Water pickup Idea

[Weil Thing]

OK you ballast gurus, please let me know if you think this will work! I have the fresh water flush system installed on my engine, which basically is a water hose input into the raw water line. this input is just under the level of the sunpad, higher than the engine. I had been thinking of t'ing off the intake closer to the bottom of the boat, but this is ALREADY THERE! If I were to use a manifold system similar to chpthril's, do you think this would work? I hear y'all talking about vapor lock on the pumps, but....

Any help or ideas appreciated!

[dogbert]

After initially installing a T-section in my raw water intake, I think it's a bad idea. It's not big enough for running more than 1 ballast pump and can cause problems with your cooling system if air gets into the water line. I wouldn't risk it.

[chpthril]

I've read a few posts on WW where this has been done. The only downside I see, as Dog pointed out, is the pumps starving the engine's raw water supply, putting undue strain in the impeller leading to early failure. I have not heard of this being an issue tho, just something that's played through my mind.

So far, no vapor lock issues with mine. I took things I learned from talltigeguy, xpjim, and others and applied it to mine. The key to preventing the vapor lock it pump location and orientation. :02:

[venetrex]

I tapped my raw water intake before the trans cooler. I cannot run all of my pumps with the engine at idle, I starve the pump. However it works fine with the engine off and emties fine with it running. After I pull my boat for the winter I am going to install another thru hull,(uggh). I believe this will solve my problem.

[dogbert]

I tapped my raw water intake before the trans cooler. I cannot run all of my pumps with the engine at idle, I starve the pump. However it works fine with the engine off and emties fine with it running. After I pull my boat for the winter I am going to install another thru hull,(uggh). I believe this will solve my problem.

Check out what I did on my ballast install. I ended up going with 3 smaller thru hulls to get around the space constraint issues I had. It actually turned out pretty good.

[chpthril]

I tapped my raw water intake before the trans cooler. I cannot run all of my pumps with the engine at idle, I starve the pump. However it works fine with the engine off and emties fine with it running. After I pull my boat for the winter I am going to install another thru hull,(uggh). I believe this will solve my problem.

Are you going to use a scoop or mushroom. I went with a mushroom so I could avoid using the prone to fail gate valves. No problems filling on fly with no forced feeding when off, or self draining.