Professional BoatBuilder - April-May 2018

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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