Water Strainer/Filter

I was thinking and wanted to get some feed back.

I have a water strainer on the intake of my manifold for the GIII system, im planning on going 2 Rule 1800 pumps and hook one to each side of the Irritol pumps and manifolds.

Problem: I don't want to buy a second strainer, I was thinking i would take the strainer off my ballast system and plumb it to the Engine intake that way it has a strainer on it. I see this as a more important option as i would rather filter my engine intake to keep debris out of my impeller.

I don't exactly want stuff in my ballast system eighter but i can replace those valves and such a lot easier then my engine. On a side not i generally only run on lakes 60 to 200ft deep and most are all fresh clean water, very little weeds or debris normally.

The only issue I have had with stuff in the ballast is that I sucked a small stick through the system and burned up an evac pump. Only killed 1 in 5 years and I still do not have a strainer.

Had a strainer on the ballast system for the 1st year, when I pulled it off there was nothing in it, and we have shallow lakes 5-15 maybe 20' deep in spots

Yeah i can't figure why they'd put one on the ballast but not the raw water intake.

Mike the problem i see is the diameter of the raw water intake which is 1 1/4" i think? If so isn't the ballast strainer smaller? If so you'd have a water restriction and potential heating issues.

I second what Razz said, Mike. I am putting a fresh water strainer on the water intake first thing this year, once I get the boat out of storage. I purchased the fresh water strainer from skidim, and it's a LOT bigger than the one for the ballast system. It's bigger for good and obvious reasons though - namely the amount of water you'll be pulling thru it.

I'd say just drop the strainer on the ballast, and invest in a strainer on your fresh water intake. I think you hit it right, it's cheap insurance on keeping debris out of the eingine, and especially out of the transmission cooler. That's where I found some stuff this year, and figured a fresh water strainer was cheap insurance.

I'm like you though, run in deeper water, and it's usually super clean. I think the gunk that was in the tranny cooler was from the previous owner down in OK, but, you never know. Found a piece of the impellar too, so, I guess there's another bonus!

Just for the record it seem that Skidim has the best prices period on the strainer, i'll be ordering one from them. Shoulda done it when i ordered an impleller last week ... DOH! :p

On my setup there was a screen in the inlet of the transmission cooler, I am guessing it exist on newer systems too. Make sure it is clean and you know you are good from the start with the new strainer. There was trash in mine. I got all the parts from skdim also for the install....easy project.

I thought my 08 XLV had a water strainer for the engine? I know I saw two water strainers in the v-drive access and one was on the ballast.

mcdye,

they were putting a strainer (althought a crude one) on the tranny coolers way back in the 70's (we had a 1975 MasterCraft). I found out when we smoked the motor (warped the heads) and found out it was clogged with weeds. The problem with that one is you don't know because you can't see it. We ordered our LS with the factory strainer and it is right there where the whole world can see it and it can be easily cleaned. Now that being said, we have been really surprised that we didn't ruin the old Master Craft engine earlier as much stuff as we get out of our lake! It is cleaned everyday before we leave the dock!

If you do replace valves I've had great luck with www.sprinklerwarehouse.com

Sounds all too familiar, Ed. On the plus side after installing my own irrigation system this ballast stuff has been a walk in the park!

Dan,

Can you come to NY an install your valves.:D

Joe

Skidim is for sure the best pricing I've seen. Their shipping seemed to take a while, but, being in Eastern Washington, not like I'll be riding this month! I thought their prices were a bit high for the hose barbs, so I didn't order those. I'm sure the Depot or Lowes or ACE or anywhere would have them, and hopefully a bit cheaper.

I've noticed that they also have a great price on an aftermarket shower too. I think there's been posts on here before about installing the shower, and I'm kicking that idea around. But, it looks like the kit comes with everything necessary, and it's by far the cheapest I've seen so far. Definately keep them in mind for your boating needs!

OK so i just found a great find. The raw water strainers that Skidim sells for $49.95 are made by Sherwood and are nylon (plastic) tops with a clear removable bowl with a 20 mesh 316 stainless screen. In searching around i found out that Mcmaster-Carr sells the Hypro T-line strainers for $28.50 in the 1 1/4" inlet/outlet size. Same thing (size, mesh, material) but over $20 cheaper! Turns out these strainers are used in everything from boats to Ag equipment which is what Hypro makes. I will be ordering one of these! Shown are the Hypro (left) and Sherwood (right) for comparison, both are built identical to include buna-N (nitrile) seals.

Here's a link to Hypro's Catalog - scroll down to nylon line strainers on page 15

Oh crap! 20 bucks! That's a solid case of beer!! Nice find Razz. There's a reason why Master is in the name!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jmvotto

Dan,

Can you come to NY an install your valves.:D

Joe

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Ha! That would be some roadtrip!

Razz, nice find! I wonder what other marine parts could be had from that same source...

Razz........Nice find!
Are you replacing your existing or why are you buying one? It's a good deal but wondering if a person should swap them out every now and then? Or at least buy the rubber o-ring and replace? Thoughts?

No i don't have one so i'm adding it in. Our lakes are deep and clean and i'm never near shore but it doesn't hurt for that price to add it in.

Brain i noticed a lot of pieces that could be used in a ballast install on Hypro's web catalog.

Viking the orings are nitrile and don't deterioate like butyl rubber so they should be good for along time. Never hurts to have a spare i guess though.

So here's something i totally missed last night, it looks like Sherwoods strainer is made by Hypro! Check the pick and you'll see Hypro's name right on the blasted label!

So i ordered one of these up on Saturday along with two barbed fittings from McMaster-Carr for $31.26 plus shipping. I'll post pics of the install when i get around to doing it.