www.iFourWinns.com

I hesitated to comment about the strainer. Some strainers have a metal cap that's held down by two wing nuts. With those you remove the cap and lift out the strainer basket. The rest of the strainer assembly (the glass) stays in place. I've heard there are also strainers where the canister unscrews, but I've not seen one.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Mine has a twist off top. You can take it off with fingers, worst case a wrench handle. Then a strainer basket comes out. The bowl itself has a drain thumbscrew, remove to drain. It does drain into that middle bilge, I flush with soapy water after.

Putting the basket back takes a little fiddling. The cover should not crush the basket handle. I use wkearney's back flush to reprime the pump.

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2008 V358 Two-tone Blue V/P Dual Prop 320 HP
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the valve part I've got but actually reaching the strainer seems a big enough challenge. Appreciate the info!

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Kevin
'06 V278
8.1 L Volvo
"Heart's Content II"

Good thread with good tips. I have a 258, no AC issues, but I was wondering where the condensation from the AC empties into. Does it go into the bilge, directly to grey water holding tank, or to the sump pump? Could not find answer in manual. Does anyone have any idea? thanks.

Funny you posted this cause I was just going to ask the same question. I noticed a black tube emptying (dripping) into my Aft bilge. Is this where everyone's AC empties into?

Also, further on my AC issue.... The AC won't run for me more than an hour. Yesterday I turned it on, it was 84 degrees in the the cabin. I had it on for an hour, and it went up to 85 degrees first before it came back down to 84. I had minimal water flow out of the port side. Cleared the strainer (no real buildup there) and tried running the AC again and it wouldn't pump out any water. I was so pissed at this point because I've had problems since day 1 with the AC, that I just left a message with the Mechanic at my Marina and gave him all the info I've been dealing with over the phone. Mind you, he has looked at the AC previously and said there were no issues. He nicely called me back first thing this morning and said he would pull the boat out at high tide to flush out the whole system and check the intake in the hull to see if that's causing the low flow and issues with my AC. Wish me luck!

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2005 Four Winns 268 Vista

I've heard there can be build up in the lines causing low water flow. That or a pump issue. You can use phosphoric acid to flush the lines.

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2007 358 T-5.7GXi IB
Previous Boats
'08 H240, '08 V318, '04 268, '04 225

Mine originally dripped into the bilge, relying on the bilge pumps to dump it overboard; I didn't like that. I made a sump out of a one-gallon covered container and a small Rule pump and float switch that dumps to a thru-hull. I've read of others who plumbed to the shower sump, but that's not possible in my installation.

If you do build your own sump, I suggest that you adapt the 3/4" pump outlet down to a small hose (I used 3/8" ID) and adapt that to the smallest thru-hull you can find. If you use 3/4" tubing the liquid might not make it to the thru-hull before the pump empties the sump and switches off, so it will return to the sump in an endless cycle. The smaller tubing volume assures that most of the condensate will be dumped overboard each time the pump runs.

Tom

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Tom
Cape Coral

'99 Four Winns 258 Vista
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bowcam
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cape-coral-marine-radio VHF
http://67.207.143.181/vlf9.m3u VLF: Lightning, spherics

You're not cooling at all, then. Maybe your seawater pump lost prime, then for lack of cooling the compressor high-head-pressure switch disabled the compressor. Is the compressor running? Do you have a pump priming procedure? Do you know where the compressor Reset is?

Mine (a Mermaid 6500) is installed with a manual ball valve on a Tee just downstream of the pump that allows the pump to dump into the bilge to prime it (the pump needs to be below the water line). Once primed, the pump should normally remain primed unless you lift the boat.

Mine is in a lift, so I used to need to open the engine compartment hatch to get at the priming ball valve every time I put it in the water and wanted to run the A/C. I've since added a freshwater circuit so I can prime the pump remotely with a push of a button; a very handy solution to a headache.

Tom

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Tom
Cape Coral

'99 Four Winns 258 Vista
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bowcam
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cape-coral-marine-radio VHF
http://67.207.143.181/vlf9.m3u VLF: Lightning, spherics