fake a lake question

TRBenj wrote: Larry's answer is the safe answer... but I believe there are other ways to cool a twin cavity Sherwood (Chrysler) while on the trailer. I had started brainstorming on how to do this on my '70 273, but didnt get around to it last year. Chrysler's cooling system is pretty intricate- one of the impellers doesnt just pull from the cool lake- it pulls from the warm exhaust as well, IIRC. This increases the initial temperature of the water flowing through the block, and half of the pump will run noticeably warm to the touch. Personally, I like to use tee garden hose fittings rather than dealing with plungers under the boat or removing the raw water pick up lines. They can be difficult to access and are notoriously tight on their fittings- total knuckle busters.

Tim I should have searched this today, anyways i go with a garden T also.

I remove the single hose pickup and twist it around the bottom of the engine to where the 2 hoses are now close together. I think hook up the garden t there. The 3 hose that runs out of the engine T stat that circulates the water can just flow out of the bottom of the boat, so i leave that still hooked up.

I've never done the bucket method, it's not a bad idea either.

I made my own fake a lake with a plunger, a watts 3/4 adaptor LFA-679, a pair of Rigid steel 3/4 conduit locknuts, all from Lowe's. Total cost of $10.62 without tax. Took a 5/8 in wood drill bit and drilled a hole in the side of the plunger. Screwed one of the lock nuts onto the threads of the 3/4 adaptor. Forced the adaptor thru the hole in the plunger, this was the hard part, then screwed the other lock nut onto the threads on the inside of the plunger and it's been happy plunging, or flushing, ever since.   I place two pieces of wood beneath the handle of the plunger on the ground and slide the top one inboard to tighten the unit against the hull. I load/unload while warming up or flushing and have never had it move. When it starts to fail I'll just make another one.

TRBenj wrote: Bruce, how would a fake a lake work on a v-hull? The intake grate is on a good angle and in close proximity to the lifting strake and trailer bunk.

Tried one once on my Southwind and couldn't get it to seal at all. Never tried on my Century. Have never owned a flatbottom, and never will, but it does seem like it oughta work easy on one of them, at least conceptually.

It works on my brother's Century Resorter which has a similar v hull and lifting strakes, but it is possible that it might not work on a BFN if it's too busy. Having the intake right over the axle or some other obstruction is a challenge, but I've never had one not work on boats I've worked on. I'm not crazy about crawling under the boat, but I can hook it up faster than messing around with hoses. Of course if you plumb in some sort of hook up and valve, it could be faster, but you got to drag the hose into the boat and do all that plumbing.

The only thing I don't like about Fake A Lake is that I didn't invent it.

If you come up with a better idea, let be know! 2 Fake a lakes is convoluted, but so isn't plumbing an Interceptor engine into Chrysler through hulls.

It warms the raw water coming into the engine. Chris Craft did it too. Some say cooling your engine with pre heated water is better than cool water straight out of the lake.

Hollywood, I wouldn't think user error would be a concern of yours, and you could have a dedicated toilet plunger for the boat, so you don't have to share the one in the bathroom.

They are just more sensitive to "user error". The plunger has never, ever interested me.

I want to say that Chris's '72 Chrysler had a single pick up and a tee to the 2nd impeller rather than 2 pick ups. If thats the case, then just teeing the 2 pickups together and running one garden hose fitting to it would seemingly work ok. Ive read too about too many failed fake a lakes (cracked plastic bodies causing cooling problems) to want to invest in one.

Im going to crawl all over mine and make sure I understand how the cooling system is working before I say for sure which way it can be done.

Larry's answer is the safe answer... but I believe there are other ways to cool a twin cavity Sherwood (Chrysler) while on the trailer. I had started brainstorming on how to do this on my '70 273, but didnt get around to it last year.

Chrysler's cooling system is pretty intricate- one of the impellers doesnt just pull from the cool lake- it pulls from the warm exhaust as well, IIRC. This increases the initial temperature of the water flowing through the block, and half of the pump will run noticeably warm to the touch.

Personally, I like to use tee garden hose fittings rather than dealing with plungers under the boat or removing the raw water pick up lines. They can be difficult to access and are notoriously tight on their fittings- total knuckle busters.

I looked for a thread that I could add to instead of starting a new one but oh well here goes...
I need to diagnose a fuel issue and need to run this thing in my driveway. I thought I would use the easiest and the most safe way possible. It seems to be the fake a lake. Question is there are 2 pick ups on the bottom of the boat. Does it matter which one it is hooked up to? May sound like a silly question but I am new to these boats and there may be somthing I am not considering.