|
|
|
|
|||||
|
||||||
From: Albin43SDtr (no email)
Date: Sun Mar 02 2008 - 16:00:00 EST
Robin and All,
>I've been meaning to ask a related question here for a long time: For twin
>engine installations using a common fuel supply manifold, what are the
>manufacturers recommendations on use? Can you in fact draw fuel from multiple
>tanks simultaneously??
I can't say anything about what the manufacturer - Albin -
recommended as there was nothing in the literature I received with
the boat. The Celestial has a fuel manifold which has six valves -
three inlelt valves from the two main tanks and one from the
centerline tank; and three outlet valves to the two engines and one
to the generator - each has its own Racor fuel filter.
In use, the engines draw fuel from the least resistant side, i.e.,
the one with the highest fuel level. In actuality, provided there is
no air in the lines to preclude siphoning (a common problem when
messing with the fuel lines :-) ), the fuel in the two saddle tanks
will equalize quite rapidly. After replumbing the boat and installing
the fuel polisher, I experimented with fuel draw. I was curious about
stability and wanted to know if fuel could/would flow from one side
to the other and in doing so, cause a dangerous list. The answer to
creating a dangerous list was - NO - the tanks would equalize on
their own, putting the boat back into trim. I pumped (using the new
polisher) one tank dry, putting the fuel into the opposite side. This
almost filled that tank, and caused about a 10 (?) degree list. I
then pumped all the fuel into the opposite tank, thus polishing 100%
of the fuel in two (?quick?) passes. When all of the fuel had been
pumped/polished, I shut off the polisher and opened the fuel valves
on the manifold. The fuel immediately started to run to the
opposite/empty tank. I then opened the crossover valves and closed
one fuel tank valve on the manifold. The tanks continued to equalize.
I then opened all the valves and that simply sped up the process. The
boat also remains in trim with full tanks and the manifold valves
open, as that is how the valves were placed when we first bought the
Celestial. The Celestial has very good lateral stability as evidenced
by this test. We have seen evidence of this on other occasions as well.
In short, the manifold simply helps to keep the Celestial in trim
when the two main tank valves are open by keeping the tank levels
equal. Boats with less natural stability could have dramatically
different results....
Just my observations, YMMV.
Take care and be safe.
Wayne
Celestial
Albin 43 Sundeck
Near Panama City, FL
_______________________________________________
http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering
To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, change email address, etc) go to: http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/trawlers-and-trawlering
Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World
Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
|