Author Topic: Running your ski boat on the trailer  (Read 5699 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline RonT

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1202
    • RonTanis
  • Boat Make/Model/Year: American Skier/Eagle V-25/2001
Running your ski boat on the trailer
« on: July 14, 2015, 04:00:05 PM »
Safely Running Your Ski Boat on the Trailer
By Ron Tanis

There are (3) typical ways to run your inboard ski boat while on the trailer.
1) Tool called Fake a lake aka toilet plunger, this tool presses against the hull bottom around the water intake fitting and is fed by a garden hose.
Easy to set up, but can overfeed AND underfeed water to the pump, cannot tell if pump is actually pumping water or is the city pressure from   the hose doing all the work?  When underfed the pump will starve for water which can cause impeller damage. When overfed which is rare you can stress the impeller blades backwards causing damage. This tool works well at a    specific engine RPM which is always a mystery. Limited to idle RPM only.

2) Flush water fitting, these are rare but some boats do have them, more common around salt water and typically a salt water option when the boat was built.
   Connect your hose to the fitting & start & run but be careful never to exceed idle speeds as the    hose volume will not keep up with demand.

3) The trusty 5 gallon bucket.
   Almost as easy to set up as the toilet plunger, but much safer and trustworthy. Connect a 3-4'    piece of suction rated 1 1/4" hose (pool hose) and find a convenient place to break into the    water intake system, seawater strainer, trans cooler etc. Drop the other end of the hose into the    bucket alongside the engine. Fill with water, start engine & watch the water level drop (hose off)    this will give you an indication of the impeller condition. A good pump/impeller will suck 5    gallons down in about 10-20 seconds. Then shut the engine off, fill with your garden hose and    restart the engine while keeping the hose on supplementing the bucket with water. This method    cannot over stress the impeller blades from overfeeding, or under feeding if the bucket has    water in it. You can also rev the engine up using the bucket, just make sure the bucket has water    in it, you will be amazed how much water these small pumps move!




Offline RonT

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1202
    • RonTanis
  • Boat Make/Model/Year: American Skier/Eagle V-25/2001
Re: Running your ski boat on the trailer
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2015, 02:45:56 PM »
Added a new video for running on the bucket:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE37Gt70DF8

Offline RonT

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1202
    • RonTanis
  • Boat Make/Model/Year: American Skier/Eagle V-25/2001
Re: Running your ski boat on the trailer
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2015, 07:16:58 AM »
Hose adapter for running on a bucket (you still provide the bucket) Part# MEC-0070

Offline rickturl

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 22
  • Rick
  • Boat Make/Model/Year: American Skier Volante 1990
Re: Running your ski boat on the trailer
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2016, 12:14:27 PM »
Thanks for the great info Ron. My boat came with a "fake a lake" device installed by a previous owner. It is made from a T-Junction of white PVC (see photo) with a garden hose fitting and cap secured to the "T." It appears to be installed in the proper place based on your video - correct? But since it is fed by the garden hose, it sounds as if I should only run this at idle since the water flow rate may not keep up. Or I could use this as an access point for your 5-gallon bucket method by using a short piece of garden hose to feed from the bucket to the "T." Should I be concerned by the diameter of the garden hose and hence the water flow rate being a limiting factor?
Thanks,
Rick

Offline shyskier

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 62
  • Boat Make/Model/Year: american skier advance 88
Re: Running your ski boat on the trailer
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2016, 03:27:34 PM »
You are correct, not enough volume with 5/8" hose to feed impeller above idle.