Alarm... Sea Strainer?

[Waked]

Hi all,

I just purchased Sameer's 99 Epic 22 and I love it!  I am having one issue that Sameer believes is related to the sea strainer needing to be cleaned.  I have an intermittent, high-pitched alarm, the same sound as I get when the safety cut-off stopper is not well-secured.  So, I have a couple of questions:

1) does this sound to you like a clogged sea-strainer?
2) if so, how do I clean it?  (step by step please, my handy-man score is a solid "F", but I do not have an inboard mechanic anywhere nearby)
3) if it does not sound like the sea strainer to you, what do you think it is?

Thanks so much for any help you can render (by the way, I bought the Epic BECAUSE of this board, I figured if you all love these boats this much, there has GOT to be a good reason and I have not been dissappointed.

- Jim

[toyotafreak]

Welcome to the site! Thanks for the kind words - now you're one of us! Lord help you :-)

Do you have the owner's manual for the boat? I think it's described in there. Also, I think there's a scanned copy available here.

I've made a couple weak attempts to open mine, but it's really locked on there good and I haven't wanted to force it. The bowl is clear, though so I'm assuming you can pretty much look and see if it's clear.

[cyclone]

Are you saying that the temp alarm is going off?

[curtis]

A big pair of channel locks does the trick. Just be deliberate, not wimpy
at the attempt.

[epic_toy]

If it's a sea strainer problem, I believe you should see reduced flow / hot water coming out the exhaust if you run it on the trailer with the fake a lake. Like Derek said, you should be able to see right in there, but if it's clogged before or after the sea strainer, looking at the exhaust may be one way to rule out cooling system. Or the alarm could be a dozen other things...

Don't lose the washer that's in the sea strainer. It doesn't seal without it I've found!

[lesman01]

Welcome to the board. I'd say post pictures, but I've alreaday seen lots of that boat. Nice looking....

Hard to tell unless you can see the multimeter(far right computer readout) or the  "analog" temp gauge is up over 200. As said, the alarm could be many things, low voltage, low oil pressure, etc... next time it beeps at you check the multimeter, it'll flash a warning along with the audible alarm. As you've probaby read here already, the dash instuments are notorious for giving false reading with the likely culprit bad wiring or battery, not a true bad reading.

If it is Overheating, Seastrainer is one thing to check. Although it's clear, it's not always easy to see well enough to see if it's clogged. There's a mesh basket that sits in the clear conatiner. Just unscrew it, take out the basket, clean, rinse, repeat.

I have been able to use my hands to loosen it up, and tighten it back with no leaks.