Anyone care to educate me on the pro's or con's of either system ? I looked at a boat today that had Stelling exhausts which could be run wet or dry. I then realized I didn't have a clue regarding what I was looking at !

ed

Wet pipes are quiter then dry pipes and have less crackel, with dry pipes you can run with a larger cam (more HP ) and will not have problems with reversion ( with larger cams your exhust valve stays open longer and with wet pipes you run the risk of getting water in through the exhust valve ) = engine problems..... I have gill dry pipes on my small block and they are vary loud. Kyle

Dry Pipes = Ear plugs & muffs. Sound cool as chit from the dock but hard to live with.

i have dry pipes and they are brutal. I have definately startled people in marinas when i fire my engine up.

From what I know, Stellings only makes their headers as a "dry" exhuast system. There is a small 1" water cooling dump/pipe that sticks out from the very end of the tailpipe where the water exits to prevent reversion. It totally seperates the exhaust gases from the cooling water. Stellings are VERY LOUD. You may want to use some sort of muffler system on a dry exhaust system. There are pro's & con's of both as others have mentioned above, but I would rather have a "dry" exhaust system vs a "wet" system any day---but that is just me.

If you are running anywhere that there are "noise" laws, you will DEFINITELY have to run some major mufflers on dry pipes. As everyone said, they are LOUD. You could have two identical boats side by side with each system, and you would not believe the difference.

Thanks everyone.
KAAMA,
Back in late summer 2003 I was looking for a fiberglass guy and you suggested Martin Bowker. He did a terrific job on my boat both structually and cosmetically.
What was though to be stress cracks turned out to be some shoddy lay-up by the manufacturer ( yes Fountain).
Martin cut away all the shoddy work to include consideralbe filler where the deck and cabin roof met. That was replaced with a new lay-up and gel. I beat the boat very hard a few time in some nasty water attempting to generate a failure and everything held fine.

ed

Hey guys, while on the subject of wet or dry exhaust . . .

I recently purchased two pair of Patterson headers on eBay, according to the shop I had pressure test them, they are leaking internally and externally.

Is there a way to run them dry and avoid any problems? My immdeiate reaction is to go after the guys I bought them from and get my money back. But I was also thinking if there was a safe way of running them dry in a 35' Mistress, I might consider it.

Let me know.

Harry

35Mistress/Harry,

I could be wrong, but a Patterson header already comes as a dry header just like the Stellings I have. The thing a person must understand is that they are a double wall or "jacketed" header. The water that cools the exhaust is flows through these jackets within the header while at the same time NOT MIXING with the exhaust gases. Eventually, the water exits out the very end of the tailpipe. I am not sure if they are repairable, but you could call Dave Wesseldyk (WES CO) 616-662-2250 and talk to him. He's very talented, and weld repairs stuff like that, but I think I would try and get my money back from the guys who sold you the stuff first.

Hey Ed---glad it worked out for you. Marty is very good!