Vacuum Gauge

[Doug]

Beginning of winter here in the Pacific NorthWest, Canadian version. We winter our boat in Squamish at the head of Howe Sound, so last weekend I left Pender Harbour saturday morning and motored into a light southeaster down the coast to Gibsons. About halfway there the engine started to lose revs, only 50 - 100RPM, but enough to be heard and worried about. The revs would go back up and the engine would run fine for another ten minutes or so, then the same ominous drop in revs, sometimes as much as 4 or 5 hundred RPM. I suspected the primary filter and went below to find the spare, but of course the spare was what I had used last time and I'd forgotten to replace it. I called my wife, who managed to buy a couple of filters and drove down to Gibsons to meet me. I fueled up and replaced the filter but didn't want to leave for Squamish at the hour of 5:30 PM in case the problem hadn't been the filter after all, and I got stuck somewhere up Howe Sound in the night with no engine, no wind, and no moon. So we spent the night in Gibsons marina and I left the next morning. It must have been the filter, since the engine ran perfectly for the next 5 hours. I've decided I would like a vacuum gauge to indicate when the filter needs to be replaced, and here's my question to everyone: since my model of Racor doesn't have a spot to install a gauge, can I simply cut the fuel line between the Racor and the engine, install a tee, and put a vacuum gauge on the tee? I don't see why not, but could use some reassurance before actually doing it.

[Steve Knight]

I replaced my Racor 500's T - handle on the lid with my vacuum gauge. Problem solved.