Re: Flushing systems
The way Flying Kidney says to do it is correct. Personally, I think (other opinions may vary) Perko products are overpriced and of average quality at best. If you use a plastic valve, make sure it's above water line. I'd use all bronze (no brass) fittings and make sure the parts are tied into your zinc system. You can make the set-up yourself for a lot less. Boater's World has a good selection of bronze fittings. Assuming your thru-hulls have seacocks already on them, all you need is a bronze tee, one male/male npt (national pipe thread) nipple, a hose barb adaptor to go from a female pipe thread (on the Tee) to a 3/4" marine grade hose, two all 316 stainless hose clamps, a length of 3/4 I.D. marine grade hose long enough to allow you to capture one end of the hose well above water line, a 3/4" hose barb/ female garden hose fitting (getting this in bronze may be tough,so if you use brass, check it each time you flush the engine), a cap for this garden hose fitting adaptor, and two more stainless hose clamps. You take the hose nipple out of the thru-hull sea **** , thread the male/male adaptor into the sea **** , thread one end of the Tee onto the adaptor, thread the hose nipple you removed onto the other end of the Tee, thread the 3/4" hose barb onto the side port of the Tee, attach the 3/4" hose with two hose clamps, attach the garden hose adaptor to the other end with two hose clamps, and strap it so that the end is above water line, and cap it. Make sure you use pipe dope on all threaded fittings. Your sea **** and thru-hull should already be tied into your zincs so you won't have to do anything additional. If you want extra (probably over kill) security, add an additional sea **** onto the side of the Tee fitting. The extra 3/4" sea **** will be about $25. All the other fittings should be less than $40. I'm not sure what size your sea **** is, but it's probably between 1 - 1.5". The sea **** should have the size cast into it. This will tell you what size fittings to get. You can also Tee in above water line, but you'll have to tie into the zinc system doing it this way. However, this is probably the safest way.
