Serviced furnace, reinsulated/replaced ducting

I had already remounted the furnace outboard and forward of its old spot a few extra inches to gain us additional space in the engine room (this happened while it already was removed to access the jib car track and stanchions to rebed them).  While I was at it, I partially dismantled the furnace, satisfying myself that it was in pristine condition (how rare!) and needed no immediate attention from me.

Some short lengths of ductwork were missing: the piece through the wet locker and the piece underneath the nav seat.  I replaced the one in the wet locker with the common, expanding type available at home depot.  I wasn’t excited about the durability of it, but I wrapped it with a ton of foam insulation and then taped it all over with the metal duct tape to strengthen it.  The section underneath the seat had to be stronger (tools get dumped on it) so I found a double wall scrap piece from Urban Ore down the street from us (a great source for obtaining other people’s garbage). The fitting that joined the duct to the vent was missing, so I fabricated one out of a section of single wall metal duct that was flexible enough to bend into the shape I wanted with pliers (and extensive shaping with the cutoff blade).

The section through the wet locker still gets too hot to touch and scares me, but I don’t think it’s dangerous.  I wrapped the entire exhaust section with fiberglass tape designed for the purpose (previously just the last two feet were wrapped with it) and secured it with stainless seizing wire so it wouldn’t work loose.

The last thing I have to do is install a tiny little fuel filter in the fuel line–I found one that is meant for this purpose in the spares bin and I think it’s a good idea.  Not to mention I’d rather store it in usage in the fuel line than in a bucket in our locker.

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