cleaning engine seawater strainers

[spincycle]

never done this before, it looks to be about time to do it to, some sediment visible in side the glass. 1990 Hatt with 8-92TI's, they are easy to get to and the thru-hull seacock is easy to locate. Is this a thing i can do when she is in the water?

Spincycle

 

[Genesis]

Of course.

Close seacock, open it up, disassemble to get the "glass" (actually acrylic plastic) out, clean, scrape off old gaskets, put on new gaskets, reassemble.

Simple.

If its just the baskets that need cleaning that's a 2 minute job - close seacock, open access door, pull strainer, clean, replace, close and fasten access door, open seacock.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Do everything that Genesis says and also do the same treatment to the strainers for your genset and air conditioning cooling water. We do our AC strainer every other week and completly disassemble it every 2 months. Lots of barnacles in that strainer because our AC runs most of the time.

 

[spartonboat1]

When you are pulling the strainers, watch out for the leading edges. They are rolled stainless from blanked/cut off sheets with holes, then spot welded to hold their cylindrical shape. In places, they can be very sharp at the leading edge- so can cut you, so be aware. Groco (if what you have) has replacement cylinders and gasket sets. Unless you tear up the gaskets they can often be reused. I usually put a light coat of good quality thread sealant on one surface before reassemble and usually no leaks.

I don't know if your units have the little nylon washer under the wing nut that holds the cover plate in place, but the gasket sets include the washer.

I usually just run faucet water into the closed end. Please note that the closed end "disc" is just a press fit. So if you knock it loose, just push it back into place...no harm.

 

[sgharford]

Thought I would throw in 2 bits too. Replacing original monel baskets (if Groco) with newer plastic type worked well for me last year when I rebuilt my strainers. All the new Groco strainers apparently come with the plastic type now as they don’t disintegrate, however the mesh is not as fine as monel but looks tight enough for me. They are also half the price of monel. The monel had disintegrated near bottom where sediment lay and there were indeed plenty of sharp edges.

Also, be careful if you remove acrylic see-thru cylinder. I removed mine and had a hell of a time getting back on in terms of gasket alignment. My boat is a 43 DC - they really have the port side strainer in God awful place for servicing this cylinder. Wasn't until yard put her back in water that I found there was a signifigant leak in gasket. Wasn't until I turned seacock to stop leak that I realized the seacock (even though full 90 degrees) leaked too! Oh what fun that was! Actually just got that 2.5" seacock and strainer out of boat yesterday so I could replace seacock this year. Yachtsman Bill - Thanks for telling me about yellow 'propane' canisters, wasn't able to get strainer off with blue can when heating up, but no problem with yellow can burning hotter.

 

[StratPlan61]

I need to clean all 10 of mine (I think all thru-hulls have seastrainers, maybe only 6?). The last time I cleaned one of the large ones on the Port Engine, the gasket disinegrated in my hands. Circumstances didn't allow any time to hunt up a replacement gasket so I slapped it back together with some 'liquid gasket goop' - it worked OK, no leaks. Now I am dreading this job! Most of my smaller seastrainers I cannot hardly get to through the small floor hatches. I may have to cut larger hatches? - or hire the yard to do it (really hate that thought).

 

[Pascal]

i dont think i ever disassembled mines... I pull the baskets when needed (once a month on the AC, once every couple of years for the genny, once every few years for the mains!).

it depends... my genny has a shower head on the thruhull so nothing makes it thru... the mains dont' run as many hours as the AC or Genny so they don't suck a lot of things, whenever i check them, they're clean.

sure there are some barnacles and build up on the inside of the "glass".. so what?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I have never bought a gasket for my strainers. I just get a sheet of the red rubber material at the hardware store and cut new gaskets out of that. It's cheap and you can make any size that you need at a moments notice. It also lasts longer than those cork gaskets.

 

[Walter P]

Excellent idea Sky. How thick is the rubber material you use for the gaskets?

So far so good with little or no maintainance required in my boating area with my oem strainers. When I lived in Panama City Beach, Fl, I seemed to have a need to clean the baskets every other outing. Not so up in the NE. A couple of years ago JFTHOI (just for the heck of it), I bought a couple of wedge type strainers that attach on the exterior of the hull. They are still looking pretty on a shelf in my storage trailer. I've been considering installing them mainly so I could eliminate the large canister types in the ER. It's just one more thing that may not need to clutter up the spaces. This is the winter to do it as I need to replace one of the seacocks (port engine) and "while I'm at" replace the 2 7/8" hose.

Does anyone have experience with this type of strainer and if so is there any down side to do what I propose? I would like to make an informed decision so please guys and/or gals, let me know.

Walt

 

[spincycle]

Thanks guys, all good information, i will clean them this weekend. It will just be the basket I am removing not the acrylic part. The sediment I mentioned is like a silt like substance, some thing i must have picked up in some shallow depths I guess.

Happy new year to you all!

Spincycle

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Walt,
I think the gasket material is about 1/8" think.

 

[Walter P]

Thanks Sky.

It looks like rubber mat material.... I'll try to find some.

Walt

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Walt,
I think it is actually a silicone rubber material. Just set the strainer cover on it and trace around it. Then use scissors to cut to fit.

 

[Captned]

Auto parts places stock that stuff. What do you guys use to cut out gaskets? Didn't someone mention a tool just for that purpose awhile back?

Cheers,

Captned
MBMM

 

[krush]

yachtsmanbill put up pictures of his fancy circle gasket cutter. That's just normal rubber gasket making material. You might could get away with gasket paper if you are in a bind, or lay a layer of silicone.

 

[TopHattandTails]

Ahhh - so that's why I need a torch wrench to re-tighten my strainer covers back down and not get leaks - no gaskets anymore... Think I'll go get some of that silicone/ rubber and install next spring. I'm a little afraid to tear apart the gaskets while the boat is in the barn. Fear that they might leak once the dunk her next April... Thanks for the tip!

 

[yachtsmanbill]

This here is the unit... when I did my strainers last year, the PO mustve really cranked down on the studs to stop the leaking. The bases were distorted, but DO NOT try to straighten them, they are cast bronze and will crack. I used red neoprene gasket material (1/8") for water service which is a bit "forgiving", along with a film of RTV on the bottom gasket for the bent frame.
Make sure the frames and the lense is CLEAN and dont forget the nylon washer under the wingnut.
http://www.allpaxcorp.com/cgi-bin/a ws

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

Walt,
I think the gasket material is about 1/8" think.

I use a neoprene material which is about 1/16" thick. You can always find something on board to use as a template (drink koozies are the right diameter for some). Also, keep a bottle washer brush (Wal-Mart) handy in the bilge for cleaning out the "globes".

FWIW, turn off the through hull valves when docked for long periods of time. I had a luggage "business card" size sign made at Office Depot which I attach to the wheel and says: "Check Ball Valves". This way I flag myself and avoid never accidentally attempt to crank an engine without opening the valves.

 

[MarioG]

I have never bought a gasket for my strainers. I just get a sheet of the red rubber material at the hardware store and cut new gaskets out of that. It's cheap and you can make any size that you need at a moments notice. It also lasts longer than those cork gaskets.

thats exactly what I do Sky!

 

[MarioG]

Walt,
I think it is actually a silicone rubber material. Just set the strainer cover on it and trace around it. Then use scissors to cut to fit.

this is the easyest way.