How dumb of an idea would this be?

[mobocracy]

I may have missed it - but what exactly is clogging the intake thru hull?

On mine it is some kind of fresh water marine plant growth. The lake has been warmer than usual this season, probably because the water temperature has been warmer than normal -- mid 80s the first couple of weeks in July, which is pretty unusual.

 

[Todd320]

So do you have a place where you can get under the boat and monkey with this in the water? Or is the idea that its just so much bigger than the intake opening that it'd take a giant bag or something to completely obstruct it, plus it keeps out the weeds and whatever else? It also looks like if you got up on planing speed pretty much nothing would stay stuck to it.

Half my challenge is there's no place shallow enough where I could get under the boat to clear external obstructions that's not totally gross and likely to get me tangling with a snapping turtle or swimmer's itch. I'd have to dive in a deeper anchorage, and I'm too old and too...comfortable...to be doing that.

I'm lucky in that I have no 90 degree elbows in my genny raw water path. The hose segment from seacock to strainer is a curve.

I know I’ll jinx it, but so far have not needed to do any generator maintenance on this trip. No clogs, good water flow, etc. Now that I have posted this, I’ll be waiting for the 2 am generator failure tonight that I have to fix!
Beautiful out here though....

 

[b_arrington]

Perhaps I’m missing something. But may just get a Sea Flush and blow out the weeds with a vacuum set to blow? That’s one of the main selling points.

The Sea Flush sets in the strainer and the Vac hose goes on top. Turn on the Vac, open the sea cock, and the crud gets blown out. No disconnecting any hoses.

 

[dtfeld]

I know the main issue is a clogged thru hull , but since you have had several low water flow issues, have you re checked your impeller??

 

[mobocracy]

I know the main issue is a clogged thru hull , but since you have had several low water flow issues, have you re checked your impeller??

No, if only because after a week or two it seems to self-clear and I get completely normal water flow. I would assume that if there was an impeller issue, the low water flow would never go away. The impeller was new last season and I'd be surprised if it had more than 20 hours on it as we don't use it that much, or even as much as we probably should, mostly because the admiral gripes about the extra machinery noise.

I do plan to replace it next season as I worry that low water flow + time since it was last changed have contributed to premature wear, plus I'm kind of curious if there was wear that could have been contributing to this.

Perhaps I’m missing something. But may just get a Sea Flush and blow out the weeds with a vacuum set to blow? That’s one of the main selling points.

The Sea Flush sets in the strainer and the Vac hose goes on top. Turn on the Vac, open the sea cock, and the crud gets blown out. No disconnecting any hoses.

Have you actually used one? Do you use a vice grip on the generator/machinery side of the water hose? In the product video they do this so you don't blow air/water into your cooling system, but I'm kind of not crazy about crushing my hoses with a vice grip.

I did, however, Macgyver my own solution -- 90 degree plastic elbow attached to a shop vac accessory adapter and then a tapered plug on the other end made with silicone putty. Tapered plug goes into the input/seacock side of the strainer and the other end to the shop vac. My plug doesn't seal great which has made it less than stellar or effective, plus my on-board shop vac is small and maybe lacks blow power.

I've been tempted to go next-level and make another one, but this time use a proper tapered rubber stopper tapped for a brass air line and connect it to an air hose fitting and use a compressor. The stopper would give me a better seal and the compressor more air pressure.

All this being said, the *best* solution seems to be to take Todd320's idea, install a clamshell cover on the hull over the through-hull. A large, filtered surface area will block stuff getting sucked inside, allow decent flow even with partial obstruction, keep weeds from getting stuck inside the through-hull and presumably allow to get washed off running on plane.

 

[b_arrington]

Have you actually used one? Do you use a vice grip on the generator/machinery side of the water hose? In the product video they do this so you don't blow air/water into your cooling system, but I'm kind of not crazy about crushing my hoses with a vice grip.

I have one and have used it. For purposes of blowing out debris, there's no need to clamp the hose. The impeller on the generator will sufficiently block the water line that the air will take the path of least resistance and go out through the sea cock. I don't think it's possible to effectively clamp a reinforced raw water hose anyway.

As I recall, they clamp hoses on AC lines not engine lines. This is because 1) and AC pump drives a magnetic impeller, and water / air can flow by it when the pump is off (unlike an engine impeller), and 2) AC systems often service more than one unit, so others should be blocked off when trying to clean a line. Otherwise you're just sending air / cleaner, etc to the lines that are already clear. I'll temper that by saying I haven't watched their videos in a while.

 

[mobocracy]

I have one and have used it. For purposes of blowing out debris, there's no need to clamp the hose. The impeller on the generator will sufficiently block the water line that the air will take the path of least resistance and go out through the sea cock. I don't think it's possible to effectively clamp a reinforced raw water hose anyway.

As I recall, they clamp hoses on AC lines not engine lines. This is because 1) and AC pump drives a magnetic impeller, and water / air can flow by it when the pump is off (unlike an engine impeller), and 2) AC systems often service more than one unit, so others should be blocked off when trying to clean a line. Otherwise you're just sending air / cleaner, etc to the lines that are already clear. I'll temper that by saying I haven't watched their videos in a while.

Interesting, I guess I didn't make that distinction, just assuming that you shouldn't force air into the cooling line of the generator.