Bleed valves on Steve Hudson Skin Tank ?

[Tonkleton]

Trying to find bleed valves on my Steve Hudson skin Tank.  Any help would be gratefully accepted.  I'm told not all skin tanks have bleed valves, if not how to I bleed the air from the tank?

 

Thank you.

Edited December 2, 2023 by Tonkleton
Change of wording

[Phil.]

To my knowledge, he didn’t put one on any of them, unless someone specifically asked for it during the build.

[Tonkleton]

Phil, thank you, will stop looking for them.  Any suggestions for bleeding the air out on?

 

[Tonka]

Leave the top hose disconnected and fill through the bottom hose untill water comes out then just connect the hoses

[BoatinglifeupNorth]

Through the expansion tank while squeezing the circulation hoses??

[Phil.]

When i changed my coolant, it was a case of doing it via the expansion tank on the engine, just very slowly, every so often letting it settle, then trickling a bit more in. Very weary and time consuming.

[blackrose]

Sounds like a rather irritating oversight on the part of Mr Hudson. Isn't he supposed to be a quality builder?

 

If you're draining the system at any point you could buy a brass bleed valve and drill tap the tank and fit the valve with a bit of thick gas PTFE tape, assuming you have access to the top of the tank from above.

[mrsmelly]

1 hour ago, Tonkleton said:

Trying to find bleed valves on my Steve Hudson skin Tank.  Any help would be gratefully accepted.  I'm told not all skin tanks have bleed valves, if not how to I bleed the air from the tank?

 

Thank you.

My Hudson didnt have them iirc. I never had a problem with air in the system but had the brass twiddly valve jobbies in the top hose of most of my boats to bleed any air out of the system. Steve built different tanks for different boats some twin some not etc etc.

[blackrose]

Just goes to show that it's not just budget builders who make mistakes and cut corners. 

[Tracy D'arth]

Does the butler not do it?

[mrsmelly]

14 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Just goes to show that it's not just budget builders who make mistakes and cut corners. 

It's not a case of mistakes just different ways of doing stuff. Having owned budget builds and a Hudson the build standards of the Hudson were vastly better by a country mile. However all the boats were great and still floating which is what counts. My fave boat was built by a company not many have heard of and it was fab with a 12/8/4 spec but my old 6/6/4 cole craft is still going strong. A friend of ours had a fab cozy springer with a great fit out we loved. 

[ditchcrawler]

52 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Just goes to show that it's not just budget builders who make mistakes and cut corners. 

If the pipe runs are correct you don't need it, Cars don't have them because the the pipe runs are self bleeding

[nicknorman]

It will probably vary with the type of engine but on our Hudson with Beta 43 you do need to bleed the skin tank after changing the coolant. This is easily achieved by slackening off the tank’s top compression fitting which can be accessed from inside the wardrobe.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, nicknorman said:

It will probably vary with the type of engine but on our Hudson with Beta 43 you do need to bleed the skin tank after changing the coolant. This is easily achieved by slackening off the tank’s top compression fitting which can be accessed from inside the wardrobe.

I would suggest in that case it should be fitted with a bleed point.

[pearley]

23 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

If the pipe runs are correct you don't need it, Cars don't have them because the the pipe runs are self bleeding

You've never taken the heater out if a 7 series BMW. 

[Tony Brooks]

1 hour ago, pearley said:

You've never taken the heater out if a 7 series BMW. 

Or did the cooling system on Renaults of around 1980ish.

[nicknorman]

9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I would suggest in that case it should be fitted with a bleed point.

Maybe but I’m not sure what advantage that would give. You loosen the bleed point or you loosen the compression fitting. What’s the difference apart from introducing another fitting to potentially leak and take up space (bearing in mind the skin tank is inside the cabin, not in some engine bay)? You do need a big spanner on the 28mm fittings but apart from that…

[Jen-in-Wellies]

On a Hudson, surely this should be a job for the butler? 😀

[blackrose]

On 02/12/2023 at 21:06, mrsmelly said:

It's not a case of mistakes just different ways of doing stuff. 

 

Ok. So all the issues I rectified on my boat were just different ways of doing things by Liverpool Boats?

 

I'll have to remember to use that one next time the usual suspects start slagging off budget boats! 🤣

On 02/12/2023 at 21:37, ditchcrawler said:

If the pipe runs are correct you don't need it, Cars don't have them because the the pipe runs are self bleeding

 

But the take off spigots on most skin tanks don't come vertically out of the top so there's always room for air in the tank that could be bled out if the tank had a bleed valve.

 

Cars don't have them because they're mass produced and generally designed properly. Boatbuilding is a cottage industry and they get all sorts of things wrong - even the "good" builders.

14 hours ago, nicknorman said:

Maybe but I’m not sure what advantage that would give. You loosen the bleed point or you loosen the compression fitting. What’s the difference apart from introducing another fitting to potentially leak and take up space (bearing in mind the skin tank is inside the cabin, not in some engine bay)? You do need a big spanner on the 28mm fittings but apart from that…

 

Loosening a jubilee clip or hose clip to bleed a system runs the risk that a pipe will slip and you'll scald yourself - as I found to my cost last summer. Yes that could also happen loosening a bleed valve but the risk is reduced. 

 

Loosening a compression fitting sounds safer as long as the compression nut still has threads around the fitting and the pipe can't slip off.

Edited December 4, 2023 by blackrose

[nicknorman]

27 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Loosening a jubilee clip or hose clip to bleed a system runs the risk that a pipe will slip and you'll scald yourself - as I found to my cost last summer. Yes that could also happen loosening a bleed valve but the risk is reduced. 

 

Loosening a compression fitting sounds safer as long as the compression nut still has threads around the fitting and the pipe can't slip off.

 

I've only done it after refilling the coolant - when it is still cold. I found I just needed to back off the compression fitting nut 1/2 turn or so, air could be heard hissing out. There was no possibility of the pipe disconnecting.

[Hudds Lad]

14 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

On a Hudson, surely this should be a job for the butler? 😀

It's been two years now and we've still to locate the butler, the footmen and kitchen staff are keeping a united front and refuse to reveal his location  

[nicknorman]

2 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

It's been two years now and we've still to locate the butler, the footmen and kitchen staff are keeping a united front and refuse to reveal his location  

I blame Brexit. The butlers all returned to foreign parts.