Professional BoatBuilder - April-May 2018

(Ann) #1
8 Professional BoatBuilder

LETTERS

“Internal Combustion’s Backside,” (PBB
No. 170), I would like to introduce a use-
ful safety feature I have seen installed on
a couple of sailboat exhaust systems,
including my own. It is a small drain
valve installed on the lower edge of a
hydro-lift muffler. The valve I used was
a ¼" CPVC; it can withstand the tem-
perature of the water downstream of the
mixing elbow; it does not corrode; and
the quarter-turn design supports easy
visual inspection of the handle for open/
closed status. The valve is located on the
lower edge of the muffler where the ver-
tical cylindrical section of the muffler
inserts into the flange of the mounting
base. This joint in the muffler assembly
provides an extra-thick area (^7 ⁄ 16 ") to
drill and tap for installing the ¼"-CPVC
drain valve. Additionally, I added some
thickened epoxy around the drain valve/
muffler joint to help spread the stresses
of a threaded connection. I located the
drain valve under the inlet of the muffler

UL, have standards with aggressive
abuse testing. Once completed, I believe
compliance with the ABYC standard, or
some of these other standards, will
ensure that installations are as safe as
lead-acid installations. I definitely want
this technology on my boat, but before I
install any batteries, I want to know they
have passed rigorous testing.
On the alternator side, the devices I
have been testing do have the potential
to overload an engine, especially at idle
speeds and wide-open throttle. Most of
the “magic sauce” in the system is on the
control side. We have been working on
this in one way or another for nine years
now. We have Steve D’Antonio’s con-
cerns, and many others’, covered. More
on this will appear in a future article.

Internal Combustion’s
Backside
To the Editor:
Regarding Steve D’Antonio’s article

at higher rpm, or is there more to this
equation when using this product?
Steve D’Antonio
Steve D’Antonio Marine Consulting Inc.
Wake, Virginia

Nigel Calder responds:
With respect to firefighting agents,
water is obviously the most available
medium. However, the consequences of
flooding a battery compartment must be
carefully considered in the design phase.
That said, the core safety goal with any
lithium-ion battery installation must be
to do everything possible to avoid a situ-
ation where firefighting becomes neces-
sary. The ABYC is currently working on
a standard for lithium-ion batteries. We
are reviewing various abuse tests that
could be incorporated into the standard,
taking into account the operating condi-
tions on boats, and the things that can
go wrong in a marine and boating envi-
ronment. Other organizations, such as

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