The Frankenmaker MK II

Boat Systems
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This post chronicles work on the Frankenmaker MK II Marine Public Works Department.

First view is of the Kubota 6HP Diesel motor partially stripped down.

Here’s a picture of the template I made of the alternator bracket when I was building the MK I.

Here is the bracket partially made up.

Here is the alternator mount finished and ready for primer.

This is the motor, it’s been degreased. The Ospho is settling in and it will be ready for paint tomorrow.

So here is a couple shots at the end of today. It was warm, dry and sunny for a change so the Ospho cured fast enough for me to paint.

They did not supply a template for making a mounting bracket for our Giant pumps. You are not seeing double here, I put the pump on our scanner and used that image for a template to cut the slots for the mounting plate. I know the engineers are cringing but really… you don’t need a cad drawing and a computer operated milling machine to get the job done right… you just need to be clever. :wink:




Here she is with the tacked up high pressure pump. I’ve adjusted for a good straight belt run and I can weld the supports and do the final welding on it now.

Next up is the refrigeration pump bracket and that’s going to take some cogitation.

You can also see that I’m starting to build a frame to mount the motor on. This is because I now need to install a device (that refrigeration pump) over on the cyl head side of the motor.

Here is the base frame with the refer pump mocked up.

Here is the Frankemaker in place getting the alignment sorted.

She’s really starting to look like a Frankenmaker now!

Adapter welded onto the exhaust flange to form the first part of the manifold/mixing arrangement.

Here is the fiberglass in the mold to make the air cowl.

And the mold popped off.

And the frame painted.

They say the devil is in the details and I’m down to the details now.

Here is the fuel pump and water pump relay installed. The relay keeps the water pump from coming on when there is no oil pressure (for obvious reasons).

Over here on this side you can see the completed air cowl with the blower attached to it. Also the completed exhaust arrangement with the water injection nipple. It’s all heat wrapped and ready.




I have the mounting tabs and rubber shock mounts installed now and will post a photo when I find my camera.

George

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George,

Looks beautiful…but what’s it used for?

Next, what are you using to wrap the exhaust system?

– Geoff

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Hey Geoff,

It’s the public works department for Marquesa. It makes up to 49 gallons per hour of fresh water, 105 amps of D/C power, and pulls down the cold plates in our refrigeration system. I’m also going to start scavenging the junk yards for a rear a/c unit from a van or suv to put in the aft cabin.

The exhaust wrap is simply header wrap used on hot rods. You can purchase it various places online but also at Pep-Boys. I always wrap the non water cooled portions of exhaust runs.

George

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I’d say it makes Franken!

Very nice nifty machine that you built here George, another idea micht be adding an hydraulic pump to drive winches.

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Oddly enough, the motor is a military surplus kubota that drove a hydraulic pump. It was installed as an apu on tank haulers to lift and lower ramps. So in that way it’s well suited to duty as a hydraulic pressure supply… however… I removed the pump in order to modify the adapter into a jack shaft for pulleys. We have a Milwaukee 28 volt “hole hog” for doing our winches when power is needed. Not quite as convenient but still works great.

George

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Just curious, why is it called Frankenmaker?

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Hi George
Thanks for posting the photos as I am interested in building a water maker to the same design purchased plans from Bob Englar on the net.However trying to find the water cooled 6 h.p Kubota is as rare as Hen’s teeth here in the U.K and have been looking on the net here and in USA.It looks quite large so interested where its going to fit.Do you have any contacts you could pass on to me for the engine.Jon Tanton 43 cat ketch. :sunglasses:

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Hey Michel,

One of my “friends” remarked while I was building the MK I unit that it looked more like a Frankenmaker than a Watermaker. Since I am a wise cracker myself I simply appropriated the name and display it proudly.

Jon,

I have purchased Bob’s plans and they were useful but I didn’t follow his specs. I mostly used a couple other sources and those mostly for the materials lists so I could shop wisely and they sure paid for themselves. There is a guy in California making bronze cast heat exchangers for these motors. Pricey but we are having some cooling issues with the MK I so it’s possible I might have to go to some kind of heat exchanger system rather than the air radiator and moving the air overboard method.

The MK I does not have the refrigeration pump and it fits in the rear portion of a Pearson 365 port sail locker. Still plenty of room to stow stuff in that locker too! I was able to carry that aboard the boat. The MK II I could pick up but it would be stupid to do so at my age. I manhandled it around the shop but I’ll use pulleys and lines to get her down into the boat. It’s going to go to the left of my motor in a port/starboard orientation so that the front pulley on the Perkins can be belted over to the refrigeration pump in the event that we are going to be motoring a lot anyway or the kubota dosn’t run for some reason. This keeps us from loosing our freezer contents over a bad starter or something.

In another post I’m detailing the engine room preparation… woof… I got the itchy scratchies today grinding fiberglass down there but the worst is over.

I’ll look up the contact information for the guy I purchased from and also a source that is importing Chinese clones and post them in the links section this evening. Should be there morning time for you.

There is also a video of the Pearson install on my partners boat and I’ll look that up for us. His last reported output was 49 gallons per hour!

George

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Some pictures of the MK I install on my partner’s P 365

George

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I’m going to put this here instead of links since it pertains to the Frankenmaker and would be of little general use.

Craig Wiles
6502 Ming Drive
Mountain Grove MO 65711

cwiles at llion dot org

I don’t know if he has any more of them.

Here are the little Chinese ones on ebay. The guy at Utter Power seems to like them and poking around at Utter Power is just a hoot anyway… cantankerous old tinkerer, you got to love him. That will be me in a couple decades I’m sure.

George

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George, and where are you going to put it? I only ask because I’ve just put a washing machine starboard and slight aft of the companion way steps (F40 CC too) - amazing what you can squeeze in when faced with prospect of more public Med landering!

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Hi Ian,

I’m installing the Frankenmaker in the engine room, starboard side. It will be lined up port/starboard so that the pulley on the refrigeration pump lines up with the front pulley on the Perkins 4-108. This gives us some redundancy. I’ll also ad an electric motor that I can put on a 24 hour timer in case we want to leave the boat in a marina and do some inland sight seeing.

In fact I’ve goofed off enough today and I need to walk down to the boat and get busy in that hole again… oh the itchy scratchies… I hate fiberglass (but I love it).

I’m very glad to hear about your washer as I’ve been trying to talk my wife into putting one right in that spot! I have tabled the “discussion” and I figure after three or four loads at $12 per load in the Abacos she might be ready to discuss options again. heh heh

George