I am taking out my old thirsty 188 Mercruiser and replacing it with a Beta 60 soon to be ordered. My Walter V-Drive cooling system with the Mercruiser is in-line in other words seawater intake - strainer - v drive - engine. As the v-drive cooling pipe is most likely less than 1" what would be the recommended cooling system for the V Drive when installing the Beta.
Hi Farron, I will check out the v-drive cooling size when I pull the boat out in the next couple of weeks and increase the size if its less than 1". The Walter V-Drive manual on cooling mentions that in some cases scuppers through the hull are connected to and from the V-Drive to provide independent water-cooling and are actuated by the movement of the boat through the water. It would be interesting to know if this system works well or not when your hull speed is less than 8 knots. to date I have not seen that system in action. Thanks for your input Farron Zoe
Hi Farron A few weeks has turned into a few months, busy building engine beds etc. The V-Drive takes a 3/4" hose onto a cast brass water jacket, no easy way to increase the flow size to 1" there. Would it be possible to split the salt water flow and still draw water through the V-Drive? Zoe
-- Edited by Zoe on Saturday 15th of January 2011 03:17:06 AM
You must not restrict the water flow to the water pump. 1" fittings should be maintained.
The Walter RV 20 should have 1" pipe thread at the cooler that will allow you to install a 1" pipe to hose adaptor. The cooler is at the top of the v-drive.
Splitting the water flow to the the pump will not be effective as the pump will draw through the hose with least resistence. Cooling water through the v-drive would be less then required.
I think we must be looking at different models as the water cooling runs through the bottom of the V-Drive. If memory serves me right when you remove the bottom chamber there's a brass tube running through connecting to the elbows on either end. Iv attached a couple of photo's. Reading a Walter RV-20 V-Drive manual online they say the operating temperatures are from 140 to 180F although safe operating temperatures may be as high as 210F. So is it a good or bad Idea to get your cooling from the Beta fresh water circuit, I suspect this would be to hot but thought I would ask. Thanks, Zoe
