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Old 05-09-2010, 18:53   #1
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Configuring a Salt Water Washdown System

I'd like to setup a system using salt water for deck washing, anchor cleaning, cleaning fish, outdoor shower, and other things that aren't yet clear.

What systems are you guys/gals using?

I assume you could simply drop a sump pump overboard...
Depending on the volume needed, you could T into the engine coolant intake line.
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Old 05-09-2010, 21:48   #2
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G'day, mate. I have a dedicated washdown pump mounted below deck. I have both fresh and salt water plumbed into it with isolation valves. The discharge is plumbed to a quick connect fiting on deck that I can attach a hose to for the desired task. Hope that helps. Cheers.
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Old 06-09-2010, 01:25   #3
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We have a bit of flexible hose with a strainer on the end and a little bit of old chain wound around it as a weight.
We drop it over the side when necessary. Also useful for pumping out the dinghy and at a pinch it could be dropped down the companionway as an emergency pump.
It lives in a cockpit locker and is permanently plumbed to a Jabsco pump with a manual clutch belted off the engine.
The outlet is a deck filler fitting in the cabin wall that has a double ended threaded nipple screwed into it. One end screws into the deck fitting, and the hose screws onto the other end.
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Old 06-09-2010, 01:26   #4
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I haven't started installing mine yet but it will have a dedicated sea strainer (since I've already got and extra thru-hull) then the pump...like the Jabsco VSD but with higher capacity...I have the pump but don't remember the specifics of it, then a line run to the bow near the windless...I may go with a quick disconnect as well.
One thought about sharing the engines thru-hull....when the wash-down is used for the anchor, its likely that the engine will be running, so care should be taken that the wash down pump won't take water from the engine.
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Old 06-09-2010, 04:25   #5
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the engine won't care, but having't it's own through hull is better, the kind with a strainer on outside of hull is best but still use an in line strainer.

T in freshwater before the washdown pump, so when you close the throughhull, or close the valve in the salt water pump, then use it as freshwater both pumps kick on keeping up the pressure, and flushes the brine out of the main salty water pump. Plumbed mine in AFTER the pump and it started to get stinkiy when I was cleaning hoses, changed it and neve had a problem after and like I said the freshwater pressure was better.
After the pumps, put T and send a hose aft, and a hose forward, so you can reach every part of the boat and have two or more people cleaning at once!
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Old 06-09-2010, 04:37   #6
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You'll need to consider the priming ability of the pump that you choose, and position it accordingly. Ours was below the water line in the bilges so that it primed itself when the seacock was opened. It had a dedicated seacock, a coarse outside strainer and a screen strainer inline before the pump. And it's own breaker on the DC panel.
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Old 06-09-2010, 15:01   #7
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We have a 9.0 GPM Jabsco 18670 Series Water Puppy mounted in the forward head that draws water from the raw-water intake for the head. The 1/2" hose runs to the chain locker where we have an "on-off" switch to control the pump (no pressure switch). The system works well for anchor and deck wash down and is good for a water fight with the kids when opportunity presents itself. I plan to add a Y-Valve that will allow me to use the pump as an additional bilge pump should it ever be needed as sson as I get a few spare hours.

FWIW...
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Old 06-09-2010, 15:22   #8
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It took two solid days for me to install, wire and plumb the washdown pump on my last boat, and I probably used it three times in the eight years I cruised that boat. Fifteen hours of labor yielded maybe three minutes of actual use, which I figure conservatively is a 300/1 installation-to-use ratio. Hardly a work-saving device! Therefore, when we commissioned the new boat, we decided that a bucket with a rope would save considerable labor over the long haul. So far, having owned the "new" boat for four years now, I've yet to be in a situation where the bucket didn't work just fine.
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Old 06-09-2010, 15:33   #9
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I share the through hull with the A/C. It's in the bow so it is a close run. I can't imagine running A/C and needing the washdown pump. Sharing it with the engine is a bad idea. I use mine almost all the time when the engine is running and pulling in chain. Long saltwater hoses go bad easily. Use the shortest run possible! Mine runs through a proper sea strainer and has a plastic freshwater strainer just before the pump in the chain locker (above the water line). It keeps crap out of the pump. I use it 90% for washing chain caked in mud. Done right no mud touches the deck. Use only an all plastic nozzle on the hose with nylon fittings. I keep a spare as they break easily.
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Old 06-09-2010, 15:38   #10
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Bash - don't come to the Chesapeake! We invented sticky stinky mud. It's everywhere you really want to anchor and I'm talking really nice anchorages too. I wouldn't be without my washdown.

So it depends on if you need it or not.
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Old 06-09-2010, 15:39   #11
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Bucket

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bash View Post
It took two solid days for me to install, wire and plumb the washdown pump on my last boat, and I probably used it three times in the eight years I cruised that boat. Fifteen hours of labor yielded maybe three minutes of actual use, which I figure conservatively is a 300/1 installation-to-use ratio. Hardly a work-saving device! Therefore, when we commissioned the new boat, we decided that a bucket with a rope would save considerable labor over the long haul. So far, having owned the "new" boat for four years now, I've yet to be in a situation where the bucket didn't work just fine.
I second that idea-- Bucket Good. Manual windlass BAD.
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Old 06-09-2010, 15:39   #12
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Quote:
Manual windlass BAD
Amen.

Bucket PITA!
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Old 06-09-2010, 16:35   #13
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mine runs off the A/C pick up too.

I'm, considering T-ing the salt water pump and having one to the hand wand and a second to a spray nossle mounted under the bow pulpit aimed directly at the chain.
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Old 06-09-2010, 17:34   #14
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My boat has about the same as HyLyte but with a pressure switch. The pump is mounted in the head below the sink, pickup from the raw water inlet for the head, and the discharge is sent through a deck connection

Amazon.com: Jabsco 31911-0000 Marine Flush Mount Stainless Steel Water Hose Deck Fitting with Hose Connector (1/2" NPT Female Inlet): Sports & Outdoors

(the bronze one) which allows for a garden hose connection stretching to anywhere on deck - especially the anchor chain and windlass...

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Old 06-09-2010, 17:38   #15
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Here is our install
http://tinyurl.com/ydbhgmx
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