I need to run engines without water source...opinions?

duped

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Heres the deal, I have a boat that has been sitting for two years. It was last in the water in the fall of 2013 and winterized by my marina since. It has twin 1985 Mercruiser 260/Alphas. I have the drives off, I just refinished, replaced impellers and pressure tested them.

I am at the stage where I would really like to make sure the engines are at least going to run. I can deal with tuning in the water, possible bad gas (was stabilized at least), but since its a 30 foot boat, when its in the water, it's in, and it needs to be moved under its own power to a dock.

I feel like if I can at least run the engines for 30 seconds or so, I would sleep better. What exactly is my timeframe before exhaust hoses and shutters start to go bad? Again, the drives are off so impellers won't burn, I have no water source, not even a hose. It is the middle of a storage facility on blocks.

Any advice and opinions are appreciated.
 

Bondo

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Ayuh,... The burnin' starts as soon as the motor lights,.... The 1st thing off the end of the riser, is a rubber boot,...

You decide how long is too long,....
 

airshot

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My guess is that you would need to take everything off the engine that is not metal, so you just have an engine and manifold not connected.....but even then still a gamble.
 

bilge rat jim

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How come you have no water source? aren't near a garden hose, or a barrel, or even a 5 gallon bucket?
 

duped

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Kinda what I expected to hear. So far the best idea I have is my 150 quart cooler, a drill pump and a hose stuck into the water inlet on the bell housing. Any thoughts on that? Any better ideas? I feel like a pump would be needed because there is no way we get the cooler to be higher than the motors on the boat...
 

bilge rat jim

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Kinda what I expected to hear. So far the best idea I have is my 150 quart cooler, a drill pump and a hose stuck into the water inlet on the bell housing. Any thoughts on that? Any better ideas? I feel like a pump would be needed because there is no way we get the cooler to be higher than the motors on the boat...
That sounds like a good idea. Once you have fed the block full of water, you should be good for a 30 second run. And once the cooler is empty, it'll be time to shut it down.
 

crazy charlie

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The cooler is a good idea.You can put it in the cockpit and run the hose to the power stering cooler or straight to the circulator pump and let gravity work.No need for the pump.It would be a very good idea to get the drive/s on the boat and make sure everything shifts properly before launching..A running engine is nice but you aint goin no where if the drives aint shifting right.Charlie
 

HorizonblueDK

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Here is how I run my engine, without a garden hose.

Without the drive, you can place the "bathtub" under the transom, so the water is collected and pumped back again. Connect the pump to the cooling hose on the transom.

 
Last edited:

JimS123

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Here is how I run my engine, without a garden hose.

Without the drive, you can place the "bathtub" under the transom, so the water is collected and pumped back again. Connect the pump to the cooling hose on the transom.


Looks like a disaster waiting to happen. The anti-freeze is being diluted. Recycling hot water isn't a good idea either.
 

JimS123

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Heres the deal, I have a boat that has been sitting for two years. It was last in the water in the fall of 2013 and winterized by my marina since. It has twin 1985 Mercruiser 260/Alphas. I have the drives off, I just refinished, replaced impellers and pressure tested them.

I am at the stage where I would really like to make sure the engines are at least going to run. I can deal with tuning in the water, possible bad gas (was stabilized at least), but since its a 30 foot boat, when its in the water, it's in, and it needs to be moved under its own power to a dock.

I feel like if I can at least run the engines for 30 seconds or so, I would sleep better. What exactly is my timeframe before exhaust hoses and shutters start to go bad? Again, the drives are off so impellers won't burn, I have no water source, not even a hose. It is the middle of a storage facility on blocks.

Any advice and opinions are appreciated.

Just use a bucket and hope for the best. If you burn some hoses or the impeller up, you'll know better next time.

Or, why not just do it right the first time. When the hoist drops it in the water, start the engines up before they remove the slings. If there is a problem, have them move it back to the blocks. They do it that way at my marina. It seems to me its better to pay for 2 launches than all those burned up parts.
 

tpenfield

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I do something similar to what the other folks have mentioned. I run the engines on my boat without the outdrives often ( mine are bravo drives though) yet I do have a water source. I rig an adapter to the bucket/hose combo that I have for winterizing and put the bucket high on the stern of the boat. Shove the hose end of my winterizing bucket/hose into the water tube of the transom assembly, then fill the bucket with the garden hose, or other water source.

If the bucket (cooler in your case) is much higher than the engine, you should get a decent amount of water flow through and out of the engine to avoid any problems.
 

JustJason

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Check your compression and check your base timing. Both can be done with the engine cranking, and not running. If compression and timing is good. The only thing that would prevent the engine from running correctly is fuel issues. Which can be sorted out with the boat in the water later on.
 

agallant80

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Oct 25, 2010
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I crank mine over and let it run for a few seconds just to hear it run. Have never burnt anything up. I just shut it down a few seconds after they run.
 
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