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japarker11 · 15-02-2017, 16:53

Matt,

If you could call IMC and get a price on replacing the assembly to the output flange of the manifold, I think you would be time and maybe money ahead. This assumes the boat is in Fisherman Bay. They should be relatively quiet for the next couple of weeks.

If that doesn't work out, you could clean off the f/g insulation and wrap the elbow with inch wide plumbers thread tape. Then encapsulate that with a couple of layers of self.fusing silicone tape, Rescue Tape. Both of these are rated to 500 F. As you are not turbocharged, exhaust gas temps should be below 450 F. I have done "get home" repairs with these materials subjected to 250 F.

In any case, it looks like you will be doing some heat exchanger work, too. As you don't know the recent use history, I would loosen the coolant reservoir cap to keep the pressure off the shell and take it easy on the run south.

It would also be wise to borrow a RIB with a 10 Hp outboard to use as back up. Admiralty Inlet is no place to lose the auxiliary on a new to you boat.

Our surveyor caught our mix elbow crack, too.

Nice boat!!!

Sailmonkey · 15-02-2017, 17:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by matthidinger

Ah yes, it looks like this exact part.

90 DEGREE WATER INJECTED ELBOW Westerbeke 33067 Sailboat Supplies, Engine Parts and Boat Parts

Can you help me understand which barbs/nipples I would need to reuse and reconnect the existing pipe to the new elbow? The toadmarinesupply link lists related parts, but it's not obvious to me which ones I would need

That elbow is a flavor of cast aluminium, the cracked section is on the aluminium. If your engine is rigged like several others I've worked on, the block on the aft end of the manifold is a flange to female pipe adapter, then the riser is made up of a series of nipples and elbows to get the desired rise. The mixing elbow is then screwed onto this......now the fun part....seeing as the mixing elbow is aluminium, and unless your the luckiest person on earth, it's not going to come right off (unless the crack has already released it from the pipe thread). However if it does come right off.....all you need to do is screw the new one on and carry on with life.

This is one of those things that only someone with hands on can say how easy it will or won't be.

delmag · 15-02-2017, 17:28

i had a cracked mixing elbow on an isuzu diesel. after two attempts to repair the weld, i put marine tex on it. i put about a thousand hours on the repair before i sold the boat. it stunk for a while but the repair held.

chris95040 · 15-02-2017, 19:56

FYI, Westerbeke elbows are available in both pipe-threaded and flanged varieties.

The flanged style mates two flat faces with some kind of soft metal? gasket between then, and a special hose clamp ('v' clamp, looks like a V in cross section) is wrapped around the mating surfaces and tightened to squeeze the two faces together.

That style comes apart really easily, and they sell an adapter for going to/from that to pipe thread for custom dry sections of exhaust, for example to raise the mixing elbow up higher than the engines exhaust manifold, a common thing on sailboats.

AiniA · 15-02-2017, 20:07

In the short run you can fix is with JB Weld and if you want to get fancy fibreglass tape. The temperatures are not a problem. I fixed a similar problem on a larger Westerbeke around midnight one night off Moreton Bay in Australia. I just wanted to get in to check in with customs and then go to a marina where we were going to stay for several months. The fix worked so well that it is still there half a world later and looks just the same as a few hours after it was done (it changed colour). I put on a layer of JB Weld and then wrapped with f/g tape and then another layer of JBW.

Stu Jackson · 15-02-2017, 20:59

Muffler patch paste or wrap, wrap it with hose clamps, go. Good luck, good for a short jaunt.

ErikFinn · 15-02-2017, 21:18

PO of one of my previous boats had fixed the aluminium elbow with some epoxy like substance. Not sure obviously exactly with what but I reckon epoxy. Nevertheless, the repair never failed, had hose clamp or two tightened around the patch, but eventually I replaced the elbow with a new one because the "repair" looked sooo hideous!

Re JB weld, there is a YouTube video guy complaining about JB weld not holding up to the temps JB advertise and that a Loctite one is much better. Which exact one can't remember I recall a new product but I won't go for JB next time.

mattman · 16-02-2017, 08:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by japarker11

Matt,

If you could call IMC and get a price on replacing the assembly to the output flange of the manifold, I think you would be time and maybe money ahead. This assumes the boat is in Fisherman Bay. They should be relatively quiet for the next couple of weeks.

If that doesn't work out, you could clean off the f/g insulation and wrap the elbow with inch wide plumbers thread tape. Then encapsulate that with a couple of layers of self.fusing silicone tape, Rescue Tape. Both of these are rated to 500 F. As you are not turbocharged, exhaust gas temps should be below 450 F. I have done "get home" repairs with these materials subjected to 250 F.

In any case, it looks like you will be doing some heat exchanger work, too. As you don't know the recent use history, I would loosen the coolant reservoir cap to keep the pressure off the shell and take it easy on the run south.

It would also be wise to borrow a RIB with a 10 Hp outboard to use as back up. Admiralty Inlet is no place to lose the auxiliary on a new to you boat.

Our surveyor caught our mix elbow crack, too.

Nice boat!!!

Thanks for the advice! I'll call IMC now and see what they say for pricing.

Regarding the heat exchanger, the surveyor called out the corrosion but didn't mention how urgent this might be. Do you think I should also look into this asap?

Wallaby · 16-02-2017, 08:54

Years ago I purchased a Beneteau with a Perkins 50. It had a cracked mixing elbow, after the 'mixing'. However, at the time of buying, there were only minimal signs of deterioration, no leaks. Unknowingly, I motored from NJ to Beaufort SC, without a problem. The next year I went from Beaufort to the Bahamas and back. A couple of thousand engine miles and no problems. Still, I picked up a new elbow just in case. When I finally did replace it (just to be safe) I took the old elbow to the shop and had it sandblasted, thinking I would keep it as a spare. Imagine my surprise when I found a huge chunk of 'green' stuff instead of bright shiny metal, from the flange back to the water inlet. Gotta wonder how long the Splash Zone had been there.

FionaJC · 16-02-2017, 09:00

In the UK I would go to an automotive store and get some gun-gum paste, silencer repair bandage and flexiwrap silencer repair.. These links are to a UK website but I'm sure that you will have this isn the US. It sets with heat.

https://www.holtsauto.com/holts/products/gun-gum-paste/
https://www.holtsauto.com/holts/prod...epair-bandage/
https://www.holtsauto.com/holts/prod...lencer-repair/

I had a plastic waterlock fail when the water flow failed and I repaired it with Fibreglass and tape. That was 9 years ago and its still great. We now have a exhaust temp alarm and flow alarm built into our engine alarm systems.

zstine · 16-02-2017, 10:19

It looks to me like the exhaust injection elbow (exact part previously linked ) is cracked on the OD of the threaded area where the pipe under the wrap is screwed in. I do believe this is a simple, buy the ~$250 part, remove and install new. a few hours with the right tools. You may need to heat it to get it off as the threads are likely seized and it was probably over tightened which lead to the crack in the first place. But, I would optimistically say, not a hard fix... but it is a boat!

GregW1309 · 16-02-2017, 12:33

Have you considered taking the ferry to Annacortes to get the parts? Your not in a third world country there...UPS could deliver too. Port Townsend likely would have the parts also.

zeehag · 17-02-2017, 08:15

i have had excellent good fortune with fab shops-- radiator shops with heat exchangers and other water oriented pieces of engine. they recreate the item beautifully and the price is a fraction of the original part,
or you order one from westerbeke and have it shipped to you,.
is a hard choice, but that choice is yours.
enjoy your cool new to you boat. best of good fortune with engine.

mattman · 17-02-2017, 13:35

Thanks for the advice so far everyone. I was able to get photos of the pipe under the heat-wrap. Unfortunately they didn't take a good photo of the pipe to mixing elbow connection, but it definitely seems like it won't come off without a fight. Based on these, does it look like I would need to replace the entire assembly? And is that rusted flange on the manifold a standard Westerbeke part that I would need to replace as well?