Perko 1" Inline Flush Valve Water Hose fitting for Winterization

[Tcheairs]

I'm considering installing Perko Flush Pro inline flush valves downstream of my raw water pump on my twin 7.4 Crusader 350s in order to pump antifreeze through my raw water cooling components (closed cooling system with heat exchangers). Only problem is that the Perko Flush Pros come in a 1" ID barb fitting on each end. My raw water intake hose is 1 1/4" ID marine reinforced water hose. Before I start cutting hoses, I need to make sure this will not restrict the volume of water required to cool my engines. An alternative I had considered was fabricating an input for antifreeze with 1" ID Forespar Y valves which would also allow me to avoid closing the thru hull seacocks before injecting antifreeze. My seacocks have become pretty stubborn (and yes, thats another issue). Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Oops..cancel all of the above...Perko has a 1 1/4" Flush Pro..sorry for the false alarm

 

[AKDoug]

I wouldn't make it more complicated than it needs to be, if you have a raw water strainer it's much easier to just close the thru hull and pour the antifreeze into the top of the raw water strainer. After flushing just open the seacock to let the remainder of the water in the line run out and put the top back on the raw water strainer.

 

[Mark Laurnen]

Check out Seaboard Marine. I purchased their bronze replacement tops, with stopcock and fresh water intake fitting, for my Groco seawater strainers. They may make units for strainers other than Groco. Besides adding easy engine flushing, I now have two Yanmar 315 hp emergency bilge pumps!

 

[SIBERNUT]

Geez , how many times a year do you winterize ?

 

[Mark Laurnen]

Well ... funny you should ask! Ive never done it as the boat has stayed in the water since I installed them. Now if you asked me how many times I had to emergently them employ them as bilge pumps ... I would say none YET!