Fake A Lake

Do you guys prefer the flush pro or fake a lake?

I use both at work Fake a lake you have to crawl under. most master crafts you don't have a choice the trailer bunk covers the pickup. the flush pro works great except it's hard to keep the garden hose from scratching the gel coat and when winterizing you must clear it of water. and you shouldn't turn the water all the way on until the engine starts I use a fake alake at home. also when summerizing your boat you really don't know if your impeller is in good shape because you are pressureing the water in the pump. I know from experience I summerized a boat they went out to the lake and the impeller failed. I know you should change the impeller every season but most people don't until it fails. Joe

I put a Flush Pro on a boat I used to have and thought it worked great. Then someone told me it was better to let the boat draw the water through a Fake-A-Lake instead of "force feeding" it with water pressure. I don't know what the rationale behind that theory is but I only use a Fake-A-Lake now. One advantage of a Fake-A-Lake is that if you live in a moderate climate and want to add antifreeze to your raw water cooling system instead of draining it, it is much easier to do with a Fake-A-Lake.

Jim. When you say, that tell me about how you do it.

do you just put the antifreeze in a bucket and put a hose up to the fake-a-lake? does it suck it out of the bucket from the hose?

or do you push it to the fake-a-lake?

tj, you got it... just fill a 5 gallon bucket with your desired concentration (50/50 usually) of a propylene glycol based antifreeze, attach a short hose to your Fake-A-Lake and drop the other end in the bucket. Fire up the engine and let it suck the antifreeze right out of the bucket. If you have someone to help you, it is a good idea to prime the hose with water then dunk the free end into the bucket right when you start cranking the engine. I have also used a short hose (4-5ft) with no priming with out any problems when no one was around to help. Also, made sure you cut the engine right as you empty the bucket so you don't run your impeller dry.

Wouldn't you want to run your engine up to operating temp first so that the thermostat opens and then let it suck up the antifreeze?

You can easily make something similar to the flush pro that isn't permanent. Simply attach a 6- 10 inch section of clear plastic tube to a quick connect hose fitting(with some misc hardware store fittings). Then take off your hose going into the transcooler. Slide your tube onto the transcooler, hose clamp it, connect it to the garden hose, and you're all set to go. When you done just pull it off and put your intake line back on.

I've taken this one step further and added a 5 gallon water cooler jug with holes drilled in the top to put the hose in it. Then there is a 10 foot piece of clear flexible plastic tubing that can swing into the boat and quick-connect to the fitting I explained above.

Now you can simply replace the water in the 5 gallon jug with antifreeze and I even have made a "catch" under the exhaust behind the boat so all the antifreeze recirculates continuously. And since the boat has to "pull" the water up, you'll know if your impeller is good.

This allows you to run the boat up to temperature on antifreeze and it also will pump it through the heater core and a shower if you have it. Make sure you drain your block/heater core/shower of water before you do this or the water will dilute the antifreeze too much.

(Message edited by billhall on September 30, 2008)

I like Flush Pro. It works great and it is easy. The fake a lake can fall off sometimes, which isn't a good thing if you are flushing out your boat and not paying attention.

Never ran antifreeze to winterize. I just drain everything and all is good.

I know a lot of people do use antifreeze. It is nice to hear about someone making a "catch" for it.

I hope most people do try to catch the antifreeze and dispose of it properly.

Dave, the antifreeze we use comes in 55 gallon drums and although it's recirculated and a minimal amount comes in with the ground, come spring time the 2-4 gallons of antifreeze in the block and ballast systems make its way into the lake when the customer puts the boat in. That is why we chose environmentally safe antifreeze for all of our winterizations.

Murphy - Correctomundo!

Wait, Bill. Does the ballast fill from the same intake? If i flip the ballast systems on while running the fake-a-lake w hose to the antifreeze bucket can i fill the ballast with antifreeze too??

obviously i couldn't fill them very much, but maybe a run the ballast for a minute to get some in there, and in the lines???

i think the tanks in Malibus are all plastic. Does it help anything to have antifreeze in the ballast?

just curious if ballast comes from the same intake? not sure how that would work, i know i can fill my ballast with the motor off, which i don't understand how it would drive the impeller and get suction from that intake with just the ballast motor??

can you explain that??

no the ballast does not come from the intake. I usually just get a flexible funnel and pour some antifreeze into the ballast tank vents in the hull.

Just undo te hose clip on your raw water pipe, pull the pipe and stick your garden hose in the end. Takes about the same amount of time as crawling under the trailer. Been doing this on all my boats for years and I flush after every use.

Jay, I'm guessing you don't have a v-drive Malibu. There is not a lot of room to get at that hose. The engine is mounted backwards.

Wake boats are V-drive nothing is easy on V-drives the engine is backward the ballast tanks are beside the engine compartment where you could usually crawl in their. the inpellers are jammed against the muffler, centurion is down under the engine.the guiding fins are under the gas tank. the steering cable is under the engine. the oil filter's are not usually remote mounted so they are under hoses. the heater cores are behind the drivers feet where everyone mounds their sub. everyone packs the rear compartment's with vest,table,ropes pumps toy's,cloths,boards,tube's ect. everthing must come out. the batteries are usually dead, the key's are not with the boat so the ignition switch must come out the ballast tanks usually have water in them.

^^^^
been there, done that.
But try doing all Joe said...when it's 32 degrees out or less. You always get the stupid people coming late in the season and our winterization booth is outside. Not fun sometimes.

Jay/Joe sorry for what i said above.

I actually ran antifreeze thru the boat today. I was thinking you'd have to undo the intake for the impeller/water pump.

I found that on my vRide there is a hose connected to the brass fitting for the intake thru-hull fitting. It comes from the intake grate (thru-hull), runs to the v-drive, then back as the input/intake on the impeller/water pump.

on the 320-LCR vRide this hose i'm talking about is situtated almost directly underneath the oil filter, comes from the brass fitting thru the hull, there is a shutoff valve there.

disconnect the hose right after the shutoff valve and brass fitting. Get a funnel and get ready to pour. Have the wife turn on the boat. I kept pouring until about 30 seconds after the boat reached 160F. At that point i had run out of antifreeze. 11 gallons.

tj, that works but you waste so much antifreeze. To fill up a whole engine block and manifolds only takes about 2-4 gallons