Because of the location of my raw water intake I have a hard time getting a good seal for the “fake-a-lake” to work properly. So I decided to add a location to plug a garden hose directly into the water intake line. In order to do this I added a ball valve to the back of my raw water intake fitting. Then replaced a galvanized 90 degree fitting and short nipple attached to the v-drive, with a longer nipple, a galvanized T fitting, reducing bushing (reduced down to the size of a garden hose), and a plug for the bushing. In order to run the boat out of the water I close the ball valve, remove the galvanized plug from the T fitting and bushing, then thread a garden hose into the bushing before starting the motor. Newer Malibus use something similar but the garden hose gets threaded into a fitting on the transom instead of next to the V-drive like mine.
This addition makes it way easier to run the boat out of the water in a pinch (ie camping someplace away from access to a lot of tools) all I need is a garden hose. It also makes it easier to add antifreeze to the engine block in the winter, because all of it goes directly into the engine instead of spilling out the plunger on the “fake-a-lake.”
