Engine pulled out = an opportunity to do......what?

Pam

I´ve just had the engine pulled out and it will stay out until the spring of 2015.

This means plenty of time to……… to do what???

Anyone having a FV250 knows that it´s has a VERY tiny engine bay hence it´s almost impossible to access anything once the engine is in place unless you add extra joints to your limbs.

It’s a FV250, 2003, Mag 350 MPI, no generator, sea water cooling, Bravo III,

     On my to-do-list I currently have as follows:

·         Change impeller, inspect/replace/ impeller housing

·         Clean the bilge

·         Service or replace bilge pump/-switch, add an extra BP (a third) at lowest point in bilge

·         Inspect cables, fuel lines, holding and water tanks,

·         Replace gear wire, bellows, trim sender and trim indicator,

·         ….. your suggestions

 

Since I´m not planning to pull the engine again anytime soon I don’t want to miss an opportunity due to my own thinking, or the lack of.

This is where you all come in and your experiences.

What would you have done if you would have the opportunity to access both bilge and engine like this?

All thoughts are welcome.

Thank you

Johan

LaRea

Get somebody with a moisture meter to check the fiberglass for water.  Also, look for any unsealed screw holes or other holes in the gelcoat, and seal them (after the boat has a few months to dry out).

MarkB

Does your boat list? Nows the time to move batteries around to get it more level in the water. Do you want to put in an extra battery? Do you want to wire a new circuit for an add on in the future? 

Cableguy Greg

Clean the engine room. If you are thinking about adding underwater lights, now would be a great time to do so. If you depth sounder isn't working, now would be a perfect time to upgrade it. If I had that access, I would add a water temperature sender to my lowrance. That is on my short list of things to do.

jhofmann

I would also replace the existing bilge pumps with new ones. You might want to purchase a couple of the same ones so down the road if the pump goes bad, you will have one that you know will snap into the housing that is mounted to the bilge. I would also replace the oil pan with an aluminum one to end rust worries. Oh yeah, and clean, clean, clean!

raybo3

Make sure you vent blower duct is good. Great time to replace it...

Cableguy Greg

I forgot to mention replace the fuel line from the tank to the filter and from the filter to the pump. Ethanol gas eats the inside of the lines.

Michael T

Ethanol gas? You guys should not be using that! MT

Cableguy Greg

Michael T said:

Ethanol gas? You guys should not be using that! MT

I agree, but finding non-ethanol gas in Western PA is almost impossible. All of the gas that I use is treated, either by myself, or at the marina. Just to be safe, every time I fill up, I put gas treatment in the tank.

racingricka87

what are the hours on the engine? how is the compression?

jimzimm

Replace the exhaust shutters and checked the gimbal bolts for leaks and corrision

Pam

Thank you all for your valuable input so far.

The reason for pulling the engine is bad compression on two cylinders, time to replace impeller, broken bilge pump, need for inspection of elbows, manifolds, risers…etc in the exhaust and cooling system.

When pulling the engine we actually found a broken shutter so both will be replaced.

In Sweden we have no options in terms of ethanol. All gaz have a 10% ethanol content. I always use additive /fuel treatment/stabilizer/.

The engine hours is in the area of 350h.

Now the bilge got it´s initial emergency cleaning, I´ll do the final one in the spring.

// Johan

Cableguy Greg

Nice job. Looks very good.

MarkB

Nice job. I wonder if you can paint that bilge with waterproof paint?

Michael T

Any bilge can be painted with a high quality marine epoxy paint. First, I'd put some of the chosen epoxy paint on a rag(s) and use them to wipe the inside of the bilge down to remove contaminants. We used to wipe the bilge down with acetone but that is a bit harsh on the gelcoat in the bilge and can react adversely with the epoxy paint that will be used as a final coat so, by experimentation, we found that using the epoxy itself as a cleaner was perfect and even helped the "real" coat of epoxy to bind. MT

rowboat212

Hi Pam,

Ethanol attracts water, which is an issue with boats being in proximity of water. 

but.. it is also corrosive to soft lines in the fuel systems, unless there the proper line has been used.  below is a picture of proper lines, this one produced by GoodYear, which will not deteriorate internally and cause issues with your fuel systems.

Now is as good a time as any to make certain your floater is prepared to encounter ethanol, which is something not accounted for by engineers (depending on year of manufacturing) and this is an excellent starting point. 

The compound of components we call 'octane' is actually in effort to limit the volatility of gasoline.  It allows it to be a LOT more predictable when it ignites, and will make it safer to advance ignition timing as well as limit predetonation.  When we use fuel that has alcohol in it, we're actually introducing something that is more stable than gasoline, meaning it's equivalent of 'octane' is higher, which would leave a person to assume it's safer for your engine- if you were to believe the propaganda surrounding ethanol, that is.   Ethanol has a much more precise (and latent) ignition point, BUT, (big BUT here) it stores less energy than gasoline, AND it burns A LOT faster+hotter. 

Since you're stuck with 10% ethanol, there are some things you can do to counter it mechanically, which again, the engineers didn't anticipate when your engine was produced: 

- use a hotter coil... 35kvolts is the standard, bump it to 60kvolts. 
- use a hotter spark plug.  think fancy metals like iridium. 
- while using the hotter coil and fancier plugs, increase the gap on the plugs from .043 to .057~.060.  YOU CAN ONLY DO THIS W/ A HOTTER COIL AND GAPPING WIDER. 
- use a larger core diameter plug wire (many so called performance plug wires are 7.mm+, but that is just the casing.  you'll want one with a stouter mantle).

- reduce timing advance.  Since your engine is MPI and computer controlled, and since Merc tuned that looking for higher octane recreational fuel, it will advance likely more than is truly safe while burning ethanol laden fuel.  You can counter this and not have to re-draft the tune by simply retarding spark at the crank, and by indexing +3* or so.  That will take the edge off of the spark, and allow it to be sparked later, which will catch the air:fuel in a tighter compression thus taking greater advantage of compression and stored energy lacking compared to pure gasoline.

I'd still recommend the additive, though.  It assists with longevity of the fuel, which is apt to separate quicker.

so.. My contribution to your efforts is:  prepare for ethanol, and change timing chain/gears while you're in there mechanically retarding timing DUE to preparing for ethanol fuel.

Lifes Good

Think about adding a 3 or 4 inch hose from Port to Starboard across the back.  This would allow you to add future accessory powerlines from one side to the other neatly and easily and out of the bilge water... maybe run your battery cables thru it too to keep them dry.

Michael T

Great idea. If you do that and you have a longer line for twins run a "fish" line through it and leave it there for future pulls! :-) MT

awhires

one thing I always think about is adding a remote drain plug on the oil pan.

Michael T

Great idea, you can get the brass oil pan fitting and oil resistant hose a number of places but Overtons used to sell all the types. We have a thread posted regarding this on the forum. I plumbed that hose right into a fixed 12v extraction system and could do an oil change in 10 minutes. It was amazing. MT

Pam

Thanks

I will consider replacing the fuel hose with ones that is ethanol-safe. Repainting the bilge and adding auxiliary cable-tubes for future us gets right in to my to-do-list. Fortunately my engine is already equipped with a drain plug + hose for oil change.

I´m wondering what to do with the more or less constant pool of water that accumulates on the elevated surface, both port and starboard side, by the transom wall. See area in picture. There is a small cavity where it sits.

Am I the only one with this “feature” and are there any remedies for it? Either to prevent water from entering the area or facilitate for water to drain from it?

BR

Johan

Pam

ok, RinkerYan. I suppose you recommend me to level out the cavity completely at the far end, by the hull side, and make a slope in the cavity along the transom towards the centre of the boat?

There is however a barrier at the end, a reinforcement of the transom, just as the elevated shelf drops toward the lower part of the bilge. This would prevent the water from draining completely.

Maybe drill a hole, at an angle, and install a pipe through the barrier and/or/ the end of the shelf? 

Is the shelf (the elevated area) hollow or solid?

Any idea why these two annoying cavities exists in the firs place?

// Johan

Michael T

I agree that it looks like a drainage channel. If so shouldn't here be a drainage hole "somewhere" leading to the bilge? MT

Dream_Inn

I remember my 310 having water sit in that same place as well.  It does disappear after a nice ride on the bay.   Seriously though, it was a pain and I never did come up with a way to keep it from happening.  If you figure something out, I'm sure many others would appreciate some pictures!

awhires

I have the same standing water issue, interested to follow this post to see remedies!

Lifes Good

I have the same issue.  Keep it simple.  Water wicks very easily. I put a cotton bath hand towel folded the long way so it's about 3 inches wide and lay it across the back on both sides. About 3 inches drapes down towards the bildge.  Works like a champ.  And running several hours drys them out due to the engine heat.  I change them out every other month.  No brainer... 

LG 

Pam

I noticed two drain holes, marked yellow in pic, that leads me to believe that the elevated area is hollow. An idea might be to open up a hole, on the vertical surface by the drain hole closest to the stern, large enough for an arm to reach in. Then install a very tiny scupper as far in as possible in the cavity and lead a tube from it out to the bilge. The scupper must be as small as possible with a low profile to really fit in at the very bottom of the cavity.

As I believe the elevated area has no constructual (is this a word?) function besides to carry the weight of the holding tank so a 4”*4” hole for an arm would probably not compromise the construction. The tricky part is to know if there are any additional constructions hidden within.

Thoughts on this?

Britinusa

Am i wrong in thinking those are to allow water to drain from the bilge under the aft sleeping berth?

Michael T

X

MarkB

Sometimes when they gelcoat those holes which may be drains they get blocked. 

Lifes Good

MT... you are correct, I lay the blower hoses over them.  Though they are back of boat far from front engine.  Love wicking... natural law of physics work great in any position.