Water Hook up

My 502 has a "T" before the strainer. My strainer is very high in the engine compartment, and the T is about halfway down to the intake scoop. For the life of me, I have never been able to use the T as it dumps out the bottom and will not, even with the intake grate taped off, prime upwards. I actually do not find it difficult at all to just pull a clamp on the engine side of the strainer and clamp a garden hose on it. My cooling system is sound, clamps tight, impeller has been replaced, never get over 160*, etc. At my shop, I am on a well fed hydrant 800-900 feet from my pressure tank in my house, and have never seen a 5/8 ID garden hose even begin to indicate collapse at any RPM. I do not run it much higher than idle, but I also see no reason to.

I have always used the "fake" (home made with the toilet plunger) Fake-a-lake on all my boats. I have never had or seen any indication of the garden hose collapsing ether on my city water at home or my well water up north. Both have clos to the same flows and pressures. In fact, unless I rev the engines up to a relative high RPM, I always have excess water coming out around the plunger and this is without the water turned on all the way.

Maybe I am doing something I should'nt be. Each spring, I just disconnect the intake hose from the the intake fitting coming out of the bottom of the boat, shove a garden hose in to the intake hose, stuff a rag where the garden hose meets the intake hose, turn the faucet on full blast and start the engine. Water pours out the exhaust pipes on to the drive way. Is there any difference in this and the lake water being pulled while idling or forced while running?

Youre correct about pressure vs. volume, I was misusing the terminology. The fact is that wells do not provide an unlimited volume, but rather a finite number of gallons/minute. If the RWP tries to draw more water than the well and pump can provide, you can collapse a garden hose and run the motor dry. The number of gal/min that a well can provide mary vary greatly from one house to the next- Ive seen some wells in the <10gal/min range, which could have you flirting with disaster.

Brian, you can swap it out on the water, no problem- so long as youre above the water line like you state. For the cost of the bowl alone, Id consider buying the whole assembly.

You guys ever think of running these boats in the water?

Like I said, if you have good water pressure, your method works. If you dont and the demand of the RWP exceeds that of the hose, what do you think will happen? Having good water pressure is not a prerequisite for owning a Correct Craft- so its worth mentioning. I am certain that the RWP will attempt to draw in more water than some wells can provide.

No problem turning the water on well beforehand with my set up either- it just leaks out the intake grate.

I dont see a single issue with allowing the RWP to pull some amount of air. I would bet that most boats out there have *some* sort of air leak- I know that after going through my cooling system and replacing the hoses, my temps became much more consistent. I dont run a tick above operating temp in the driveway (160) so its not on the verge of overheating by any means. I get very long life out of my impellers too, btw (just changed my '90 for the first time this year since purchase, so 5+ years).

If you prefer to dink with hoses and hose clamps every time you run off the hose, be my guest.

79nautique wrote: CCrider89 wrote: I agree with TRBenj, a 1/2" garden hose pushing into a 1.25" suction hose would likely allow the raw water pump to suck air past the flow of water. Well if you just stick in the hose yes it will suck air, But you should be tightening the hose clamp around the metal end of the hose and it doesn't leak or suck air, so to me it's too easy to remove the hose from the pick-up insert the garden hose tighten the clamp and turn on the water and do what needs to be down to the engine. Then you don't have to worry if you flip this valve or that and smoke the impellar because you did.

The problem with that method (shoving the garden hose into the intake hose and clamping it), as I mentioned Chris, is that is highly dependant on having adequate water pressure. If your RWP tries to draw more water than the hose can supply, you stand the risk of collapsing the hose and running the engine dry. Sucking *some* air at idle isnt an issue, as the impeller still has plenty of water to stay lubricated and the engine isnt under any load- so it wont overheat.

There are no valves or other "complicated" parts in my tee that would ever allow you to run the engine without water- there is nothing in line with the water pick up. Worst case you forget to close the valve and suck some air, causing you to creep temp at slower speeds when you hit the lake. So long as you pay some sort of attention to your gauges, you have a ton of time to notice this- and the only ill effect is you might end up with some extra water in the bilge, depending on the elevation of the tee mounting location. Not that Ive done this, of course.

TRBenj wrote: Ill go on the record one more time and say that I dont like any of the methods mentioned above. Fake-a-lake = cheesy. Can easily fall off, and sometimes the intake grate is located over a bunk on the trailer. If the RWP demands more flow than the hose can provide, you could collapse the hose and get zero water- frying the impeller and possibly overheating the engine. Same problem with putting a hose right on the tranny cooler- if the hose cant keep up with the demand of the RWP, you might run into problems. Plus, now youre messing with hose clamps- waste of time, IMHO. Im also not a fan of drawing antifreeze into the engine via the RWP... why not pour it in via the thermostat housing per the recommendation in the manual? I do both my Conquerer/Crusaders and PCM's like this. If it has a circ pump, you can pour it in! I guess the Flush-Pro is an OK device... but it seems overly expensive for what it is. My preferred method is a simple tee in the raw water line. Connects and disconnects in seconds- its the first "mod" I do to all of my boats- makes running on the hose a piece of cake. Theres no chance of collapsing a hose- if the RWP demands more flow than the hose can provide, it will just draw some air through the intake grate. Theres no load so you wont overheat, and theres plenty of water for the impeller to stay lubricated, so no problem with this. $15 in parts from Home Depot. [IMG]http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/TRBenj/strainer_hose.jpg">

Made this modification to my boat this weekend. Worked like a champ and highly recommend

You are right on both accounts it is your transmission cooler and in this case it is your strainer as well since it is where you are going to collect anything sucked into your engine big enough to matter. It is preferred to have a strainer, and quite necessary in some areas... but there are a lot of boats out there without them.

it stands for National Pipe Thread, the plumbing version standard thread callout for a taperd thread used in plumbing, They ahve them at lowes.

TRBenj wrote: Just FYI, Ive never had to prime my pumps- I install them dry and they always pull water.

Same with me. There's always enough A/F in there to lubricate/seal the rubber impeller to get the water sucked up.

If you drain only without A/F or have installed a new impeller, then it may be a different story. I'd pressurize the inlet to the RWP with the garden hose first. It will have enough pressure to get some water into the RWP. Just don't over do it!!

Another solution is to rev the engine up to 3-4k rpms until it starts to pull suction on the water.

[QUOTE=TRBenj] I guess the Flush-Pro is an OK device... but it seems overly expensive for what it is.

All I have to say is I have not had one issue with my Perko Flush Pro. I agree it is a little expensive for what it is, but I have the peace of mind of knowing it will work as intended every time. I also have the peace of mind knowing that if I forget to put the plug back on it and head to the lake I will still draw all of the water I need to cool my engine into my engine and none will be spilled into the bilge.

Sometimes I don't mind paying for someone elses engineering when it offers me those benefits.

That is a quick fix that PCM suggested for early 1.23 trannys that had a hydraulic pump buzzing noise. It just serves as an accumulator. Right Eric?

Craig, maybe your pump needs to be primed. Maybe the 1-1/4" hose is partially to blame, but my 302 Conquerers have the larger hose as well and dont have any problems drawing water.