What a Score!

[Roger Long]

One of my secondary nagging worries about having an old boat is the hot water heater. While its failure would not be life threatening, I have come to really appreciate hot water since putting in my Dickenson diesel heater which also heats it up. Having a hot shower (even if short) every night on a fall cruise was life changing.

My boat has one of the best heaters ever made but the company is long gone. It fits in a space that was designed around it and all the piping and wiring is adapted to that model which is now extinct as a Dodo bird. The cost of a new one and the modifications to make it fit has had me thinking it was just one of those uncertainties I would have to live with. At over 30 years of age, it's time is due, even for a heater with a stainless steel tank.

I was in Hamilton Marine today and there was the identical model:

It's quite possibly the last one in the retail chain on the planet and they let it go for well less than the price on the label. I'm going to just swap it in. Since my boat was laid up for six of those 31 years, mine probably has some life left in it so I'll try to sell my current one to someone whose Atlantic has died and also needs a cheap plug in replacement.

 

[doneright]

Roger, congratulations, I need to speak with you about hot water heaters after my survey on thursday, I'm sure mine is shot. Sam

 

[Roger Long]

I need to speak with you about hot water heaters after my survey on thursday, I'm sure mine is shot. Sam

The stakes are higher on a RW cooled engine like you have. Hot sea water has been going through the heat exchanger loop for the life of the boat. If a pinhole or crack develops in the loop, the FW system pressure will pump fresh water into your RW line. If you go away and leave the boat with the FW pump on (Don't ever do that anyway), the muffler could fill up and back flow into the engine. You might not notice until you try to start the engine against the waterlock. Filling an engine with water is never good for it, even if you don't damage it in the start.

You'll find that the 2QM20 runs too cool to heat water anyway so I suggest reconnecting your RW line directly to the exhaust elbow and capping the connections on the water heater.

 

[Roger Long]

Maybe not such a score.

I got the old water heater out and set up on the bench next to the new one to swap over the fittings. After that was done, I took the element out of the old heater and stuck a inspection mirror in. Wow, aside from the crud from my water tank which needs to be flushed out, it looks great. If I could have seen this while it was in the boat, I never would have bought the new one.

Well, it doesn't make any sense to put the old one back and I've got the fittings all moved over anyway. I'll pass the old one on to someone in reasonably good conscience.