Willard 730 Diesel Repower Project

[clloyd]

My project right now is to great a much improved 24/12 system because the current system 12v supply cuts out when cranking and cycles the electronics. That was ok for a mechanical diesel but not ok for Electronic one, AND it was a pita in general with the nav systems.

My setup will be 24v start and most stuff as well as it was all 24v to start with + 12v navigation and engine control!!

Yes, electronic engine needs ECM or electronic engine control and that better be reliable.

So project is to add a small 12v bank using 1 Odyssey 925 AGM battery. This will mount in the aft storage locker. It has a very sturdy bracket as this locker tilts up to access the bilge.

Photos of progress. I actually am farther along and have it all running, will post full install later.

Next to the battery is a 24/12 Pronautic Digital Mobile charge 40 which uses the 24v start bank to keep the 12v aux bank conditioned. It favors letting alt charge the start bank for safety but actually will regulate the alternator to keep both banks optimally charged.

So now we have an independent 12v side that won't drop out when starting and won't drain start batteries when stopped and running nav gear.

We already had a 24/12 Navy speced converter that directly coverts 24/12. I was going to remove it but realized it's a very reliable unit and it a great backup to the more complex bank to bank charger.


So what I did was create a new panel where we have 2 sets of 12v redundant sources. There is a Newmar APS-70 which takes 2 sources and uses the one with the highest voltage. There are breakers to turn on both sources or shut one or the other down. Beauty is that with the selector you can switch without dropping the source.

Granted it's complex but 24v/12 is complex and the boat is only running with 2 x 39lbs 12v start batteries combined for 24v and 1 x 12v 26lb Aux bank battery. I have ability to add 2 more start batts for an A/B 24v start bank, that would be about as good as you can get but I don't think I need it frankly.

So current is 80lbs 24v batteries + 26lbs 12v battery
I I wanted 2x redundant 24v banks and 2 redundant 12v sources would be 160lbs + 26lbs in batteries or 186 total.

[clloyd]

System is wired in.

I plugged boat into shore power so that the 24v charger would service the 24v bank which would be similar to the 24v alternator servicing that bank.

Turned everything on that I could on both 12v and 24v side.

Noticed that 24/12 charger waited untll the start bank was at a good charge before kicking in to service the 12v side.

Burned it in for a full day today and all looks good.

Added a shot looking behind the Dash. Still looks like spagetti but I'm chipping away at organizing it better. So much easier to wire WITHOUT the engine. I can actually stand in the bilge with full standing headroom and wire away.

[clloyd]

The Konrad 520 is getting removed and crated for sale. I had 0 issues with it, it is a great drive, it needs some prep, prime and paint in some areas on the leg where there has been some minor surface corrosion.

Bringing in a new Konrad 560 leg to replace it. NOTE: these drives have two major halves, the transom kit and the leg. I'm keeping my original transom kit which includes a lot of stuff like the steering, the tilt pump, cylinders, the drive shaft etc. That is the complicated stuff to install and I just totally rebuilt my steering cylinder + setup.

Replacing the leg is straightforward, 6 bolts and the seal and it is off.

The 560 is 4" less draft and more efficient. It is duel conter-rotating prop which is optimal for the diesel RPM ranges. It should handle the additional torque with ease.

I really can't wait. I had two prop ranges we speced out. 1 would bring top speed to almost 50 mph, the other brings top speed to 45 mph but is much better for the operation of the boat in bad seas states and heavy loads. I ended up going with the lower pitched, lower top speed prop which is a 25 and 26 pitch, averaging 25.5 pitch.

560 Twin Prop Stern Drive

[ynp]

I like your battery bracket. It looks all business.
This forum in a knowledge well.
Thank you for sharing the info, it is very helpful for a beginner like myself.

[clloyd]

Thx man, it was a bit pricey for that bracket but just the ticket for the application.

[jyasaki]

Originally Posted by clloyd

So current is 80lbs 24v batteries + 26lbs 12v battery

I'd hazard a guess that my dual 12V battery setup is pretty close to that in terms of weight. Nice job.

jky

[clloyd]

Tranny is ready.

Borg Warner 72c in and Cyborg 1350 out.

Thanks to BAM marine for getting it done before x-mas.

[clloyd]

A few more details.

120v distribution panel mounted in a fiberglass waterproof case.

24v FLOCs system pump + new main ground buss + shunt for meter.

Bogart engineering meter (great little meters) for monitoring 24v and 12v banks. Shows voltage, amp draw, percent full / discharged, etc.

[clloyd]

Alright, just arrived in Southern California from Oregon. That was a long drive. The worst part of it was Oregon as I left a few weekends ago in the middle of one of the bigger storms of the winter. Not fun.

Anyway, weather here is amazing. I dropped the boat off at Seaboard Marine and it's in their hands right now. Now the fun begins and we see it all take shape hopefully.

I went through my stash of stuff including looking at the engine on a stand, and got to open the Konrad crate of goodies. Attached some pics.

First order of business is to get the exhaust sorted. Old 210hp Cummins 6bt only needed a 4" exhaust. The new 330hp Cummins QSB will need at least 5". The current exhaust has an outlet hood on one side of drive transom plate.

The plan is to create another outlet on the same side through the transom, then create a custom y and go from large hose to two smaller hoses.

The exhaust mixer on these Willards is pretty darn low. It is definitely not the recommended height above sea level. Since I need a custom mixer anyway to fit the larger exhaust, we'll create a custom riser to get more safety above sea level. This will allow for fishing at anchor or drifting in a sea with engine shutdown, something I was scared of doing before. My old engine did have some signs of salt water intrusion into the turbo.

[clloyd]

The other challenge of moving from Mechanical Diesel to Electronic one is how to deal with guages and engine information.

The old Mechanical B simply had analog guages with senders mounted on the engine and that was it.

The new engine puts all it's information on a network bus. The Cummins QSB has a J1939 network bus as it's native format + it has a smartcraft port as well. I didn't like the smartcraft guages much at all. Plus the displays are pricey and seem fairly proprietary. I already have an NMEA2000 network and displays so the thing to do it to connect the J1939 information bus to the NMEA2000 side of the network.

We can do this using a J1939 to NMEA2000 gateway.



Now for analog guages. I like my dash and guages a lot. There is a murphy device called a CANdrive that takes J1939 information and can drive analog gauges with it. So I can drive my analog Tach, oil pressure and engine water temp with this device. It also provides a simple alarm panel for announcing alarms.

The rest of my guages can run old style to the engine directly. These include, gear oil temp, pyro, boost.

In addition, adding an NMEA2000 fuel sender on the network.

Seems straightforward on paper but if anyone has specific experience / criticisms etc, please speak up.

[ncp]

Do the analog gauges come off of the Maretron in the diagram?

[clloyd]

They come off the CANdrive which also provides alarms.

CANdrive | Murphy by Enovation Controls

[clloyd]

Existing 34 gallon tank pulled.

I haven't seen it but apparently it is monumentally heavy. 3/8" solid alum deck plate.

We are exploring two options.

#1 ATL Custom fuel cell that fills this space.

#2 Integral tank glassed into hull.

Shooting for 70 gallons which gives the boat @200 nautical mile range.

If anyone has experience with the ATL tanks please let me know. I know aluminum is probably the least expensive option but not very interested in another alum tank in this space.

ATL tank would look something like rendering below. Fuel send / return and fill on bulkhead going into engine compartment. Diesel this is allowed I believe. Vent and fuel sender on top. Cutout at bottom with bilge water.

[ncp]

Originally Posted by clloyd

I know aluminum is probably the least expensive option but not very interested in another alum tank in this space.

What are the negatives that are steering you away from aluminum?

[clloyd]

It's a good question. I guess I had a previous rib that had alum tank in the bilge and it lasted only a few years.

The original tank design hangs the tank from a very thick alum deck plate and the tank itself is burly to be able to just hang there. The benefit is that the tank is not sitting in water in the bilge which is what kills aluminum tanks quick.

So to go back to aluminum, the hanging design would have to be even burlier to support 70 gallons, maybe not a good idea. I wonder why the Navy chose 34 gallons for this design. Seems so small.

So to go alum again I need to put the tank in the bilge, maybe supported up a bit on a platform, but basically sitting down there. Would still need to deal with supporting it, strapping it down, and then also still need to have a deck plate.

The ATL bladders can completely fill the space (fully supported) without corrosion problems. They are well baffled, very flexible (alum you are limited by the deck flange size) and a drop in solution, and also light.

Then we have the integral tank solution. The space is perfect for it. Lot of labor and care to get it right. Burly and maximizes volume. Done right it would be really nice.

Not cheap unless I do it myself and that ship has sailed. All the pieces are going in and I need a tank.

So basically, I've done as much prep as I can but now I don't really have time to make this an art project that I do myself.

ATL and Integral are on the table now.

[clloyd]

Here's the space cleaned up properly

[clloyd]

The old Cummins 6bt 210 engine had a fairly small exhaust that exited out a hood on starboard side of Konrad 520 transom plate. You can see it on the photos.

This is not large enough to support a Cummins QSB 330hp which needs minimum of 5" exhaust. The solution is to add a new exhaust port next to the transom plate, then create a y inside the boat and use both the old and new ports as a dual exhaust. The water might tend to favor the lower port, hooded, but either way it doesn't matter.

Progress on the new exhaust. BTW, all this final fit work is being done by Seaboard Marine and exhaust design is their specialty.

[ncp]

Looks really nice!!! That is their specialty.

[clloyd]

Thx,

Alright we are going integral. I'm sure there will be some interesting pictures to follow.

ATL was a good price but it still needs some custom work and fitting, so in the end the integral makes sense and is by far the easiest to maintain.

[clloyd]

Some progress.

Exhaust is now simpler. Instead of using both outlets, old one is sealed and new one is a straight shot out the back.


Integral tank prepped for glassing. Note the fiberglass half tube stubbed in that provides bilge water pass thru.