Raw water strainers

[JOHN COOKSON]

I'm starting to think here if you run in really dirty waters it might be better to have two strainers - one to catch the large stuff and a final "polishing" one sort of like a fuel filter set up.
Just my $0.02 worth. I'm no expert.

TRUE GRIT

[edwardc]

On my intake hose from the thru-hull, I have a "T" valve, with a short length of hose on the second input. Normally, its set to the thru-hull position, but switching it to the hose allows me to:

1. Easily flush the system by sticking the free end of the hose in a bucket of freshwater and letting the pump suck it thru
2. Easily winterize the raw water part of the cooling system by sticking the hose into a jug of anti-freeze
3. Stick the free end of the hose in the bilge and run the engine as an emergency bilge pump.

[Ajax]

On my intake hose from the thru-hull, I have a "T" valve, with a short length of hose on the second input. Normally, its set to the thru-hull position, but switching it to the hose allows me to:

1. Easily flush the system by sticking the free end of the hose in a bucket of freshwater and letting the pump suck it thru
2. Easily winterize the raw water part of the cooling system by sticking the hose into a jug of anti-freeze
3. Stick the free end of the hose in the bilge and run the engine as an emergency bilge pump.

I did entertain the idea of this configuration. The problem is, it doesn't answer the problem of straining debris from sea water. I don't have an external strainer. I also don't have the real estate to have an in-line strainer AND a 3-way valve with short hose.

[Hymodyne]

On my intake hose from the thru-hull, I have a "T" valve, with a short length of hose on the second input. Normally, its set to the thru-hull position, but switching it to the hose allows me to:

1. Easily flush the system by sticking the free end of the hose in a bucket of freshwater and letting the pump suck it thru
2. Easily winterize the raw water part of the cooling system by sticking the hose into a jug of anti-freeze
3. Stick the free end of the hose in the bilge and run the engine as an emergency bilge pump.

any way you could provide a picture or drawing of this configuration?

Many thanks,

James

[smosher]

I don't have a 3 way valve but I do have a radiator T fitting on my intake. With
the thruhull closed and a hose connected to the T and the other end in a bucket. I can run the engine to suck the antifreeze out of the bucket and through the engine.

Adding the T is easy and cheap.


I replaced my seascoop with a thruhull and use the plastic strainer from boater bits to filter the raw water. I had an issue with overheating that took
me awhile to figure out. It ended up to be debris inside the seascoop that would sometimes block the flow of water


Steve

[edwardc]

I did entertain the idea of this configuration. The problem is, it doesn't answer the problem of straining debris from sea water. I don't have an external strainer. I also don't have the real estate to have an in-line strainer AND a 3-way valve with short hose.

Yeah, I have an external grate, and an internal strainer too (upstream of all the valves). It is a bit crowded, but for me, it all fits.

[toddster]

I once had to clear out the intake by removing the raw water hose from the pump and blowing into it. (There was no strainer at the time.) I suppose a T-fitting would facilitate that operation as well.

[lat 64]

I once had to clear out the intake by removing the raw water hose from the pump and blowing into it. (There was no strainer at the time.) I suppose a T-fitting would facilitate that operation as well.

Eeewwww!

My brother told me once that he had to remove an octopus that tried to live in the raw-water intake.

[hcrisp]

octopus?

I thought it was a squid. Picked one up in Long Island Sound. It amazes me how we are so attuned to the sounds on our boat that the second the water stops coming out the exhaust we stop the engine. The timing is not always great but since all we did all day was sit there and plan that if this goes wrong I will do this...
My wife once asked me "wasn't that a great trip" on our return to Suttons Bay from Boston. No, I said. It wasn't all fun. You be captain next time.
Howard

[Mo]

On my intake hose from the thru-hull, I have a "T" valve, with a short length of hose on the second input. Normally, its set to the thru-hull position, but switching it to the hose allows me to:

1. Easily flush the system by sticking the free end of the hose in a bucket of freshwater and letting the pump suck it thru
2. Easily winterize the raw water part of the cooling system by sticking the hose into a jug of anti-freeze
3. Stick the free end of the hose in the bilge and run the engine as an emergency bilge pump.

I have a "T" and a 3 ft hose attached for winterizing.......I never thought of using it as a bilge pump...so I guess I have 3 bilge pump systems now.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Oh Yes

My brother told me once that he had to remove an octopus that tried to live in the raw-water intake.

I've had to run a piece of rebar down through the raw water intake a few times to evict sea life. (external strainer)

How do you do this when the boat is in the water? Close the ball valve, remove the intake hose, attach a clear plastic tube, and support it in an upright manner. Open the ball valve and cut the tube off just above the water line and ream away through the ball valve. This works quite well. At least it does for me.

I remember reading in the forum where someone couldn't be bothered with all this. They blasted the fire extinguisher through the intake and cleared it that way!

TRUE GRIT

[ILikeRust]

I went a little overboard and went for the Groco bronze strainer. $$$, but top quality. "Overkill" is my middle name.

[TomG]

Ajax,

Have you perused Bacon Sails in Annapolis? While there are many things I will not buy used, I have bought strainers there. There are probably three or four boxes full of water strainers of all shapes, flavors, and sizes. Might be worth a look next time you're in town if you don't find the right price online.

[ndutton]

The reasons I went with a RW strainer instead the former grate over the thru hull were (1) it's difficult if not impossible to prevent growth under the grate and inside the thru hull and (2) if something blocks the grate from the outside it's difficult to clear it.

Two things I did when selecting a mounting location for my strainer:

1. The height of the strainer top is 1/4" above the waterline. I can open it to clear the screen without a big flood and it still self primes making pump operation easier.
2. I mounted it directly above the thru-hull with as straight a hose as possible. In the event I suck up something that clogs the thru-hull or hose I can open the strainer lid and rod out the clog. This became useful during last year's Catalina trip. I picked up some little kelp floats that wedged themselves inside the thru hull but didn't make it to the strainer. Manipulating the valve didn't macerate them so out came the makeshift roto-rooter and we were good. It would have been very difficult to do with a serpentine hose path.

Unrelated but when making the change from a grate type to an internal RW strainer I also increased the size of the thru-hull from 1/2" to 3/4".

[Skywalker]

My 1966 T27, fresh water cooled, never had a strainer. Since everything is torn up and I'm finding that the PO and his boatyard botched everything, I'm re plumbing the works. I went to WM and bought a "universal strainer", but I didnt pay attention to the fact that it did not have hose barbs for 5/8 so I just returned it today. Hey didn't have a product for 5/8 hose.

It amazes me that the boat only had the bronze straining thru hull all these years.

I'm calling boaterbits.

Thanks guys.

Chris
Skywalker
T27 249
1966 A4