I’m looking to upgrade my fuel filtration system. I had the basic Racor on the port side of the engine just fitting in under the engine cover and top.

I’m sitting here on a mooring in Vero Beach with my engine jammed up into the doorway of the galley on pvc rollers (I did manage to get the ladder in behind it missing the bottom step). The fuel tank has been removed (leaking about a cup a day), so I cut the bottom off of it, cleaned, sanded, inspected and did all I needed t do to make the decision of a new tank verses fix this one…you can see the pictures here http://pagetwo88.blogspot.com/ I found it satisfactory (the local welder did too) to have a new bottom welded on. I did take a half inch off the very bottom maybe losing a gallon or so. Now I want to upgrade the Racor.

What have you guys got? I’m thinking a three way valve to two Racor’s for ease of switching out filters,with a bypass to a lifting pump (back-up if the engine pump fails) and also to make polishing of the tank an option run through both filters.

Now where to put it? I’m thinking right there on what I call the ‘back wall’ of the engine room. It’s also the backside of the cockpit. On my boat the engine controls and all the other stuff that was originally there is not there anymore. I figure it’s just deep enough to mount a goodly size plywood plate with the whole whole system on it. A drop down door to expose the whole shebang. I might have to bring the drop down wall more forward for space but the ease of getting to the system seem well worth the extra cabinetry work.

Does anyone know if putting this all well above the top of the tank has any extra issues that I might be missing? I don’t know if I’ll get this all completed before I ‘head on down the road’ but now that the tank is out I’d like to get set up for a new system.

What have you all got?

Ken