Just a small sample of the a/c clog
It had only been two days since the a/c strainer had been inspected and emptied of grass. But, What the hey ! It just made sense to check the a/c strainer before beginning more work on the Westerbeke engine of our Gemini catamaran. Boy was I in for surprises.
After emptying the strainer, I opened the thru hull to see the flow volume into the strainer case. A trickle came through, at best.
So I took the hose off the incoming elbow of the thru-hull. Then used the wet-vac in an attempt to pull the clog out of the hose. To no avail. A long hooked wire into the hose failed also.
Frustration set in as I took the hose off the strainer case. The wet-vac failed again. So I took the hose to the dock pedestal and used city water pressure as I pressed the hose end to the faucet. The clog of grass shot out like a soggy cannon ball.
But wait. There’s more.
Before reattaching the hose, I opened the thru-hull and found it was also clogged.
Using a custom bent wire, I was able to extract more grass
That didn’t significantly increase the flow either! The final culprit- grass plugging the underwater inlet.
So I created a water saddle by using a Type II vest and bobbed under Yacht A Fun to reach the thru-hull inlet. Sure enough, a clog of river grass had plugged the inlet.
Forty five minutes from start to finish…… and I had to take a shower to rid myself of the harbor water that one knows is not really clean water.
And then the real work began relating to the Westerbeke engine.
The story / blog of Yacht A Fun, a Gemini catamaran sailboat, traveling the ICW and east coast with insights to the extended cruising life. Marine a/c clog