Catalina 30 cooling question

[jollymon2]

While winterizing a newly purchased 1983 catalina 30 with a universal 5411 raw water cooled some serious confusion came about.

Only owned and used the boat for about 2 months before haul out. One of the first thing noticed was the lack of water spitting out of the exhaust through hull. I would estimate the amount of water at less that half the amount expelled by other diesel in board powered sail boats that I've been on. After some research I was convinced this was an impeller issue, which upon disassembly, no doubt needed changed, but did not change the amount of water exiting the exhaust. I should note that this engine has NEVER had a temperature issue, even before the impeller was changed. If anything, I was shocked by how long it would take for the temperature gauge to register any thing at all.

Which brings me to my question/concern. With the boat being on the cradle and running the engine to circulate antifreeze throughout the system, I wasn't surprised at the lack of antifreeze spitting out the exhaust port. More so I was shocked at the amount of antifreeze pouring out of the area where the prop shaft exits the hull. I would estimate that 90% of the fluid being circulated through the engine was exiting the boat in this area.

So now I'm fairly confident that antifreeze has been properly ran through the engine. But very confused about where the antifreeze is exiting. I need to understand this. No one at my marina seems to be able to offer good advice. Those nice enough to offer advice seem to know less than I do, which is not much.

Just to recap, this engine never even came close to getting " hot" and the bilge is dry.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Jake


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[ontherocks83]

do you mean the antifreeze is leaking overboard through your stuffing box? I'm a little confused. Have you looked at the engine while running it? Sounds like it is circulating through the engine but somewhere between the engine, the water muffler, and the exhuast pipe it is broken and leaking. A good visual check while it is running with all the engine hatches open should tell you alot.

[Steve W]

I've heard that the raw water cooled 5411 exhausts very little raw water compared to fw-cooled Universals, so you may be ok with that. The coolant running out around the shaft has me baffled. Maybe the antifreeze is getting into your bilge, then your electric bilge pump is pumping it out and it is running down the underside of the hull to the shaft area? Or you may have an exhaust leak or hole in the muffler between the engine and exhaust thru-hull.

Try posting your question at www.catalinaowners.com. It is a great forum resource. Let us know how it turns out.

Steve

[jollymon2]

I will post there, thank you for advice. Unfortunately it's not the bilge, I have a clear view of where that pumps out. Also it's a constant stream only when the engine is running.


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[jongleur]

What kind of stuffing box or packing gland or
shaft seal do you have?

[jollymon2]

I honesty don't know what kind I have or how to identify. If there was an issue with that seal would there be water intrusion while the boat is in the water. Sorry for not knowing these simple questions, this is all completely new to me.


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[The Garbone]

Have you popped the little hatch under the companionway ladder and taken a look at your shaft log?

My only thought would be that the PO put a drip less setup on and then routed a tap of the cooling water to it to keep the shaft log cool. Makes no sense really.


Gary

Errr. Edit Stuffing box for shaft log, mental hick up on my part.

[jollymon2]

In reply to ontherocks83: I have a pretty clear view of exhaust and muffler. With the amount of water I'm talking about I think/hope I would have noticed a leak. I really don't think I have one. The advice is much appreciated, the boat is an hour away from where I live. Some im trying to do my home work before I head back up to the boat.


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[Vasco]

Not enough information to diagnose problem.

How did you winterize the engine? With a raw water cooled engine you usually remove the thermostat and run af through starting at the cooling water">engine cooling water through hull. Remove hose and dip in 2 gallon pail of af. Run engine. When af exits exhaust stop engine and replace the thermostat. Did you do this?

It is highly unlikely that af was coming out through the stern tube. Here's a pic of stuffing box and stern tube (shaft log). How can anything get through this and out the boat?

[jongleur]

PO put a drip less setup on and then routed a tap of the cooling water to it to keep the shaft log cool.

Bingo.

[jollymon2]

Vasco: I did the procedure exactly as you described. I'm assuming antifreeze came out of the exhaust. I use the word assume only because the fluid that came out of the exhaust was very dirty with soot, I also assume it was antifreeze because the engine didn't have a water source.

As for the 2nd part of your question I agree. I'm completely confused. I've been thinking about this for 48 hours and cannot make sense of it


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[Vasco]

Does your water lift muffler have a drain cock? If yes it might be advisable to drain it to make sure af got through the engine if only sooty water came out the exhaust.

Other posters have said that there might be a patented dripless stuffing box with water cooling the shaft log. This might be the case, but strange. My boat has a water cooled shaft log but the water comes from a through hull, not the engine cooling system.

Go to the boat and take pictures. If there's a hose on the shaft log trace it back.

[jollymon2]

The muffler doesn't have a drain cock to my knowledge. I should be back up to the boat in a few days. Many pictures will be taken. Thank you for your help


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[Valmika]

I am also of the mindset that the previous owner put in a dripless shaft seal which requires lubrication water to run into it and would exit out the shaft (instead of into your bilge) The reason you would be seeing coolant coming out is because that is what you are putting in. Normally in a raw water cooled system it could be fed from your raw water pump.

[Sailmonkey]

Our shaft log, when on the hard, has a lot of water running out of it. This is due to the cooling water I've got plumbed to it. While not strictly necessary for cooling I like that the flow of water will keep silt out of the bearing.


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