Catalina 350 International Association

Last fall we replaced the heat exchanger and they included new brackets. One of those brackets broke. Does anyone know where to get new brackets. Dealers sell new heat exchangers, but not just the brackets.
In the mean time I have been using a 24 inch zip tie. The are good till 189 degrees and it works great.
Here is a pic of the bracket.



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We have model number 201027\
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Seakamp \
Was universal 201027/200420\

John,

I believe early on there were Service Bulletins from Westerbeke regarding cracks in both the HE brackets and the fuel filter bracket. The brackets shown in the picture of your 'new' heat exchanger do not seem nearly as robust as the original brackets. Those in the picture looked to be stamped metal whereas the original ones (or at least the ones on my HE) are about 1/4" rolled steel. If the 1/4" rolled steel is subject to breaking, then I am not surprised that the stamped metal ones might fail. Personally, I believe both of these problems are due to the amount of vibration the engine has at low RPMs up to around 1600-1700. Once I replaced the original damper plate with the PYI High deflection damper plate, all that vibration went away, which puts less strain on all of the parts attached to the engine. Before I replaced the damper plate, the phenolic fuel lift solenoid on our engine looked like someone had ran over it with a truck from all the shaking and vibration.

If you haven't replaced the damper plate, and your engine vibrates, and rattles at low RPM, you may want to consider it.

Good Luck

Gary,
Thanks. We did replace the damper plate last fall and that did reduce the vibration. I don't think it reduced it enough yet as I have had some other vibration problems. Wire to alternator vibrated apart and drove my tach nuts till Bruce (aussiemate) fixed it. Wire to fuel pump vibrated off and engine stopped on approach to Pelican Bay.
The boatyard had broke part of the old bracket and put it in with a missing chunk and I needed to get underway since I was about two weeks away. It held till last week. I got hold of SeaKamp and they are sending me two new brackets and two t bolt clamps for $40. I had another company that would send me the brackets for 35. The 3 inch clamps keep breaking because of the lack of room between the new brackets and the engine. I have been putting 24 inch zip ties next to the clamps and around the brackets. Hopefully, that holds and the new bracket does not break. One of the owners on here had a cradle welded. if this bracket fells I may try that.

SEAKAMP Engineering who is the manufacturer of the kit you have pictured. They can be reached by phone 800-753-4436 or sales@seakamp.com .

Has anyone replaced the original brackets with the 3" stainless steel/hose clamp/ pad set offered by Catalina Direct? Part Z4365.
My H/E brackets appear to be broken, again. I've welded them and also replaced them. We have about 1,200 hours on 35mB.
Thanks for any input.

I replaced my H/E with the one pictured in the first post. Since then, two years ago, I’ve replaced the starboard hose clamp three times because they snap. Even with the piece of black rubber supplied between the H/E and the bracket they still break. I’m going to try beefier clamps since I don’t want to go back to the oem brackets that were a pita to install, especially by myself.

Just a thought Ed, I had bolts working loose and a broken bracket until I finally invested in several hours of engineer time to align the engine as well as possible and get rid of much of the vibration which was the underlying cause. Since the engine is smoother (I can clearly read the small print on the alternator when running) I have not had any breakages but I still have the bolts marked and check them from time to time to ensure they are not working loose.

My H/E bracket broke again. Replaced one time, welded another time. I'm going to try the clamp brackets pictured in the posts. Any other ideas? Really hard to reach the bolts...
Maybe the new clamp type brackets will be easier to tighten.

Thanks for any input.

JR
S/V Soixante
#444

Up date from earlier post. It was simply loose. After I ordered the new style bracket from Catalina Direct, I took off the old bracket only to find it was not broken. Got a new bolt, washers, reattached grounding wire for H/E and reinserted.
I used a zip tie to hold the backet together while re installing. Once I got in the proper position to tork it down, everything went smoothly.

Thanks to everyone for their posts. This forum is so helpful.