Outside through-hull blockage, do you have a tool or technique?

[mobocracy]

Last weekend it was windy and we took the boat to a more shallow and protected bay for a combo maintenance/cleaning and boating session.

The admiral wanted the generator on to run our mini vacuum and for air conditioning in the cabin. We don't use this bay often and I was reminded why -- its pretty weedy. I noticed that water flow from the generator dropped off substantially, and I shut it down before it overheated. We wound up slow cruising (9 mph or so) for about 8 miles back to the dock.

Last night I went out thinking all I would need to do is clean the through hull filters. Surprisingly they were virtually empty, but both the AC and the generator gave me water flow faults. With the cap off the generator filter and the valve open, it was barely a trickle of water spilling, where normally its kind of waterfall.

I ran the boat about 6 miles at planing speed, assuming that some high speed flow would loosing whatever might be sucked into the intake, but sure enough the cap/valve open still had little water.

What do you guys do to deal with this?

I was kind of tempted to dive my own boat, but honestly it sounded like a bad idea for a non-diver, risking getting clonked if the boat moves much or whatever.

I feel like this needs to be reamed out, but I'm not sure what would work with it. I have one of this little cable-actuated grabbers I can actually stick in there, but it's about 8" too short to go all the way out the through hull. I can't think of another widget that would work right and be safe to do.

The other idea I had was fitting a rubber stopper I could connect to an air compressor and literally blow out the through hull.

 

[ocgrant]

Get a diver if you don't dive. Not worth the risk. If you open the valve to the through hull with the basket out and cover off and there is nothing then the diver should be able to solve it on his end. I dive and have used a long screw driver before to clean up growth down there.

 

[The Bill Collector]

Last weekend it was windy and we took the boat to a more shallow and protected bay for a combo maintenance/cleaning and boating session.

The other idea I had was fitting a rubber stopper I could connect to an air compressor and literally blow out the through hull.

air or water backflush... worth a try before spending $

 

[b_arrington]

Try a sea flush. It's mainly used to simplify winterizing, but also intended to clear a raw water intake from inside the boat.

Use it with a shop vac to blow air out the through hull.

http://www.seaflush.com/unclog-thru-hull-video/

 

[Jaybeaux]

+1 on b_arrington's comment

 

[mobocracy]

Try a sea flush. It's mainly used to simplify winterizing, but also intended to clear a raw water intake from inside the boat.

Use it with a shop vac to blow air out the through hull.

http://www.seaflush.com/unclog-thru-hull-video/

I saw that after posting my message. It gets mostly positive reviews, but $60 for a couple of plastic pieces? I kind of wonder if I could roll my own.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Last weekend I had a fish commit suicide in our ac through hull. On Wednesday after a big thunderstorm it was sea weed. The fix both times was to pull the hose between the through hull (Valve CLOSED) and the strainer and yank the guck out. I tried using a water tube attached to the shore water hose and only succeeded in discovering the bilge pump and alarms work.

 

[DanW]

I disconnected the hose from the strainer and used a regular sprayer on a hose to back flush the junk out. It wasn’t a perfect fit but I was able to get enough water pressure to make it work. The bilge didn’t get too wet! Haha.

Dan

 

[northern]

We get jelly fish and weeds in all inlet some times, may be 5 times a year. We have cold and hot water valves in the engine room. PEX Pipe fittings from Home Depot "T", short piece PEX and valve. I used all Shark Bit fittings and valves. On cold I have a short piece of garden hose. The generator hose at the strainer will just allow the hose to fit in and on the engines hose it is loose. I put several wraps of duct tape on garden hose until it would just fit into engine hose. Procedure is Close sea valve, Remove hose into suction of strainer, Put garden hose in suction hose from sea valve, Secure hose in suction hose using rad clamp, Open sea valve, Turn on cold water repeat a couple of times, Close sea valve, Remove garden hose, Open sea valve get wet and close, Put system back together

 

[Henry Boyd]

We get jelly fish and weeds in all inlet some times, may be 5 times a year. We have cold and hot water valves in the engine room. PEX Pipe fittings from Home Depot "T", short piece PEX and valve. I used all Shark Bit fittings and valves. On cold I have a short piece of garden hose. The generator hose at the strainer will just allow the hose to fit in and on the engines hose it is loose. I put several wraps of duct tape on garden hose until it would just fit into engine hose. Procedure is Close sea valve, Remove hose into suction of strainer, Put garden hose in suction hose from sea valve, Secure hose in suction hose using rad clamp, Open sea valve, Turn on cold water repeat a couple of times, Close sea valve, Remove garden hose, Open sea valve get wet and close, Put system back together

Could you post some pictures of that, sounds useful given it’s still June and I’ve already done two plumbing jobs. Thanks

 

[b_arrington]

I saw that after posting my message. It gets mostly positive reviews, but $60 for a couple of plastic pieces? I kind of wonder if I could roll my own.

It’s a little pricey. But it does work very well for winterizing. Greatly simplified things.

 

[northern]

Could you post some pictures of that, sounds useful given it’s still June and I’ve already done two plumbing jobs. Thanks

Boat is in Anacortes and we are in Calgary so no pictures. In detail. Garden hose is good quality about 6 feet long. It is off the role from ACE Hardware with an off the shelf plastic screw fitting. Hose needs to be firm. not the cheap $10 WalMart green ones. That hose will fit inside the generator and AC section hose (Black that goes from sea valve to inlet of strainer) For the main engines I used gray duct tape and wrapped it around the garden house about 4" from the end. This allows the garden hose to fit in the AC and generator hose 4" so the rad clap has a good bite. The duct tape is about 2" wide gray type. It can be loose in the engine hose, you should not have to force it in, the rad clamp will snug it up.
Main thing is get good firm hose. If you spent $100 on a good 100 foot hose and ran over it with the lawn mower that hose will be good. You want a hose that will not collapse when you tighten the rad clamp.

 

[Gimme Time]

This picture shows the fresh water flushing inlet to my Starboard main engine strainer. It was installed for its fresh water flushing and Salt Away capabilities to enhance engine raw water components life. It works great for back flushing the strainer through the thru-Hull assembly with engine or other raw water devices such as Heat/cool unit. There are several configurations for doing such but pretty simple once you know your game plan and remember it’s intended purpose.