Has anyone removed their NT37 fuel cooler. I know sbmar has a kit but I was thinking of just replacing the cooler with a hose section and rerouting the return line to the combo block. Frees up a little space for impeller replacements.Henry Gamsby LYRA NT37 ,- 90Fairhaven. MASent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Also it’s one less (in our case) salt water affected part to send in periodically for pressure testing along with the aftercooler, gear oil cooler and heat exchanger.
Real straight forward swap. Didn’t use Tony’s kit. Challenge is it’s not a straight line from the RW pump to the aftercooler inlet so the hose is a tight flat “S”.
Even though it’s low pressure RW, I used an extra flexible high performance hose from MFCP.com.
You will need new fuel hose to bypass. If you’ve not opened up those Cummins fuel lines, the fittings (maybe “Eaton” ??? ) use a special seal that I’m recalling was hard to track down for spares.
I’d discuss with a local hydraulic hose maker before you commit.
Also the bronze casting on our RW pump output was real rough and always prone to slow leaks even after I cleaned it up as far as I was willing to risk impacting the diameter. Putting the hose on with a layer of silicon caulk worked great.
Good luck.
Kelly Britz, Seattle
Sandpiper, NT37-042
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 30, 2024, at 1:22 PM, hgamsby via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org wrote:
Has anyone removed their NT37 fuel cooler. I know sbmar has a kit but I was thinking of just replacing the cooler with a hose section and rerouting the return line to the combo block. Frees up a little space for impeller replacements.
Henry Gamsby
LYRA NT37 ,- 90
Fairhaven. MA
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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When I owned Tug LeeLoo (now Galaxy) I did remove the fuel cooler using the kit from SBMAR. I repainted the fuel cooler while it was off. I think I had to have a hose made up from the return line to the combo block. Indeed it does free up space and makes replacing the water pump impeller easier. Also, and consistent with the information provided in the SBMAR write up, the port-side return fuel tank did not show any measurable increase in temperature. The fuel cooler might be useful in a high speed diesel-powered boat, but much less so at the speeds Nordic Tugs travel at. When I sold Tug LeeLoo, and just before the much feared WOT test, I reinstalled the fuel cooler.
As an aside, when I purchased Tug LeeLoo in 2016 and again, when I sold her in 2022, the engine tachometer was never able to display WOT. A confusing situation since the surveyor’s strobe tach indeed reported WOT. Of course, since we never operate our NTs at WOT, the tach problem never shows up . . . until you get ready to sell the boat. Had I kept Tug LeeLoo, I would have looked into this. The tachometer pickup is on the engine flywheel housing behind the aftercooler housing. So that would need to be removed to replace the tach pickup.
Carey Cook37-122 (2005)Tug LeeLoo (now Galaxy)
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On Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 3:22 PM, hgamsby via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org wrote:
Has anyone removed their NT37 fuel cooler. I know sbmar has a kit but I was thinking of just replacing the cooler with a hose section and rerouting the return line to the combo block. Frees up a little space for impeller replacements.
Henry Gamsby LYRA NT37 ,- 90Fairhaven. MA
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
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I agree with Kelly completely. I removed the fuel cooler per instructions from Tony's site, but did not use his kit. I had the fuel hoses made up locally. We never noticed any change in performance, and the fuel tank did not show any signs (used an IR gun) of any temp increases. I did regularly (every 10+ hours or so) run my engine up to 80% throttle for 10 minutes and to WOT for a few minutes to "blow out the carbon" (usually when near the end of a long run), and to check that "all was operating" properly (by observation, listening, and IR gun).
Do not neglect your raw water cooling components, especially your aftercooler (as Kelly alluded to).
Good luck,
Tom Easterbrook
Formerly Pilitak NT 37-068
Nanaimo, BC
From: Kelly Britz via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org
Sent: April 30, 2024 2:00 PM
To: South East Nordic Tugs Owners' Association (SENTOA) sentoa@lists.sentoa.org
Cc: Kelly Britz kelbritz@hotmail.com
Subject: [Sentoa] Re: NT 37 Fuel cooler removal
Also it’s one less (in our case) salt water affected part to send in periodically for pressure testing along with the aftercooler, gear oil cooler and heat exchanger.
Real straight forward swap. Didn’t use Tony’s kit. Challenge is it’s not a straight line from the RW pump to the aftercooler inlet so the hose is a tight flat “S”.
Even though it’s low pressure RW, I used an extra flexible high performance hose from MFCP.com.
You will need new fuel hose to bypass. If you’ve not opened up those Cummins fuel lines, the fittings (maybe “Eaton” ??? ) use a special seal that I’m recalling was hard to track down for spares.
I’d discuss with a local hydraulic hose maker before you commit.
Also the bronze casting on our RW pump output was real rough and always prone to slow leaks even after I cleaned it up as far as I was willing to risk impacting the diameter. Putting the hose on with a layer of silicon caulk worked great.
Good luck.
Kelly Britz, Seattle
Sandpiper, NT37-042
Sent from my iPhone
On Apr 30, 2024, at 1:22 PM, hgamsby via Sentoa sentoa@lists.sentoa.org wrote:
Has anyone removed their NT37 fuel cooler. I know sbmar has a kit but I was thinking of just replacing the cooler with a hose section and rerouting the return line to the combo block. Frees up a little space for impeller replacements.
Henry Gamsby
LYRA NT37 ,- 90
Fairhaven. MA
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
Sentoa mailing list -- sentoa@lists.sentoa.org
To unsubscribe send an email to sentoa-leave@lists.sentoa.org
Good morning.
Several years back, I removed the fuel cooler in my 6BTA 5.9. I have some photos which I will gladly share with you via email, plus two tips that might be useful.
I found it to be a fairly straightforward job.
I did use the Seaboards Kit, but I requested a 90 degree elbow to clear an obstruction. I also bought a reducer sleeve to fit on the gear cooler.
I have since replaced my raw water impeller without having to remove any parts that in the past had been in the way.
Robert Claycomb
Santa Barbara, Ca
32-276