Conference vicki::boats

1028.0. "Fake FAKE-A-LAKE" by CSLALL::JEGREEN (And baby makes three...) Mon Nov 02 1992 11:30

      For those of you with inboard boats who want an easier way to run the 
      boat out of water but don't want to have to disconnect the hose from 
      the hull water pick-up, here's what I did.

      I was tempted to buy a FAKE-A-LAKE, basically a plunger cup with an 
      attachment for a garden hose that you place under the water pickup on 
      the bottom of the hull, but I'm cheap. So for $3.84 I built my own.

      I bought an $0.94 red rubber toilet plunger with wood handle. A 
      plastic T, .75" x .75" x .5" female pipe thread, and a .5" male pipe 
      thread-to-garden hose adapter. With an x-acto knife cut a hole thru 
      the plunger cup base where the threads for the handle are, and push 
      the plastic T into it. Cut a 3/4" hole into the end of a scrap of 
      wood that's been cut to length, 16.2 in my case. I had to wobble the 
      drill around in the hole to insure the plastic T would fit. Shove the 
      plastic T into the length of wood, if should be a tight fit to 
      minimize water leakage. Install the pipe thread-to-garden hose 
      adapter, connect your hose, and place it under the water pickup 
      propped up in place by your length of wood.

      Worked well for me. The next rev will have a less flexible plunger 
      cup. I had a fair amount of leakage on one of the contours of the 
      hull but it still worked fine. Engine temp ran about 10 degrees above 
      normal at 150 degrees. No big deal. Plenty of cool water was exiting 
      the V-8 thru hull exhausts. Gawd! I love that sound. :^)
      Hi-tech drawing follows;

      ~jeff 

                     |      |    $.94 cheap-o toilet plunger cup, 
                      \____/        red rubber
                        | |___
    .75"x .75"x .5"PFT  |  ___  1/2"male pipe to female garden adapter 
    plastic T           | |      connects to hose
                      |-|-|-|  
                      |     |
                      |     |
                      |     |  scrap piece of 2X4 cut to 16.2" long
                      |     |
                      |     |
                      \/\/\/
       total material cost, $3.84 plus 2x4 scrap 

What, you didn't make the prop rod adjustable?  You cheapo!  :-)

...Roger...

P.S.  Cool idea ... I'll have to make that a Saturday project one of these
      weekends.