Have to wonder how effective Fake a lake is?

[east tx skier]

I don't use one anymore for this same reason. I don't have sufficient water pressure at the house to keep up with the boat. A few feet of clear, flexible PVC hose and a 5 gallon bucket is what I now use (it's too difficult to pull the hose off the through-hull barb after it having been on there for 13 years. Using the bucket also lets me guage to some extent how well my impeller is drawing water.

[LS-One]

I bought my first fake a lake back in the early 90's when they first came out. It has served four bu's well.

Thanks to low flow toilets I'm probably on my third toilet plunger in the same time frame.

[Malibudude]

I've been using the Fake a Lake for over 30 years without a problem. I don't see the need to make things more complicated.

Exactly.....

[VinRLX]

I bought my first fake a lake back in the early 90's when they first came out. It has served four bu's well.

Thanks to low flow toilets I'm probably on my third toilet plunger in the same time frame.

Next time you have a clog, use the fake-a-lake instead and blast 'er.

[LS-One]

I bought my first fake a lake back in the early 90's when they first came out. It has served four bu's well.

Thanks to low flow toilets I'm probably on my third toilet plunger in the same time frame.

Next time you have a clog, use the fake-a-lake instead and blast 'er.

what about residual ?

[jayjoans]

I bought my first fake a lake back in the early 90's when they first came out. It has served four bu's well.

Thanks to low flow toilets I'm probably on my third toilet plunger in the same time frame.

Next time you have a clog, use the fake-a-lake instead and blast 'er.

...and have the offending "depositor" of the clog stand just off to the side of the toilet, rotate the hose fitting on the fake a lake in their general direction and PLUNGE.

[drtortho]

I bought my first fake a lake back in the early 90's when they first came out. It has served four bu's well.

Thanks to low flow toilets I'm probably on my third toilet plunger in the same time frame.

Next time you have a clog, use the fake-a-lake instead and blast 'er.

...and have the offending "depositor" of the clog stand just off to the side of the toilet, rotate the hose fitting on the fake a lake in their general direction and PLUNGE.

Wondering how you check the "exhaust" output on that one.........................LOL

[DRAGON88]

Bump:

Interesting note from someone who works at Malibu in the R&D department on wb.com.

Remember to not have the hose turned on fully, a little over half-on.

Really? Why is that?

If you put the raw water intake into a bucket and fill the bucket with water and keep the hose on full blast the impeller will still suck more water than the hose can put out. Not that this is hard on anything, I'm just curious why you say half on?

DRAGON88, What happens is the excessive force coming in to the plunger blows out the sides and creates air pockets in the suction basin. This in turn reduces the suction efficiency of the intake. Not a huge deal, but can lead to increase operating temperature and overheating.

Take that for what it's worth, coming from someone who IMO really knows their stuff.

[Slalom Frog]

If you want to use the Fake a Lake to install anti freeze, just take a 5' section of garden hose with the male end, attach the other end to a one gallon jug that the bottom has been cut out. Attach the hose to the fake a lake, hold the jug with the bottom cut out above the level of the intake, fill with anti freeze, start boat, start dumping anti freeze into the jug with the bottom cut out. It works kind of like a giant enema bag.

I don't think I really want to know how a giant enema bag works!

[electricjohn]

This past fall, I decided to skip the fake a lake run, and did all my winterization stuff during my last run of the season or as soon as I got home (drain oil while still warm). I do not use antifreeze so there was no real need to run the boat again. Sta-bil went in 10 minute before I shut it down. Although the fake a lake works, I've decided to keep its use to a minimum.

Edited March 16, 2007 by electricjohn

[LS-One]

Just because the water pump maybe able to suck more water than a garden hose can provide isn't a bad thing.

Because of the thermostat, not all of the water being pumped is being used for cooling anyways.

Edited March 16, 2007 by LS-One

[SacRiverRat]

The key is to get water to the water pump to keep it cool and lubercated, and of course, to keep the engine from overheating.

I don't see why you wouldn't want to have the hose on full - Once you start the engine, there isn't much (if any) water spraying out between the hull and plunger.

[NorCaliBu]

The key is to get water to the water pump to keep it cool and lubercated, and of course, to keep the engine from overheating.

I don't see why you wouldn't want to have the hose on full - Once you start the engine, there isn't much (if any) water spraying out between the hull and plunger.

If you have water spraying out of the plunger (more water being delivered than the engine will intake) I would turn the water down just a little.

...lubercated...

[SacRiverRat]

...lubercated...

Yea, I know... the new spell check sucks arse... has to download some page, which I tried a couple times... and yea, my spelling blows - just lazy when I'm here yappin' with my peeps

[yabetcha]

If anyone plans to add a transom flush inlet, the Marpac inlet below is only $20 and stainless steel. Ski Dim sells the Perko inlet for $53.

I installed the Perko fitting on my old Sportster and have a Marpac enroute to install on my V-Ride.

http://www.foreandaftmarine.com/WATERINLETFITTING.htm

Here's a picture on my Sportster:

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a378/99s...oFlushInlet.jpg

[VinRLX]

...lubercated...

Yea, I know... the new spell check sucks arse... has to download some page, which I tried a couple times... and yea, my spelling blows - just lazy when I'm here yappin' with my peeps

There's a spell check on here? Huh. Never tried it.

[doughickey]

This past fall, I decided to skip the fake a lake run, and did all my winterization stuff during my last run of the season or as soon as I got home (drain oil while still warm). I do not use antifreeze so there was no real need to run the boat again. Sta-bil went in 10 minute before I shut it down. Although the fake a lake works, I've decided to keep its use to a minimum.

Hmmmm.... you live in New Jersey and say you don't use anti-freeze when you winterize??? But but but...NJ gets below 32 degrees. I hope you have your boat in heated storage.

I know some marinas don't fill their customers' boats with antifreeze. (I was surprised when I asked). Some just drain. I think this is a poor idea. First.... how do you know you got all the water out? Second, that would expose internal engine passages to air.... hence a greater chance of rusting. At least with a pile of anti-freeze in most of the water passages, you have minimixed the air/metal interface.

Anybody else in cold climates just drain.....?

[smedman]

Anybody else in cold climates just drain.....?

Here in Austin, just drain....

[VinRLX]

Anybody else in cold climates just drain.....?

You can:

A. Just drain.

B. Drain, run AF through, then drain.

C. Drain, run AF and leave it.

I do option C. The risk with this is that the ambient temp gets below the burst point of the AF. This stuff does crystalize and eventaully has the potential to crack the block, etc. I like the corrosion resistance factor, personally, as you mentioned above. Check your AF, however, some do not claim to provide this benefit, or state specifically that the product does not.

[mbwagoner]

in my old malibu we had to do something custom because fake a lake wasn't out yet. we took the hose that connects the fitting on the hull to the impeller and cut about 2 in out of it and inserted a T fitting with a hose connector and a cap. When we got home from any salt water we'd connect up the hose, turn it on full and fire it up. excess water poured out the lake water intake. at idle there was still water dribbling out the lake water intake. Never had an overheat problem and the impeller never showed excess wear. If I had a major need to start my new boat out of water I'd do similar again.

[Big Mac]

Anybody else in cold climates just drain.....?

You can:

A. Just drain.

B. Drain, run AF through, then drain.

C. Drain, run AF and leave it.

I do option C. The risk with this is that the ambient temp gets below the burst point of the AF. This stuff does crystalize and eventaully has the potential to crack the block, etc. I like the corrosion resistance factor, personally, as you mentioned above. Check your AF, however, some do not claim to provide this benefit, or state specifically that the product does not.

Yup. Any of those three options are acceptable here in Minnesota. I've done all three over the years, but this year is the first I've used option C, and the only reason I did was because I had the dealer do it.

[electricjohn]

This past fall, I decided to skip the fake a lake run, and did all my winterization stuff during my last run of the season or as soon as I got home (drain oil while still warm). I do not use antifreeze so there was no real need to run the boat again. Sta-bil went in 10 minute before I shut it down. Although the fake a lake works, I've decided to keep its use to a minimum.

Hmmmm.... you live in New Jersey and say you don't use anti-freeze when you winterize??? But but but...NJ gets below 32 degrees. I hope you have your boat in heated storage.

I know some marinas don't fill their customers' boats with antifreeze. (I was surprised when I asked). Some just drain. I think this is a poor idea. First.... how do you know you got all the water out? Second, that would expose internal engine passages to air.... hence a greater chance of rusting. At least with a pile of anti-freeze in most of the water passages, you have minimixed the air/metal interface.

Anybody else in cold climates just drain.....?

I do drain my block and hoses, (if I made it sound like I didn't). then I take the shop vac to it and try to get more out of it. It will get down to about 0*F here once or twice a winter.

Edited March 19, 2007 by electricjohn

[thealy]

I drain (complete with a full blow out of all hoses), fill with AF and then drain again (and blow out again). The only tricky thing in doing this is that you need to be very quick becuase after you heat up your motor you need to drain it and then fill it with AF while the engine is still warm so you are insured to get the AF everywhere. Unless other people have a better way of accomplishing this.

[VinRLX]

If you drain everything, the block will fill and AF will circulate even if the temp isn't all the way up. So I've been told and that's been my experience as well.

[cfowler]

FAKE-A-LAKE IS s***. I bought one today and I'll be upgrading to a Flush Pro. Just my two cents.