Cleaning the heat exchanger and new engine mounts

When the engine was hanging on straps during the saildrive diaphragm change we also replaced the old engine mounts and probably that was the most difficult task. Removing the locking screws from the old mounts took hours and lots of force, heat, penetrating oil, etc. The mounts on these engines are prone to crack where the thread is welded to the base due to many years of vibration. We'll clean and refurbish the old mounts and probably keep them as spares.

I decided to clean the freshwater cooling system while we're at it. The coolant was drained from the engine using the plug behind the alternator, then we dismounted all the freshwater pipes, the thermostat and the heat exchanger. There was some debris in the heat exchanger, but nothing really serious. We gave all the components a good clean and some vinegar nonetheless. The heat exchanger got a new gasket and all the pipes got new seals when we put the system together.

I'm glad that we did this job now when the engine access was better just for the peace of mind to make sure the system is good for several more years.

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New ventillators and smoke detector

Three old ventillators have been replaced last weekend as they were falling apart due to UV damage and the brittle plastic. We could get the exact same type of ventillators, so we went with those. No new holes to drill and hopefully these will do the job for another 10 years. I was also considering changing them to solar vents, but I haven't read too good reviews about them. They're usually much bigger (need a bigger hole) and according to many they tend to die after a year or two (either the battery or the fan motor gets loud) and doesn't worth the extra price tag. We're going to add some regular 12V car fans inside before we sail to warmer climates. We already have a gas/propane alarm in the galley and now I also installed a battery powered smoke detector. Very easy and no drilling required, it's held in place with velcro strips.

Bilge reinforcement - Part 2

Read Part 1 After careful surface preparation the bilge reinforcement project continued with laying the new laminate. I consulted with West System on what fabric to use and they suggested biaxial cloth without chopped strand matting. The biaxial cloth is very strong and CSM would just add weight. We bought 600g biaxial cloth with 45/45 degree strands from Composite24 and West System 105 epoxy with 206 fast hardener at a local marine store. Cutting fabric The work was done in sections, we started with the bilge bottom while the keel nuts and washers were removed. It got 4 layers that come up 10cm at the bilge sides. This area gets most of the load and we wanted to reinforce it by connecting the fabric on the bottom to the fabric layed on the sides. 4 layers on the bottom In theory these types of reinforcements are suggested to be done either with the keel dropped or while the keel is hanging so it's not compressing the joint while the boat is standing on th

Scanmar bilge and swinging keel

The Scanmars, at least the SC33 and SC35 that I'm aware of, are infamous of developing a swinging/pendulum keel due to the lack of structural members in the bilge that could prevent the hull from flexing sideways at the hull to keel joint. Here is an article (in Swedish) that mentions this problem (svajköl) and here is another one from a surveyor who claims it's a weakness in the construction. The "stringers" on these boats are only floor beams, that are not going down deep enough to the bilge to act as a structural element. If the boat had harder groundings the attachments of the floor beams could delaminate from the hull, making the hull-keel joint even weaker and the swinging keel symptom worse. When we were on a boat hunt we've checked out almost all the SC33 on the market at the time and paid attention to how their bilges looked like (and in the end bought a SC35 without reinforcements 😄). As the bilge on the SC33 and SC35 looks very similar, I thoug

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