Friggin' Barnacles !

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by Blue Stocking

How much clearance do you have in the well to pull a cylindrical container, like a 5 gal paint bucket, up over the foot. If need be, stack 2 buckets with the bottom cut out of 1 to make a deeper container. Drop 2 lines down thru the well, retrieve them as support lines for the bucket, pull up over the engine, heavy dose of clorox, and run the engine.
A friend of mine does this to his Pearson Commander regularly.
It may solve your problem.

That sounds like a good idea. I'll try it next year.

[motion30]

When u say you have seen the the flow of coolant and it is down to a trickle, flow from where? If you mean the telltale that could be blocked by grass or debris Is your motor overheating? I this were me and it is actually having a problem every year, I would look at moving the motor to a transom bracket where it can be tilted up after use

[capngeo]

Originally Posted by motion30

When u say you have seen the the flow of coolant and it is down to a trickle, flow from where? If you mean the telltale that could be blocked by grass or debris Is your motor overheating? I this were me and it is actually having a problem every year, I would look at moving the motor to a transom bracket where it can be tilted up after use

+1 on this and to elaborate, I'd pop the line off the through case fitting and run the motor to see the volume of water being pumped.

It is fairly unlikely the barnies are INSIDE the motor as they require FLOWING water to survive. If you have an outboard you almost certainly have aluminum alloys.... I would avoid a strong acid/base solution. IF you have confirmed there is some organic material lining the water passages of your motor, next time you can haul, run the motor in a barrel of DILUTED acid in water. I would say 1:50 muriatic acid/water should be the max I would try.

As far as prevention is concerned, the bag trick is about all that is available to you UNLESS you figure out a way to haul the lower unit up... Post some pix and maybe the forum can come up with some ideas for you!

[Captain Bill]

As most outboards are aluminum I would be careful about too much in the way of acids or caustic treatments. The problem you are having is likely due to a clogged intake. Barnacles cannot live in anaerobic conditions and the water inside your engine would go anaerobic very quickly after it was shut down. I suspect that you will find that the foot of your engine is covered when you take the engine out at the end of the season. I'm going to suggest that you consider painting the foot of your engine with an aluminum compatible bottom paint. There are several on the market and most should last one normal sailing season in new england. Make sure and get the intakes, but DO NOT clog the screens in the intakes. I used the spray on stuff that West Marine sells but it only lasted about 6 months in NC, but that is about a normal season in New England. Even after 6 months there were only some barnacles, the lower unit wasn't encased in them.

To salvage the rest of this season you might try to clean the barnacles off with a scraper or a mild acid such as vinegar. You didn't mention the brand of outboard, but if it has a head flushing hose attachment you might try connecting a hose and trickling fresh water through it. A guy I met in Florida did that to his saildrives to keep the intakes clear. Outboard intakes are a bit different than saildrives and only a little of the water that goes in the head flush hose fitting will come out of the intakes but it may be enough. Good luck.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by capngeo

+1 on this and to elaborate, I'd pop the line off the through case fitting and run the motor to see the volume of water being pumped.

It is fairly unlikely the barnies are INSIDE the motor as they require FLOWING water to survive.

Well, I know that last year, the guys who maintained my motor said that barnacles were deep inside the motor. I also scraped the water intake and opened the screen to scrape inside as well as I could (I was in my dinghy and reaching under the water).

Of course, I'm sure that you know what's likely better than I do. When we pull the motor this season, perhaps I'll learn better what happened.

Also, I'm not quite sure what you mean about popping the line off through the case fitting. Could you please elaborate?

As far as prevention is concerned, the bag trick is about all that is available to you UNLESS you figure out a way to haul the lower unit up... Post some pix and maybe the forum can come up with some ideas for you!

I won't be at the boat for about a week or so, but I'll try to post some pictures as soon as I can.

Thanks for the help.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

The problem you are having is likely due to a clogged intake. Barnacles cannot live in anaerobic conditions and the water inside your engine would go anaerobic very quickly after it was shut down. I suspect that you will find that the foot of your engine is covered when you take the engine out at the end of the season.

Could be. I tried to clean the intake, but I could not reach it easily from the dinghy and so perhaps I didn't do a good job.

I'm going to suggest that you consider painting the foot of your engine with an aluminum compatible bottom paint. There are several on the market and most should last one normal sailing season in new england.

In fact, I did that this year. I bought a can of spray paint that the Mercury Marine shop was selling.

To salvage the rest of this season you might try to clean the barnacles off with a scraper or a mild acid such as vinegar. You didn't mention the brand of outboard, but if it has a head flushing hose attachment you might try connecting a hose and trickling fresh water through it. A guy I met in Florida did that to his saildrives to keep the intakes clear. Outboard intakes are a bit different than saildrives and only a little of the water that goes in the head flush hose fitting will come out of the intakes but it may be enough. Good luck.

It is a Mercury Marine 8HP two-stroke. I don't think it has a head flushing hose attachment. The owner's manual shows how to flush the system by removing the prop and reaching the intake.

I could have, however, overlooked something.

Much thanks for the suggestions.

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by phiwum

Thanks, I've seen the stream of coolant. It's down to a trickle, so I reckon I better cut the season short.

While the motor idles take a small piece of wire (like seizing wire) and stick it in the hole and wiggle it. If that doesn't get the water flowing it is a problem, if it does go sailing.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by motion30

When u say you have seen the the flow of coolant and it is down to a trickle, flow from where? If you mean the telltale that could be blocked by grass or debris Is your motor overheating?

I have not run the motor (aside from idling for short times) since seeing the slow flow. I think that it was close to overheating the day that I saw the slow flow, but the engine was running horribly that day for other reasons (namely, the fuel was not flowing steadily at the time, since fixed).

I'll try to check out the telltale and see if it's blocked next week.

I this were me and it is actually having a problem every year, I would look at moving the motor to a transom bracket where it can be tilted up after use

Yeah, maybe so. I might wait a year and try some of these other suggestions. Putting the outboard on the transom would be a kinda ugly solution and then the motor well seems like wasted space.

I'm not sure why I should have more problems than the other fellas at my mooring. I need to chat with them as well.

[JiffyLube]

I looked through manuals for a Cape Dory 25, and no where did I find information on an engine well, or mounting an outboard in a engine well. Was this engine well built this was by the builder? Looks the the way to solve this problem is to mount the outboard on the stern of the boat, and then the engine can be lifted out of the water.

[blgklr]

Since you only need the motor for short durations of time I would look into an electric trolling motor. I know you can get get 100 pound thrust models, maybe even stronger. No cooling water to worry about plus smaller and lighter for getting in and out of the well. Also you may eliminate the need for carrying gas if you have shore power for charging. Or you can add a Honda generator if you needed your own power source.

[Drew13440]

OK, thinking a little more about this, the engine well design is original and was used on a lot of boats besides CD's. I have not heard of barnacle problems this severe before, particularly when the engine is getting moderate use and is out of the water half the year.

So I am thinking mechanical issues here, or something with the design of this particular motor that may aggravate the situation. I would get a second opinion from a good mechanic once the boat is out of the water.

[Tellie]

It's a Mercury 8hp. It can't be that hard to lift straight up. Let's see a few good pics from several different angles when you get back to the boat. Only seeing this in my minds eye I can't help but believe there isn't a simple solution to rasie this motor. Get pics and throw it out to the board. My guess is you'll have the answer from someone here before the sun sets.

[Captain Bill]

I looked up the owner's manual on line and the flushing unit is attached near the foot, so it doesn't look like that is much of an option. Like BLGKLR says you may also have a mechanical problem going on. If you are only going by what's coming out of the "pee" hole, it could be as simple as a piece of debris clogging the hole. It could also be a bad impeller. The owner's manual says replace every 12 months. Sitting dry all winter is often harder on them than using them.

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

I looked up the owner's manual on line and the flushing unit is attached near the foot, so it doesn't look like that is much of an option. Like BLGKLR says you may also have a mechanical problem going on. If you are only going by what's coming out of the "pee" hole, it could be as simple as a piece of debris clogging the hole. It could also be a bad impeller. The owner's manual says replace every 12 months. Sitting dry all winter is often harder on them than using them.

I am not positive, but I think that we changed the impeller last spring.

Even if so, of course, the impeller could be the issue.

[hellosailor]

I wouldn't try sticking a wire up the intake while the engine is running: Any debris you dislodge will move further up into the system, and possibly impact the impeller.

Take a good look at the engine, and the impeller housing. Is there some point where you coul have a machine shop tap in a fitting, so you could screw in a hose and backflush the lower unit with a shot of bleach or vinegar, something that any barnacles in the line would be killed by? If the impeller housing (cover plate) would work, that would be ideal, since you can walk it into a machine shop without pulling the engine, and they can clean any metal bits off of it before giving it back to you.

You could probably squeeze some dishsoap in...kill the critters and lube the engine at the same time.<G>