[C38] Heat Exchanger

[Tom T.]

Hi Steve,

If you have a Universal 5424, not only is the heat exchanger bracket prone to fatigue cracking failure but the exchanger is too small for that engine in the first place, especially in tropical waters.

I made a new exchanger with 3" outer tube instead of the 2" that Universal used.  I made my exchanger a little longer also giving me about twice the cooling as the original exchanger.

I have a weld shop I used to make my own exchanger but there are better exchangers than the original that are commercially available for your engine which I would recommend instead of trying to salvage your old one.

Our boat is in Florida so most of our water is warmer than most other boats encounter but I think an exchanger upgrade is a good idea in any waters.  Even in relatively cool waters, it only takes a small amount of blockage to reduce the efficiency of an exchanger to a dangerously low cooling efficiency, let alone the bracket failure problems with the original exchangers.

Tom Troncalli
Renata hull #95


----- Original Message ----- 
From: 
To: Catalina 38 Listserve
Sent: 8/19/2009 5:12:06 AM 
Subject: Re: [C38] Heat Exchanger


 Hi Steve,
 Yes when I bought my 38 a few years ago I had the same problem, the previous owner said it had broken off a  year or so before he sold it and it did rest on the tranny area. After a few years of bouncing around it developed a crack where the bracket broke off and I had to replace the heat exchanger all together. I tried everything to fix the bracket before the crack was noticed. The only thing I did not do was pull it and have a weld shop tack a new bracket on. Good luck

Brett Cureton
Jazz #313
Annapolis, MD

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Smolinske" <SSmolinske at rainierrubber.com>
To: "Catalina 38 Listserve" <listserve at catalina38.org>
Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 1:40:07 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [C38] Heat Exchanger


Our heat exchanger bracket broke and the unit now rest on top of the transmission, I have tried using hose clamps unsuccessfully to hold it up.  Has anyone else had this problem?  How did you fix it? Thanks. 

Steve


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