[C320-list] Starter Battery and Fuel Tank Question andParts3Engines.com Warning

[Jeff Hare]

Hi Jeff,

I would second several of the things Jack said below.

Few additional points from my experience.
- The starting battery should really be a cranking battery, not a deep cycle or dual purpose deep cycle/starting. Car batteries (especially AGMs) make the best starting batteries. They are intended for high current, short duration draws and have thin plates for this.  Then they top off quickly.  Deep cycle are not good a supplying high current needed by the starter.  A 4 year old car starting battery will spin your starter faster than a brand new deep cycle.  As the deep cycle/dual purpose battery gets old, it'll still power your lights for hours, but might not start your diesel.

- Like Jack said, use a Xantrex Echo Charge to recharge your starting battery.  It's automatic and would let you leave your 1-2-both switch in the position wired for your house bank and prevent draining your start battery.  

- That sort of implies a certain wiring.   Starting battery to Position 1, House batteries hardwired in parallel to Position 2 on the 1-2-both switch.  The 1-2-both Common feeds the starter and the DC panel.  Xantrex Echo charge wired between the house battery and the starting battery to top off the starting battery whenever there's a charging source (shore or engine).

- In that configuration, if you leave the switch in Position 2, you'll start the engine most of the time using the house bank.  If the house bank is weak, switch to Position 1 and use the starting battery.  If that's a little weak, go to Both to combine all the batteries to give a better shot at starting the engine.

Fuel Tank
- To drain the fuel tank, we just used a cheap drill-powered pump with the inlet connected to the fuel line feeding into or out of the Racor.  Took only a few minutes to accomplish.

- You didn't say what kind of fuel problems you had.  Probably either water or algae, right?  If it's algae, that's often an indication that there is or was water also.  Make sure you replace the O-Ring in the fuel filler cap.  Also some 320's came with fuel vents on the side of the boat with water vent on the aft transom, others came both on the transom.  If your fuel vent is on the side, you could do what we did and replace the fittings with new ones and swap the fuel and water vent locations and make sure that the water vent faces down and aft.  Also make sure the line goes up a little before heading down to the tank.

- Because of the both the shape of the tank and the way the baffles are installed inside the fuel tank, when you add fuel, it will tend to wash any sediment to the front left corner of the tank.  You should be all set just pulling the sender and inspecting the bottom of the tank where the pickup is and if there's gunk, pour in a little diesel and use your drill pump to suck that back out.  The rest of the bottom of the tank should be clean anyway because of the way the tank naturally flushes all the sediment to where the pickup is located.  I probably wouldn't consider using any chemicals other than a little biocide and Sta-Bil Diesel Fuel Stabilizer.  Biocide is most effective for cleaning a bad tank of fuel when the tank is not totally full with some room to slosh around.

- As for the fuel filters, everyone's got an opinion. 😊  I *always* use coarser filter on the engine than I do on the Racor.  I have always used a 2u filter in the big Racor and a 5u or 10u in the engine mounted filter.  If my filter clogs, I should only have to change the main filter since anything passing the main will also pass the engine filter.  I installed fuel tank shutoffs on both sides of the Racor to make fuel filter changes easier with less chance of getting air in the main line.

- If you're going to buy a new tank, you can get the stock tank (with thicker than stock aluminum) directly from the Ezell Industries (who makes all these tanks) in Florida. Typically faster and cheaper than anywhere else.  If you HAVEN'T yet replaced your tank as delivered from the factory, just do it now.  It'll probably be leaking very soon and you'll go through all this again.  Use that opportunity to pull the aft water tank, fuel tank, clean the whole area and re-route the hoses so that bilge hoses, water lines, fuel lines, wires all run right up in front of the fuel tank.  Also ditch the drier hoses use to "vent" the engine. They're 100% useless for that purpose.  Simply adding screens over the aft vent holes will let your Fridge run cooler.  This was a Saturday project for me. I used the opportunity to repaint the floor in the aft area with white Bilge Kote while I was waiting for my new tank to arrive.  Looked like new.  

https://c320.org/mediagallery/media.php?s=20160624013109669

Also I used a few coats of Rhino Liner paint to coat the sides and bottom of the new tank so that it would be less susceptible to corrosion on the outside of the tank.  I don't know whether this would matter really or not.  NOTE: this picture above is not the replacement stock tank, it's a larger 23 gallon version I had them make to my specs instead.  It mounts a little closer to the rudder post, so the job was more involved removing the old mounts and making a new mounting place for it...

-Jeff Hare
#809 Woodbine II

-----Original Message-----
From: C320-list <c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com> On Behalf Of Jack Brennan
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 11:27 PM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: Re: [C320-list] Starter Battery and Fuel Tank Question andParts3Engines.com Warning

Hi Jeff:

Ideally, every battery on your boat should be exactly the same – same type, same brand, same age. That ensures all are evenly charged when you flip the switch to all.  At the very least, they should be the same type, i.e., flooded, agm, etc.

There’s really no need for a car battery as a starter. A group 24 deep cycle battery will easily turn over your diesel. 

The cable from the battery charger should go to your 1-2-all switch. If it’s charging both batteries no matter what and you want to change it, that’s where you should start looking. Otherwise, look for a cable that connects your house batteries with your start battery.

There are also devices, such as the Xantrex Echo, that will relay a charge from the house bank to the start battery.

I second the idea of the manual fuel pump to empty your tank. Also, buy an aircraft fuel filter from West Marine or where ever. Use it to strain all fuel when you put it in the tank. I like to buy fuel in five-gallon jerry cans and siphon it into the tank. A pump does the same.

If you have water in the tank, change the rubber O ring on the fuel cap.

Finally, I replaced my alternator about a year ago for about $80. The alternators used to be made by Hitachi, but some nameless factory in China started producing them. Now everyone buys them, puts their stickers on them and charges whatever they feel like.

My Yanmar dealer had one it wanted to sell me for $700 or so. That’s a lot of cash to pay for a Yanmar sticker.

Jack Brennan
Sonas, 1998 Catalina 320
Tierra Verde, Fl.
Dolphin Cruising Club of Tampa Bay




Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Jeff Smith
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2019 8:46 PM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] Starter Battery and Fuel Tank Question andParts3Engines.com Warning

To all,

My starter batter that was purchased in 2011 is dead. The current starter battery is a car battery from Costco. It has 750 CCA. Do most people with a separate starter battery have a car battery with similar CCA? My starter battery is wired to #2 on my selector switch. However, it receives a charge even when the switch is in the 1 position. Is it supposed to do this? For some reason, I thought I would need to have the switch set to both for both to charge. This issue came to my attention because my alternator is not working and I went on the hook overnight. I drained my house bank batteries and switched to #2, whereupon I discovered 1V in my starter battery. It has probably been dead for a while.

Second question: Is it easy to remove the diesel from the fuel tank? Can I remove the shelf and suction the diesel out of the tank? Twice I have had fuel-related issues, on the water of course. My plan is to suction all of the diesel out of the tank, put some acetone in the tank and slosh it around. Suction any residual acetone and vacuum the tank. Will this work? Going forward I will add a biocide to my diesel and make sure that I keep reasonably fresh fuel in the tank.

Be careful ordering from Parts4engines.com. The company is great; however, if you order the wrong part, as I did with the alternator, it is very expensive to try to ship it back. My $135 alternator will cost me $200 if I use Fedex or UPS to send it back. I plan to stop by USPS tomorrow and see their rates.

Thanks for any help.

Jeff
’94, #121