Tohatsu Sailboat Flushing

What is the best method to flush a new Tohatsu MFS 15C HP 4 strokes which sits on an engine bracket way back of a 30" sailboat, it's a AFT model (electric start & trim) the sailboat is attached to a buoy far from a marina. Flushing posibilities :

1-Ear muffs with hose attached to on board tap water bucket, muffs always lose pressure & water while flushing no matter how tight they are against lower tail.

2-Tail Flusher coupler with hose attached to same on board tap water bucket. Will need to seal with duct tape side water inlets and under cav plate water strainner to avoid salt water intrusion.

3-Proper bucket to place tail deep enough for a good flushing filled with on board tap water.

For points 2-3 will need to raise tail out of water, place coupler or bucket, lower leg and start engine for at least a 3 minute flush. Is there any other creative alternative ? Sailors with flushing experience are needed...

Related Tech Issues:

1-For proper breaking engine purposes, is it the same to break a new engine following owners manual hours recommendation wether the engine is pushing a light versus a heavy sailboat ?

2- E-8, is it advisable to follow same E-10 recommendations, run cab dry after each use, use the amount on tank needed for that outing ?

Happy Boating

Re: Tohatsu Sailboat Flushing

Sea Rider - I gather you are trying to do a fresh water flush while the motor is on the boat? Tough problem, I have only ever flushed mine (8HP Honda) after having removed it.

I would not think any kind of muff or tail flusher would work if the inlet hose end is just in a bucket - I would guess you need water pressure. Not sure how to get that - unless you have a good, powerful pressurized fresh water system. Maybe try hauling as big a bucket as you can handle up your halyard somewhat, with some kind of fitting for the hose glued or epoxied into it, to get some gravity based pressure? That would not give you much, but might be enough to just do a quick flush (though I'd be very wary of running the impeller dry).

I can't imagine how you would suspend a bucket (it'd have to be rather tall) of water to submerge the LU enough to cover the inlet ports, and be able to hold the weight.

Re: Tohatsu Sailboat Flushing

Luis, That motor has a "sub strainer" on the underside of the ventilation plate. So you can't use muffs or the flushing attachment unless you tape that off. If you want to get creative, you could try "backflushing" through the telltale hose... but that will not flush a lot through the upper part of the block/head unless you have a significant amount of flush water pressure and volume... but it will indeed work.

Re: Tohatsu Sailboat Flushing

Paul

Some misinformation, it's not a Tohatsu model as stated, it's a Mercury 15 HP 4 strokes, electric start with control box and non electric trim. Has a big water strainer under cav plate next to the fluh water port. Does not have water side inlets nor plug wash port located next to upper level oil plug as same Tohatsu 15 C model. Think the best and fastest flushing method will be; using a dinghy at rear engine as a working platform, lift tail, place a bucket under, lower tail, fill with tab water, start engine and flush for some minutes, turn engine off, sink bucket deep enough to remove from tail.

Question: If closing with duct tape the under strainer and placing the flushing adapter under cav plate port attached to a hose and then dipping the other extreme into a bucket full of tab water sitting inside a dinghy, will the impeller have sufficient force as to suck water towards head while engine is on ?

Happy Boating

Re: Tohatsu Sailboat Flushing

Maybe. Depends on length of that hose, rpm, and height up to the impeller. Better to do the bucket flush as you suggested.