Steve of Deephavne, MN asks:

Since fuel systems are the biggest source of problems in diesel engines how does Nordhaven design their fuel systems to prevent contamination, alge, water and air from getting into the fuel system. How does a day tank factor into this?

Dan Streech responds:

Similar questions regarding fuel quality have been addressed in the May 17 and March 26 Forum entries. To add more to what has been said already, NORDHAVN is equipped with the PAE designed "J-box" which is standard on the N40 and N35. The J-box is a 2-gallon tank located in an area of the bilge that places it below the bottom level of the two fuel tanks. The two main fuel tanks drain from the bottom (controlled by valves) into the J-box and the fuel supplies for the engines and generator tap into the J-box about 6" from its bottom. The J-box is vented, so as long as there is any fuel in the main tanks, it will drain into the J-box and thus supply fuel to the main engine down to the last gallon on board. There is a drain valve on the bottom of the J-box to take fuel samples for study. We drained off some fuel yesterday (after having run on each tank for one day) and examined it for water and debris. It was clean and one can be reasonably confident that it that sample is clean then all of the fuel on board is clean.

As an aside, the J-box has a graduated sight gauge on it and can be isolated to serve as a small fuel tank to check fuel consumption against time. Using the J-box, Jim Leishman did extensive testing of NORDHAVN before its departure on the ATW to make sure that our figures were correct.

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