Running Engines on the Hard Stand

[Cruisin Cat]

I would like to do some engine test runs while my boat is hauled out. I have sail drives with cooling water intakes at the bottom of the sail drive legs, pretty much exactly like the lower end of an outboard motor.

So I'm wondering if I can use a set of outboard flushing water cups and put them on the sail drive leg with a hose connected to provide cooling water">engine cooling water.

I've never seen anyone do this which makes me wonder if there is some inherent problem which I've overlooked.

Has anyone done this?

Barrie

[Goosebumps]

Originally Posted by Cruisin Cat

I would like to do some engine test runs while my boat is hauled out. I have sail drives with cooling water intakes at the bottom of the sail drive legs, pretty much exactly like the lower end of an outboard motor.

So I'm wondering if I can use a set of outboard flushing water cups and put them on the sail drive leg with a hose connected to provide engine cooling water.

I've never seen anyone do this which makes me wonder if there is some inherent problem which I've overlooked.

Has anyone done this?

Barrie

I regularly run engines on the hard leading tubes to raw water intakes from oildrum in my cockpit which I keep pumped full with reular waterpump, euther fresh water when available or from seawater nearby with intake tube. I would like to mention that the vibrations of the engines can damage engine mountings and put unwanted steess on your hull.....
Good luck, hope this helps

[deblen]

Hooking a pressurized garden hose to drive legs with outboard motor "earmuffs" MAY cause water to backup from exhaust elbow into engine.
Safer to put a barrel under leg,fill it with water,& let engine suck water from barrel. Remove prop if u have to run in Fwd/Rev.

[Ex-Calif]

I second deblens idea. This is how we run outboards in our yard.

Keep the barrel full with a hose.

[colemj]

Forget the saildrive leg and just connect a hose to the intake of the raw water pump and put it in a bucket of water. Keep the bucket filled with a garden hose.

Mark

[ggray]

Some years back I needed to run my engine on the hard. So I made a reservoir out of a rectangular water jug (cut the top off) and installed a live-stock watering valve I got from my rural hardware store to control the water level. Connected the water hose to the valve, and stuck the raw water intake hose in the reservoir. Worked great.

A google search does not find the water valve I used, but this one might be better.

1" Hudson Valve

[OceansFive]

Using the raw water intake inside the boat is best.

The raw water pump is not designed to suck air/water from so far down if you try to suck up from the saildrive - remember this would normally be underwater and the water pressure would push water up to the pump.
Running a standard impeller when dry will wreck it very quickly.

[Sailorman Ed]

When I winterized mine out of the water, I just removed the hose from the saildrive unit and added funnel and let the antifreeze fill the funnel.

[Cruisin Cat]

Great replies!

Thanks everyone
Barrie