Water Intake on TC24

J

John S

New member
Looking for some Tomcat help/advice.

My sea water intake for my toilet and washdown is located on my inner starboard pontoon VERY far forward. All is great until we get underway and up on step. Then the intake is no longer in the water and I can't use the washdown pump to clean up or clean fish.

So..........
Were all TC24's built using this same postion or were later models located somewhere more useful?

Where is the intake for the TC25 located?

Anyone else have this problem on the TC and come up with a solution??

Sure appreciate any thoughts or comments. Here's a couple photos to show my intakes postion.

IMG_5084_JPG_ver2.jpg
IMG_5160_1.sized.jpg
Thanks
 
I relocated mine to the aft end of the boat, about 20" from the transom, on the angled part of the sponson, not the bottom (since it sits on the trailer bunks). No problems using water at high speed.

Also, put another pickup for the bait tank on the other sponson.

George
Cat Fever
 
My Tom Cat pick up is at the aft end of the cabin. I have another cat, where the pickup is about 12" foreward of the transom. Don't put the pick up too close to the transom, since it can affect the flow of the water to the motor, so keep it at least 12" foreward of the transom.
 
Bad Boy":2qqivmdo said:
I relocated mine to the aft end of the boat, about 20" from the transom, on the angled part of the sponson, not the bottom (since it sits on the trailer bunks). No problems using water at high speed.

Also, put another pickup for the bait tank on the other sponson.

George
Cat Fever
Click to expand...

George, where was the original location on your 255?
Where is your pump located? Mine is in the forward pontoon just a foot from the present intake?
Do you have any photos showing the new location? I looked thru your photo album, but couldn't any of your new.
What did you do with the old thru hull intake location?



Bob, I haven't searched your album lately but are there any photos of your pick up location in there?

I don't think C-Dory always put it there on the TC24 I hope someone might comment who has a newer model than I do.
 
No photos of the pick up on my albums. I believe that all of the pick ups on the 255's were in the same location, which is under the hanging locker on the port side of the boat, on the inner side of the hull.
 
I don't have one.

A hole in the hull below the water line? Spooky.

I have a hose with a heavy screen on the end that I throw overboard when I want to wash anything down. Seems we are always in the cabin when underway, so it works for us.
 
The pick up on my TC24, is in the same place as yours. Mine is only for the head though. The biggest problem I had with it where it is, is that it required me to install a valve next to the toilet(for convienence). When we were running in chop, the water level in the bowl would raise and overflow, from the water being forced into the system.
The valve at the thru hull served the same purpose, but having to lift the cushions forward of the head, each time the head was used was a hassle. I just leave the thru hull open now.
I have a raw water pickup for a washdown( I use it to supply a portable bait tank as well) that was installed by the dealer where I bought the boat, but it's about 12 or so inches from the back of the port sponson, and right smack dab in the middle. There's no strainer basket on this pick up, just the flush brass rim of the thru hull. There is a strainer of sorts just before the water enters the pump.

Maybe you could cap off the line from the front for the washdown, and install a pickup for it at the back.
 
John,

My raw water intake was on the inside of the port sponson, about 20" forward of the cabin door.

I removed the intake and glassed over and gelcoated the previous location. The pump was relocated to the transom and the new thru hull is at the location I described before.

My boat is in at the shop to have the engines raised by about 1-1/2" so I will take the pictures for you soon.

One comment about those concerned about putting thru-hull "under water". Don't be concerned if you have the job done correctly. In my opinion, it's the cleanest and safest way. Once you educate yourself in the process and do it yourself or by a concientious mechanic, your fears will be alleviated and you'll never go back to a dangling intake hose.
 
Thanks for the comments, including the couple of TC24 owners I e-mailed to get them on board this thread.

It sounds like what I need to do is add another thru hull back in one of my battery compartments. This is the only other place I have access to my pontoons other than the forward compartment.

Presently the forward compartment thru hull branches off to feed the wash down pump AND the head. So that thru hull would stay, just feeding the head and I should probably move the wash down pump to the rear compartment since that is close to the hose attachment for the wash down. We don't normally use the head while underway, so that isn't an issue.

Any other advice on the new thru hull other than staying at least 12" forward of the transom? Any reason why it can't just be a normal flush round hole style thru hull instead of the protruding grating like I have on the front?

This might be a good opportunity to move the wash down electrical switch from the panel at the helm to the back cockpit somewhere, making it even MORE user friendly.

Appreciate any other ideas.

Thanks
 
Most of the boats have the washdown electrical switch near the hose attatchment.

One of the reasons for the "Scoop" type of strainer is to prevent intake of sea grass, plastic bits etc. if I used a flush thru hull, I would put some in line strainer to protect the pump. I would also use a valve on the thru hull.

As for thru hulls in general. They are responsible for a few sinkings of boats. Some folks will go to the extreme of putting in a Sea Chest to keep all of the feeds in one place.

If you do put in a thru hull, and have a 110 system on the boat, you then have to consider if you have the galvanic isolator, if you have the thru hull bonded and a propper zinc to prevent damage to the thru hull from electrolysis. Some folks use the Maralon thru hulls by Forespar. I have seen these break. Do not use brass, be careful about mixing metals (I know that some C Dories use a bronze thru hull, then a ball valve with SS. There are different ways of securing a thru hull, and these include bolting in a fitting, as well as screwing in the thru hull itself.

Also when you cut a hole in a part of the boat which is cored, you need to undercut the core, then fill with epoxy, refinish the hole, and bed with a proper compound. I always leave the thru hulls closed when I am not running the boat.

On the boats we used for long distance cruising we had as many as 10 thru hulls well below the waterline. All of these had to be properly maintained--that is the valve cycled open/closed on a regular basis, greased, and the thru hulls inspected and checked for both electrolysis and any other type of damage on a regular basis.

I would just as soon not have a thru hull on the Tom Cat, but it is there, so I keep it.

I wonder why it is necessary to raise the engines--is the cavitation plate not running right at the surface of the water? Is the hull bracket set too low? My Suzuki's are at the 2nd hole, which is just right.
 
John,

If you want to use your raw water while underway, the use of the scoop is to assure you get positive pressure of water into the intake. Without the scoop, the water flowing past the thru-hull will create a venturi effect that will actually suck water away from your pump intake. This will cause an air pocket that makes it difficult for your pump to pick up the water. It will take several minutes for the pump to evacuate the air before it can start pumping water again.

George
 
thataway":jrlli9ja said:
On the boats we used for long distance cruising we had as many as 10 thru hulls well below the waterline . . .

I would just as soon not have a thru hull on the TomCat, but it is there, so I keep it.
Click to expand...

Hey, Bob!

Your comment has me curious. You were cruised happily with as many as 10 thru-hulls but now you don't want a single thru-hull on your TomCat.

Why the different thinking for the TomCat?
 
Bob (Thataway),

Regarding your question about raising my engines, my 150HP Mercury Verados were raised 1-1/2" so they are mounted with the top bolts at the 3rd hole. I was able to achieve another 200 rpm with no blow out of the props at tight turns and water pressure was always at 22 psi at high speed turns. Now, I am able to run WOT at 6390 rpm (max rating is 6400 rpm) with two people on board.

It seemed before that I was trimming up quite a bit to get best rpm, so I felt there was room to raise the engines. As you know, most boat manufacturers are very conservative at the height the engines are placed for liability reasons. My observations at 4300 rpm cruising speed is that the cavitation plate was relatively high, so I believe the Permatrims helped tremendously to allow the props to maintain good bite of the water.

All this will extra work will be to my advantage when I load up for offshore fishing with four fishermen, 100lb of ice and extra gear.
 
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