The Steamboating Forum

Looks like i'm gonna shelve the hotwell till the winter. I gotta get this thing in the water. So would it be ok to use a hose on a barb from my strainer to feed a manifold which would feed my three pumps hand,feed,and steam injector. What type of hose should i use? It wil all be in the bilge.

I'm using flexible hose between the thru-hull and the water strainer. And also using hose between the blow-downs and the two respective thru-hulls. Same hose for the engine exhaust to the smoke hood.

It's high temperature marine grade.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#marine-hose/=hqsoeb

Between the discharge of any pump and the Main check at the feedwater inlet, should be hardpiped, i.e. copper tubing, pipe etc.

-Ron

i think my strainer is my through hull? it's on the bottom of the boat and is a grill with the threaded end coming through the hull. correct?

Oh, when you said strainer, I thought you meant a sea strainer.

Shown in the bottom of this pic.



In between the thru-hull and the pump intakes should be good, using the hose above.

-Ron

Yeow! Isn't that $9/foot stuff kinda overkill? The vacuums are so low and the temps and pressures are rather moderate. I would have no issues with going down to my local auto parts store and buying heater hose. I believe it comes as small as 1/2". Designed for 15 psi and boiling water. Not bad for cheap.

For the pump outputs and engine feed, of course, you are dead on. Solid metal pretty much everywhere except perhaps a flex section between the boiler and engine.

Heater hose would probably suffice, but it's not Coast Guard approved.

-Ron

Ah.

Well, the last time I talked to my USCG Aux. friend about inspecting my boat he about fell over laughing. "You want me to say that a boat that is on fire is safe?" (grins)

Ron - "Heater hose would probably suffice, but it's not Coast Guard approved."

I thought automotive heater hose would be OK for cooling connections on a boat IC engine, provided there is a hull isolation valve. Does the Coast Guard have a listing of acceptable hose materials, and if so, where can I get this listing?

I have no concerns in using automotive heater hose for steam exhaust connections which run at atmospheric pressure or vacuum, as well as feed pump suction tubing. Am I violating some rules here?

It's always been my understanding that any flexible hose below the water line (as was being discussed) must be USCG approved and double clamped. And it's good practice to use it elsewhere. Not finding an answer readily, I would lean towards automotive heater hose as being unapproved. I could be wrong on that though. I looked briefly on Google, but as those searches tend to do, it pulled up a lot of info, but nothing definitive.

-Ron

USCG approval really only concerns "inspected vessels", ie. passengers for hire, cargo, etc. That said, look to the ABYC for guide lines regarding equipment on uninspected vessels.
Automotive heater hose may work just fine but I personally would look at something with greater strength on anything connected to a sea valve below the waterline.
Where I work we have two vessels inspected under Subchapter T, Small Passenger vessels less than 100 gross tons, two inspected as Attraction Vessels and one "Uninspected Yacht", Medea. Because of her steam plant and size, Medea gets a visit from the CG every year and for some reason known only to them she is treated as if she were a T boat. They have joked that she is the most inspected uninspected vessel they work with.