enticer

You can always got thru=the=hull water pickup with a sea strainer

beerock

this is what you need bro

blue thunder

What would stop you from blocking off the low water pickup holes with a method of your liking, and drilling new pickup holes somewhat higher?

BT

Waterfoul

I too have the low water pickup and have had to remove the hoses and unpack the mud and flush the motor (it was either that or run over the girl on the sea doo). I have been wondering if it is possible to get a template (or make one from a standard drive) and drill holes in the case where the standard pickups are. I know Mercruiser is doing this now. Water will take the path of least resistance. Plug the holes in the bullit and the water would simply start coming in the upper holes. Why not have holes in both locations???

Raypanic

"Using this model, which mixes the water, offers a certain degree of protection in the event one of your pick-ups becomes plugged up. The remaining pick-up will continue to supply water to both engines until the problem can be corrected, possibly preventing an overheated engine."

http://www.imcomarine.com/cgi-bin/vc...=hdr/SSSTN.txt

You might want to look at this

rjcardinal

Thanks Ray,

Your link got me thinking, (which can be dangerous), even though I have only one engine if I get a dual inlet sea strainer I could plumb two water sources into my engine. Probably more trouble than its worth.

Foul,

How far did the mud go into your cooling system? So far I have only take off the hose exiting the sea pump and it was packed all the way to the first cooler (power steering). I have two more coolers before the engine so I hope its not packed in the block.

jmeng,

Yeah it really sucked yesterday but we made the best of it. Started drinking at 9am when we got back on the trailer. 3 beers later we took the icechest out the boat and loaded into the Blazer and headed to New Orleans. Got to West End at 11am and sat at the point and drank until we saw the club comming across the lake. Craig was out front and he was on it pretty hard. Phillip said when Craig pulled out of formation in the lake he went after him just so he could see the big cat move. Phillip said once Craig saw him he put the hammer down and was gone. Next weekend is the St Jude Poker Run and I was invited to ride in the party barge with crew. Think Im going to leave the Fountain at home this time.

OK guys Ive looked around and found prices for offshore pickups and strainers. Im sure I could install them myself with some guidance. The other option I want to explore is a new lower unit casing. I want to know how much it would cost to buy a new lower housing only with the dual water pick ups and have my internals installed? If I do this and fill the low water pick-ups and add a strainer I think all of my problems would be solved.

Anybody know what the housing cost? Bam? Dollar?

Anybody know what a reputable shop would charge to swap the housings if I take the drive to them?

Thanks for the help,

Ron

Dredgeking

i've burned up 2 impellers this season already thanks to shallow texas water. i packed my sea strainer to the top with sand. it looked like a sandbox in the engine compartment when i cleaned it all out.

Waterfoul

Water got into my cooler (combo oil/steering cooler from Rex Marine) but not into the block. I removed the hose from the circulator pump on the front of the block and poored two gallons of water thru the cooler backwards (took the hose off the IN side of the cooler also). Created my own sand box bilge. My impeller was fine, but I replaced it with the new one I had on board as a spare (kept the old one, which was not damaged, as a spare). The hose from the pump to the cooler must have weighed 10 lbs it was so packed with sand and mud. I only had the drive in the sand for 5 seconds with the motor running. Doesn't take long to suck up a lot of dirt I guess!!!!

Oh, and my pickup was clear. I also poured a gallon of water backwards thru the drive also to make sure there was nothing plugging it up. Put nearly 8 hours on it since with no issues.

I still think that having both inlets, low water, and standard side of the case, would be fine. And from what I understand, if you know where to drill them, you can simply drill into the case and add a few holes.

mjuwalters

Cuda I do not know how to fix your problem but I like your style. Keep that girl

Cord

Two years ago I got out of the channel on the Mississppi and get stuck in the shallows. I burried the drive bad enough to choke off the engine at 3k! The motor was also not capable of engaging the drive until it was trailered. When I finally got the boat free, I saw rapidly rising temps. I knew that the motor was proably filled with silt, but do I shut it down or open it up? I chose to open her up. I tipped the boat over and went wide open to force as much water as possible to blow out the block. The temps came down quickly and stabilized as normal. Guess that I'm suggesting that as a alternative to trailering the boat.