By Mark "Corky" Decker
HOSES AND CLAMPS
Jeff’s rule of thumb is that every five years replace all the hoses and clamps on the main engines and generators. That’s every hose not just most of them no matter how hard they are to get to or purchase, here is why. While the engines are running, cold water is pumped though the hose and heat exchangers, but when you shut them off it takes a long time in a hot summer engine room for them to cool down. The hot and cold affects the hoses, and in the long term the hose will age and weaken. This is not always visible, so the five year rule is recommended. Always use a top quality hose—blue silicone hoses are excellent, easy to work with and made with strict quality control. Aircraft stainless steel hose clamps cost more, but are just so much better than your standard marine clamp, you can really crank down on them without fear of the clamp cutting into your new hoses making the extra investment well worthwhile.
On my project, once we tore up the salon floor we were extremely pleased to find that the previous owner had replaced every hose within the last few years, not to say we didn’t find any surprises—we did big time, but my hose fear was put to rest. We decided to replace every hose and clamp anyway, knowing exactly what you have equates to peace of mind.
WATER IN WATER OUT
There are lots of pieces to this puzzle between seawater being sucked into a through-hull fitting to being blown out the exhaust. I learned heaps by helping Jeff go through my systems start to finish. We removed every sea strainer on the boat and soaked them in a vat of Barnacle Buster (more on this great stuff in a bit). We wire-wheeled the brass, used new gaskets, and of course new hoses and clamps, and the strainers looked, and better yet, operated like new.
Next up was the water pumps. I had spares for both the main engines and the gen set, but they were all used, and I really had no idea on their true condition. Reminds me of an old saying, “Hard saying, not knowing.”
Jeff’s rule of thumb is that every five years replace all the hoses and clamps on the main engines and generators. That’s every hose not just most of them no matter how hard they are to get to or purchase, here is why. While the engines are running, cold water is pumped though the hose and heat exchangers, but when you shut them off it takes a long time in a hot summer engine room for them to cool down. The hot and cold affects the hoses, and in the long term the hose will age and weaken. This is not always visible, so the five year rule is recommended. Always use a top quality hose—blue silicone hoses are excellent, easy to work with and made with strict quality control. Aircraft stainless steel hose clamps cost more, but are just so much better than your standard marine clamp, you can really crank down on them without fear of the clamp cutting into your new hoses making the extra investment well worthwhile.
On my project, once we tore up the salon floor we were extremely pleased to find that the previous owner had replaced every hose within the last few years, not to say we didn’t find any surprises—we did big time, but my hose fear was put to rest. We decided to replace every hose and clamp anyway, knowing exactly what you have equates to peace of mind.
WATER IN WATER OUT
There are lots of pieces to this puzzle between seawater being sucked into a through-hull fitting to being blown out the exhaust. I learned heaps by helping Jeff go through my systems start to finish. We removed every sea strainer on the boat and soaked them in a vat of Barnacle Buster (more on this great stuff in a bit). We wire-wheeled the brass, used new gaskets, and of course new hoses and clamps, and the strainers looked, and better yet, operated like new.
Next up was the water pumps. I had spares for both the main engines and the gen set, but they were all used, and I really had no idea on their true condition. Reminds me of an old saying, “Hard saying, not knowing.”
