Fresh Water Rinse Capability, located in Salt Water?

[jimL]

We have twin Yanmars 370 hp (Yanmar 6LYA) in a 2005 Mainship 430 aft cabin trawler.

The boat has been mostly in fresh water for the last 10 years or so and we recently moved it to salt water to Long Island Sound. We were wondering if adding a fresh water rinse capability to the raw water cooling system is worth the effort of installation and use after each excursion. I am currently in a marina where the talent and skills are there to add this feature, but I am wondering what other salt water skippers think about this. – Is it worth the expense and effort to conduct a fresh water rinse after very boating excursion? My dink outboard motor has a connection for a fresh water rinse…

Thanks

Jim

 

[dhays]

I started to do a fresh water rinse this year. While there are ways of setting it up that are more convenient, I decided to initially go with a simple, and inexpensive system.

I replaced the cap of my raw water strainer with one with a hose connection on the top. When I return to the dock, I connect a hoe to the raw water strainer, open the sea cock, and turn on the water. This back flushes the raw water strainer with fresh water. I then turn on the engine and then close the sea cock. I run the engine for 5-10 minutes, then then turn off the engine and dock water simultaneously.

I can do it solo but it is easier with someone else to start and stop the engine for me.

Whether it is worth the little extra time after coming back to the dock is hard to say. I’m not smart enough to judge but those whose opinions I value seem to think it will extend the life of cooling system.

 

[boomerang]

Our boat was a fresh/brackish water boat too, until we bought her 3 years ago. This spring, after I replaced the raw-water cooled exhaust manifold and a host of other parts that needed replacing after 40 years, I wanted to have the capability of flushing the engine. I used a swimming pool 3-way valve (it's tough and built to withstand caustic pool chemicals so salt water isn't an issue for it), a couple of fittings , a piece of scrap garden hose & a bucket. When we're done using the boat, I open the hatch, move the valve from the seawater strainer position to the flush position and suck 5-10 gallons of fresh water through the system. When I'm finished, I switch the valve back to the the seawater position & we're ready for the next outing. I sleep better knowing the engine is full of less corrosive fresh water when it sits idle for any length of time. It'll come in handy when it's time to winterize, too.