First ride this year.

[Denis]

Finally took the boat out for our shake down run last night. It was a beautiful night and I wanted to get that first ride of the year under my belt. Last week I changed the oil and filter and changed the primary fuel filter. That kind of turned into a hastle. I could not get the filter to stop leaking. I even took it off and re-cleaned everything and put it back on. It is still not perfectly sealed but it was good enough for a test run. I bought another new filter, this time a Racor not a NAPA filter. I will put it on if this filter is still leaking.
The boat ran perfectly. We are hoping to take our first cruise of the year to Montauk Long Island for the Memorial day weekend. They have a very nice harbor there with several marinas that have pools, many shops to see and nice restaurants to visit. It's a big fishing port also so there is a lot to see and do. Hope the weather cooperates and we get a nice couple of days out of it. Denis

[jcollins]

Denis,
The first ride of the season is always good! The guy I bought Afterglow from told me to only use Racor filters. I think I'll heed his advice and stay away from NAPA. How far is Montauk? I could look it up but I'm feeling lazy this morning. <smile>
We're thinking of a run to Round Bay at the head of the Severn River today. The previous owner sent me a note. He is missing his old boat and needs a "fix". It's just under 2 hrs. cruising time. The Volvo Racers moved to Annapolis this week so there will be quite a bit of traffic down that way. It will be Sharons first trip down the Bay in this boat. I'm looking forward to calm seas!

Have a great weekend!

[Mariner]

I would definitely stick with racor fuel filters and oil filters made by the engine manufacturer. In your car, using Napa, Fram, or other brand filters is fine. The cost differential is high due to frequent replacement, and the consequences are relatively low. In a boat like an Albin, the price differential is only a few dollars a year, and the consequences are huge. Repowering a boat like ours would measure in the tens of thousands.

Which filter is leaking? Oil or fuel? If it was the fuel filter, was it the primary or secondary?

My guess is that the filter was not the right one for your application. Most likely the O-ring did not line up and that is causing it to leak. There's just no reason that a properly sized oil or fuel filter would leak unless it had a manufacturing flaw.

[Denis]

I called Peninsular last week and told them what was happening, he siad that NAPA uses Wicks fiters and they should work fine. I took the filter apart and put it back in, I am pretty sure that the problem was the operator - ME! I had the bowl on the bottom too tight and that caused the gasket to wrinkle. After I removed it and put it back together everything seemed fine. The NAPA filter was $36 and the RACOR filter was $32 from the marina, go figure. From now on I will use RACOR anyway, because I can buy them right at my marina, they are cheaper and are the exact replacement. Thanks for your input.
John, you asked how far Montauk is, it is about 25 miles from our home port. Across long island sound, through the RACE and the trip is pretty easy.
The more I talk about it the more excited I get. We used to go there when the kids were small, for Memorial Day weekend. I know we can't duplicate it but it will be nice anyway. It is so different traveling now with just the two of us. The kids used to keep us so busy.
Denis