Raw Water Wash down improvement

[FSH 210 Sport]

I’m looking at improving the raw water wash down system on my 210. The OEM system works pretty good but is a little light on pressure and flow. To be fair, the OEM system gets the job done.

If both engines are running when you use the OEM system, both engines throttle up when you toggle the wash down system to raise engine rpm / pressure.

What I was thinking of doing was to utilize the same port that is used by the starboard jet pump but is on the port side pump and is blocked off, to augment the OEM set up. Wanted to just copy it but on the port side, use the bulkhead valve and put a check valve in both the port and starboard side feed lines so single engine use would still be possible.

Or, install a traditional 12 volt powered pump by tapping off say the live well supply and then tie it into the OEM System..


Has anyone upgraded their OEM wash down system?

 

[tdonoughue]

Sounds like a no. Or that no one is willing to admit it.

Of the two options, the 12v pump is probably the more reliable solution to try, I would think. Fewer parts, more contained, and you don't have to modify a pump. And you will know your pressure resulting in advance (it will be whatever the 12v pump output is...). Mind you, probably not as much fun...

Do update us on how you decide to go and what you do!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Sounds like a no. Or that no one is willing to admit it.

Of the two options, the 12v pump is probably the more reliable solution to try, I would think. Fewer parts, more contained, and you don't have to modify a pump. And you will know your pressure resulting in advance (it will be whatever the 12v pump output is...). Mind you, probably not as much fun...

Do update us on how you decide to go and what you do!

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah the electric is probably the way to go. I’m not sure how much pressure would be generated by both jet pumps pushing into those wash down lines when not using this system and underway at speed, and by tying into the OEM lines I don’t have to drill any holes in the boat.

 

[Dixemon]

What? you don't like running 6500rpm while one of your family members holds on and tries to spray the boat out while bouncing all around? All joking aside, i think i would also opt for a 12v Aux pump. There seems to be enough room in the aft clean out compartment maybe.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

What? you don't like running 6500rpm while one of your family members holds on and tries to spray the boat out while bouncing all around? All joking aside, i think i would also opt for a 12v Aux pump. There seems to be enough room in the aft clean out compartment maybe.

LOL! My boat just sort of slowly rotates in a circle while I’m washing the deck..

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Update:

After thinking it all over the addition of an electric pump was the best solution.

I bought a raw water wash down kit through Cabela’s a sea flo 12V 33, or 12 volt 3 gallon per minute. It comes from the factory set at 50 psi and is adjustable up to 70 psi. I bought the kit since it comes with some of the fittings I would have had to run around and find as well as the inlet strainer.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/seaflo-12v-33-series-washdown-pump-kit-with-coiled-hose

I had thought originally about installing a separate parallel system and just leave the OEM system in place. In the end I just tied the electric pump into the OEM system. Here’s how I did it.

I put a reducing T ( 3/4x3/4x1/2) into the live well source line for the electric pump supply. This line has a sea cock valve on the bottom of the engine bay on the starboard side. A big help here is to have a heat gun to soften the oem black hose and some silicone spray for those hose and fittings. It’s a bit of a bugger to get to but it is totally doable.



I then put a 1/2” T Red Arrow into the blue hose that is the supply line from the starboard jet pump to the quick disconnect of the OEM raw water wash down. (So just want to say again that the OEM system is a very cool idea and it does work, it’s just anemic, had Yamaha used both jet pumps to feed the wash down it would be much better.) The blue arrow is pointing to the OEM sea cock for the raw water wash down system.



As the reader can see I also installed 1/2” ball valves just in case I needed to totally isolate the electric pump. I installed the water strainer yellow arrow upside down on the inlet side of the pump to facilitate draining down when the boat comes out of the water. I also tried to run the hoses in sweeping arcs that would also promote passive drain down.



The red arrow is pointing to a raceway for the OEM wiring. I pulled the wiring for the raw water wash down pump and the bilge pump through this opening as well as running the new bilge pump discharge hose through there.

In operation, the OEM sea cock is left closed while the electric pump is used. However if for some reason the OEM system wanted to be used all that is necessary is to open the quick access hatch and open the sea cock. When I tested it this system a couple of days ago, it did take a bit (15-20 seconds) for the pump to get all of the air out, but once the air was fully out of the system WOW what a difference! The pressure and volume was like a garden hose at the house, plenty of pressure to remove “stuff” from the deck even when using a narrow spray pattern with the OEM hose. When coming off the water I simply run the pump for a bit to pull/push out any water remaining in the system.

Another use of this system will be for showering when spending days on the water camping out. I bought a couple of the quick disconnect adapters so I can make up a regular shower head attachment that will plug into the OEM quick disconnect, there are even some small portable on demand propane fired water heaters that could be used for a hot shower. Something like this…. https://www.amazon.com/Camplux-Outdoor-Portable-Tankless-Propane/dp/B08Z8D2XZQ/ref=sr_1_38?keywords=portable+water+heater+camping&qid=1649769537&sr=8-38&th=1

One other possible use for this pump is for making potable water using one of the special filters that over landers use.

 

[JPINOT]

Thanks for the idea! Was looking to do something similar

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Update:

After having the electric raw water wash down on the boat for several fishing trips and two fishing tournaments I’m glad to report that it works great! Along with the additional deck drains I put in it makes keeping the boat clean on the water very easy. Seems like the deck always gets some dirt / debris on it between cleanings and the next trip out, the wash down makes short work of giving the deck a quick spritz at the start of a long fun day on the water. It also made quick work of washing accumulating snow off the deck at the first tournament of the season.

When fishing with live bait it’s a very convenient way to rinse your hands off as well, much better than reaching over the side to wash your hand(s) off after handling minnows or worms, a great way to get rid of the worm dirt that seems to get everywhere. Changing out the minnow water in the bait bucket is a lot easier as well. The mesh net in the 15 quart bait bucket sits perfectly on the edges of the boats live well, I just pull the net out and set it in the boats live well while I dump, rinse and refill with the wash down hose then put the mesh net back in the bucket and good to go.

I installed the 3 gallon a minute pump, and that seems to be enough volume for washing things down. I don’t know if the oem plumbing would allow the flow of the larger 5 gallon a minute pump. I can also tell you the pump is virtually impossible to hear when using it on the water. I had originally installed the strainer upside down to promote drain down, but that position makes gettin all the air out difficult, I put it right side up and it seems to purge the air out much quicker.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Update:

After thinking it all over the addition of an electric pump was the best solution.

I bought a raw water wash down kit through Cabela’s a sea flo 12V 33, or 12 volt 3 gallon per minute. It comes from the factory set at 50 psi and is adjustable up to 70 psi. I bought the kit since it comes with some of the fittings I would have had to run around and find as well as the inlet strainer.

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/seaflo-12v-33-series-washdown-pump-kit-with-coiled-hose

I had thought originally about installing a separate parallel system and just leave the OEM system in place. In the end I just tied the electric pump into the OEM system. Here’s how I did it.

I put a reducing T ( 3/4x3/4x1/2) into the live well source line for the electric pump supply. This line has a sea cock valve on the bottom of the engine bay on the starboard side. A big help here is to have a heat gun to soften the oem black hose and some silicone spray for those hose and fittings. It’s a bit of a bugger to get to but it is totally doable.

View attachment 175453

I then put a 1/2” T Red Arrow into the blue hose that is the supply line from the starboard jet pump to the quick disconnect of the OEM raw water wash down. (So just want to say again that the OEM system is a very cool idea and it does work, it’s just anemic, had Yamaha used both jet pumps to feed the wash down it would be much better.) The blue arrow is pointing to the OEM sea cock for the raw water wash down system.

View attachment 175454

As the reader can see I also installed 1/2” ball valves just in case I needed to totally isolate the electric pump. I installed the water strainer yellow arrow upside down on the inlet side of the pump to facilitate draining down when the boat comes out of the water. I also tried to run the hoses in sweeping arcs that would also promote passive drain down.

View attachment 175455

The red arrow is pointing to a raceway for the OEM wiring. I pulled the wiring for the raw water wash down pump and the bilge pump through this opening as well as running the new bilge pump discharge hose through there.

In operation, the OEM sea cock is left closed while the electric pump is used. However if for some reason the OEM system wanted to be used all that is necessary is to open the quick access hatch and open the sea cock. When I tested it this system a couple of days ago, it did take a bit (15-20 seconds) for the pump to get all of the air out, but once the air was fully out of the system WOW what a difference! The pressure and volume was like a garden hose at the house, plenty of pressure to remove “stuff” from the deck even when using a narrow spray pattern with the OEM hose. When coming off the water I simply run the pump for a bit to pull/push out any water remaining in the system.

Another use of this system will be for showering when spending days on the water camping out. I bought a couple of the quick disconnect adapters so I can make up a regular shower head attachment that will plug into the OEM quick disconnect, there are even some small portable on demand propane fired water heaters that could be used for a hot shower. Something like this…. https://www.amazon.com/Camplux-Outdoor-Portable-Tankless-Propane/dp/B08Z8D2XZQ/ref=sr_1_38?keywords=portable+water+heater+camping&qid=1649769537&sr=8-38&th=1

One other possible use for this pump is for making potable water using one of the special filters that over landers use.

Update: I ended up putting the intake strainer right side up and that made getting the air out of the system much easier. When I’m done for the day, if it is going to be below freezing, with the boat on the trailer I just run the pump through the hose and let it pump all the water out of the system. At the first tournament this year it was well below freezing at night and I had no issues with it.

Was out at the lake on Friday and I’m impressed by how far the water stream shoots with the nozzle constricted down to a fine stream…using that stream on the deck removes dried on fish poop and blood. You are able to rinse off the swim deck as well while standing next to the helm.

So there is some confusion at Sea Flo about proper fusing for this pump, the online directions say a 20A breaker/fuse, I contacted them through their on line customer support and the guy told me a 10A breaker / fuse is what is supposed to be used. I used a 10A breaker and so far everything is working perfectly.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

One of the off season projects I completed was to move and increase the size of the strainer for my raw water wash down pump. The one that came with the pump is on the left, new one on the right.



Not only is the new one 10 times as big, the micronic filter is much finer, if that filter proves to be too fine I can order a coarser one.

The next step was relocating the strainer from the pump itself which was barely reachable through the access hatch.

The first thing was to clean up that starboard bulkhead to make room. I tied up the pilot water lines and the aft bilge discharge line.






Now if the strainer does happen to get clogged (it hasn’t yet) I can easily reach it while on the water. While I “could” reach the original one, it was all by feel in the aft bilge and if I dropped the strainer I’d be screwed and would have to pull the clean out tray to retrieve it.



The vertical line coming off of the T goes to a water inlet port (picture forth coming) so that whole raw water wash down system can be flushed with 120° Water for AIS abatement. The closest lake to me was found to have zebra mussels last year so I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t transport any villagers to another lake, and this will make the state agencies happy when I roll up to an inspection decontamination station.

Hopefully I’ll get to test this out soon!

 

[Dixemon]

Man i sure wish i had as much time on my hands as you do. That is a really awesome setup, well thought out. Just being able to wash things down without having the motors fired up is worth it. Especially when people are getting on and off the boat with muddy feet or whatever. Ill be putting this on my short list for winter projects for sure.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks for the kudos!!
A lot of thought went into it to make it hopefully drain down properly when it comes out of the water.

The hardest parts are cutting in the 3/4 x 1/2 and mounting the pump. Then it’s just time and planning to run the wiring. I tied the output in to the OEM system right by the transom valve and with a T so I can still use the jet pump if I want. I may have very well have left the system how it was if we’re not for the AIS thing but it all worked out well. Let me know if you need any help don’t this project, I think can save you some effort due to my experience. I think if you have all the parts, do some pre fab and have a helper you could do this project in about four hours.

And yes, it is very handy to have running water on tap when you’re fishing, wash your hands wash blood off etc and to be able to wash people’s shoes off !

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Update:

Finally got to test the raw water wash down plumbing and strainer on the water this week. It took a bit to get the new strainer full but it seemed to work / prime better with no air purging out once it got going. Flow is great.

 

[joep411]

Update:

Finally got to test the raw water wash down plumbing and strainer on the water this week. It took a bit to get the new strainer full but it seemed to work / prime better with no air purging out once it got going. Flow is great.

Im getting ready to do this. @FSH 210 Sport Where did you get power from for the new pump? Did you run a new switch or tie in somewhere?

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Im getting ready to do this. @FSH 210 Sport Where did you get power from for the new pump? Did you run a new switch or tie in somewhere?

As far as electrical power goes, I had run a main feed to a set of buss bars under the helm and then tapped off of those bus bars for positive and negative for the electric pump, I ran the positive through a a new rocker switch that I put on the dash. See this thread here; https://jetboaters.net/threads/12-volt-accessory-buss-additional-switches.37156/#post-604853

The trick for you and your 2002 LX will be picking up the raw water itself. You will have to put a thru Hull fitting below the water line, probably on the bottom of the boat, to a sea cock valve, like my 210 FSH came with. In my case I had that bottom mounted sea cock that supplied the live well so I just tapped into that line for the feed to the suction side of the water pump. Does that all make sense?

 

[joep411]

As far as electrical power goes, I had run a main feed to a set of buss bars under the helm and then tapped off of those bus bars for positive and negative for the electric pump, I ran the positive through a a new rocker switch that I put on the dash. See this thread here; https://jetboaters.net/threads/12-volt-accessory-buss-additional-switches.37156/#post-604853

The trick for you and your 2002 LX will be picking up the raw water itself. You will have to put a thru Hull fitting below the water line, probably on the bottom of the boat, to a sea cock valve, like my 210 FSH came with. In my case I had that bottom mounted sea cock that supplied the live well so I just tapped into that line for the feed to the suction side of the water pump. Does that all make sense?

Makes total sense, and like an idiot i have not updated my profile yet. I have a 2018 FSH 210 now.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

If you have not used both of the factory ACC switches you might be able to use one of those but I think you need at least a 10A circuit breaker.

 

[lazergeek]

I used a relay that the accessory switch activates for mine, then washdown pump gets its power from buss bar in the battery compartment.

 

[GigHarborFSH]

If you have not used both of the factory ACC switches you might be able to use one of those but I think you need at least a 10A circuit breaker.

Jumping in on this, I just bought a 2021 FSH 210 and the raw water washdown was a big disappointment. I am eventually going to put in an electric system if for no other reason than not having to have the motor on and the insane part of the boat going in a circle while using it. Mind if I ask a couple newbie questions about the stock raw water system?

1. Can I use this while underway or do you have to be stationary and idling? Would really like to wash down the deck on the way to the launch.

2. rough estimate on the PSI with the stock system? Mine seems TERRIBLE.

3. When you put in the electric system, did you consider hijacking the existing jetwash switch for the electric pumo and just disconnecting the stock jetwash system all together? What situation do you see where you really want to still have the jetwash stock system functional if you have the electric pump?

Thanks for the idea, you are clearly very professional and competent with this stuff.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Jumping in on this, I just bought a 2021 FSH 210 and the raw water washdown was a big disappointment. I am eventually going to put in an electric system if for no other reason than not having to have the motor on and the insane part of the boat going in a circle while using it. Mind if I ask a couple newbie questions about the stock raw water system?

1. Can I use this while underway or do you have to be stationary and idling? Would really like to wash down the deck on the way to the launch.

2. rough estimate on the PSI with the stock system? Mine seems TERRIBLE.

3. When you put in the electric system, did you consider hijacking the existing jetwash switch for the electric pumo and just disconnecting the stock jetwash system all together? What situation do you see where you really want to still have the jetwash stock system functional if you have the electric pump?

Thanks for the idea, you are clearly very professional and competent with this stuff.

Congrats on the new boat I’m sure you’re going to love it!

1. No, you cannot use the electric pump raw water wash down while underway, and by underway I mean cruising on plane, you’d have to change the thru hull to a high speed pick up if you wanted to use the electric system while cruising. But the electric system works just fine while trolling with the electric trolling motor or with the engines at 2.5 mph.
However, you can use the oem system while underway, and that is one reason I tied into the oem system so I could use it that way and so that I’d have the oem system available if the electric pump failed. I keep the oem raw water wash down sea cock closed otherwise the water pressure from the electric pump would just go out through the starboard jet pump, but if I wanted to use the oem system I can just open the sea cock and the starboard jet pump will supply pressure but it will not back flow through the electric pump.

2. Mmm hard to say, maybe 10 psi with the jet wash at level 3. But if you get going and bring the speed up say 14 mph and the bow is up, there is enough pressure to shoot water from the helm up into the bow to wash it down while at that speed, and the water runs back to the deck drain quickly.

3. No. I knew I wanted to leave the stock system in place as a back up. And see my answer above about being able to use the system while cruising. I had used the system while cruising and my friend was at the helm driving, that way all the water and debris would flow quickly to the back of the deck and go out the deck drains.

If I was to do it over I would go with the 5 gallon per minute pump instead of the 3.3 gallon per minute pump. The three gpm is adequate but I’d like a bit more flow. I’d also mount the pump in the engine bay by where I mounted the intake strainer, and that is something I’m going to change actually to aid in the drain down of that system when I get off the water. During the shoulder seasons here it gets well below freezing overnight and I get ice in the suction side of the lines, I’m able to run the pump dry to get the water out of the pump beforehand so ice doesn’t form in the pump head and break it, but sometimes it takes a few hours on the water before the ice melts in the suction lines and I’m able to use the electric system.

This is my first boat, I was thinking about a bow rider at first then my friend saw the center console models and had made a big deal about the raw water wash down system (among the many other features) I had never heard of such a thing, I can’t imagine having a fishing boat, or a bow rider for that matter without this system on the boat, especially with our boats and the self bailing deck, super easy to clean the boat up while still on the water. Spill a drink or whatever while out on the water? Rinse it off in seconds it all goes overboard, and I keep a boat boat dry towel Amazon.com on board to remove all the excess water.

Check out what @lazergeek did with his live well and was down system;

FSH 210 Livewell Access

Whats the best way to get access to the front side of the livewell on the 2021 FSH 210? Does the divider beween the under seat storage come out between those sections? Thanks in advance.

jetboaters.net

Also this thread;

https://jetboaters.net/threads/fsh-210-livewell-access.31133/