External Fuel Filters

[Angler Management]

Hello all! Excited to be here for the first time having owned my 07 Marlin about 6 weeks now.

I'm having my 07 model year Yammy 250s serviced this week prior to some heavy use this summer. One of our items to attack is secondary fuel filters. The engines themselves have primary filters, small about the size of a scotch glass (another topic) inside the cowling on the motors themselves. But there are no secondary external filters, and is like to add some for obvious reasons. I'm having a tough time deciding where to put them, I don't like the idea of them having access to the bilge... And I've crammed additional items there also (another topic too...). But to mount them in the transom/swim step seems a but exposed....

Where do all of you have your secondary external fuel filters?

Thanks in advance. Randy

 

[Enough Already]

Are you sure you don't have additional fuel filters buried in there somewhere? Very surprised - even my 2001 had them from the factory. I did replace the factory mounts with SS and put in some nice fuel/water separator Racors. Mine are mounted to the transom, high and inside the rear corners, just above the batteries on the port and starboard side.

 

[Meanwhile]

Angler Management, I'm sure your boat has fuel water separators. I also have a new to me 2007 Marlin and I have them.

Also, please don't take this personally, but stop being a copy cat.

Randy
2007 Marlin 300 "Meanwhile"

 

[Tuna Man]

It had to read "Randy's" posts three times before I realized you are not the same person.

That being said, I have a 2006 Marlin with factory stainless base fuel filters. Mine are mounted to the bulkhead inside the aft bilge area, roughly three feet forward of the water tank, about 18" above the keel.

 

[Angler Management]

Thanks, guys! I'll get down to the boat soon and dislocate my shoulder so I can see all those nooks and crannys... Like you id be shocked if they didn't and pleasantly surprised if they did.... Surveyor couldn't find them. But I'll report back asap

The Real Randy

 

[mboyatt]

Will the real Randy please stand up. :mrgreen: I hope your boat does not have the water separators! Because if they are there as others have suggested and the surveyor could not find them, then I would be freaking out about the dude who surveyed the boat. Keep us posted. I am betting they are there, mounted high on the transom.

 

[g0tagrip]

I have a 2007 Marlin. My fuel water separators are mounted about 2 feet forward of the access panel under the rear seat. To access them you have to put the seat up, open the panel, crawl head first in and curl yourself forward towards the bow. I put up with that process only for a year and added a access panel in the floor. I got tired of the bruise across my chest every time I had to replace the fuel water separators. Later model Marlins have that access panel factory installed.

 

[Angler Management]

OK so I really shouldn't have gone to the boat yard tonight but I had to, felt I owed it to you guys to get this settled. Pulled the deck up and they were right in front of my face, screwed into the forward bulkhead that separates the bilge from the aft fuel tank. Couldn't have been placed in a more convenient spot. So now it's just a matter of making them killer racors and not the twisty piddly things they are.

But it does make me wonder why the surveyor didn't pull that deck piece up??? Scared of a little re-sealing? Must drop him a note.

I took my camera along to snap photos of the crazy hard access I was expecting to find, but instead took pics of the autopilot pump placement and modular Watermaker we just installed so ya'll could see the sweet setup I'm proud of, and yes also to admit my embarrassment I just took his word for it as fact...

Too late now, but I imagine I'll be able to upload the gadget install photos in the next 48 hours. I'll start a new thread for it.

Thanks for making me snoop with my own eyes. Always fun getting to know a new awesome boat. Hopefully I'll be re-oiled and zinked in time to splash her for the weekend.

Thanks gents!
Randy #1

 

[REBThunderroad]

I have a 2005 Marlin. Mine are located on the same bulkhead forward of the aft fuel tank. I am actually swapping all the fuel/water filters this weekend. They are tucked in there and awkward. I can get them out without removing and resealing the deck through the deck plate. I found a pair of rounded vice grips that work on the filters. The wrench is key as you can grip the filter without bending you arm in positions it will not go. I put a towel in the bilge and a 2 gallon ziplock over the filter to remove it so I don't spill any fuel into the bilge. I also am able to slip a little bucket in the bilge under the filter and I put the filter in the bucket once removed and then take it out through the hatch behind the seat on the transom. Its tight but my system. When I am in there I also clean the A/C and Generator Seacock strainers. You need a spanner wrench for this. It is a needle and thread operation for sure. Resealing the deck is not fun.

Enjoy the Marlin!

 

[Angler Management]

Yup, took that panel off several times but was only looking aft... I bet I hit a lot of logs this summer if I'm paying this type of attention...

 

[Angler Management]

Mechanic says there are racor fuel water separators that will fit those brackets too... thanks for all the help. Be on the lookout for my next set of pics

 

[REBThunderroad]

LOL! I hit a log/30 foot tree in the middle of the Gulf two years ago running back from the keys. Scared the $@%#^$^ out of me. Boat did fine! I was on auto pilot and I didnt see it until I hit it.

 

[Enough Already]

While you are down there, get rid of those cruddy painted fuel filter bases and invest in some SS. Just doesn't seem right putting Racors on those.

 

[Angler Management]

Will do. Easy swap. And I'll clean up all the crud in the hull once we are done.

You bring up my only serious complaint about this boat, her sweet spot is 30-33 kts... Too fast for my comfort up here where the winter and spring river flows clog our waterways with logs, lumber, root balls, etc.... She does fine throttled back to a safer 25kts and trimmed out, but fuel burn increases significantly over a long run.

Gotta pay super good attention, hole makers come up fast.

 

[Meanwhile]

You bring up my only serious complaint about this boat, her sweet spot is 30-33 kts... Too fast for my comfort up here where the winter and spring river flows clog our waterways with logs, lumber, root balls, etc.... She does fine throttled back to a safer 25kts and trimmed out, but fuel burn increases significantly over a long run.

Gotta pay super good attention, hole makers come up fast.

Interesting, I'll have some feedback on the sweet spot after next week. My boat will be out of the shop with new bottom paint on Monday. I'll be testing her on the Columbia River prior to the Columbia bar. We lost a fisherman yesterday on the Columbia Bar as a guide boat was swamped in a sloughing break. Another recreational boat piloted by a good guy I know from prior work was close enough to pull 5 from the water, but the sixth was tangled in rope and died.

Stay safe out there.


Randy Too

 

[Angler Management]

Yikes. Horrible water I've heard. You stay safe also!

And it's not as if the boat won't go slow enough for conditions, i can force it to... it just likes to go faster than I do....