Update on "Phoenix"

Post by **dougl33** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:57 am

Buzz, Any chance you can post some pics? Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]

BECCA ROSE · Post by **BECCA ROSE** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:06 pm

Sounds like a great fix for a problem all the FBC's probably have, or will have. Even pics of the finished result would be great if you got em. Bill 33 FBC Ipswich, Ma. [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... a_Rose.jpg[/img]

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:26 pm

I'll take some pictures this weekend and post them. Buzz Buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Thu Sep 21, 2006 4:30 am

Frank, How is your wife doing and have you been able to return to Charleston to finish up your boat to bring her home? Thanks Buzz buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:51 am

Frank, What's going on with your boat? Thanks Buzz Buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morhead City, NC

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:31 am

Buzz... Sorry, but somehow I missed your post above. Most importantly, my wife has made a full recovery.. thank you for asking... what would have probably caused her to die 30 years ago was a normal procedure today, with her being able to resume a completely normal routine in 3 weeks! They operated laproscopically through 3 small 1/2" dia holes in her abdomen, removed 3" of her small intestine, and reattached everything, and today she is playing tennis and being a fully capable grandmother with no problems. About "Phoenix".. she is still in Charleston, but not for long. The issues with my wife took up the better part of two weeks out of my plans, but I still have made some progress. The head/holding tank project needs another 4-6 hours and it will be done. Everything is in place, all the piping and hose is installed, so now all that is needed is to place several hose clamps, and wire up the power and switch to the diaphragm overboard discharge pump. A major issue reared it's ugly head a while ago.. I had some concerns that my 6Bs were running hot.. for the past 2-3 months whenever we went out in Charleston they were showing 195-205F.. too warm! I had bought a rebuilt raw water pump from Tony Athens from the Boatdiesel forum, and had it as a spare. The port engine, which used to be the coolest of the two had become the warmest.. I opened everything in the raw water circuit (pump cover, intercooler top and bottom, trans oil cooler, and heat exchanger) looking for some type of blockage (about 3 months ago the guy I have working with me there took the boat out and the port raw water pump impellor disintegrated, so he replaced it with a new one, and he felt he had found all the pieces), but I thought there was some blockage somewhere.. but found only some small pieces of old impellor vanes in the bottom of the intercooler. I then tried to remove the raw water pump impellor, but pulled about a third of one vane off in doing so, so I replaced the whole raw water pump with the spare. In case you haven't had the pleasure of doing this to your 6Bs.. to replace the raw water pump you have to lift and shore up the fwd port corner of the engine, and remove the damn engine mount! Not a simple job on the port engine, being so close to the hull! Anyway, after doing that we went for a ride and still had the same readings on the temp gauges. I had bought an IR gun thermometer and found that while the gauges were showing 200-205F, the engines were running normal temps of 178-185F... the gauges were wrong! So, I have replaced both gauges and both sending units and everything seems to now be OK. So.. a few hours to finish the head/holding tank system and we are good to go. Hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks. It has been a long and agonizing process, but I have felt all along I did not want to start the 160 or so mile trip if I had any concerns about the engines.. it was better to stay in Charleston where there are lots of sources for parts and service there. If I had departed as I first planned several months ago, before replacing the stbd engine's cracked exhaust manifold, I probably would have lost that engine along the way. The $1,500 or so for the manifold and a couple of month's slip rental in Charleston is a small cost in comparison to rebuilding a blown engine! So.. hopefully we will bring her north to Wilm within a month. Does that sound familiar? How is yours running? Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:32 am

My boat has performed great the summer. I haven't had any trouble with my engines but I'm going to have my inner coolers cleaned and serviced this fall. I got my autopilot working but I'm still not satisfied with it. When I go to the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show, I'm going to be looking at autopilots and underwater lights. Thanks Buzz Buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:16 am

Buzz.. I plan on cleaning my intercoolers as well this winter.. If I remove them there is a new small diesel shop about a mile away from my house that has a tank of acid (I think that is what they use) where they can boil them and remove the goo from the air side... If you haven't read the articles there, Tony Athens on the Boatdiesel forum has great information on how to remove, disassemble, and replace Cummins 6B intercoolers. But I will suggest, after seeing how well the Rydlime flush cleaned the raw water system interior surfaces of my engines, that you have that done as well, before you disassemble anything.. My engines are 10 years old with 500 hours.. but the low hours does not mean that there should be no crud collecting inside the raw water system.. when I opened up the hose connections while checking for blockages I was very pleased at how clean the interior surfaces were! Glad to hear Buzz Off is running well.. I have a long way to go before Phoenix looks as good as she does, but this winter I hope to make some major improvements to the interior. A major cleaning of the headliner and the forepeak and bunk cabin walls will help a lot, and the main cabin will get wood paneling, but I have not yet decided how to go about that. I was thinking about installing a teak and holly floor, or at least a wood floor of some description, but after doing so much work in her with tools and parts all over the floor I wonder if it would be foolish to put such a nice looking and expensive surface down at this stage of the rebuild project. Every time I drop something on the crappy oak floor the previous owner installed I think how nice it is to not have to worry about damaging anything. BTW.. Did the insurance lead I gave you work out for you? Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:02 am

Frank, I think the lead you gave me on getting insurance is going to work out. I'm in the process of appling for coverage now. Thanks Buzz Buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 12:19 pm

Frank did you get down to Charleston this weekend to get Phoenix serviced for the ride home to Wilmington? When are you going to bring her home? Thanks Buzz Buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz off Morehead City, NC

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:39 am

Buzz... Thanks for asking.. it has been a long haul, much longer (and more expensive) than I first expected, but as of yesterday "Phoenix" is ready to move north. Since the fuel tank is essentially empty I cleaned it with a home made vacuum system a couple of weeks ago and just installed a CruzPro fuel level gauge. We will calibrate it when we fill the tank just before the trip. I also completed the installation of a new head and holding tank system. Now we have a potty to use on the trip. Have also changed the oil, and installed new oil and fuel filters. I was unable to find new Walker Airsep air filter elements but I bought a cleaning and oiling kit for the ones that are installed and cleaned them twice and then oiled them. I have removed most of the stuff that has accumulated on the boat during the past 6 months of work, but left most of the hand tools aboard. For some reason, after doing so much to the old girl I can't seem to bring myself to take the tools ashore. I keep thinking something on the trip home might go wrong and I will need a particular tool, that I once had aboard but is now home. So.. essentially we are ready to travel. I still don't have a fresh water system, but we can bring water aboard in containers. BTW.. I don't know what is happening to the ICW up where you are, but we are having some serious shoaling here just inside the inlets. Just about half a mile north of us here is Carolina Beach Inlet, and somewhat north of Little River, SC, is Folly Beach Inlet.. both are shoaling to the point that there is only about 4-6 feet in the ICW channel. I can only imagine what it will be like next year if the Corps. of Engineers does not dredge soon. Sailboats are running aground at both locations. Do you have any plans to move "Buzz Off" south this year? I read in your note about insurance that was a concern of yours. Did you sign on with Charter Lakes? I feel for the FL guys who are really getting squeezed by slips disappearing and insurance rates rising. One of smaller yards here has closed down and become condoized, and my marina in Charleston has done the same thing. Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

buzzk · Post by **buzzk** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:01 am

Frank, I don't think I'm going to take the boat to Florida. At least not this year. We haven't decided if we want to buy a second home in Florida and if so where. If we do buy, it will be somewhere from Ft. Lauderdale up to Ft. Pierce, probably Ft. Lauderdale with NFB. Anyway we have been going down to look around and will continue to do so this winter. Yes I went with Charter Lakes. Thanks for the lead. This is the first year that I could get insurance to take the boat down without paying more than it was worth. In the past the insurance companies wouldn't let me take the boat to Florida during anytime of the year now I can get a rider during non hurricane season. Tell me about your fuel gage. I need to replace my guage, it kind of works. When I'm showing 1/4 tank I'm on empty. But from 1/4 to full it works so I have some idea how much fuel I have. Thanks Buzz Buzzk 1988 Bertram 33 FBC Buzz Off Morehead City, NC

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 3:50 am

Buzz... The gauge is made by CruzPro, a New Zealand company and sold through a bunch of retailers in the US. In my post requesting "Diesel tank details" Brian Davin suggested them.. he installed one during his repower. From the various fuel tank pics posted elsewhere in this forum it is obvious that our tanks are quite narrow at the bottom (probably in the range of 32-36" wide), and increase in width stepwise to be very wide at the top (probably in the range of 8' wide). The normal fuel gauge reads a level signal generated by a float on a pivoted swing arm on the sender unit, which hangs from the sender port opening under the small cockpit hatch cover.. the gauge output is an indication of the fuel level, but since the tank has several width steps there is no correlation between pure fuel level and actual fuel volume for any given level. With this gauge you start with an empty tank, and fill it in steps (between 16 and 20), and at each step you input the actual volume of fuel you added. The gauge remembers this volume and the associated level information, and when you have completed the filling process the gauge stores this info in it's non-volatile memory. Then, after the calibration is completed, as you use fuel and the level drops, the gauge outputs on a digital display the volume of fuel remaining (in gallons) in the tank, not the non-linear level. (You can also ask the gauge to display trip fuel used, fuel consumption over time, and some other info). The manufacturer’s web site is … http://www.cruzpro.com/fu30.html Brian and I both bought the Model FU-30.. I called the importer in CA and asked them a couple of questions, but finally bought mine from a retailer in FL… Charlie at JTB Marine in St Pete.. http://www.jtbmarine.com/ who is a marine electrician.. nice guy, and he told me to call him back with any questions if I had any installation problems (which I did not). His price was the same as that quoted by the CA importer, and I like to do business with a little guy if I can, so I bought from him. The closest retailer to us listed was a yard in Annapolis. I actually called them first but they told me they no longer handled the CruzPro line. The price was about $195 I believe.. I used the new float arm level sensor we installed a few months ago, but some here have used and suggested another sensor made by Wema… http://www.wemausa.com. My suggestion if you have any concerns about your present level sensor and gauge is to replace both.. it is not all that expensive, and you know you are starting off with all new stuff. Glad the Charter Lakes Insurance lead worked out.. the Wrightsville Beach office people seem very nice, and they specialize in boats.. as opposed to my home insurance agent, who has no concept of what boat insurance is all about. An interesting point, Charter Lakes told me that for boats of our age, it was much easier to get insurance for a Bertram than most other manufacturers. Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

IRGuy · Post by **IRGuy** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:54 am

Before anyone asks, here is an extract I just posted in the Brian's repower string, which I addressed to Aussie Syd, but is really directed at everyone here who has asked about "Phoenix"... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was supposed to be making the delivery trip with "Phoenix" north about 170 miles from Charleston, South Carolina, to Wilmington, North Carolina, yesterday and today, but the weather did not co-operate, we are having gale warnings and medium to heavy rain which started mid day yesterday and it is supposed to get even worse during today! With our Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday this week there was just no window that seemed to work for us to move her after the storm subsides. I have to be in Massachusetts for work next week, so now we are looking at the trip hopefully in early December. I hate it when work interferes with the important things in life! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, the saga continues! I am rather frustrated about all this, especially since every delay puts me in worse shape as far as when I bring her home it will be right into the middle of the bulkhead construction project we are having in our subdivision. The contractor is almost at my slip, and now says sometime in Jan we will have to work with him in moving all the boats (about 20) somewhere so he can demolish and rebuild all the slips. It might not be all that bad depending on how he sets up temporary facilities, but nevertheless it will be a PITA! Frank B - IRGuy@aol.com "Phoenix" 1983 FBC Wilmington, NC

Post by **dougl33** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:16 am

Frank, Can you forward me the Cummins graph that Tony Athens sent you? Regards, Doug L. 1986 33 Bertram FBC Queen Elizabeth Marblehead, MA [img]http://www.bertram33.com/photogallery/p ... sabeth.jpg[/img]