On Mon, 5 Oct 2009 16:41:19 +0200, "Edgar"
wrote:

Anybody have diverters to suck the bilge on their engine and genset
water intakes?

--Vic

This facility is available on some small boat inlet strainers that I have
seen but I think it is a bad idea as you do not want to put dirty bilge
water through your engine, as a modern engine has very small cooling water
passages and any blockage there means big trouble..
Moreover, the capacity of an engine cooling pump is pretty small in
comparison with a decent bilge pump, which is another reason against such an
arrangement.
If you want to use the engine to pump your bilge, rig a belt driven high
capacity low head pump that will really shift some water.

I don't have that but know of others who do. The raw water pump on a
large engine will typically pump 30 to 40 gallons per minute or more.
Raw water circulation on large salt water engines is almost always
through a heat exchanger instead of the engine block. If the boat is
sinking you do what you have to do.