[Public-List] How the exhaust leak issue developed

[Gordon Laco]

Hello friends - 

So here’s how that little emergency shook out.

I went down to the boat yesterday and removed the fire-proof exhaust wrapping fabric I’d covered the piping from the exhaust manifold to the bronze vertical muffler, and the muffler itself.  (why did I put this on?  because it occurred to me that the exhaust gear on the engine was perfectly oriented to heat the icebox with maximum efficiency, and I wanted to down grade that efficiency)

I found the black iron elbows quite rusty, with black carbon spread around the after end of the exhaust manifold.   

I took a little brass brush (looks like a tooth brush) and scrubbed away everything loose… then with a flashlight stuck my head in…. and there was the hole.  It was in the first short section of pipe coming out of the manifold.  Using my iPhone I photographed the underside of the pipe and manifold and confirmed there was no other perforation.

I went to my friend whose family has a car shop which has looked after our cars for many years and showed him the pictures.   He recommended that I could get through the season with a temporary repair of high-heat manifold epoxy putty and exhaust epoxy tape… 

I communicated with the excellent Don Moyer who confirmed that there should be no problem removing the manifold with the engine in place so I could take the manifold and pipe/muffler assembly to the shop for careful dismantling there.   

So back I went to the boat with the special putty and tape… first I thoroughly wire brushed everything and wiped it down to remove dust.  Then I formed a fillet of the special putty to cover the hole… then after that had set I wrapped the tape over it.  For extra measure I made a ‘pad’ of exhaust insulation and fixed that over the area with a hose clamp, being careful not to tighten the clamp so much that it deformed the repair compounds or worse, crushed the pipe.   As the instructions dictated, I ran the engine for 30 minutes to ‘cook’ the epoxies.     There is now no trace of a leak.

After supper my friend came to the boat to inspect my work… he reminded me that this is not a permanent repair, and that I should inspect it regularly and certainly not neglect a full repair in the fall… I will do the former, and I won’t forget the later!

Thank you all for the private advice and photos you sent… thank you Don Campbell for your responses in particular.

Onwards.  

Tonight we race for only the second time this year.  Between work and the repairs from last year’s collision we lost half the season.   My childhood friend whose family’s Alberg 30 was the first boat I ever sailed in is visiting from Australia… he’s aboard for the race tonight.  That boat was SURYA, I think her name is on the Syronelle from back in the 1960’s.  I don’t see him often anymore due to geography, and we have never sailed in an A30 together since the early ’70’s.

Gord Laco
#426 Surprise