Adding a raw water Y-valve

[roadnsky]

... I would also like to make the valve easily accessible. My through-hull valve is in the rear, starboard quarter-berth, under the cushion, under a hatch cover (and often under a bunch of stuff on the cushion). Not exactly the most accessible spot on the boat.

I will commit to shutting the through-hull valve off when I leave the boat for several days, but I am less likely to be careful about shutting it out on the lake if/when I am having trouble re-starting the engine. That's why I am trying to put it near the engine door. This would also be better if I ever need it for the third reason on my list. Of course, in doing this I don't want to make the pump work harder or reduce the effectiveness of the cooling system.

My intake thru hull is the same. Under the starboard berth.
I close that one when I'll be away from the vessel for more than a few days.

I set up a Y-valve in the engine compartment for dual use:
First, ease of closing off water to the engine when starting and
second, for intake from a bucket.

There is also an added benefit...
In the event of a major leak, I can toss the other end of the hose in the bilge for an added strong emergency pump. (Emergency only)

[Tryoung]

Thank you to all for the the advice!

I installed the system in the boat last night. I ended up using the 5/8" barb fittings rather than 3/8" NPT for the connections to the 5/8" hose. I compared the two ID's at West Marine and found them to be the same. The ID of the Barb fitting didn't taper at all, which surprised me.

My setup is similar to roadnsky's pic above, with the addition of a raw water strainer (TRUE GRIT suggestion) connected directly to the Out/Engine side of the T-valve using a short NPT pipe. The strainer came with a bracket which allowed me to mount the whole assembly to the side of the engine compartment near the starter motor.

Last night I also installed my new handy-dandy Moyer oil change adapter. I changed the oil in less than 5 minutes with a vacuum hand pump!

Thanks,
Tim

[JOHN COOKSON]

A Late Post

There is also an added benefit...
In the event of a major leak, I can toss the other end of the hose in the bilge for an added strong emergency pump. (Emergency only)

Test to be sure the hose that you might have to use in the bilge doesn't float.
Three guesses how I found this out; the first two don't count.

If the engine cooling system leaks into the bilge a lot you will be able to motor for quite a while because you will be running on a closed system with both the inlet and outlet in effectively in the bilge. The cool hull will cool the water - sort of a Hillbilly heat exchanger.

TRUE GRIT

[roadnsky]

The cool hull will cool the water - sort of a Hillbilly heat exchanger.

Very Funny!
Toss some coolant in there and you have a FWC system!

My hose would reach the bottom of the bilge and be strictly a major emergency situation.
Good to know I've got that extra pumping available though...