[C38] Exhast Mixing Elbow?

[Michael Norcross]

Hey guys, sounds like its the season of the exhaust elbow gremlins. I just
spend half of saturday battling the elbow just to get it off. Originally, I
noted a black cloud behind the boat which to my amazement was caused by
exhaust leaking into the engine compartment that quickly clogged the intake
screen cutting off air. The hole was small, so as a temporary  fix, I
patched it with a high temp cold weld kit. That worked great for a day or
two and then I went off for three weeks on vacation and the boat sat.  I
contacted Steve S to get some advice on his stainless fabrication. On return
to the boat, I warmed up the motor and started out for a short sail, smoke
quickly appeared because the patch fell off, we shut down and just sailed
for the day. This time I got more water mixed with the soot resulting in
more of a mess. First lesson, forget patching the wet exhaust with the cold
weld.
I did see somewhere that a bicycle inner tube wrapped and clamped with hose
clamps could do in a pinch.

So last Sat in 100 degree heat, fortunatley I have AC, I went after the
elbow, thinking that it would take a short time, 3 flange nuts and several
hose clamps, and I even had my J35 friend Tim as a helper. First obstacle
was getting the insulation rap off, that turned out to be a a mess, then the
flange nuts. The top two nuts were easy, the bottom was hard to get to
because of the pipe coupling. It eventually broke off, eventhough it was
bathed in PBBlaster. Riser should come off, right?..no way, flange was
frozen to the manifold. Off with the alternator, then the manifold. First
good sign was the manifold was not stuck, but there wasnt enough room to
remove it with the riser attached. A sawzall with a fresh blade eventually
separated the riser and everthing came out of there..4 hours later, well, we
did stop for lunch.  Now in addition to the cost of the riser, I owe Tim an
apology and a new shirt to replace his favorite one-off J35 MidAtlantic
championship keepsake, which is now covered with black oily sooty streaks.

With regard to the elbow replacement, my metal fabricator suggested to go
with galvanized pipe and claimed that it would last 7 years in the
Chesapeake, and be a fraction of the cost of stainless.  I'm impressed with
Steve's stainless fabrication so I'm thinking of going in a comparable
direction. Since there are three of us that need elbows, I would certainly
sign up for one if it helps to get it done as a group. Steve, I was
wondering why you decided to machine the flange rather than just weld a pipe
directly to a plate cut to fit the exhaust manifold?

And again, congratulations to Steve and Larry on the Transpac, you guys are
impressive and put us Cheasapeake sailors to shame.

Mike Norcross

On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 2:19 PM, Steve Smolinske <
SSmolinske at rainierrubber.com> wrote:

> David if you wan t to discuss off list, I have a mixing elbow that I
> bought and used  for  a year before  replacing with the one I
> fabricated.   Still in good condition.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org
> [mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of
> david at dlrfilms.com
> Sent: Sunday, July 24, 2011 6:48 PM
> To: Catalina 38 Listserve
> Subject: [C38] Exhast Mixing Elbow?
>
>  Next stop on the tour of my engine, the exhaust mixing elbow has a crack
> in it and both water and exhaust are coming out. I've never used JB
> Weld, but thinking this might be the time to learn.
>
> Of course the elbow and nipple connecting ot the coolant tank look like
> they haven't been moved since the boat left the Catalina factory. I've
> been putting Liquid Wrench and PB Blaster on at the begining of each day
> and hope the heat and vibration is working it in.
>
> Have been having some AMAZING trips. One thing I've learned is that if I
> have happy people on my bow, I don't even mind having the engine on, but
> sailing is still best!
>
>
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