3/4" or 5/8" hose at dock?

Just curious, for rinsing/washing the boat, do people use a standard diameter (5/8") garden hose, or does a 3/4" provide more pressure too knock down the salt more effectively.

Thx,
Mike

It won't provide more pressure but it might provide more volume.
The problem is that many marinas don't provide enough water volume to take advantage of the larger hose.

I recently bought one of the following nozzles and I like it very much. I use it on a 5/8" hose to wash dried cat vomit and hair balls off my screened porch. It's like a poor man's pressure washer. No I don't have a screened porch on my boat.
sweeper hose nozzle

You need to check on restrictions.

Many marina connections are diameter limited...so are the quick connectors many people use.

HopCar said:

It won't provide more pressure but it might provide more volume.

The problem is that many marinas don't provide enough water volume to take advantage of the larger hose.



I recently bought one of the following nozzles and I like it very much. I use it on a 5/8" hose to wash dried cat vomit and hair balls off my screened porch. It's like a poor man's pressure washer. No I don't have a screened porch on my boat.

sweeper hose nozzle

Click to expand...

I'm assuming that more volume would equate to more pressure once that higher volume hits the nozzle.

I suspect you won't be able to tell the difference.

David

MichaelB1969 said:

I'm assuming that more volume would equate to more pressure once that higher volume hits the nozzle.

Click to expand...

Remember what happens when one assumes.

creekcrab said:

Remember what happens when one assumes.

Click to expand...

Well, based on some research, it seems as though the 3/4" hose will retain a higher pressure over longer runs as compared to the 5/8".

A 3/4" diameter hose will always have less pressure drop than a 5/8" hose over a given length and flow rate. At a flow rate of 2 gallons per minute the pressure drop would be over 50 feet would be minimal (both less than 1 psi drop) At 10 gallons per minute you'd get about 5 psi pressure drop on the 3/4" hose, and about 15 psi pressure drop with the 5/8" hose. Flowing 20 gallons/minute the pressure drops are about 20 & 50 psi.

So - check your flow rate from the tap. If you have less than 10 gallons a minute, you probably won't see much improvement with flow with the bigger hose.

btw - the length has a linear effect on the pressure drop. Double the length, and the pressure drop doubles (+/- a hair)

I have never seen a 3/4 hose on any dock in my limited 30 years of boating.

wouldn't want to wrap up a 3/4 hose, plus with the sun they don't last that long, go standard size.

AusCan said:

A 3/4" diameter hose will always have less pressure drop than a 5/8" hose over a given length and flow rate. ..............

Click to expand...

Yep, similar to having less resistance with a larger wire size.

As far as washing a boat, I don't think you will notice any difference with a slightly larger hose diameter. What you will notice is, the pressure and volume available to you drops as others are washing their boats on the same dock. Your best pressure will be if nobody else is washing their boat.

If you really want pressure, buy a pressure washer. Buy the smallest you can find and be very careful with it. You can easily remove tape stripes or blow out window screens. Practice on something cheaper than your boat first.

The problem I have with hoses is, the dry stack customers think the hoses belong to the marina so if there's no hose where they dock, they walk until they find one (mine) and move it to their dock. I finally had to strap mine down to the dock with conduit holders.