Raw water pick up

[Dave Patstone]

With the factory set up on the ranger 25SC there is no way to get a cooling supply if the boat is out of the water and you want to start the engine say after a service. I have solved this problem by simply disconnecting the sea cock from the strainer, redirecting the ell, installing a Tee and 3/4' valve c/w garden hose connector immediately after the sea cock and rerouting a new larger hose from the new tee to the strainer.
For me this serves many purposes when the boat is out of the water. I can close the sea cock, hook up a garden hose with an RV pressure reducer and safely run my engine up. Another reason I have done this is to winterize my boat (I live in Canada and we do have winter). I simply close the sea cock, open the 3/4' valve, attach a short length on garden hose put the other end into a pail of RV antifreeze, start and run the engine until you get pink in the exhaust. Then run the raw water wash pump until you get pink, the same routine with the head. Pink is good!
This winterizes everything except the domestic water system, I have been doing this for 20+ years on previous boats, nothing dries out and nothing corrodes over the lay up period.
I also have made up a hose to connect to the galley sink tap and the 3/4" valve to back flush the sea cock intake, to date I have not had to use this.
I have great pictures of this set up and if I could figure out how to attach them to this post I would.

 

[Bruce Moore]

Getting a User Photo Album for your Ranger Tug is easy but it requires submitting a request from within the site structure.

1. Sign on to the site, if you aren't already.

2. Select the User Control Panel link from the upper left corner of any page. Note: On the home page, this link is in your user menu.

3. Click the Usergroups tab, then select the radio button next to the User Albums group.
Scroll down, choose "Join selected" in the drop-down menu, and click the Submit button.

Once you do this, an email is automatically sent to the administrator (me). That message will trigger my ability to approve your request, and you'll receive an email indicating your membership in the User Albums group has been activated.

I'll watch for the message, and look forward to seeing your pictures.

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[knotflying]

I actually just open the strainer cover, close the sea cock and let my garden hose run freely in the bowl. When I have done my winterization I do the same thing, but just keep pouring the antifreeze in as the engine runs.

 

[Levitation]

Do N O T feed pressure water to the chest - i.e. pressurize the sea chest. Very important.
I strongly suggest you remove your Tee or sooner or later you are going to have a wrecked engine from water entering the cylinders.
To run the engine do as we all do - pull the globe top off the sea chest, lay a hose in it and run the water fast enough that the chest is overflowing with the engine running. The bilge pump will take care of the overflow (and result in a clean bilge :mrgreen: )

 

[knotflying]

Yep, Denny is absolutely correct. I inadvertently neglected that warning in my previous post. You can cause a hydro lock in the cylinders if you force water in too fast and it does not exit quickly enough. This is why if you are trying to start your engine and it does not start you also need to avoid over cranking because you can force water through the exhaust manifold and then into the cylinders.