I'm going to do a two part review on this product, Part I is the product upon purchase, how it looks, feels, value for money etc and Part II will be a review after it's been put to use in the 'field'.
The product in question is a sea water washdown kit, designed as a package providing everything you need in one box. The only thing it doesn't include is the water pickup, which could be thru-hull, transom mount or a detachable pipe over the side!
Let's take a look at what's inside the package:
Durable SHURflo 4.0gpm Pro Blaster washdown pump
Blaster Nozzle
Raw Water Strainer
3/4" and 5/8" garden hose adapters
UV-protected 25' coiled hose
Coated, seamless motor shell for enhanced protection against wet environments
Everything in the kit looks like high quality stuff which you would expect from SHURflo. The coiled hose is a must have on a boat as it elimates the need to carry a bulky hose pipe yet can extend to 25 inches and then self coils back again.
The raw water strainer/filter takes care of preventing blockages, the pump is a 15 amp high spec high flow model and includes all the adapters you need to fit the unit in your boat.
The idea behind a sea water washdown system is two-fold: i) When it comes to gutting fish, you need sea water to rinse and NOT fresh, here you have a plentiful supply of it! ii) When you get blood all over your deck, simply wash down with sea water to get rid of the mess.
If you have a fresh water supply as well you can always give your deck a quick rinse with that after if you're not happy with letting salt water sit on the deck for the day.
I use a similar system on my dads 32 foot boat and found it essential for fishing.
The kit costs $199 from West Marine which at first glance isn't cheap, BUT if you go and buy a simiar pump locally it will probably end up costing you more than the entire kit!
I'm looking forward to installing it and seeing how it performs.