One of my winter projects was new thru hulls, valves and a nice new Groco bronze raw water strainer. The strainer replace the OEM plastic Sherwood strainer.
On the C30 the intake thru hull is 1/2" with 5/8" hose to the raw water pump. The Groco has 1/2" intake ports so I bought Groco bronze hose barbs with 1/2" threads and the barb would accept 1/2" and 5/8" hose.
Splashed the boat and no leaks, as expected. Motor ran well and stayed at 160 deg as is normal for about the 3 hours I've run it since launch.
I went for a sail Friday evening and as the sun was setting I dropped sail near our channel and headed back in. After motoring about 5 minutes and just after I entered our channel I heard the faint sound of an alarm. It took a minute to realize it was coming from my boat, then identify it was coming from the engine panel. I still had my sunglasses on and it was dark enough I couldn't read the panel gauges. My first thought was oil pressure but then I noticed the exhaust sounded different. Looked and sure enough only steam was coming out of the exhaust.
My options were:
Limp back to slip which was about 1/4 mile away, risking the engine.
Cut motor and drift into a fishing pier before I could get fenders and lines out
Cut the motor with enough momentum to steer across the narrow channel and drop anchor which is what I did.
Since it was now dark I decided to call for a tow and figure it out back in the slip.
Pulled the cover of the pump and the impeller was in good shape and the pump had some water in it. Pulled the strainer screen out and it was completely clean.
Pulled the hose off the intake side of the strainer and found this:
A clog of grass.
Since the barb is sized for 1/2" hose, then gets thicker to take a 5/8" hose, the ID of the barb must be less than 1/2".
I think my mistake was using the combo barb fitting and I would get more flow and less chance of a clog at that fitting with a true 5/8" hose barb fitting.
I now have on order a couple of true 5/8" hose barbed fittings.
Now on my project list are new gauges with better lighting with visual as well as audible alarms.
On the C30 the intake thru hull is 1/2" with 5/8" hose to the raw water pump. The Groco has 1/2" intake ports so I bought Groco bronze hose barbs with 1/2" threads and the barb would accept 1/2" and 5/8" hose.
Splashed the boat and no leaks, as expected. Motor ran well and stayed at 160 deg as is normal for about the 3 hours I've run it since launch.
I went for a sail Friday evening and as the sun was setting I dropped sail near our channel and headed back in. After motoring about 5 minutes and just after I entered our channel I heard the faint sound of an alarm. It took a minute to realize it was coming from my boat, then identify it was coming from the engine panel. I still had my sunglasses on and it was dark enough I couldn't read the panel gauges. My first thought was oil pressure but then I noticed the exhaust sounded different. Looked and sure enough only steam was coming out of the exhaust.
My options were:
Limp back to slip which was about 1/4 mile away, risking the engine.
Cut motor and drift into a fishing pier before I could get fenders and lines out
Cut the motor with enough momentum to steer across the narrow channel and drop anchor which is what I did.
Since it was now dark I decided to call for a tow and figure it out back in the slip.
Pulled the cover of the pump and the impeller was in good shape and the pump had some water in it. Pulled the strainer screen out and it was completely clean.
Pulled the hose off the intake side of the strainer and found this:
A clog of grass.
Since the barb is sized for 1/2" hose, then gets thicker to take a 5/8" hose, the ID of the barb must be less than 1/2".
I think my mistake was using the combo barb fitting and I would get more flow and less chance of a clog at that fitting with a true 5/8" hose barb fitting.
I now have on order a couple of true 5/8" hose barbed fittings.
Now on my project list are new gauges with better lighting with visual as well as audible alarms.