Aboard DavidEllis we're still plugging away at upgrading the original engine coolant heating (of water heater and cabin heaters) system to an independent loop which does the same job, but reduces the potential failure points by dozens (literally). The existing system runs engine coolant out of the engine on a 100' track, from one end of the boat to the other, with many connections and fittings which could fail, risking cooking the engine before we might even realize it. Instead we're adding a heat exchanger, circulating pump and expansion tank and limiting the coolant coming out of the engine to a simple loop out to the heat exchanger and directly back into the engine. If we limited the project to this, it would very much be worth the time / effort / expense, but we're not stopping there.

As discussed last post, we're adding a defroster unit upstairs in the pilothouse that will (theoretically) keep our forward windows clear in these colder latitudes. Having added the heat exchanger below, what's required to extend to the pilothouse is the circulating pump (we're getting anyway) must be capable of lifting the coolant the 10' or so from the original loop up to the defrost unit. Also the expansion tank will have to go up top as well, but that's just an issue of location, not additional hardware. One point though, is that the space the defrost unit and expansion tank will live in is 9.5" high and most expansion tanks are re-purposed LPG tanks and much taller, but Sure Marine showed me an horizontally oriented tank which should just make it.

We'll need to work out how many vent hoses to run to the windows and whether to cover just the front 3 or the forward 5. The defrost air hoses (however many we end up with) will be concealed in a chase which from the front will be a series of cubbies for all the loose stuff which is needed up at the helm -- binoculars, night vision, hand-held radios, nav tools, pens, pencils, flashlights and on and on. (We're hoping we can get our friend Ben, who did such a great job on the mag compass stage, to help us out with that).

As evidenced in one of these pics, I did manage (with David C's help at the start) to get the new coolant hoses installed in the engine room to pilothouse chase (with room to spare! after struggling initially just to get a 1/8" snake through). I think that will have been the toughest part of the project -- I hope that turns out to be the case!

And this brings us to the piece of the project which would be highly desirable, but with all the stuff we're trying to stuff into the time we have, I wonder if it's an improvement too far... that would be installing distribution and return manifolds into the heat exchange loop. This would make it possible to isolate any section of the loop and/or select any combination of cabin heaters, water heater and/or defroster. But where to put the distribution manifold, so the valves can easily be seen or changed? The thing about doing projects in a boat -- it's almost impossible to do just the one thing. In the course of doing the intended job, one finds a hidden issue that needs correction or an opportunity to improve an installation in some way. Where to put a distribution manifold, leads me to a project I've been waiting to do and that is replacing the wood blocks the big stainless tool chest sits on, with a welded frame. That would open up a big space underneath -- where the heat exchanger and circulating pump would be very happy, more accessible than I was otherwise planning and would make a great place for the distribution manifold to be easily viewed from the engine room door.

Dorothy and I are going to focus on getting all the project pieces in place, without opting out of that last bit just yet. we'll see how it goes. A guy needs his dreams...