Engel Gato build question

[g2tiger]

Hello team,

I have an Engel Gato and I wanted to ask about changing the two ballast tanks from piston to pump with a Schnorkel and pump. Anyone with experience doing this or know anything about doing this?

Charlie

[g2tiger]

OK, been thinking. Since the system is sound, what about just venting the air from the tanks through a schnorkel or vent near the top of the conning tower or scopes? I'll keep the piston tanks as they are. I know it's a heavy boat being a dry hull, but most of the equipment is in there and working.

[trout]

Vent air? Why do you need to? The hull is built to handle the pressure that is built up from the pistons filling with water.

[g2tiger]

Trout,

Well, I was thinking that the pressure would be lower inside the hull when submerged. Yes, she is designed to hold that pressure but I was looking to avoid creating pressure leaks. I did bring this up on the Dive Tribe and He Who Shall Not Be Named advised against it. He was of the mind that I should fully ops check the system and seals before I make changes. While I agree with him I did buy a used boat and there are lot of spots that are simply done poorly or not correct. I believe they will give me trouble. SO, I have pulled the ballast tanks (which were simply lying loose in the hull) and all of the electronics and motor assembly to get to the hoses that feed the tubes. The top deck to the pressure area is missing many screws and they are brass and look to be something rounded up from the parts bin. The control rod bellows for the rudder, and dive planes are worn out. Short answer is I will set her back up as designed and check her out. If there is an issue I will work it as it crops up. I did take a few pictures that I need to post. keep an eye out for the pics.

[g2tiger]

Team,

Some pictures of the electronics and controls from the Engel Gato. Mind you I am not fussing, just showing what I am working with. Documenting if you will, it may help clarify why I was looking at doing so much possible work. Actually,

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Team,

Some pictures of the electronics and controls from the Engel Gato. Mind you I am not fussing, just showing what I am working with. Documenting if you will, it may help clarify why I was looking at doing so much possible work. Actually,

Gut that thing and introduce the innards to the 21st Century.

[rwtdiver]

Team,

Some pictures of the electronics and controls from the Engel Gato. Mind you I am not fussing, just showing what I am working with. Documenting if you will, it may help clarify why I was looking at doing so much possible work. Actually,

WOW! I am certainly no expert for sure, but looking at your photos I think David M. has the right idea. Gut that thing and build a new...

Rob
"Firemen can stand the heat."

[redboat219]

Team,

Some pictures of the electronics and controls from the Engel Gato.

https://youtu.be/xPVfB7fi5s4?si=xRJvkeuOKHsZqH-_

[Das Boot]

How long was it on the bottom of the pond?

[Subculture]

If the electronics are functional, then keep them. The relay board uses standard off the shelf components and the newer items are no more fancy unless you want fully proportional control of the piston tanks. The little gadget with LED’s is a spc pro 1 leveller and is excellent, better than many current models on sale. I would carefully cut away the heat shrink and give the board a good clean with some isopropanol alcohol and also use the latter to clean the relay board. If they don’t work, and you’re not comfortable with fault finding on electronic boards, then you may have to go down the path of replacement.

Clearly a full mechanical overhaul is required, you could if you’re feeling adventurous make a cylinder and fit the tanks into that, discarding the box used by Engel, although the standard arrangement works well enough provided build quality is good and no short cuts are taken in construction or overhaul.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

https://youtu.be/xPVfB7fi5s4?si=xRJvkeuOKHsZqH-_

Pretty much my reaction when I cross-decked from the GILMORE to the TRUTTA. I got over it.

[g2tiger]

Team,

I think the model had moisture inside and was not dried out. Who knows. I think I can clean and reinstall what's there once/if it passes a ops check on the work bench. I do have a large WTC that should work but it also needs some attention. Ill keep everyone posted. I should have some time this weekend to do a few things to check it all out. One question for those have an Engel, how does the ballast tank get secured into the hull? Looks like one end has a bracket (motor side) but what holds the end near the bulkhead in place?

[Subculture]

Regarding venting pressure, this won’t save you much if anything. The engel subs are generally sized so that the tanks represent around 10-15% of the boats volume, which means the pressure build up behind the tank is very modest and well within the scope of the motors driving the tanks, an they operate fairly efficiently, certainly no worse than pump based systems. Engel tanks I have tested can drive to beyond 40psi, although they do get very thirsty when operating at those extremes, although you’d have to be blowing the tanks at around 30m to see such pressure, and the rest of the boat would be lost by then. Many owners downsize the motors, especially if they’re 500 sized, converting to 385’s which draw less current but are still adequate for the job.

The pressure build up in the watertight space also helps stiffen the box, and keep water ingress past the seals, it also helps the tank empty against water pressure when submerged, so you partially recover the energy when you blow ballast.

The only logical reason for venting the air from behind the pistons would be if you wanted to put them in a smaller box/cylinder to reduce the boats dry weight. Any reduction in mass will influence the handling of the boat especially when surfaced e.g.they tend to get tossed around a bit more on choppy water, and on a single screw boat it will be more affected by torque roll.

[g2tiger]

Subculture,

Do you have any information on the SPC Pro leveler 1? Is it an Engel device? Looks like if it is, it is missing the yellow plastic protective box. I'd also like to see some wiring instructions. More research required on this development. Thanks for the info.

[Subculture]

I have instructions for this. The housing featured more on later versions IIRC. They were sold by Engel, but they were produced here in the UK by a chap in Scotland, who sold his own version under the microgyros brand. Later SPC models produced in Germany (by this chap I believe http://momo-sauerland.de/) seem to have copied many of the features, like the ability to reverse the direction of levelling when reversing.

Hires images at links-

https://i.postimg.cc/7YbFmvDg/spcpro1-page-1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/9FSvkxFs/spcpro1-page-2.jpg