How do I flush engine in my driveway?

[rastafed]

Hello all,

I am a complete newby here. I purchased my father's 1993 Sport Nautique, Open Bow with the 5.8 liter Ford engine at the end of last summer. I would like to start the boat in my driveway before I drop it in at the lake just to make sure it will start and run. The boat has no simple garden hose attachment that I can see. The water intake comes in from under the boat and I cannot see where it goes to b/c it appears to come in under the engine. I've read many posts here but cannot find the answers I need. I did see that I can hook a garden hose between the water strainer/filter and the water pump (use a bucket method appears to be best), but I cannot tell on my boat where this location is at. I'm wondering if anyone out there has the same set-up that I do and can take some pictures of their boat, label the locations, and show here I should unhook hoses and make the bucket/hose fit in at? Your help is greatly appreciated!

Also, my dad says it is ok to start the boat in the driveway for several seconds without having water to the engine...this sounds scary to me. Any thoughts on this?

Happy boating!

Thank you,

Ed

[DanielC]

View this thread:
http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...ushing+adapter

I disconnect the hose off the water inlet on the inside of the boat, by the transmission, and put that hose into the flushing adapter.
Then follow the directions in the other thread.

You can also buy a thing called Fake-a-Lake, it looks like a toilet plunger with a hose connection on the side of the rubber cup. Make sure it is securely seated against the bottom of the boat to use this device.

Another option is to buy an extra plastic cup for the raw water strainer, and put a hose connection in the bottom of the plastic cup.

My recommendation is to never run your boat with out supplying water to the raw water pump. The raw water pump works by squishing rubber blades very hard against a tight spot in the pump, and with out a constant supply of water, the blade tips get hot very fast, and get damaged.
With this damage the pump will continue to work for a while, but it could fail completely in a short time, when your boat is inconveniently in the middle of a lake or river, leaving you stranded with a raw water pump that does not work at all.

Many others, including your dad, will tell you it is OK to run the boat for less than 30 seconds or so, with out water, but it is not worth the risk.

If you really, really have to run the boat for a short period of time, with out supplying water, just disconnect the belt for the raw water pump, and run the engine that way.

Ask your dad how to change a raw water impeller. You will need to know soon enough. Pay attention to the orientation of the pump. The Ford 351 engine was used with both a normal rotation, and reverse rotation configurations in Ski Nautiques. The raw water pump can be bolted on with one side up for normal rotation, and the other side up for reverse rotation. There is a slotted screw on the side of the water pump body. Make a note if the screw is pointed to the engine for normal rotation, or away from the engine for reverse rotation.

Normal rotation of the Ford 351, is the engine turns clockwise, when viewed from the front of the engine, with the flywheel end of the engine away from you. The screw head goes to the engine in this case. Your boat may be different.

[AB]

Another option is to measure your water intake hose diameter, then go to An auto store and buy a 3 foot piece of rubber hose the same diameter, and buy a coupler that you keep in the 3 foot piece. When ready to flush the boat, unclamp the intake hose from the bottom of the boat and stick the exposed coupler Into it and then put the extended hose into a 5 gallon bucket. Put your garden hose into the bucket and turn on until almost full then start the engine. At idle it will just about maintain the level. Rev a little and it will start pulling the level down. To flush, make sure you let it warmup to operating temp so the thermostat opens up and water flushes through the manifold area. Do with your plug pulled so any water spilled drains out.

To winterize, I do this and drain level down and shutoff engine. Fill bucket 50/50 with antifreeze and water, start backup and suck the bucket out. Also make sure to run with shower on if you have one, so antifreeze comes out the shower head too.

[horkn]

if you want to verify how it runs in the driveway, get a hose as described before but like 7-8 feet long instead, attach it to the inlet side of your strainer/ tranny cooler, and put that in a cooler or tub. Then take the garden hose and fill the tub up.

If your rwp is working properly, it will have no issues sucking water into and up the hose into the motor. If it can't do that, the impeller is probably needing replacement. If you simply put a pressurized water hose onto the hose from the boat, you won't be able to tell if the pump is actually sucking up water, or if it is simply the hose pressure getting water tot he motor.

[Hlymons]

Bump

[rastafed]

Thanks everyone!

I took all your advise and did the big bucket/cooler method. It worked perfectly. Thanks much!

[horkn]

I took all your advise and did the big bucket/cooler method. It worked perfectly. Thanks much!

No problem.

That method works very well. it's cheap too