SS202 replumming

buddyray

We use our SS202 only on fresh water and keep it at our own cabin/dock.  
It came equipped with a livewell which I will never use - I'm not into fishing.  
It also came with a rear freshwater washdown - the nearest water to fill the tank with is 100yds down a steep hill - basically I'll never fill that water tank.

SO - I took the live well aerator off and replaced it with a hose barb - attached a 50 ft. coiled hose which I keep in the live well.  That gives me a "lake water" wash down hose that pumps water out of the lake and into the hose using the live well pump.  It works OK but that pump isn't particularly strong pressure to the hose.

I noticed that the freshwater pump is on a 10 amp fuse but the live well pump is on a 5 amp fuse.  That would lead me to believe that the fresh water pump is stronger - higher pressure.

I'm thinking about re-routing the tubing so that the freshwater pump draws water from the thru hull port normally used by the live well - then putting a T in the output line of that pump and feeding both the rear washdown hose (as it does now) AND the new front washdown hose with lake water.  It don't think both hoses would ever be used at the same time - each has a hose nozzle that shuts off.

The washdown system uses 1/2 in ID hose and the livewell uses 5/8 ID hose - but I can deal with that with some adapters.

Issues - there is an input filter on the thru hull - but I wonder if the freshwater pump will deal with "lake junk" as well as the livewell pump.
I know I'm voiding the warranties on this entire system - but that's ok.

Thoughts?  Anybody done this?

buddyray

Nobody has had a thought on this in over a year?

FlyingV5

Buddyray, I only just saw this post tonight. I think you are correct, the fresh water pump will make lots more pressure. Can you plumb it so the fresh water pump draws from the live well (maybe a selector valve for water tank or live well)? That way you would have the intake screen filtering the water into the livewell and the fresh water pump would have a supply of somewhat clean water to send to your hose.

Capt_Steve

@buddyray ... we just relaunched this Forum, so I think you'll find it much easier to get answers now. Thanks for sticking it out!

buddyray

I got tired of waiting for an answer so I just got back her to check.  Thanks for answering FlyingV5 - and for your comments Capt_Steve.

I haven't actually tackled this replumbing job yet - but the Boat is on the trailer for the winter so it may be easier now so I'm thinking about it again.  Depending on lake level - people walk across a muddy area to get on my dock and they track mud onto my dock and boat all the time - having a convenient and high pressure washdown hose would be a great benefit.

One other issue I've thought about is the fresh water pump - is it "Self Priming" - ie is it going to pull water UP from the lake via the Thru hull?  I guess I should go get the make and model of that pump and see what the pump manufacturer's website has to say about that issue.

One other thing I thought about is using the livewell pump to pump water into the fresh water tank.  I could then let the freshwater pump move the water from the tank to the hoses.  The SS202 doesn't have a sink or galley - so the ONLY use of this water is for the washdown hose.  But this just seems like a kludge and it means I have to winterize the freshwater tank - which has never had water in it.

A third thought is just drilling and putting in a second thru-hull to feed the freshwater pump - but DARN I have a hard time putting a drill to my "new" boat :-).

For now I'm going to try removing the livewell pump from the top of it's close off valve and seeing what it will take to connect a hose from there to the freshwater pump.

Thoughts anybody?  Any of the brilliant mechanics at Hurricane have any thoughts on this Capt. Steve? :-).

cjjjdeck

Buddy Ray, my washdown and sinks are connected to my fresh water tank and use a Jabsco Par-Max pump.  If your pump manufacturer is the same, then I would recommend installing the inline Jabsco PumpGard to protect the pump from raw water debris if you decide to convert..

Here's the link to the Jabsco catalog that has my pump listed:

http://www.xylemflowcontrol.com/files/MTC_05_Water_Pressure_Systems.pdf

Also, there's probably a bunch of envious owners in the forum with "non-working" livewells that are frustrated with yours working, but you don't really use it for it's intended purpose!  Funny how things work!  

I've attached a couple of pictures of the catalog section that shows my model pump and the PumpGard product.

The pump I pictured you'll see has a draw of 6 to 10 feet.

Hope this helps and let us know your progress.

buddyray

cjjjdeck,

It's going to have to warm up a bit here in Georgia before I work on the Boat but thanks for the info on the pump!!!

My Livewell is sporatic but I've discovered that if you just keep turning it on...off...on...off,  it will eventually prime itself and go.