40 sedan bridge forum

Interesting. I definitely notice a difference. Especially during the sea trial when the surveyor was "testing" them.
Coming from my 340 where it was very easy to see the change in the bow, I find it more difficult to notice from the bridge while looking for a position. Speed and sometimes I use the side Walker from the bow for reference.
 
My wake is way too much. Can't stay on plane below 17 kts. Once on plane a slight retraction should increase speed instead stern drops along with speed.
 
Took the sender out today. Pretty easy. I did a resistance test and it’s 245 ohms empty and 31 ohms full. So that part seems to be working. Now I’ll connect it to the wires and make sure the gauge works. I put the screws back in and a wood plug to keep the fuel odor in the tank.
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Well. It works great out of the tank. Fuel needle tracked with the arm position. And the float just looks like a solid piece of hard plastic. Can’t imagine why it failed unless it got hung up on something. I’m going to clean the connections real good and put it back in and see what happens.
 
Well. It works great out of the tank. Fuel needle tracked with the arm position. And the float just looks like a solid piece of hard plastic. Can’t imagine why it failed unless it got hung up on something. I’m going to clean the connections real good and put it back in and see what happens.
Those floats can get fuel logged. I think they are phenolic or the like and can become porous. Does it come off of the float rod for testing?
 
Those floats can get fuel logged. I think they are phenolic or the like and can become porous. Does it come off of the float rod for testing?
Ahhh. I wasn’t aware of that. There is a big gouge in it exposing the porous part. So you are probably right. Guess I’ll just go ahead and buy the new senders since I probably can’t get just a new float for $5 somewhere.
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Ahhh. I wasn’t aware of that. There is a big gouge in it exposing the porous part. So you are probably right. Guess I’ll just go ahead and buy the new senders since I probably can’t get just a new float for $5 somewhere.
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Compatibility with diesel "should" be ok, but that ball is in your court.
 
Coming from my 340 where it was very easy to see the change in the bow, I find it more difficult to notice from the bridge while looking for a position. Speed and sometimes I use the side Walker from the bow for reference.

Mine do the job. Here's how I know: My starboard one stopped working altogether. While it's been broken, the tab switch at the helm went up. It failed like a momentary switch - it would pull the bow up when I pressed it to do so, but when I let it go the bow would dive. In a bouncy sea when the starboard wasn't doing anything and the port was going up and down, I could definitely tell the tab that was working was doing something!

In all seriousness, mine work well when they are operating. And they do lift the bow and allow me to control trim. I don't need them to get up on plane - the Cummins engines do that just fine by themselves. But I do use them to level out and get max speed and efficiency.
 
Generator question time!

I've got the diesel Westerbeke generator. It's time for an impeller change. I wanted my mechanic to just go ahead and do it while he was winterizing (and replacing engine impellers). He told me I need a new generator raw water pump. I'm not sure why I'm being told that. The flow seemed fine to me all season. Perhaps it's easier to replace the pump with an impeller in it vs the impeller itself? Dunno.

The old pump isn't dead yet but I don't know if/when it was last replaced. So it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace it sometime in the near future before it strands me. The gen has about 1100-1200 hours on it. We've discussed replacing the gen impellers here in the past. But how hard is it to replace the pump? What's involved? Do I need to unbolt the gen and rotate it to get access?
 
Generator question time!

I've got the diesel Westerbeke generator. It's time for an impeller change. I wanted my mechanic to just go ahead and do it while he was winterizing (and replacing engine impellers). He told me I need a new generator raw water pump. I'm not sure why I'm being told that. The flow seemed fine to me all season. Perhaps it's easier to replace the pump with an impeller in it vs the impeller itself? Dunno.

The old pump isn't dead yet but I don't know if/when it was last replaced. So it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace it sometime in the near future before it strands me. The gen has about 1100-1200 hours on it. We've discussed replacing the gen impellers here in the past. But how hard is it to replace the pump? What's involved? Do I need to unbolt the gen and rotate it to get access?
I replaced RayO’s for him last year. It was pretty straight forward and easy. His was leaking water pretty significantly. His is on the side so no special gyrations we’re needed. It was 20 years old with 1200 hours on it.
 
Some battery talk. When I bought the boat 8 years ago it had dual purpose Interstate marine batteries. Group 27 wet cell. They were starting to fail so within a few years I replaced all four with Deka marine dual purpose group 27 wet cell. They started the boat up anytime of the year just about instantly. When they failed two years ago I bought the Sams Club budget specials. Group 31 wet cell deep cycle. I figured they'd still be good for starting and would be better for on the hook. Well, my field data is in. They start the boat instantly in warm/hot weather. But they struggle to turn the engines over when the oil is cold from the winter temperatures here in this area. Around 60 during the day and 40s at night. It takes them a while to get the engine turning. When I'm on the hook I found they work just fine for overnight use of everything except the refrigerator. My Vitrifrigo needs about 12.5V to run properly. It draws about 4-5 amps running on 12V. After about two hours of this the starboard house batteries have discharged to about 12.0-12.4v and the fringe compressor starts cycling. So I have to turn it off for the rest of the night. I got to test this for several nights straight a few weeks ago because my generator was sick. In the morning I relied on the crossover and the fully charge port batteries to start the engines. So the net of all this is these boats are really designed for the generator to be an integral part of the boating experience. I may just buy four starting batteries next time.
 
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Some battery talk. When I bought the boat 8 years ago it had dual purpose Interstate marine batteries. Group 27 wet cell. They were starting to fail so within a few years I replaced all four with Deka marine dual purpose group 27 wet cell. They started the boat up anytime of the year just about instantly. When they failed two years ago I bought the Sams Club budget specials. Group 31 wet cell deep cycle. I figured they'd still be good for starting and would be better for on the hook. Well, my field data is in. They start the boat instantly in warm/hot weather. But they struggle to turn the engines over when the oil is cold from the winter temperatures here in this area. Around 60 during the day and 40s at night. It takes them a while to get the engine turning. When I'm on the hook I found they work just fine for overnight use of everything except the refrigerator. My Vitrifrigo needs about 12.5V to run properly. It draws about 4-5 amps running on 12V. After about two hours of this the starboard house batteries have discharged to about 12.0-12.4v and the fringe compressor starts cycling. So I have to turn it off for the rest of the night. I got to test this for several nights straight a few weeks ago because my generator was sick. In the morning I relied on the crossover and the fully charge port batteries to start the engines. So the net of all this is these boats are really designed for the generator to be an integral part of the voting experience. I may just buy four starting batteries next time.

Correct my thinking if it is wrong…when we bought this boat, I mulled over the same dilemma. Here is my logic….I start the gen before I unhook from shore power and it runs until I hook back up to shore power. The battery charger stays on as well. Therefore the batteries never pull down. I asked myself, “Why do I need deep cycle batteries if they are never discharged? So far, all good with group 27 Deka Cranking batteries X2 on each side.

Bennett
 
Correct my thinking if it is wrong…when we bought this boat, I mulled over the same dilemma. Here is my logic….I start the gen before I unhook from shore power and it runs until I hook back up to shore power. The battery charger stays on as well. Therefore the batteries never pull down. I asked myself, “Why do I need deep cycle batteries if they are never discharged? So far, all good with group 27 Deka Cranking batteries X2 on each side.

Bennett

I agree. I’m never on the hook so long I need deep cycle batteries. And I have a gen if I am. So starting batteries or dual use are fine for me.

One comment: once you start the engines you don’t need the battery charger on anymore. I don’t think it causes any issue, as the charger should sense the higher voltage coming off the alternator and stop trying to charge the batteries. I suppose it depends on the charger? After I replaced my charger last year I decided to keep it off when running the engines.
 
Along those lines, while I was on the hook with a dead generator I actually used the starboard engine for short intervals as a battery charger for the starboard batteries so I could run the fridge properly.

Bennett, that’s where my thinking is at now. My biggest problem with the deep cycle is that they just don’t stay above 12.5v long enough to make using the fridge practical. I pretty much have the control circuitry of the generator all figured out. So my efforts now are going to make sure it’s fully functional as much as possible.
 
This is my first post as a new 400db owner, well I’m new, the boat is 1996 !. Please advise if I am breaking any protocols by jumping in the middle of other conversations. I hope to read all 298 pages in due course. Anyway, I’m collating documentation onto my devices, and couldn’t find the original sea strainer A4 sheet online, only later versions, so in case anyone wants it, here it is, scanned from my original pack. Groco arg series
 

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I agree. I’m never on the hook so long I need deep cycle batteries. And I have a gen if I am. So starting batteries or dual use are fine for me.

One comment: once you start the engines you don’t need the battery charger on anymore. I don’t think it causes any issue, as the charger should sense the higher voltage coming off the alternator and stop trying to charge the batteries. I suppose it depends on the charger? After I replaced my charger last year I decided to keep it off when running the engines.

I have a Charles 40 amp smart charger and never had an issue. I used to cut it off as well on the 44DB as it had an older model ProNautic. There were times I forgot to cut it off, but I tried to do it every time.

Bennett
 
This is my first post as a new 400db owner, well I’m new, the boat is 1996 !. Please advise if I am breaking any protocols by jumping in the middle of other conversations. I hope to read all 298 pages in due course. Anyway, I’m collating documentation onto my devices, and couldn’t find the original sea strainer A4 sheet online, only later versions, so in case anyone wants it, here it is, scanned from my original pack. Groco arg series
Welcome to the thread and congrats on the boat. No rules here. Post away whenever you want.
 
This is my first post as a new 400db owner, well I’m new, the boat is 1996 !. Please advise if I am breaking any protocols by jumping in the middle of other conversations. I hope to read all 298 pages in due course. Anyway, I’m collating documentation onto my devices, and couldn’t find the original sea strainer A4 sheet online, only later versions, so in case anyone wants it, here it is, scanned from my original pack. Groco arg series
Welcome aboard CSR. Great first post and thanks for the doc./contribution.
 
This is my first post as a new 400db owner, well I’m new, the boat is 1996 !. Please advise if I am breaking any protocols by jumping in the middle of other conversations. I hope to read all 298 pages in due course. Anyway, I’m collating documentation onto my devices, and couldn’t find the original sea strainer A4 sheet online, only later versions, so in case anyone wants it, here it is, scanned from my original pack. Groco arg series

Welcome! If you don’t jump in, you’ll never participate!

BTW, we don’t all have the same strainers. Or, said properly, MY strainers don’t seem to be the same as everyone else’s. Lol.
 

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