Anyone made a DIY Fake A Lake

I would like to make a Fake A Lake for my boat so I can start it at home before oil changes. I know some people have fab'd them out of a toilet plunger. Just wondering if anybody had some pictures and a parts list of what's needed.

Thanks All!

Piece of cake. $10-15 in parts and 30 minutes. I'll put some picks up this evening.

I don't have a pic but all I did was buy a regular plunger and cut a small hole in the corner. Jam the hose in the hole and it seals pretty well. I seemed to get good water flow when I changed my oil the other week.

I made one last year like Andy said $10-15 and a little bit of time Mine has never failed or fallen off

(Message edited by lovin_the_wake on April 23, 2008)

An alternative to the fake-a-lake

I really like that idea ^^^^^^ I was wondering if anyone had made their own "Flush kit"

(Message edited by lovin_the_wake on April 23, 2008)

I prefer the hose connector to the v-drive. Here is mine.

On direct drives were at on the underside of the boat do you hook the fake a lake or the alternative to?

on the underside...cover the fresh water pickup with the plunger

I found this one on Amazon, for the money it worked for me without having to shag the parts down. I'm lazy!

http://www.amazon.com/Moeller-Flushrite-Flusher-Inboard-Adjustable/dp/B000MTB832/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1208972127&sr=8-1

The one that I posted attaches to the v-drive unit inside the boat, in place of the intake hose. I don't know anything about a direct drive but would assume you could follow the intake hose to it's first connection and hook up there.

This method just seems simpler to me than a fake-a-lake, is smaller to store, and you don't have to crawl around on the wet ground under the boat.

Ok so i'm new to V-drives having always had DD's until now so how do you hook that method up?

I made one! go buy a plunger from the dollar store then go to home depot and get a 1/2" inch plastic close nipple, two washers to fit over the nipple, two 1/2 electrical thin cabinet nuts, and a 1/2 female npt thread to female garden hose fitting. Less than $5.00... if you count the two beers you drink while your doing.
1. Open refreshing beverage of choice and taste. (critical to assembly)
2. Poke the nipple through the plunger close to the handle.
3. Consume half of forementioned beverage.
4. Add washer and nut to both sides.
5. Finish first beverage and open second, again critical to the assembly process.
6. Tighten nuts to make it seal.
7. Drink half of the second beverage.
8. Add hose fitting to the outside portion of the nipple.
9. Sit back and drink the remainder of you beverage while you smile and think about the Fake-A-Lake that your dealer wanted $45 for.
If you want you can get fancy with a adjustable paint roller handle from home depot for an additional $7, feel free to do so.
Just make sure to budget for the beers!

What about the one George shows? Anyone?

put a nipple on your thru hull. pull the fresh water intake hose off the nipple, put the water hose in. turn it on.

Its really that simple. you don't need a plunger or any other contraption to go under your boat!

Or for a little more money you can do this and never have to worry about it.

http://www.skidim.com/prodinfo.asp?number=DP7

Yes, if you are concerned that you can't operate a hose clamp it would be well worth the $57 to eliminate the worry.

That does look like a convenient gizmo, maybe worthwhile for people who are running dry more than once or twice a year.

Razz...you should be able to look at your V-drive unit and see where the hose comes up from the scupper and into the V-drive. You would remove that hose from the V-drive and put the flush device in it's place.

I built one with a $4 plunger and $1 hose fitting.. drilled hole and inserted.
Question about cranking/turning on water...
Do you turn on water and then crank? I had flush pro on last boat and it said to turn on low pressure, crank and then turn up pressure..

I am thinking a design like George or Nate's above with a valve switch would help this...

Really, if you are doing this often, the flush pro is worth the cost.



If you have time to setup a different hose with garden hose fittings, great, but for less frequent use, here is what i have done.

I've had to service a few different boats, sometimes unexpectedly....so i didn't bring my flush setup. On the V drive, disconnect the black hose from teh raw water intake grate (that goes to the vdrive), and stick the garden hose in it. Set a seat cushion or somethign on it to keep the hose from falling out. Leave drain plug out of boat. Turn on hose, run boat.

Yes, water leaks from the connection. But plenty of water gets to the motor to run it long enough to warm it up, and the water that leaks out only ends up in the bilge.

Same with a direct drive, its the hose that goes to the impeller pump from the raw water intake.

Key is to make sure the hose doesn't fall out.

(Message edited by dhcomp on April 23, 2008)

good call nate thats what we afro engineered at my shop for working on inboards, works like a champ just dont throttle it up or it will suck the hose closed

I've never bought the Flush Pro because of the cheap plasticy way it's made. Had a few of them break or crack in other boats. So I never bothered installing them in my own.
This year it was pretty easy to unscrew the intake hose & stick the garden hose in there, turn the hose on, then start the engine. No extra parts to fail, no expense whatsoever.

I usually turn the hose on as hard as it will go for flushing the cooling system, too much water is better than not enough...

I have an IO though so we use the old ear muffs.

(Message edited by jtnz on April 23, 2008)

Here's my pics as promised. I only use mine a handful of times a year and Like Bweb & Newty, I just couldn't pay $30-60 for something I could make for $7-8 bucks and 30 minutes tops. I used a plastic hose bib & clamp fitting because if it ever touched the boat gel coat, plastic is better than metal. I used a broom handle and cut it to a length an inch or two longer than the distance from the driveway to the water intake strainer. I just sorta jam it up on the boat until the plunger is pretty fully covering the intake.

If you can afford the boat you can afford the $60 for a Fake-a-Lake. I'd just rather put the left over $50 from making my own in the gas tank.

I use a 5 gal bucket and a 3foot section of hose with a double ended barb fitting for a 1"id hose and take it off the strainer. Put hose in bicket and see if the impeller is working too instead of forcing the water past it and not letting it work.

Why do you guys mess about with fake a lakes?
It takes me less than 15 seconds to undo the hose clip and slide the raw water intake hose off. I then just stick the end of my hose pipe in and run the engine. After flushing its another 15 seconds to put the hose back and do up the clip.

Way better than crawling under the boat and messing about with something that looks like it should be used for unblocking a toilet!

it probably doesn't take any of us any longer than that to put our "Fake-A-Lake" in place and turn it on

Looks like it would work. I like to keep it simple. My luck, the "lake in a plunger" would fall off and starve my engine or something silly.

(Message edited by denverd1 on April 24, 2008)

I would agree there Montgomery, i've used a fake lake so long it takes seconds to set and if you do it right it won't fall over, at least i never had one do it.

I noticed last year when removing the inlet hose on my raw water intake that the inside of the water pump is threaded. Was going to try to find a fitting to go on there this off season, but just never got around to it. Anyone do this?

the strainer is threaded, thats where I screwed on the nipple that makes it super-easy to pull the intake hose and attach the garden hose

Nacho, a strainer? there was a piece of plastic tubing threaded in there but it had no screen of any type in there? Perhaps it was missing? Is there suppose to be a strainer right there before the water runs through to the pump? I thought it was a little strange that there was that little piece of plastic tubing threaded in there as it didn't seem to serve any purpose?

(Message edited by chaser on April 24, 2008)