Sunday, March 22, 2009

No more soot on transom!

Well, I cleaned the transom of all soot before we went out this weekend and am happy to report that upon returning, there was no sign of new soot. The new higher operating temperature of 190 seems to have improved the combustion of fuel such that less carbon is being produced out the exhaust. This makes sense, and the proof is a clean transom. The stern wave and hull shape on Aeolus is such that the exhaust actually shoots down into the water and then bubbles up right at the transom where the wave crests right at the edge.

If this remains the case, I will be very happy. A sooty transom is indication of carbon build up in other places I dread to imagine, and my hope is that I have put a stop to any significant new build up and may be even removing some of the old stuff. She sure starts and runs smoothly these days, and seemingly better than before. The gauge never budges off of 190 as the cooling system is so efficient that once the thermostat opens the ability to remove heat more than makes up for the engine's ability to produce it.

I would post a picture but what's the point? Everyone knows what a sooty or non-sooty transom looks like!

1 comment:

Seven C's said...

With our old Cal 2-29, we had a terrible time keeping the soot off the transom.
It had an old 12hp Farymann diesel in it with no easy to add a thermostat to control the temp. It always ran pretty cool - about 140F I believe. That made a lot of soot at the higher rpm range for that engine. If I gave it too much throttle, it could sure blow the smoke. I think that the Farymanns are usually pretty dirty engines from my previous experience with them in other applications.
Our Westerbeke in our Ingrid sure runs nice and clean and sets right 1t 180 no matter what we do. I sure like the heat exchanger better than raw water cooled.
BTW: Look in the links section of our blog (http://www.seven-cs.net)
and you will find links to two other families from Seattle and Bainbridge Island I believe that are currently cruising in Mexico.
You will also find our email contact there. Please feel free to email us.