Fitting a Yanmar and Aquadrive

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Engine installation, continued:

After the final fitting of the shaft I was able to prime the new skeg ready for antifouling and fit the propeller.

propeller

Finding somewhere to put the panel caused a bit of head scratching - I didn't want to put it outside. The obvious place was under the bridge deck - I won't be able to see it of course, but the warning buzzers are loud. The panel can be removed fairly easily for access to the engine. If it proves to be a completely impractical position I'll have to think again.

panel

I used the original companionway sides to form the engine box by bonding an extra strip on the back edge (where I cut it originally) approx 80mm wide. The front of the box (originally held in place by the lower step) is fixed on to the sides with brass wing nuts, with the top step sitting on short battens and screwed from the sides. There is still some cosmetic work to do to tidy it all up. The whole structure only takes up about 100mm more of the cabin space compared to the original.

engine box

Fuel tanks are another potentially expensive item, so I opted for a secondhand outboard tank. The existing fuel feed is a BSP thread so it will accept a conventional hosetail to connect to the copper feed pipe. The fuel return pipe will be fitted next to the feed pipe (getting the backnut on the fitting could be tricky!). The tank is fitted in the stern locker on the port side, sitting on a plywood shelf bonded to the hull and bulkhead. Eye-bolts, a cleat and some 6mm cord hold it in place.

Fuel tank

Filter

After a little thought, I decided to blank off the existing tank outlet as it is a plastic moulding and might give air leakage problems. Instead I drilled 2 holes and fitted a brass1/4"BSP connector for the fuel return pipe and a 5/16"BSP connector for the feed pipe (which reaches down to within about 25mm of the bottom of the tank). This connects via a ball valve and a length of flexible fuel hose to the primary filter/seperator. The tank is easy to remove for cleaning and the filter is easy to access if I need to drain off any water or change the element. The 1GM10 engine is also fitted with a secondary filter. I still need to fit 2 blanking plugs in the spare filter inlet/outlet holes and a hose clip on the flexible fuel hose.

One of the last jobs on the engine was to fit an anti-siphon loop to the cooling system. I made up an unequal tee (13 x 6 x 13 mm) in stainless steel and inserting it in the cooling line just before the exhaust injection point. The small bore of the tee is connected to a thin tube which exits at gunwhale level amidships. As well as making sure that water can't be siphoned into the engine it acts as a tell-tale, making it easy to check that the cooling water system is working properly. An engine test was carried out while still ashore - a tube from a bucket connected to the water pump provided the cooling water. One bucketful allows the engine to run for about four minutes. In all, I ran the engine for about 15 minutes like this, enabling me to check that the fuel system was properly bled and there were no major leaks in the exhaust system.

Anti siphon loop

www.corribee.org - inboard engines