Saltwater wash down ideas...

Our anchor area doesn't have a saltwater washdown capability and I'm looking for some pump suggestions.

What I'd like is a temporary solution that uses a 120v AC pump with a small hose that I can put overboard through a hawsehole as a water intake. The lift needed for the water intake is about 3 feet. It would then need to provide 10 feet of lift to the fo'c's'le of the bow. I'd like 60 PSI of water flow up on the foc's'ile. I'd like both intake and outflow hoses to be normal garden hose fittings but that's easy to add/change if they are standard pipe fittings. The key is, it needs to be a strong AC pump that doesn't need to be primed and can both draw from the intake side and lift for the outflow side.

Anyone know of a pump that fits this?

If it works well, I'll eventually install the pump with a thru hull. The boat has AC everywhere and adding the pump would be pretty simple. There's a fo'c's'le plug on deck for a hose connection making that part simple too.

Any washdown pump kit would so it. Just be sure the pump will pull from dry; it'll say on the box.

That Shurflow pump should work fine. Even though the suction fitting is 1/2", I would use 3/4" hose on the suction for best performance. It should blast the crap right off of your anchor and chain with those specs.


David

Capt.Bill11 said:

https://www.amazon.com/SHURflo-Industrial-Pump-Model-2088-594-154/dp/B0001FAA5Y

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Much appreciated. That looks like it'll fit perfectly. And Amazon Prime too. I'll have it in a few days and report back.

I received the pump today. The main trick is rigging up a temporary hose that will stay underwater. Once that was done, it worked perfectly. It lifted the water from overboard to the pump and then pumped it 10 feet up with 50 feet of hose. The pressure coming out was plenty good enough. I attach the hose to a fake pressure washer ("as seen on TV") which does a great job of washing down the anchor. Now I can spray all day.

Thanks for the pump reference.

What I think is an OEM pump, run on mains type electricity(220-240v here) is fitted to my boat.
It is a powerful pump, downside is it needs the genset running, and is often the only reason to run it. A 12v system would save that, but might be less powerful blasting anchor and chain. If you run the genset most/all the time it becomes a non issue, and if the genset gets run more frequently, that`s no bad thing..

This new pump is about 1 amp at 120v - probably around 14 amps of 12v DC through the inverter. That's really nothing and needs no generator running. One of our engines has a 200 amp alternator. When lifting the anchor, the engines are always running. Using 14 of those 100-200 amps being generated wouldn't even be noticed.

This is a timely thread as I'm contemplating the same thing.

Ignorant question: is there any penalty in performance in having perhaps 25 ft of hose/pipe between the pump and hose bib? I'd like to locate the pump in the engine room near the sea chest where I already have a through hull. It would be at or below the waterline and--if I'm envisioning this correctly--would be able to focus all it's energy pushing water to the bow vs lifting water to the pump. Or is my understanding of hydraulics all wet?

All hoses add resistance. Easy ways to reduce that are to make sure to use hose that is smooth inside instead of accordian-shaped. All bends and fittings add resistance.

I purposely used 50 feet of hose coming out to test more than I'd ever use if I install this under deck - I'll need about 10' + 10' for that. The performance with that 50' hose was great.

I used a normal hose nozzle (which I don't use for real anchor/chain washdown) and my favorite of all boating products - the Water Jet Power Washer ("As Seen on TV"). The reviews for this product are terrible because, let's face it, you're not going to get a power washer for $20. But for use with anchors and chain? It's golden - I like it so much, I always have a brand new spare standing by. They last about a year. It's not just the small, strong spray it creates. It's also the extra 3 feet of length allowing you to reach the mud before it's on the boat or if your anchor is further away from the deck.

This pump worked perfectly with Water Jet sprayer too - ran it for about 20 minutes in a super clean-up of the anchor, getting off the mud from last week that I overlooked because I was using fresh water for the washdown.

angus99 said:

This is a timely thread as I'm contemplating the same thing.



Ignorant question: is there any penalty in performance in having perhaps 25 ft of hose/pipe between the pump and hose bib? I'd like to locate the pump in the engine room near the sea chest where I already have a through hull. It would be at or below the waterline and--if I'm envisioning this correctly--would be able to focus all it's energy pushing water to the bow vs lifting water to the pump. Or is my understanding of hydraulics all wet?

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Not as much as you would think. Yea, I'm sure it add some, but the real restriction, I think, is the rise. I just added a washdown over the spring. It was a kit from Defender. I added a dedicated thru-hull and located the pump pretty close to it (4'?). Then there is 35-ish feet of smooth hose to the deck fitting. To be fair, I did no scientific test to calculate pressure loss, but the hose still has plenty of pressure to knock off the Neuse mud, so I would worry too much about it.

Outstanding! Smooth hose it shall be. Thanks, guys.

What type of pump do the Nordhavns use. They put out one heck of a steam of water. An electric pump would be cheaper to install than a large engine driven pump with an electromagnetic clutch. I have watched them and have been envious, no longer having to stand on the pulpit with a garden hose nozzle.

All pumps suffer much more from inlet resistance than on the other side. That is why I suggested to Jeff that he use 3/4" hose on the suction. If you were to use this pump in a permanent bilge mounted location, install it as close to the thruhull as possible and use 3/4" hose, strainer and seacock for the suction.


The pump produces a lot of pressure at its discharge (if it is supplied with adequate water on the suction) so it can withstand the pressure drop of 1/2" hose, but if it is a long run then 3/4" would be better.


You can clean with high pressure, low flow or you can clean with low pressure and high flow. The power washer nozzle Jeff talks about limits the flow so that I suspect that nearly the full spec of the pump's maximum discharge pressure is available at the nozzle- 50 psi. That is why it does a good job. But if plumbed with 3/4" hose you might get quadruple the flow through a bigger nozzle and at a lower pressure. That might do a good job as well and have the advantage of lots of volume to wash the debris down the deck.


David

angus99 said:

Outstanding! Smooth hose it shall be. Thanks, guys.

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This is the kit I used, but I didn't use the quick release fitting.

Johnson Aqua Jet WD 5.2 Washdown Pump Kit

I used this one: (much more robust)

Jabsco Flush Mount Deck Fitting

And this hose:

Trident Reinforced PVC Tubing