New owner of a 38 Bertram Convertible with 6CTA 480ce's – immediate priorities?

[Nicholas]

Just closed on a B38 powered by 2002 6CTA’s with about 1500 hours. This is my first diesel boat so I’ve spent the last month or two pouring over this site and some others to get educated.

In 2016 the engines had heads rebuilt, turbos rebuilt, aftercoolers and heat exchangers serviced, and new injectors installed. One engine also had a piston, liner, rings, and bearings replaced and the other got a new belt tensioner and serpentine belt and had the exhaust pipe from the turbo to rubber boot rebuilt (not sure what happened there).

One engine blew a raw water hose during the sea trial, then in the second sea trial the other engine wouldn’t climb above 1900 RPM. However after the secondary fuel filters were changed the engines spun right up to just over 2600 and ran like a dream for several minutes with no issues.

My plan of attack is to change the motor and gear oil, change the zincs, racors, add a freshwater flush system, and replace any other hoses that look worn. Since the heat exchangers and coolers were done about 100 hours ago in 2016, i figured i could wait a year on doing those. I’m also going to go ahead and have about 100 RPM worth of pitch taken out of the prop. After all of the reading on this forum and others on the dangers of overloading these engines, and based on the fact that they seemed to have required a pretty major overhaul at 1400 hours, it seems to me like a prudent thing to do.

Is this logic reasonably sound? Anything else I should do right-away? Since he only did one of the belts should I go ahead and do the other? Thanks and I look forward to being a part of the community!

Topic

[Rob Schepis]

Fuel Cooler

Raw water, not coolant cooled, that’s why Philip mentioned cleaning (and pressure testing) them. The engine oil cooler is coolant cooled.Is the below. Is this Tony’s article on fuel coolers you read?

Understanding Marine Fuel Coolers

[Nicholas]

Yeah i’m not exactly sure what the filtration setup is. But filters aren’t something I’d want to skimp on. I hadn’t thought about the fuel cooler. I’ll take a look at those as I don’t see any history on them. Honestly i’d never heard of a fuel cooler before you mentioned it. I looked at Tony’s article on them and I think I get the idea. I assume they are typically coolant, not raw water?

[Philip]

Looks like you have fuel coolers as well. With unknown service history would be good to get those off and acid washed/pressure tested.

And there is lots of room for discussion on filter brands, and yes there is a difference. You won’t go wrong using genuine fleetguard, I noticed a mapquest brand filter in pictures. It comes down to whatever you can rest your head on the pillow at night and not worry about.

[Nicholas]

I used to have outboards so i’m used to flushing. Won’t be hard to get into the habit of doing it. I’d planned to replace the impellers, just forgot to mention that.

Will reconsider taking the coolers off this season. And good tip on spinning all the accessories.

I don’t have great pics. Unfortunately I’ll be about 1100 miles away from the boat for a few weeks. Posting what I have for now and will post more when I get a chance. Included one of the genset for good measure.

[Philip]

And that fresh water flush will save you huge in the long run but you have to use it every time!

[Philip]

Keep in mind the difference between hours and marine age. You state ‘only 100 hours’ but for items like an aftercooler you need to think marine age not hours.

Without any additional info or pictures I would do the following in addition to your list:

1. Service those aftercoolers – yes I know they were done in 2016, but without knowing who did them and exactly how they were serviced I would not hesitate to pull them and service them off the engine per the process on the site. Get them to a known to you service status and you will be much better off.

2. Raw water pump impellor replacement

3. Pull the belts and spin everything… alternator, pulleys, tensioner, water pump. Any roughness or noise, replace it! Remember if any of that fails you will most likely overheat. It’s not expensive stuff. And while the belt is off check that as well.

Post up some good hi definition pictures from all angles including not just the top of the engine but also turbo and exhaust and aftercoolers etc. for us all to see and we may have a few recommendations etc.

Phil

[Author]

Replies