No water flow thru A4 Walter v drive

[Gubernaculum]

1975 c&c 33 with raw water a4 with Walter v drive here. Water goes through thruhull to the V Drive and then to the water pump.

And no, I haven’t installed the strainer yet. That would’ve likely prevented this whole issue. .

It was running fine at normal temperature and then suddenly shot to 240 with little/no water output. We immediately shut it down.

I dove the hull first, thru hull is clear and propeller is free. Next pulled the cover off the water pump. Good impeller but no flow with thru hull open.

Found the blockage - I can’t manually blow air thru the v drive either direction but water easily flows TO the drive. Loose Barnacle maybe? I can’t get a speck of air thru though.

Any thoughts as to cause and solutions? Will haul a pancake compressor over and try to blow it out backwards later this week.

[Gubernaculum]

Photo attached (hopefully)

[Gubernaculum]

Found it

Gah! Found it! Barnacley seaweedy plug at the outlet elbow. Glad it stopped there.

Learn from my fail. I won’t be running it again till I install a good strainer!!! I had one in my defender shopping cart a couple months ago but took it out because I was going to be too busy to install it. Now I get to pay expedited shipping...

[wristwister]

I had no idea water passed through the V drive (mines straight 1:1 to the prop). Why? Does the V drive need water cooling?

[Gubernaculum]

Like a car with a transmission cooler I guess?

[Administrator]

While you're at it, I would suggest swapping out those plastic fittings and what looks like garden hose in favor of something more durable.

Bill

[Gubernaculum]

Yeah, those are automatic bilge pump hoses, still not ideal, but at least the raw water hose is real Shields hose marked 1994. New stuff is coming w the strainer though .

[Gubernaculum]

Also note, apparently a threaded copper pipe used as a (non)barbed fitting on the tee in my left hand in the first pic. Man, the things people got away with in fresh water before I brought it to the salt.

[capnward]

Good example of the need for a strainer in salt water. I hope that kink in the green hose will be eliminated.

[Zachdose]

I seem to be having a similar issue only I can't seem to find any blockage in the lines, I get water in as far as the pump, the impeller has been replaced the engine will start and run fine but will not discharge any water. Any ideas?

[roadnsky]

...the impeller has been replaced the engine will start and run fine but will not discharge any water. Any ideas?

Zachdose-
Did the issue begin right after you changed the impeller?
Do you still have the old one?

[sastanley]

Also note, apparently a threaded copper pipe used as a (non)barbed fitting on the tee in my left hand in the first pic. Man, the things people got away with in fresh water before I brought it to the salt.

This is actually pretty common..I found it a lot on my A-4 that was always brackish/tidal. One thing it does is the ID is bigger so more flow. Just need to keep an eye on things.

[Gubernaculum]

Tight engine compartment and big strainer...
had to mount it a bit above waterline. Works fine on first test. I pre-filled it before first startup and all was well. Anything in particular I should watch out for when using this sub-optimal configuration?

New 3/4 seacock to 3/4 hose to 3/4 strainer to 5/8 hose (stock size) to vee drive to 1/2 hose (stock size) to water pump.

Note the green hose is a redundant (switched on/off) old school bilge pump, garden hose goes to sink or out hatch. Works fine so I keep the clutter as a spare, and the intake is on a movable hose so it’s the only way to suck up the last few cups out of the bilge that the rule leaves behind.