I used the snap-together Dri-Dek Tiles on my cockpit floor. I took a left over scrap piece and cut it to fit the motor well. It keeps out leaves, small twigs, acorns, etc. Anything that passes through the tiles seems to also be able to pass through the drain hole. Available from WM or order direct from the manufacturer at http://www.dri-dek.com/
The manufacturer has a minimum order.
Please excuse the dirty deck in the picture. The Maid did not come in this week.
How about a hose screen like they use on your hot water inlet on your washing machine. Probably get them at a appliance repair supply.
They fit the standard garden hose female fitting, But are used in a lot of other apps. like washdown pumps,etc..
I wrestled with the clogged drain problem all last season. After crawling back under to access the hoses and dissconnecting them and cleaning them it clogged again soon after, so I tried the compressed air from the outside drain back up and that worked great. However, my boat is moored in water all season so that trick is impossible with the boat in the water so this season before placing the boat in the water I bought a small piece of screen repair (aluminum I think) and attached it over the drain hole by caulking (below waterline caulking) the screen perimeter to the gelcoat. Seems to be working well and no clogs so far!!
to clear the drain at the motor,fish a lenth of parashoot cord though and tie a not in the loop. Leave it in place. Whenever the drain blocks pull the not though(either wasy) and this will clean the drain. Cost about cents have been using this for years
Plug the outside. Put hot water in the sink. Let sit.
Fill engine well and pump with your bilge pump over the hole. Empty the well. Refill the sink with hot water and wait. Fill the well again and pump. If the sink drains, fill with water and pump at engine well. Repeat until draining freely into engine well. Remember to unplug the outside. I put in a seacock in.
That's dirty?? I would hate to hear what you think of mine.
When I took the picture yesterday, the boat was in the dark shed and the flash did not go off. I enhanced the dark picture in Paint Shop Pro to brighten it up so you could see the tiles. The enhancing had a side effect of whitening the dirt and crud and made everything look so much cleaner.
When I wrote my comment, I still had the mental picture of how it really looked.
26S Captain on Mon May 19, 2008 6:17 pm wrote:I used some old nylon sceen. (Household window screen). I cut a section and rolled it into a cone shape and put it in the drain. The advantage is (if done right) as the water rises, if the lower section of screen become blocked the uper section will still let water in and the cockpit will not fill up ( as much). This has limits depending on how much leaf you have to deal with but at least it will not beome block with one or two leaves.
argonaut on Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:36 pm wrote:Another thing that works is to make a plug by cutting one of those abrasive scrubber pad things that look like a sponge made by 3M. I let about 2 inces protrude out of the hole. Every couple of months I take it out & beat the dust off it then put it back in. My well gets filled with oak leaves and this has worked better than anything else so far. The pad´s pretty stiff yet water permeable.
I have the same problem. The motor well drain clogs up all the time.
The first time I tried the pressure hose solution I blew all the cr*p into the galley sink! Now I make sure the plug is in there pretty firmly before I blast the clogged drain.
Thanks to members that posted solution mods. I think I'll try a variant of Bransher's Dri-Dek tiles. It should keep the leaves, crickets and dropped fish bait out (here in oz we don't have to worry about acorns, although honkey nuts could be a problem ). Tiles wont keep the sand out tho, but that should be blastable if it is not gummed together with other miscellanea.
That black plastic fitting in the picture is actually an irrigation fitting, which you will find in an irrigation shop......it is actually designed to go on an intake pipe....and the thread screws in to a non return valve.
We call them strainers.
The idea is, when your pump draws water from say a dam, large debris can't pass thru the slots and then thru the pump.
If you go to an irrigation shop, you will find these fittings come in a wide range of sizes (I use the 2" ones).
Now to fit it to the drain hole in your "well", the irrigation shop with have black plastic joiners, and you will need one with a barb one end (probably 13mm = half inch: to ram into your hole) and a thread the other, (to screw in to your strainer). If you can't match the threads up, then there is a massive range of plastic irrigation "bushes" available.
Go for the rural B grade fittings....they are UV inhibited, and cheap.....no point in using the expensive pressure fittings in Class A
Now for another little trick.
As debris builds up in your drain pipe, and as it remains moist, it will decompose and leave a film on your pipes walls.
Back flush with a hose to get rubbish out.
Put a rag bung in the outlet hole
Pour a mixture of household bleach and water down pipe and let it sit there for a while. It will break-up the crud lining the pipe.
Pull your rag bung out and flush with the hose.
I recommend all keen handymen to visiit a good irrigation shop and go thru the shelves. They have such a wide range of fittings for every size and job. More fun than a hardware shop.
Cheers
Phillip
Philip
So nice to hear the Queen's Bloddy English
ours is becoming South Valley Eubonically Spanglish - like I mean like you know Philip said like man, like K passa my bro? theres ickky stuff in the agua thingie, I may never eat guacamole again.
James V wrote:True, but for the newer posters we take it easy on them and give a little help.
Perhaps we need a FAQ that we post every 1 or 3 months on how to search and the wealth of information that is stored there. There is no way a single post can provide the information/explainations/experiences that a good search can provide. And it might keep some of us old men from getting cranky.
Now I make sure the plug is in there pretty firmly before I blast the clogged drain.
