murky, dirt filled water

[Svend]

As the season on my lake comes to a close and water levels are super low, i noticed when i went out the other day, the water behind me was all murky brown and looked like it was a mixture of water and fine silt/mud...

what effect does this have on engine cooling?
is there a filter for water coming in? (of something like a 1977 F30 Express Trojan)
I know when i am out on the lake, i get clean water coming into engines for cooling, but the above concerns me...

thanks for your thoughts on this!

Svend

[Paul]

Svend,

If you have a strainers on your water intakes, it will usually only filter out weeds etc but not sand and silt. Cruising at elevated RPMs the sand and silt will likely flow right thru your open cooling systems. At lower RPMs however, it can tend to settle in the bottom of the water jackets in your block and manifolds. I would suggest that when you open the drains on the engines and manifolds to get the water out for winter, if you get slow or no drain to probe the hole with a piece of wire or something similar to clear any sand or mud that may be blocking the drain.

Another negative effect of churning up allot of sand or silt is that as your water pumps suck it up, it can be pretty rough on your impellers, pump housings and cutless bearings. I think about this every time that I see a boat pulling right up to a beach.

Hope this helps,

[Svend]

great thoughts Paul

is there a better filter I could install since i am going at low speeds most the time... 5-9 mph

thanks!

Svend

[Paul]

Anything finer than a typical strainer would clog up, better to have dirty water cooling your engines that non at all.

[Svend]

lol... good point...

guess better to stay away from that water... and do the checks like you mentioned

thanks

Svend

[Flyboy]

Sounds likes a typical day boating on the Mississippi River. Looking at the other posts looks like I should find cleaner water to boat in.