How is everyone cooling their boats while running out of water

[Mikeski]

For the last 35 years every boat I have owned (15+ boats) get the T between raw water and strainer. No worries about hose pressure since the water just pours out the bottom of the boat. Fire it up and it pulls water in just like it was on the lake. I do have a fake a lake for times when I might work on a friends boat. If you get in and out of the boat while it is running the boat bouncing or vibrating can knock it off causing the boat to run dry. I've had the dry run fake a lake fail situation happen several times. Listen to your exhaust note while running on a trailer. If it gets loud you are probably running dry. Just pay attention and you should have few issues.


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[DW SD]

These are the parts I used, below.
Note 1 - I only used one of 70514T44 (this is the T for the garden hose connection)
Note 2 - All parts are brass, except the thread sealant tape.
Note 3 - The last two items are just to make the male plug.
Note 4 - in my case, I wanted to be able to thread a garden hose in easier than reaching down in the engine bay. I added a 5' high temp garden hose extension from McMaster and routed that behind the seat in to the starboard rear locker. When I'm ready to flush, I pull that hose up and out and attach the garden hose fresh water feed. That was another $18. This effectively makes the T 5' longer. :-)
Note 5 - there is no need for low pressure regulator, etc. I've had this setup on two boats now and it works great. I like brass vs. plastic. Less likely to crack at an inopportune time and starve the engine of cooling water.

1 70815T44 Brass Garden Hose to Pipe Swivel Fitting, 3/4" GHT Female X 3/4 NPT Female, Packs of 2 1 Pack 1 0 10.28 Per Pack 10.28 2 50785K283 Medium-Pressure Brass Threaded Pipe Fitting, 3/4 Pipe Size, Female X Male X Female Tee with Thread Sealant 1 Each 1 0 20.17 Each 20.17 3 5346K69 Brass Barbed Hose Fitting, 1" Hose ID, 3/4 NPTF Male End, Packs of 2 1 Pack 1 0 12.23 Per Pack 12.23 4 6802K11 Military Grade Pipe Thread Sealant Tape, 14 yd L X 1/2" W, .0032" Thick, 0.7 G/CC Density 1 Each 1 0 2.24 Each 2.24 5 73605T93 Brass Garden Hose to Pipe Rigid Fitting, 3/4" GHT Male X 3/4 NPT Female, Packs of 1 1 Pack 1 0 4.46 Per Pack 4.46 6 50785K521 Medium-Pressure Brass Threaded Pipe Fitting, 3/4 Pipe Size, Hollow Hex-Head Plug 1 Each 1 0 4.90 Each 4.90

[DW SD]

Here is 1 more solution for the GT40 PCM that should work for others if you adjust the correct cooling hose sizes to your application.

I made my own all brass raw water cooler fitting. It is a 3/4" pipe brass T. The straight throughs are 3/4" pipe to 1" barbed hose adapters. The T is 3/4" pipe to garden hose. Install this between the strainer assembly and hull raw water pickup. You need a garden hose male plug for the T when on the lake. I made the plug with a male garden hose to female 3/4" pipe adapter and 3/4" pipe plug.
One installed and clamps tightened......
Attach the hose and turn it on wide open. The water will run out the bottom hull pickup until you get suction from the raw water pump once the engine is cranking.

I've revved to about 2500 rpm without the hose collapsing.
I bought all the parts from McMaster.com for $60. They deliver overnight to me in San Diego.

Hope that helps someone. If needed I can post the McMaster part numbers. Let me know.


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[IMScarlet]

Never had a functinal problem with a Perko system 8 years working on boats they are fitted as an optional flush kit with an external hose fitting on the transom by several manufactures including Nautique Mastercraft Malibu and several others. I have had a hose tail break on one out of a late 90s Moomba when I had to remove a hose off it but that was brittle plastic after close to 30yrs use.

Also look at the Indmar flush/strainer solution as it does both functions

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[Neverenough]

In the past we have pulled the water intake hose off downstream of the strainer and stick a hose in it.

Yep! Never smoke an impeller this way.

[Tom_H]

Unless the supply on your hose is piss poor (or you have the cheapest/crappiest hose produced), there's basically no chance of collapsing the garden hose and restricting your supply. I frequently rev some to speed up the heat-up process (when doing oil changes or the like) when I'm on the hose and have never had a flow issue or a hose collapse. From my perspective, the only downside of doing a straight hose connection or fake-a-lake is that you can't troubleshoot a raw-water pump/impeller issue that way, as the hose will usually just overpower the pump. In that instance, you just pull off the intake hose and dump it in a bucket of water and make sure it draws as people have mentioned above.

[charlesml3]

Why would you need to rev the engine? There's no need to do that for a fresh water flush.

-Charles

[azeus17]

I usually disconnect the hose above the valve and drop it in a bucket, but I have concerns about the about the water pressure while raising the RPM's.

Dropping the intake hose in a bucket is really the only safe way to do it if you rev the engine at all. If you attach a garden hose directly to the boat, and rev the engine, the raw water pump will pull a vacuum on the hose and collapse it, not allowing any water to flow.

[charlesml3]

Yea, just use a Fake-A-Lake. They're cheap and work like a champ. Plus there's no need to install any fittings in your boat.

Just go with a simple solution.

[keithh2oskier]

I fill up a bucket and disconnect the hose from my raw water inlet and stick it in the bucket. It can pull as much water as needed and I can also watch to make sure that it is not starving itself. I have a 196 so its plenty easy to do.

[Scott_Mead]

Those devices are called Fake a Lake, and yes they work awesome we use one up here to winterize the boat as well as run it first thing in the spring to clear the antifreeze out and make sure everything is working properly before it is put in the water for the season. We use it on all our boats here.

[thtrog]

The flush kit I used is in this thread, very similar and comes with quick disconnects.
http://www.planetnautique.com/vb5/fo...e-on-their-g23

[ski4evr]

these things are stupid simple, have never had a problem if you can access your raw water intake. over pressure blows out from around it until boat is started. don't really rev the engine, just idling until warm enough to service.

[Dgee]

I've always just attached a Y fitting on my hose, connect a second hose attached to the downstream side off of the strainer.

Turn the hose on full blast and then start the boat, all the pressure blows out the open side of the Y fitting till the boat is running then the fresh water pump pulls all the water it needs and the open end of the Y is reduced to a dribble. Once the engine is off all the pressure goes back to the open end of the Y fitting.

[pSchwade]

a garden hose can supply up to 40 psi of pressure and the system was desigined for very low pressure before the raw water pump. A pressure relief valve will open when the pressure is above a set point (usually 7-10 psi) in order to relieve the excess pressure. In your case you would install it after the shut off valve and plumb the dump line in before the valve. By plumbing the dump line into the normal intake path you reduce the risk of a faulty relief valve letting air in the intake line and causing the raw water intake line to lose prime under normal operating conditions - if you arent worried about it, than you can just let the relief valve dump into the bilge.

The nice part about the check valve is that you can get everything running without climbing in the boat (if you have a transom flush port).