Raw water alarm saves the day

[BobCT]

I installed a raw water alarm last year and it's never gone off. It's basically a heat sensitive band that goes around the exhaust hose, one per engine.

I was coming back in yesterday and my Stb alarm went off. Engine temp was fine but I noticed a bit of steam on that side. I also noticed the flow was less than Port side. I grabbed my IR gun and the elbow which it was on (the farthest from the pump) was 190 degrees, port was 140. Ok, confirmed I have a problem. Pulled the impeller and 3 of the vanes were broken.

The alarm went off way before the engine alarm would have and caught the problem as it happened. I didn't even know I had an issue. The one I installed is made by Borel and gets a huge recommendation from me.

Bob

P.S. I checked my maint log and the impeller was 3 years old... too long obviously. I'll do these every other year now, I think every season is too often.

[comodave]

Glad to hear that the Borel alarms work so well. I just ordered 2 alarms with 3 exhaust temperature sensors, 2 water in fuel sensors and 2 high water alarms for our "new" 1987 President 41 Double Cabin. I am replacing the 2 non marine Racor 900's with 900 MA's and am going to have the WIF sensors in them. Will have the exhaust temperature sensors on the 2 main engines and the generator. The high water alarms are going in the engine room and the forward bilge. We just closed on the President on Thursday. The boat is in Virginia and we will bring it back to Michigan next spring via the Erie Canal and the Trent Severn Waterway in Canada.

[prowlersfish]

comodave Congrats on the new boat . Where in Va ? I am in the lower bay .


Bob good info on the alarms

[rickalan35]

Bob, I think most of us have bitter memories relating to an elevated water temp gauge and by the time we got to the actual impellers, they were toasted.

Thanks for the feed back on those Borel wet exhaust heat sensors. For what they cost, we should probably all have them installed in our boats.

Commo,
Congrats on your new boat. Always liked that model, the bluewater bow inspires confidence and the interior woodwork is so well done. Lehmans?

When you get to Oswego on your cruise home next spring, please touch base and let me know if you're flight plan for the Trent-Severn involves:

1. Crossing Lake Ontario to Kingston first, before heading west toward Picton, Belleville and Trenton?

2. Perhaps running a straight shot across the Lake from Oswego to Picton via The Adolphous Reach, then on through the Bay of Quinte to Trenton?

Either way, I'll come down there (I'm one hour away) and buy you and your crew dinner.

Cheers

Rick

[comodave]

The boat is in Kinsale, VA now. It has 225 Lehmans. Have not really looked at the exact route we will be taking yet. I am leaving here on Friday to go to the boat for about 2 weeks. Am going to attend American Diesels class on the Lehmans, looking forward to it. I did not mean to hijack this thread...

[prowlersfish]

Put the hijack on me sorry but I love any boat talk .

I like a way to detect early . I have a Cummins alarm on my engines but its hard to hear at idle and for get about it when running . I ended up adding louder piezo buzzer so I have a better chance of hearing it . I may look into the exhaust temp alarm .

Marine gensets use a exhaust temp cut off switch ,they have saved many a genset including mine when jelly fish plugged the water intake line .

[ready123]

Glad to hear that the Borel alarms work so well. I just ordered 2 alarms with 3 exhaust temperature sensors, 2 water in fuel sensors and 2 high water alarms for our "new" 1987 President 41 Double Cabin. I am replacing the 2 non marine Racor 900's with 900 MA's and am going to have the WIF sensors in them. Will have the exhaust temperature sensors on the 2 main engines and the generator. The high water alarms are going in the engine room and the forward bilge. We just closed on the President on Thursday. The boat is in Virginia and we will bring it back to Michigan next spring via the Erie Canal and the Trent Severn Waterway in Canada.

Hmm... why are you so concerned about water in fuel? In my experience around US fuel stations (inland rivers, lakes and the South east) it is not a problem, nor is it a problem when using the boat for 6 months at a time. I have seen some complaints of problems with the WIF sensors leaking and allowing air in the system..... IMO that is an additional failure point I would not add to my fuel system, now vacuum gauges on the filters are a YES for me. Were you to have water in fuel, it is easy to see in the bottom of the Racor 900 bowls. I use 10 micron filters there. Love those Lehman's..

Welcome to the President club
Would love to see some photos of yours, here's a link to mine, most from when I was buying it in Nov 2010. https://www.flickr.com/photos/79664671@ ... 5309512390

Maybe we can meet along your route through Ontario next year.....

[comodave]

I wanted the WIF sensors because our boat on the west coast took on a load of bad fuel. The sensors let me know when I needed to change the filters and I did not have any issues with leaks.

I looked at the photos of your boat, very nice! Mine is a 41 but has almost exactly the same interior. The bunks in the forward cabin were converted into a small double. I have shelves on each side of the master berth, and a couple of very minor differences other than those. I have a chase coming from the bridge down by where your TV is. How are your cables routed from the bridge to the engine room?

I see that you have 3 blade props. Mine are 4 blade 24X24. We pulled almost 2400 RPM and 17 knots on the sea trial.

I wish I had your hardtop on the flybridge...

I see the access port on the radar arch on the port side, is that how you routed the cabling to the radar, etc? The PO ran the cableing on the rear exterior of the arch, looks beautiful with the tie-wraps holding the cables... The arch is hollow, I assume, so I am going to try to run the cableing inside the arch when I install the new electronics.

[ready123]

I wanted the WIF sensors because our boat on the west coast took on a load of bad fuel. The sensors let me know when I needed to change the filters and I did not have any issues with leaks.
I looked at the photos of your boat, very nice! Mine is a 41 but has almost exactly the same interior. The bunks in the forward cabin were converted into a small double. I have shelves on each side of the master berth, and a couple of very minor differences other than those. I have a chase coming from the bridge down by where your TV is. How are your cables routed from the bridge to the engine room?
I see that you have 3 blade props. Mine are 4 blade 24X24. We pulled almost 2400 RPM and 17 knots on the sea trial.
I wish I had your hardtop on the flybridge...
I see the access port on the radar arch on the port side, is that how you routed the cabling to the radar, etc? The PO ran the cableing on the rear exterior of the arch, looks beautiful with the tie-wraps holding the cables... The arch is hollow, I assume, so I am going to try to run the cableing inside the arch when I install the new electronics.

The arch has OEM wiring for anchor light etc:. The radar wires are inside the SS stanchion supporting roof right next to it and go down below helm storage and then where most wiring goes down inside the two boxed vertical channels on salon walls where the lights on arms are mounted... port and starboard sides.
I have 3 & 4 blade props on my Trojan... unfortunately on the President I have two sets of 3 blades... I think they are 24x24 also.

[gettaway]

To totally hijack this thread,
Commodave, What happened to your tricked F32?

[comodave]

We still have it. It will be going up for sale in the mear future. I hate to sell it, but I don't need two cruisers.

[1967 seavoyager]

Mine has raw water warning lights on the dash from the factory. Sending units are on the heat exchangers.

[Bear]

Small investment to save big problems and big bucks in damage, I've been thinking about getting these alarms you've convinced to invest in them now, are the easy to install it looks pretty cut and dry?

[comodave]

Bear,

I did not get to install them when I went to the boat in September, had to spend days prepping for Hurricane Joaquin in case it had come ashore. It fortunately stayed offshore. However I only got about half of the work done that I had planned on doing. The install of the Borel alarms looks quite simple. Hardest part looks to be routing the cable from the engine room to the flybridge. I haven't tried running any wiring from the E/R to the flybridge yet, but it looks straight forward on the President, it was not so easy on my F32... I am going back in April to do a list of work in prep for bringing the boat back to Michigan in May and June.