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Monthly Archives: September 2013

Wallas Diesel Heaters

Two new Wallas 40dT diesel furnaces installed in the Engine Room.

Two new Wallas 40dT diesel furnaces installed in the Engine Room.

Sea Eagle was purchased with two Wallas Diesel Heaters (D40’s) that had been installed by Nordhavn (PAE) when the boat was commissioned. During the purchasing and survey process, I was lead to believe that they simply needed servicing and were functional, so I pulled out both furnaces and took them up to ScanMarine in Seattle for service. ScanMarine inspected both units and informed me that they were not salvageable and in the strongest terms possible warned me to inspect my exhaust system for a splash riser.

Both furnaces had ingested so much salt water through the exhaust that they were corroded into a mass of gunk inside. That meant having to purchase two new furnaces for 6 more BOAT units! OUCH! The forward unit that heated the staterooms only had 27 hours of run time on the furnace and it was now nothing more than a high priced brick.

New Wallas Thermostats were installed to replace the old round units.

New Wallas Thermostats were installed to replace the old round units.

I returned to the boat, checked the exhaust tubing and sure enough, it ran straight down from the through hulls to both furnaces. There were no drip loops, splash risers or anything done to prevent the intrusion of salt water. I was appalled that the heater installers had failed to even follow the minimum requirement of a 12″ splash riser at the through hull (required by Wallas), so had wasted two $3000 furnaces. It’s hard to get good help these days.

After the shock wore off, I installed the two new Wallas furnaces (40dT’s). Having the power, fuel and ducting already run (although some of the ducting was also wrong) helped immensely, but replacing and re-engineering the exhaust tubing was quite a job. It took me a couple of days to get the new thermostats installed, new exhaust installed/insulated and everything up and running.

The good news is that I like the new Wallas DT units much better than the older D units. They bring in fresh air and heat it, helping to keep the boat dry. I had Wallas heaters on all three of my dive boats (including the Dive Charter Boat) and always marveled at how well they would defog the windows even with 14 dripping wet divers huddled in the cabin.

This is the PAE installed exhaust tube (1 of 2) that runs straight down from the through hull to the furnace.

This is the PAE installed exhaust tube (1 of 2) that runs straight down from the through hull to the furnace.

This is the new exhaust tubing run at the same location, showing the Wallas required 12" splash riser that was never installed.

This is the new exhaust tubing run at the same location, showing the Wallas required 12″ splash riser that was never installed.

Port Townsend

Sea Eagle secure in Port Townsend Marina

Sea Eagle secure in Port Townsend Marina

We headed up to Port Townsend to celebrate Deb Brown’s birthday. The water was calm, but the Pea Soup fog moved in making crossing the Straits of Juan de Fuca an interesting challenge. Winsome tucked in behind us and followed us all the way from Lopez Island to Port Townsend. The big radar array in Sea Eagle’s mast helped a lot in the fog and the AIS receiver also helps identify the speed of the commercial traffic in the shipping lanes.

We spotted the Victoria Clipper flying along at 25 knots as well as several aircraft out of NAS Whidbey Island. It’s a bit of a shock to see a radar target screaming across your bow doing well over 100 knots….

The VHF was alive with big ships having to stop dead in the water to avoid hitting a few clueless boaters (mostly sailboats under power with no radar). I saw several radar targets merge as boats ahead of us attempted to cross the shipping lanes right in front of a tug towing a barge. We caught up with a couple of them and I saw no radar, heard no fog signal and they had not a clue that we or anyone else was nearby. Ignorance is bliss I guess?

Winsome snapped this photo of Sea Eagle running in the fog.

Winsome snapped this photo of Sea Eagle running in the fog.

Port Townsend Boat Haven Marina was full of a lot of very cool old wood boats, which made walking the docks fun. I also stopped in for a visit at Don Pedersen’s new dive shop, which is right on the Marina property. VERY convenient!

For dinner, we walked down to the Silverwater Cafe to celebrate Deb’s birthday. We had one of the best meals that I have ever eaten. If you’re in Port Townsend, the SilverWater Cafe comes HIGHLY recommended!

On the way home, we headed South through the Port Townsend Canal, which is shallow and narrow. It was my first time to navigate through the canal, but it proved to be no trouble at all.

Heading South in the Port Townsend Channel

Heading South in the Port Townsend Channel

Cutts Island

Sea Eagle and Cutts Island

Sea Eagle and Cutts Island

For Labor Day weekend, Sea Eagle headed to Cutts Island State Park in Carr Inlet. This small, boat only island is located very near Kopachuck State Park (scuba diving park) west of Gig Harbor.

We anchored South of the Island for some protection from the predicted North Wind and then spent an interesting afternoon being waked and buzzed by hundreds of small boats, jet skis, tubers and wake boarders. There is a very nice, sandy beach on the North Spit of Cutts Island and in the afternoons there were thirty or forty boats beached and partying!

We then explored Horsehead Bay, which is lined with beautiful homes and contains an interesting dock with an alligator statue on the dock and a large red pig statue/BBQ in the yard.

Tree in the Bay near Raft island


Tree in the Bay near Raft island

Fortunately, most of the boats appeared to be local, so there wasn’t a lot of load music, just people enjoying the beach. When darkness fell, the boats left, the wind calmed and we had a beautiful evening in a very lovely setting.

The next day, we took the dingy and did some exploring. In the bay South of Raft Island, near the All Saints Camp, we found this really interesting tree, standing out in the bay (like it had grown there). The tree is obviously dead, but still stands and someone even put a string of Christmas Lights in the branches (with a solar panel) to light it up at night. Interesting yard art? 😉

Beached Boat on Cutts Island

Beached Boat on Cutts Island


On the way back around the West side of Cutts Island, we spotted these poor souls, who had obviously beached their boat at high tide and not realized what would happen as the tide went out! Oops! Her body language said it all, hands on hips, frustrated and not having a good time. I felt sorry for them.

Eventually, when the tide came back in many hours later. They were able to refloat the boat and head back home. I’m sure they were embarrassed and will not be making that mistake again!

Tree out in the bay near Raft island

Tree out in the bay near Raft island