bertram31.com

Over the weekend I mounted and properly hooked up the GPS and Bottom machine that came with my boat.

I posted a comment about gaining top end RPM on a post a while back entiled Turning Up. Some of the replys to that post are no longer there but someone asked me what speed I was running at 4600 RPM. I held it at WAO (WOT) for about a minute.

Now that I have the GPS working I know that I was running 29.6 knots at 4600 RPM.

The port engine started heating up (Raw Water Cooled) and I pulled her back when the tempt got to about 180 degrees. Back at the boathouse I took one of the 1" dia hoses off of one of the exhaust manifolds of each engine and started the engines for just a few seconds. The starboard engine pumped a lot more water than the port engine pumped.

I found a lot of grass and pine needles in the inlet side of the engine/gear oil cooler. I am sure that is my problem. I will finish puting it back together tonight.

I have a Wedge type strainer bolted to the bottom of the boat over the water intake and no other type of strainer inside of the boat. That's the way I purchased it and I thought that was adequate.............

What kind of water strainer/strainers do you guys run?????

Harry Babb

Dang Harry you just ruined my plans. I was planning to go with "just" the exterior strainer to avoid space and cost issues. Apparently that's not enough primary raw water filtering for areas that have pine forest dumping into the water ways. (like mine)

What are the Louisiana boats running? Lots of vegetation in those waters.

I added the wedge type Groco strainers with the perforated stainless steel plate, not the slots. Since I already had the Groco internal strainers I left them in place out of an abundace of caution. I havewn't seen anything in them in two years.

I do it the same way you do Harry.

I've got real big internal Groco strainers on AJ (no external) and seldom get anything in them other than back flushed parts of the crappy Sherwood impellers before I switched to Tony Athnen's super aftermarket ones. We have a lot of pine stuff and duck weed in the Tickfaw area but it never seems to get in the strainers, guess it floats. I used to clog the genset and a/c sea strainers at Port Eads a lot with mud, but getting back behind the wooden dock to my old Rat Houseboat was an exercise in using a B31 as a dredge boat.

Harry, raw water cooled engines are gonna leave you in a bind. I had a B25 with raw water cooled 165 Mercruisers for years (before putting the Vulva diesels in her) and the rust that built up in the cooling system was real ugly. If you plan to keep the motors, consider an after market fresh water cooling system kit - not that expensive.

I once had a 1947 45' Hickcock wood cabin cruiser with WW2 army tank Chrysler straight 8 gas motors that used a system to dissolve crystals into the raw water cooling system that basically coated all the cooling passages with a glass-like substance. There was a canister for each engine that looked like a big sea strainer and you poured these green crystals into it.....seemed to work, as the boat is still running with the same engines on the Tickfaw, but we are fresh water. How it affected the heat transer I never figured out, but it was a 10 kt. boat anyway.

UV

Got a set of the groco canister ones in the garage. I dumped them in favor of the externals.

Yours for shipping and a site donation.

Harry,
The external wedge shape intake strainers with the round holes are all thats needed.

Anything with the slots will allow debris to enter the system and are only designed to keep large debris out and an internal strainer should be used with those.

If thats the type you have.

I have the external wedge shaped strainers with little holes and have never had a problem here in the Chesapeake, and although I'm not sure it matters, but I spend plenty of time in 4' of water idling in and out.

John F.

I do have the wedge type of strainers with the little round holes on both engines. I have the slotted intake on the genset with an 8" or so dia round strainer just before the water pump.

I guess I will go underneath the boat and inspect the port strainer...........oddly enough the oil cooler on the starboard engine was clean as a whistle.

I went for a ride this afternoon.......both engines 150 degrees. I am tickled that thats all it was......just a dirty heat exchanger.

I have a pair of 6BTA's that I intend to install after this fishing season. I have owned DeNada since November of 2004 and have only gone fishing 2 times and 2 family outings. For the longest time I have simply enjoyed working on this ole girl but for now I have had my fill...........finished or not.........junk and all I am going fishing ! ! ! ! !

JP's pics really set me on fire

Harry Babb

I have the same set-up as UV and still have found weed line stuff in the strainer bottle on rare occasions. Dave K

I guess I have overkill on my boat. It had the slotted strainers and internal strainers when we got her. Then we put the wedges over the slotted strainers.