundred feet is needed. I also have upgraded the snubber with a Mantus chain hook attached to a thirty foot doubled 3/4 inch nylon brait line that runs to the two forward cleats. I suffered some serious chafe with the single line snubber that followed the chain over the bow roller during one Ill chosen stormy anchorage so this new system has proven to be far less prone to any chafing action . I decided to go with attaching more rode as needed rather than keeping a permanent spliced on chunk because I have only used the extra twice and once was in calm water. Thus I will free the anchor locker up and keep the extra rope in a better environment. 

Head Rebuild

The head works so why change it? The old Jabsco manual head worked pretty good...had to change the pump gasket a couple of times..of course the hoses smelled, the lime deposits caused some issues. Those big stiffies needed some coaxing alrighty. The holding tank was too small...the manual gusher overboard pump developed an airlock?? Needing remediation while enroute. The boat always has a kind of odour? The seacocks were all original and had to be replaced. The hoses needed upgrading to the expensive kind right, seacocks also not cheap. Need to buy another pump assembly again. So let's try an electric macerator...noisy pig but it does the job...pretty much although...because of the lateral feed some material just bounces around and don't go through so WTF.

I have been looking at various solutions including better electric, Lavac, Electrasan and vacuflush. All these could work however the best are just too big for this boat and are also in the 3 to 5000$ range which is pretty steep. I looked at the composting models as well and read as much literature as I could find from other users. After the last year with the electric macerator head we decided to go with the Airhead composting/dessicating model. As it will fit easily into the existing spot and the only potential problem will be whether to use the hull or deck for the exhaust. 

Pulled the old bowl off the macerator and pulled out the switch and cabling, all the hose. Ended up with 30 odd hose clamps one diverter, two anti siphon valves, one manual gusher pump, of course the lovely holding tank, vent line, pump out line,

 overboard hose, intake hose, three seacocks. I am going to attempt diverting the head sink discharge to one of them as the present discharge line is quite long and backs up while underway. The difference in ambient odour once all that shit dispersing equipment was removed is quite apparent and from what others have experienced once the Airhead is activated we can expect even more improved air quality as the interior air is continuously moved out.

The easiest route for the exhaust is out the existing holding tank vent which exits the side hull just below the toe rail immediately adjacent to the head. There is an existing hidden route that also accommodates the pump out line to the deck so this will serve nicely without making any new holes. The worry is that water ingress through the side will compromise the fan. This may occur so I have a couple of spare fans in that event.  

I ran the wiring from the spare fused switch at the gang that I had installed for the watermaker. This gang is powered directly from the battery so will be 

 more than made up from the solar panels while in use.

In considering this style of shitter we had to think about the implications of handling the waste correctly...as we have no intention of going off around the world and really just plan to spend two or three months at a time a couple of times a year cruising the B C coastline this seems like it may only require a couple of solid waste maneuvers annually, and emptying the urine daily. As it is the totality of waste mixed that is the problem in overboard discharge this looks to me to be an environmentally sound method of dealing with the human waste issue. 

This picture above shows the exhaust fan housing exiting just starboard of the original pump out access. This is all hidden behind the alcove wall in the head space above the sink. Easy access for any problems with the exhaust fan. I left the deck access plate in case there was a need to put in a mushroom cap style exhaust vent.

I received the Airhead Dec 23 from the US direct from the manufacturer. It came by air duty free for just $25 USD shipping. There was a couple of months backlog due to covid but the unit arrived with all the necessary installation parts needed. The spare fans I got from Amazon for $20 cdn.

I bought ten bricks of coconut coir from Lee Valley for $40 cdn. Theoretically that is five years supply. I will likely get some bacterial enzyme and bug spray in case it is needed but that is readily available at the hardware store. 

The holes in the bulkhead for the old hoses were best fixed by adding a panel of 1/4 inch birch veneer and refinishing. The exhaust required that a new hole be made in the cabinet but that allows for a direct access to the existing deck pump out hose channel which is now available. This allows for the inline filter to be easily accessed along with the exhaust fan for any maintenance requirements.

The backing, now stained, and the base painted with a couple of coats of  enamel. 

The support braces and a rubber shim at the back to eliminate a bit of wobble and maintain the few degrees of slope that is necessary to keep the urine from sitting in a puddle in the basin. The unit is held very stable by those braces and is very easy to take out with just finger loosening the wing nuts and lifting out.

All those former hoses and pumps and anti siphon valves and thru hulls. Now just one exhaust hose.
A different operating method to be sure and I imagine there will be a learning curve to master.
I will update next year as to how that goes.

After finally getting away from the docks, we stayed out cruising for a month. Had some good sails in 20 knot breeze a couple of days with a few gusts in the Johnstone straight heeling well over to the starboard rail with no water ingress. Overall the unit performed very well with no issues. Very easy to adapt to using. No smell! The boats' head is a different space.

I guess not everybody would go for it but should you decide to try it just know that it is far easier to deal with than a plugged joker ....

Update 2023...

Using now through two seasons and still no issues with this install. Exhaust fan still working fine after months of 24/7 use. I mothball over the winter after allowing 60 days for the composting to carry on. When I empty it there is only the odor of fresh soil or like humous in the forest. Grow your medicinal herb in it.

Spillover Fridge/Freezer..Re-purposed cooler

Having a fridge on the boat was one of the very first things that we did back in 2011 when we got the MJ. I picked up a Norcold SCQT kit at Fisheries Supply in Seattle while preparing to bring her back to Richmond. The Gulf had a huge cooler with an opening in the galley and an opening in the port Lazarette for putting the ice in. Both top load holes were around a foot square. The cooler had a stepped interior with slopes leading to a drain that emptied into the bilge. Pretty standard double fibreglass walled filled with blown foam 3 inches thick. I closed the rear opening sealed it up with caulk then layered the interior with foil covered air filled plastic insulation, and installed the evaporator plate high in the aft side. This arrangement worked very well for us keeping the fridge at the prescribed temp of 3 or 4 degrees C with the temperature control at the lowest setting. That is at 1 on a 1 to 5 dial with 5 being the coldest. Three years ago we bought a Dometic freezer and had that running in the aft Lazarette. It draws 6 amps per hour when running and the fridge draws 3.5, so that is a pretty big drain, although our battery bank easily managed it for a couple of days. The freezer is quite small..18 liters and takes up a big chunk of the Lazarette so I decided to attempt a modification of the existing cooler to turn it into a spillover style freezer/fridge using the Norcold that is already installed. Now I realize that this plate is designed to turn the cooler into a fridge only and not marketed as a freezer unit for that size of cooler. The original cooler is close to 7 cubic feet. As the Norcold unit never worked hard at all to maintain fridge temps, I bet that it would freeze in a smaller space that was well insulated, and the spillover style would accommodate fridge temps. As it is not possible to just remove the evaporator and re-insulate the cooler (without having the system recharged by a pro etc.), I had to add closed cell foam to the cooler and build a dividing wall between the freezer and fridge. So a lot of measuring and 3 x 2 foot x 8 foot sheets of Dow blue board and 3 x 2 foot x 4 foot sheets of formica and a couple of tubes of silicone caulk and a bunch of construction tape later I had a double compartment fridge freezer set up ready to try out.

Fridge after insulation added

                                                                           

                                          

The dividing wall is made up of 1/4 inch plywood with 1 inch of foam on each side covered with formica. Made in 2 sections caulked together midline with the spillover and return holes in the top section. All of the interior cooler walls were covered with foil covered plastic bubble wrap insulation and then 1 inch of closed cell foam. All seams were taped then formica was glued on to the foam and the seams once again caulked and or covered with vinyl tape. I cut some foam templates for shelves which will be installed using HDPE 1/4 inch material. I had to rebuild both of the top load covers and install lips that will allow for a positive seal, with the freezer door having spring hinges and a positive latch to secure the foam seal. The spillover hole and the return air hole are 1 1/4 inch and I may make them smaller...I turned the compressor on after I had placed the temperature probe into the freezer. Probe was $15 from Amazon..has internal and external sensor as well as a clock and 3 feet of line so it can snake around. I checked it on the home freezer for calibration, as well as the old mercury thermometer on the boat.

Freezer

                                                                  

The freezer compartment is smaller than the fridge. After the addition of the extra insulation and the divider, I added 6 inches of insulation to the floor of the freezer so it is around 2 cubic feet and the fridge is 3 cu.ft. I will likely add more insulation to the freezer but initially when I had the temp setting at the level 2 mark and the whole thing empty, the temp went to -9 c after 24 hours in the freezer and was 2-4 in the fridge compartment. When I came back to check it the compressor was not running, but I cannot estimate the duty cycle yet.
I filled up as many containers as I could fit in the freezer as well as one in the bottom of the fridge and left it for 2 days. When I came back to check 90% of the water was frozen solid in the freezer. Only the very top container situated where the warmer air is pushed back into the freezer is located did the water not freeze. The container in the fridge bottom was not frozen, but very chilled. So far this is working out well. I would like the freezer temp to get a bit lower at least to -12 -15 or so. I doubt it will go down to -18 though, but then I haven't properly fitted the door, and can still add more insulation to help it a bit.

The fridge cover..R7.5 foam plus whatever the air pocket foil provides. The bottom of the lid rests on the weather strip in the top of the fridge and the sides fit snugly in the opening. 

The two shelves glued and pressed into place made from hdpe board with 1 inch lips screwed on with epoxy as well. The shelf is 11 inches wide by 8 inches deep. 

The freezer lid in the lazarette. I glassed on the hinge platform to avoid drilling into the top of the freezer box. The hinges are spring hinges aka screen door hinge so they apply a positive force to the lid at the back while the anti rattle SeaDog latch holds down the front.

Seadog Latch

The lid is R7.5 of foam topped with 1/4 plywood which covers the top and sides and is glassed in place. The bottom of the lid is pressed onto weather stripping that sits on the interior lip. The lid is then positively pressed down to form an additional seal to the outer box top with the air filled insulation same as what is seen on the topside of the lid.

So far the cost for this project has been quite moderate, $100 or so for new parts. Some incidentals from inventory, and of course the existing evaporator. Add that in would be an additional $700. The fridge has been working seasonally for 7 years now in this climate so it will be interesting to see how it will hold up ( the compressor ) with the increased duty cycle if that occurs.

After finishing with the lids I turned on the compressor to see if there was improvement and was happy to see the temp had dropped to nearly -15c. 

Temp Gauge

It dropped down to -14.8 when I lifted the fridge lid and the compressor turned on. The freezer was empty for this test so I imagine with pre frozen foods and a few cold shock PCM packs all will be hunky dory. 

Picked up some stackable wire baskets to fit in the fridge side in order to utilise that space better....

Freezer tray

may still add some more insulation to the exterior of the cooler in the lazarette but will call it done for now and move on to the next..... October 15,2020..after two journeys with this unit..8 weeks this spring and the same just ending with warm days in the mid twenties centigrade the unit worked as expected. Fridge didn't freeze and freezer didn't thaw. Chicken and beef rock solid and ice cream bars good. There was frost buildup on the evaporator plate though so I am considering closing the two air flow apertures in the divider as I think the moist air is being drawn in from the fridge which is opened much more frequently...will post next year. The duty cycle on the unit appears to be no greater than with the original installation once the set had been attained though this is difficult to ascertain with the basic hardware provided. I tried to get some input from the Norcold tech but they were not helpful. 

We have used the freezer for 6 months over the past year and a half. I added some more insulation to the freezer and that helped with the frost build up this last trip. The freezer stayed at -12 and there  was no thawing. I keep four 8x10 phase change cold packs in with two on top of the food to maintain the chill. The power draw is minimal with the solar making up the loss readily. I don't think my batteries went below 85% and we anchored for 3 or 4 days at a time without cranking the engine.

Update 2023...

Still working.

DIY Watermaker vs..brand name version.

VERSION 1


 Watermakers eh? Well not wanting to go to docks all the time or not wanting to plan trips around docks or other land based water sources is the main reason, and cost is usually the main reason not to. Our first was a Katadyn 40 E survivor model that I bought from the Binnacle store in Halifax. The reason being it was the best price I could find in North America, offered free shipping and only 5% sales tax. No brainer there. I got it and installed it and we are still using it 5 years on with no problems.
 Katadyn 40 E

I also got the fines filtration and rebuild kit with March lift pump. This is a great little machine that with adequate care will provide trouble free water for two people that will run off of solar power alone taking only 4.5 amps per hour. It is a noisy thing but not horribly so like the constant drone of a generator, but this is a personal opinion and varies with location and boat size. Ours is under the cockpit and so difficult to conceal the sound. However running while motoring offsets this negative so we were happy. On longer journeys ie; all summer, the necessity of running it every day to keep up was tough. We like to anchor for 2-3 days at least without turning the engine so if the sun don't shine our power supply begins to wane quite rapidly. We figure we need ten gallons per day so the machine has to run 6 hours every day minimum. We looked for creeks on a regular basis. If the machine was quiet I could see running it for 16 hours every 3 or 4 days, drawing 40 amps out of the battery bank plus the solar if sunny..but just couldn't tolerate the noise for that long, and didn't want to leave it running while away from the boat, although did do that a few times, but then you worry. Now we have a reliable back up. I use it when single handing for drinking water mainly on short excursions of two to three weeks. When we used it on a three month sojourn it was a constant background scenario ie: making or getting water. Conserving, scouting creeks for laundry, hitting the docks. I did enjoy the creeks, though.

VERSION 2

This year we decided to get a bigger output machine, and thus began to investigate the DIY schemes that I had been reading about for years, as well as looking at the production models for 20GPH machines. After much cogitation I realized that I was not up for the $10,000 price tag on a new Spectra. Or the $7000 to $8000 for an engine driven model. There are quite a few out there and some are quite complicated ie: lots of electronics. I went with the simplest method I could find which is a   pressure vessel a  membrane   and a  pump.  ( there are many pumps..some use the General Pump WM 2515 which is stainless and cost about $1000. The one I use is bronze for $275). Then I had to figure out how to power the pump. Initially I figured to go 12 volt, but that would require very expensive motor and switching stuff and more solar power etc. Then I thought 110 volt, but I would then need a good inverter and all the cabling etc. which would push the cost as well. Next up was a 110 volt motor driven by a Honda or similar generator. Again cost and storage and gas. Nope. Then I looked at engine driven..the so called 'Hail Mary' install because of hidden costs, bad installs, etc. Our engine compartment is by no means easy to access for this sort of thing, it is all heads in the bilge sort of stuff, and there is precious little space. After much fooling around though I found a spot. I would need a pto shaft to fit the front of the crank fan. I called the Betamarine people to see if they had shaft extensions for my engine..they did, and if my plan would negate the warranty..it would not. So I ordered the stub shaft and drive pulley from Gartside Marine in Sidney. They had a few problems getting it in from the UK but eventually I got it and installed it so that I could then design and build the pump base and get it glassed in. Thinking of how to mount the pump was complex. Most of the info online suggests that the pump must be ideally attached to the engine as like an alternator to avoid stress or extra gear like idlers or having to remove belts each time you make water. After much looking about I saw that I could mount the pump dead center below the crank pulley which is the best place to hard mount one as the engine movement is pretty well limited to sideways rather than up and down movement due to torque so having the pulleys aligned like that allows the v belt to move side to side and absorb the torque. The engine runs pretty smoothly and so this seemed to be an acceptable method. To work then...I needed to get an electric clutch .( about $225  ) Then I would need to mount the assembly and line it up under the crank pulley. I needed to build a base for the high pressure pump that would allow for belt adjustment.

I used some aluminum plate and angle for this using two pieces of flat 5/16 thick plate to attach the pump and then the base plate which is a simple electric motor adjustable base...$40 at any motor shop( or less ). The metal was about $40 as well from a metal shop.  (I ordered the big parts from USA. Prices and ordering vary..you may find these parts in Canada for a good price if you look around or can buy wholesale. I got the rest of the parts locally..hose and valves pressure gauge and flow valve. Some in stainless steel which is considerably more expensive. Overall the parts ran about $3000. I made some mistakes of course which pushed the cost up, and could have likely found cheaper parts, but overall the cost was acceptable for a 20 gallon per hour watermaker. )

The pump with attached clutch on the base...

Some drilling and bolting and some fitting to get the clutch centered and this assembly is ready to go. All work done on the boat as I don't have a shop...The spot where it will sit once held the fuel tank for the diesel stove which had to be moved to a spot under the sink..which actually turns out to be a great spot for it. |I ran a line from the main fuel tank so I can fill it with the primer pump.

Once the paint was off I could glass the pump assembly in. Took a few placements and straight edge alignments but eventually the assembly was in place and glassed in.

This shot above shows me lowering the pump onto the glassed in base. It weighs about 30 lbs and is awkward to maneuver while heads down in the bilge, so the block and tackle made that part easy. I lowered it onto the bolts that I had set in place by tapping the holes for 3/8 bolts. Below the assembly is wired and belted. You can see the shaft extension bolted on the red crank pulley. The blue cast iron pulley and bushing was $50. The stub shaft was expensive coming from Beta, you could likely have one done at a machine shop for less. There are many variations for mounting and driving so each install will be unique. I was able to build the unit so as to be easily removed without detaching any hoses or major renos. I move one fuel filter without taking the lines off and the whole unit comes straight up via block and tackle suspended from the cabin top hatchway.

Below is the improved housing that I had built as the bottom only mounting was not strong enough causing the vibration to snap one of the bolts. This mount totally encloses the pump with four retaining bolts, 2 up and 2 below with side struts that hold the pump tight, The whole enclosure then bolted to the base which is adjustable. As I needed only to have sides and top welded on this was inexpensive. So far the water production has been greater than expected with approximately 25 gallons produced in an hour running at 1400 to 1500 rpm and 800 psi. The TDS measured 48ppm.

In the above picture the high pressure line is top. The high pressure SS elbow with HP SS swivel..plastic plug is to keep dirt out while maintenance performed. The low pressure SS elbow and SS hose Barb on the lower intake line. 

Above shows the adjustment bolt on the lower electric motor mount.

Get an idea of the size. 

Both pulleys are 7 inch diameter.

Since this I have installed a tensioner ..a Rosta R18 to ease the tensioning process and allow for simple disconnect by removing the belt. I do this in an abundance of caution. I could leave the belt on and freewheel it as does every a/c unit in every car but I figure that if I make it very easy to remove then why not decrease the number of moving parts. The Rosta tensioner..blue thing..is simple to adjust.

Short vid of the finished installation. Smooth running with just a bit of tension. The Rosta device works with stiff rubber instead of wound spring and is very easy to add tension. Once in place the tensioned arm maintains the belt tension while allowing for any engine movement to be absorbed by the rubber. These devices are widely used in industrial applications where frequent variations of torsion will wear out belts or equipment due to over tension or slackness of the belt or chain drives. Here it works as a very quick and easy belt on belt off and smooth run. |Once set up to the tension needed the belt can be removed by hand without tools in seconds. Adjusting tension is done by loosening the center retaining bolt then with a large wrench (1 3/8 ) bring up the tension to what is needed and re-tighten. These can also be used with alternators.

The pressure vessel found a spot right above the smaller Katadyn unit.

The lift pump which feeds seawater to the high pressure pump is seen here..it is a Jabsco mini water puppy which I got for $100  just because it had been on the fellows shelf for 30 years. Haha it works just fine. New ones run to about $400 or so. I used some plastic valves from the hardware store for the low pressure feed lines..cheap and easy. I used plastic conduit clamps to hold the hoses.

All the lines go to a spot between the stairs and the fridge. It is a little messy and I will be changing it up this winter, but for now it fits in there and provides space to work once the steps are out of the way. Many people have mentioned pulsations from the high pressure pumps and potential for chafe and whatnot. Pulsations are usually caused because of cavitation in the high pressure pump where there is not sufficient volume of feedwater supplied so the high pressure pump cycles air thus causing a banging sound and jerking of the hose. The  pump the maximum output pressure is 1500 psi at 1750 rpm. The membrane max psi being 1200 and the operating pressure for normal seawater RO being 800 psi, I have found that I can easily make water to spec for the membrane running at 1100 rpm. The pulleys I use are 1:1 ratio between the crank pulley and the electric clutch so it is quite simple math to achieve the output. The pump is 3 gallons per minute output at the rated max. I am feeding it with the mini puppy which puts out 1.8 GPM and there is zero pulsation with this pump. It runs very smoothly. I run water via the feed pump until the system and high pressure pump are loaded then engage the electric clutch at idle speed 850 rpm and then bring up the engine revs and adjust the flow control valve until the pressure gauge reads 800 psi. I run the product water into a pail until it has flushed all the old permeate out then switch it to my holding tank which takes 14 gallons. I can then transfer that water to my main tank which is 55 gallons and as well can draw the made water to the galley sink through a carbon filter for good tasting drinking water. Below you can see the various lines and valves...

This is showing the mess of lines which include the test lines from both watermakers, the pickling hose uptake and concentrate diversion lines as well as the lines to the filters..30 micron and 5 micron. At the top you can see the high pressure line coming to the gauge and then the high pressure stainless steel flow control valve ($200 from hyseco).These high pressure lines are way overbuilt, and you can get by with a lesser and cheaper type of line that is rated lower. Stainless steel is the gold standard however you can buy many regular fittings for the cost of one ss. For example SS 1/4 inch npt swivel is about $60 cdn. High carbon is $2. So I am about 50/50 with some of each. I needed BSP adapter fittings for the pump because it is built in Europe and those fittings are both expensive and special order from most hydraulic shops in SS. They carry the regular steel though, usually..Newline or Greenline. The quick connect seen there is to facilitate changing to the 40E watermaker and for adding the pickling solution. When using the 40E I do not need the lift pump and it is too much for the 40E to suck raw water through that apparatus so I can switch the intake directly to the prefilters for that machine.
This next shot is with the stairs in...

Tight squeeze but so far all good. This project has been a steep learning curve for me although overall I feel good about it. I know how it all works and can replace each component without much difficulty should the need arise. Now we have plenty of water for cleaning showers laundry etc. at no additional costs besides filters. The system is not automatic for sure, I need to monitor the process, need to flush afterwards, and need to pickle from time to time when we have gone to dock, but that is really nothing. Pickling I use potassium metabisulfite or food grade glycol with absolutely no additives in it like alcohol. You can get the glycol at RV stores or usually Walmart. The metabisulfite I get at the grocery store in the wine making aisle. You can buy it at the chemists also. Sodium or potassium don't matter.

Since over wintering  2020 spring and fall  I no longer use the chemicals but prefer glycol. The reasons are that it is easier and works well. After flushing with good low TDS product water first, then filling the system with food grade glycol with o% alcohol. I re-activated both systems with the Katadyn unit being pickled for 14 months to no ill effect. I had one small issue with the larger element when the TDS rose to a quite high level, greater than 1200 ppm..I thought I had perhaps shocked the element due to cavitation when I had revved the pump higher than the feed pump could supply the HP pump. As it turned out I had allowed my rinse water to gradually build up TDS by reusing it. Once I dumped it and used good low TDS water to rinse the system the TDS came back down to under 100ppm. Moral being..use fresh rinse water.

Now summer 2021 and have returned from a month out. Watermaker working well. We don't worry about water these days. I always flush the system after each use and change the filters. The filters clean up with a few dunks in Bay on the end of a rope and hang in the sun for a few days to UV the bugs. The filters last a long time. After the cruise I pump the system full of 'Absolute Zero' no alcohol food grade glycol. Make sure it is the no alcohol one as they sell the same brand name with alcohol right alongside. I use a gallon and that cost $12 cdn at Walmart.

I finally got around to moving the filters and the controls.

this gives more space around the stair and puts all but the flow valve in the cubby. Still allows for the water tank to be easily removed for any serious maintenance in there. Both watermakers are functioning well and over winter with no ill effects when pickling with alcohol free food grade waterline antifreeze. I actually hadn't used the 40E for more than 18 months but it came back online with little fuss and produced water with a respectable 250ppm of nacl. The bigger engine driven watermaker still comes in with less than 100 ppm.

Flushing with fresh water and changing the filters after each use is important. The filters have lasted        through  two seasons actually with two sets in use cycling them through use, rinsing and hanging in the sun.