Inboard/Outboard boats?

Question

I recently purchased a four winns I/O boat. It has a blower to remove harmful gases from the engine compartment. I can see where the tube from the blower exits the boat and blows air out of, but where does it take in the air? The tube exits through the back, and then leads to under the engine. Where does it go?

For people familiar with Four Winns, I have the Freedom 180 model. There are no visible air intakes on the front or around the boat, so where are these mysterious intakes?

Answer 1

There has to be a fresh air intake vent (probably 2 - one on each side) somewhere on the boat.  Look in the bilge for the same kind of tubing that is on the exhaust vent and trace it up to the intake vent .  The fresh air intake vents usually have similar tubing to duct the clean air down into the bilge or motor compartment.  Sometimes these intake vents are cleverly disguised by manufacturers.  If you can't find it this way, call a Four Winns dealer and ask them.

Answer 2

ALWAYS REMEMBER TO RUN YOUR BILGE

Yes I was hollering.

My brother blew up our boat at the marina, he ran it for about 5 - 10 seconds and ( like a teen is prone to do) figured it wasn't really that important to wait a whole minute. We all got off the boat before it burned down to the waterline. The guy at the gas pump just pushed it out in the lake to save the station from explosion.

ONE MORE TIME..........RUN THE BILGE

Answer 3

It sucks the air from within the engine compartment prior to starting to prevent a build up of gasoline fumes from igniting and blowing up the boat. It happens quite often unless you start the bilge fan for a few minutes prior to starting the engine.