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Showing results for tags 'Mud box'.
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Hello, I have a 30' cruiser with a BMC engine and a bit of a problem with the raw water cooling system. The mudbox is a 6" long plastic tube, 3" diameter, threaded on both ends, with plastic caps. The line to the gearbox cooler comes out of one cap, the other one is removable to access the strainer. The cylinder is horizontal, it is bolted at the middle to the hole in the hull, and right opposite that, i.e, on the top of the cylinder, there is a plastic hose connection with a valve. I wanted to upload a photo, but that is not possible, hence the lengthy description. When I bought the boat, there was suction on that hose connection at the top of the mudbox, and it worked as a bilge pump. Very handy, because the channel for the prop shaft is narrow, with less than inch of clearance either side of the shaft, so no bilge pumos fit in there. Today the suction stopped and I noticed that there was some rubbish in the hose leading to the top of the box. Then removed the whole hose connection and could see the strainer being very dirty. I then opened the mud box and was very surprised by the amount of water that came out, I barely managed to screw the cap back in. Now that the strainer is clean, there is no way I could remove the top and look inside, water gushes in. And when I run the engine there is no suction from that hose connection, on the contrary, water comes out of it at all times. So my questions are: -Is it normal to have a vacuum port out of the mud box? -Now I am thinking that maybe the inlet to the mud box was dirty and that created the suction, could that be the case? -Maybe there is some part that came out when I removed the strainer and I lost it? If the mudbox does not have a vacuum port, would it be a good idea to connect a hose to the suction side of the raw water pump (Jabsco) to work as a bilge pump? I get a lot of water in when the prop is turning, 20-30 litres per hour. The electric bilge pump can cope with that, but the level doesn't go below the shaft and thus the pulleys are submerged and the belts slip. Thanks in advance Nestor