LD 28 M fuel filter

[yakka]

My recently purchased FC 27 there is only one fuel filter. It is a Dahl 101 with a water separator bowl. It is a nasty job to change the filter. It is almost impossible to change it on your own as you have to get down and hold up the body and put the clamping ring around. I am looking at replacing it with a Racor and was checking to get an idea of what everyone is using on the Nissan engine.
There is not a lot of room but I could get the 60 gph unit in although it does not have a very big filter cartridge..

[tego]

The Racor 500 is more than enough for the Nissan. I change mine annually, even though it shows no vacuum problem on my vac gauge. If you have decent fuel purity, you'll be good to go. I run a 2 Micron element in mine, since we don't have a secondary on the engine. I put 100-150 hours a year on my engine. Filter changes are easy-just make sure that you put a valve on each side of the filter to isolate it during changing, and carry a quart of clean fuel to top it off after a change. That allows for draining any contaminates from the bottom of the clear bowl. Ben, '87 27FC

[yakka]

Brilliant, Thanks for the reply Its just what I was thinking. I don't get why they don't have a secondary.

[RobS]

Wouldn't you rather go with a multi--stage setup, especially considering you have no last chance filter on the engine? I just pulled my Racor 900 and installing this multistage with squeeze bulb priming. The Racor 500 is 6 inches less in height than the Racor 900 in this picture. But you need a good 5" clearance above the Racor for the drop in filter clearance. With the spin-on's overhead not an issue. And the spin-on setup is ZERO maintenance, you'll never need to carry any spare clean fuel and the squeeze-bulb makes for simple priming. Just another option....

[TorreyWP]

I also run a Racor 500M for my Nissan. Ben's advice is spot on. The only thing I would suggest is carrying an extra element in the event you get a major clog under way, you can easily pop a new one in and be under way again. I also see no vacuum on my gauge, in fact when I first got the boat I was suspicious of the gauge even working and closed the valving on the up stream side of the filter with the engine running just to make sure it would show the engine pulling on it!

Rob's set up is nice clean looking and thoughtful. If you are re-working fuel lines and filters at this time, it might be nice to add some valving, a small pump and a way to polish your fuel as well. My PO had installed the necessary components and a small magnetic fuel conditioner by Algae-X which I believe is AXI now...

[Kimotee]

Noobie owner here, first time spring commissioning of 2009 Albin TE Newport, a flushdeck, powered by a Cummins/Mercruiser QSD 4.2. As Rob suggests, I'm a fan of a multi-stage fuel filter system, and expected to easily find one on this boat, one of the last 28 TEs built, but apparently there is only the secondary fuel filter on the engine, and a hard to find, and an almost impossible to service single primary filter under a transverse beam just aft of the engine and forward of the exhaust. Since the boat has been on the hard for nearly a year, with the exception of sea trial, I''ve got serious concerns about fuel condition and would like to install a better arrangement of fuel/water separator primary filter prior to launch. Has anyone had experience with this engine? Looking at the Cummins Sea Pro lineup, which model and what options do you recommend?

[Nancy's Promise]

Where did you get that fuel filter manifold setup ?

[jleonard]

This is my system, sort of the home grown version of what Rob posted. Large Racor on left is 30 micron, dual Racor in center is 10 micron, electric fuel pump is plumbed to use for bleeding if needed.
Rob's system is obviously much cleaner and more compact.

fuel system.JPG