miamioffshore

I was told that the perko hose fittings on the port/starboard gunwales are for flushing the engines. Is this correct? I can't think of them being for anything else, but I dont want to just hook up a water line and fire up the engines out of water and find out the hard way that is not what they're there for. If so are these the kind that can be run while the boat sits in the water even if its saltwater? What is the correct procedure for using these whatever they are?

Thanks!

thisistank

You talking about the hose fittings that are usually on the starboard side, inside the engine compartment? Those are the fresh flush fittings. You can put the hose in and run one motor at a time while it's on the trailer. There are usually little levers down in the bildge to bypass the water pickups but these are very tempermental and frequently corrode causing them to break and or stick shut (bad!). If you don't close off the pickups while the boats in the water you'll still be picking up salt water.

miamioffshore

No, these are on both the port and starboard side on the top of the gunwale, in very close proximity to the fuel fill hole and the fill hole for the water holding tank

thisistank

Ah, my bad. Dont have a clue. Dont even think my boat has them. You do have the inner flush kit though right? I would find it redundant to have 2 different areas to flush the motors. And if they are, you will still need to override the pickups if the boat is in the water. What boat is it anyway?

Clay Washington

Yes... They are for running/flushing the engines while the boat is out of the water.

miamioffshore

Thanks Clay, so then to a turn the lever at the sea strainers to kill the water being poulled from the drives?

And what is the reason that I can't use these while the boat is still in the water? If in a scenarion where you were back at the dock after closing hours of the marina and they weren't going to rack your boat til the next day?

miamioffshore

It's a 91' Cafe