Sep. 10, 2006 - hot air... again..

So the Eberspacher is nearly fitted.... it was, as suspected, quite a big job...

I mounted the main unit on an internal bulkhead behind the engine...crawling into a small space through the aft locker, into the guts of the baot....

I then 'teed' the fuel supply off the main engine supply.... by crawling through the aft locker into the guts of the boat... it wasn't as bad a job as I had anticipated... when I got inside the boat, I found another fuel shut off tap at the exit from the tank, that I didn't know existed, so when I cut the main pipe, there was only a dribble of fuel to catch....

the next bit was a little more nerve wracking, cutting a hole in the transom for the exhaust outlet..... it wasn't quite the right shape and took 20mins of filing to get the nice shiny stainless exhaust plate to fit.... but it does look good now...

Next, I fitted the exhaust pipe between the heater and the transom... by crawling into the guts of the boat

Then finally, fed cables through from the main cut off switch to the heater unit.... and connected them... by crawling through into the guts of the boat... after getting back out to turn the power back on, I crawled back in, and turned it on....

Bingo! it fired first time despite the many horror stories I had been fed about 'pesky heaters'.....

I fairly quickly switched it off though, as I haven't yet fitted ducting, and didn't want to cook the engine compartment....

I managed to burn my butt on the way back out of the rear locker on the now hot exhaust....

So, left to do before the job is finished.....

1] lag the exhaust and fix it in place

2] fit the 2m run of ducting

3] extend the wiring on the control so that it is in the main boat rather than inside the back of the engine compartment!

Just so you understand... the rear cockpit locker is a hole 16" by 30"..... hence the complaints... and the numerous cuts and bruises!!!!!