Hi guys, I own a
Lagoon catamaran, and ever since
buying the
boat, I have been struggling with slipping
alternator V-belts, black belt dust everywhere in my
engine rooms, and loss of
charging current to the
batteries.
Especially after upgrading the Lead/acid
batteries for
LiFePO4, the situation became even worse, due the increased
current draw from the alternators.
Replacing the V-belts several times during the season is a real pain.
I found a good solution, and I want to share my experience;
After some
research, I decided to install Electromaax serpentine belts and pulleys on both engines.
I also added the adjustable belt tensioner from Electromaax.
Installation was fairly easy, and took around 2 hours per
engine.
Some points;
1. Removing the nut of the
alternator axle was not easy, and I ended up getting an impact tool, then it was no problem. The V-belt pulley was replaced with a machined serpentine belt pulley supplied by Electromaax.
2. The
Yanmar plastic belt cover needs to go, and will not fit after the
installation is complete, because the new serpentine belt is much wider than a V-belt.
3. The fresh
water cooling water hose, running next to the belt, needs to be pulled away from the new serpentine belt, or it will chafe. I used a cable tie to hold it away, and will soon add a new bracket to hold the water hos ein place.
4. Replacing the fresh
water pump pulley was very easy, only the old bolts had to be re-used, because the supplied bolts were too short, but that was no problem at all.
5. The flywheel pulley was just slipped over the existing pulley, and fixed with 4 bolts supplied in the kit.
6. Installing the new pulley on the alternator shaft was easy, but I had to machine an extra disc, to enable the new pulley to be fastened correctly. The thickness of the new pulley was 3 mm thinner than the V-belt discs, and did not compress/fixate the new pulley, because the thread on the alternator shaft was not long enough to allow good
compression of the new pulley.
All in all I am very satisfied, and now looking forward too
cleaning the engine bays and enjoying the new Electromaax serpentine belt installation!
BR/ Niels
Linear Mode
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