Bilge pump survey

[In Memory Walter K]

There is a cap that replaces the normal raw water intake cover that has a hose fitting and shutoff vave on it. I purchased one to use for winterizing. I take off the raw water top, clean the screen and put on this cover instead, Close the boat's intake, take a bucket of anti freeze, put a hose on the fitting on top of the cap and into the bucket. Start the engine and suck up the anti freeze. Actually, if I threw the hose into a flooded bilge the engine would suck out the water. The only problem I would see is that the hose fitting and ball valve lever shut-off come straight off the top of the cap and the hatch wouldn't close. If you removed the hose fitting and valve and thresded on a elbow so it would have a lower profile, you could probably leave the whole set-up on permanently and have both an emergency pump and an easy winterizer. You see small space ads for these fittings in the back sections of the boating books. They are very well made in bronze and I THINK they're called Thoro-Flush. Walter

[Sean B]

Those are called thoroflush fittings. I bought two earler this year, but would fab my own if I had it to do over again. They were expensive for something so simple. All you really need is to drill a hole in the strainer lid, cut some threads with a tap, and then add whatever bronze plumbing you want.

I did the thoroflush and engine pickup/crash pump project last winter on my B33, but left the thoroflush lids in place with valves.

The idea was to flush engines with fresh water after each use to keep the heat exchangers clean, but I must admit I haven't exactly kept up with that plan...

[Brewster Minton]

Sean, In the pics there should be double clamps on the bottom of those fittings. maybe you have done that already If so, sorry for the comment

[Sean B]

Those are short hoses that run to the blige water pickup (intake) screens, for running the engines off of bilge water in the event of a big leak, and are not plumbed to the outside of the hull.

There is something missing though, that got finished after the pictures were taken- was wondering if anyone here would notice it

[scot]

Sean,

That's a sanitary set up, I like the emergency pick-up "pre-plumbed" and all you have to do is close one valve and open another. Much quicker than having to connect a hose that is stored in a locker somewhere! I will plumb my current project with that in mind.

The strainer type pick-up eleminates the need to route the emergency bilge water thru the main engine strainer. I'm assuming that the emergency pick-up has a screen/strainer on the bottom?

Thanks,
Scot

[Rawleigh]

Those are short hoses that run to the blige water pickup (intake) screens, for running the engines off of bilge water in the event of a big leak, and are not plumbed to the outside of the hull.

There is something missing though, that got finished after the pictures were taken- was wondering if anyone here would notice it

Bonding straps!!? That is one clean setup though Sean. I'm impressed!

[Sean B]

Thanks Rawliegh. It was actually a pretty easy job, just a bunch of plumbing is all. The only sweaty part was getting the big strainers off of the raw water intake thru hulls while the boat was in the water, but it all went easily despite me being freaked about it.

Yeah, the bonding wires were what was missing from the picture, and have since been installed.

Scot- the bilge pickup is a screen strainer, sold for that purpose, from Perko I believe

[Skipper Dick]

Sean,

That is a sharp installation for sure. What makes it look especially good is that the bronze fittings are nice and clean. My raw water filters don't look near that clean and shiny sitting in my clean, white bilge. I've tried everything except pulling them out and sand blasting them to get them to look like yours, but to no avail. I suspect I'll have to use something with a low ph in it and if I get real desparate I can always take them to my prop shop. Got any ideas?

Dick

[Sean B]

Dick,

I cooked the strainers and all the old re-used fittings in 1/3 muriatic acid/water solution for about 15 minutes, rinsed and then wire brushed the surfaces after that. Quick and effective. There is one elbow on the starboard side that I did not clean in the acid, just with the wire brush, and it shows.

I've been told that "RydLyme" works even better at cleaning bronze than the muriatic. I've never tried it, but from what I hear the rydlyme does not leave the pinkish hue on the metal that the muriatic acid does. The pink comes right off with wire brushing, but has always made me wonder what I am doing chemically to the top surfaces of the bronze with the acid. Next time I acid-cook fittings, I'm going to try rydlyme.


I think a coating of that Max Wax stuff would have been the best thing to do to keep it all looking good, but I didn't know about that stuff back then. I hosed the whole assembly with CX after assembly, and so far it has remained free of the green patina that bronze seems to love to grow in salt water.

[Skipper Dick]

Sean,

Thanks for the tip. The previous steward must have had trouble with leaks with these Perko strainers. He had squirted silicon sealant all over the seals and they still dripped a little. So I took them out and disassembled them and dropped them into a bucket of 30% muriatic and boiled all the deposits out, then wire brushed them back to golden luster and made new rubberized cork gaskets. Put them back together and they look and operate like new. The only thing that wouldn't come klean were the plastic bodies, but I can see in a little bit.

Dick