Our Yachts are getting older...check your hoses.........

[M. R. Bober]

Lessons learned....no matter how good your yard is....DO NOT TRUST THEM

Ah My Captain Mike Heintz......so SO true. As you know I have nothing but good things to say about the service and skill of the guys running Oyster Bay Marine Center. They are truly top flight. But even they can pull a bonehead play sometimes.

This year they told me when my CD27 was being put in the water. I arrived there in the afternoon of the next day to see her bobbing happily at her mooring. I took the launch out ready to do some further commissioning. All was well but imagine my surprise when I looked in the battery compartment and I found that the batteries that the yard stored over the winter were NOT installed!!

Whoa! Having the bilge pump switch on automatic was totally useless if the boat leaked. Obviously I took the next launch in and had a "conversation" with the yard manager. The batteries were scheduled to be installed that day.

Warren,

That's got to be an all time classic. I'll bet it was hard to start the engine

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where old hose can be found in the Historic District,) MD

[Warren Kaplan]

Warren,

That's got to be an all time classic. I'll bet it was hard to start the engine

Never fret Mitch. I keep that old time severely rusted and corroded hand crank in the engine compartment for just the purpose. Alas, the sails weren't aboard at that time so I had no plans to go anywhere!!

[Dalton]

Althought this link has morphed into an auto vs manual bilge pump discussion I thought I'd tag this onto it. I just had my mechanic replace my exhaust elbow. From what I have heard it should be done periodically. For a NE seasonal sailor like me, 4 or 5 month season, I should have done it at 7 or 8 years. She's now starting her 11th season. It was quite clogged with carbon on the exhaust side, the water output is a little more now. It was also pretty corroded on the water side. FYI!

GD

[Dalton]

A nor easter ripped through our harbor last Labor Day and 40 boats came off their moorings. A subject worthy of it's own thread for later. One was a Sunward 42 that was once owned by Walter Kronkite. It's bow slammed into the breakwater on it's way out of the harbor. It left the harbor and proceeded west towards the Navy pier. But before it hit the pier it's owner, a professional harbor pilot, was on the scene. He noticed that the pump was operating periodically. This indicated the hole and inflow wasn't to big for the pump. He was able to board and get her to the lift and haul her. So although you can do all the right things you can't control everything like others negligence in maintaining their mooring gear or mother nature. If he did not have automatic pumps it would have been another story. Like someone said, it certainly can't hurt.

[Trawler Joe]

I just had my mechanic replace my exhaust elbow.

Dalton, your elbow wouldn't be so exhausted if you had an automatic bilge pump instead of manual.

(Sorry, hope you don't mind a stink-potter intruding on your debate. I'm watching with fascination, as I had no idea there are those who eschew electric bilge pumps!)

[Len]

Mahalo writes "I would much rather have an electric bilge pump and never need it, than need it and not have it. "

My sentiment exactly!!

In addition to hand operated pumps I am able to use a bilge pump mounted on the bottom of the bilge. The flip of a switch will turn on the level activated shower pump, mounted in a container above the bilge pump and high water alarm. If those two pumps do not keep the water below the floorboards- unscrewing the stainer cap for the salt water deck wash with the seacock closed will add another pump to the workforce.If I'm alone and the water is still rising- a quick knife cut of the fresh water pump hose will cause the rising salt water to be pumped through the plumbing and emptied out the sink drain.If the engine is running another quick slice (after closing the seacock) will turn the water exhaust intake into a bilge pump!! At this point it is crucial to find and slow down/stop the leak-If five pumps cannot contain the leak my hand operated pump likely will do little to prevent that radio call.

If we are talking about an inch of rain water that sits in your bilge and you desire to pump it out- a hand pump will work fine. I usually find that a sponge in necessary to really dry out my bilge- which I keep bone dry, I doubt anyone installs electric pumps in order to pump out small amounts of water (although someone said they needed one for their dingy.) If you have the battery capacity why dot use it to prevent water intrusion.

[Dalton]

T Joe:

LOL, maybe I should I connect my automatic electric bilge pump to my new exhaust elbow? I know some people in my club that must have the bilge absolutely dry. Mine has always had an inch or 2 of water in it. I try to keep it mopped up but with a keel stepped mast I'll always get a little water in a hard rain.

GD

[Cathy Monaghan]

Hi Greg,

T Joe:

LOL, maybe I should I connect my automatic electric bilge pump to my new exhaust elbow? I know some people in my club that must have the bilge absolutely dry. Mine has always had an inch or 2 of water in it. I try to keep it mopped up but with a keel stepped mast I'll always get a little water in a hard rain.

GD

I think we'll always have some water down there in our deep bilges. When the bilge pump starts sucking air and stops, whatever's left in the hose (which is quite long on our CD32) just runs back down into the bilge. So unless we use a portable hand pump or a wetvac to suck it dry, there'll be at least an inch of water in the bilge. We have one of those small wetvacs that we got at Sears and plug it into the inverter. I don't like it, it's super noisy and I always think somebody's going to get electricuted, so I prefer the little handpump followed by a sponge.


Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

[Michael Heintz]

Glad you guys have a wet bilge as well. All this talk of dry bilge was getting to me ..........My bilge always has an inch or two....and like Cathy...when the bilge pump stops all the water on the hose just comes back in..........

[Len]

That's what sponges are for. I must admit I only use this method at the beginning of the season- so that I can spray and wipe some bleach down there .

[Jumping Flea]

We have counted 5 bilge pumps so far: 3 electric and 2 manual during our exploration of our "new" CD30.

Of course this could be because some of the thru-hulls were actually hand tight!
No, you can't just slap more silicone around the edge of a thru-hull - they actually have to be tight!!

After braving the black (and putrid) water and slime in the bilge we pulled out what seemed like miles of wires, tubing, hoses, and pumps. I'm still having nightmares.

The most interesting configuration we found was a pump in an empty bottle of Preed Weed Preventer. This might be the only pump that worked, because out of all the things we found in the bilge, there wasn't a single weed!

http://mysite.verizon.net/resx4pos/cape ... n/id2.html

At least we don't have to spend a lot of time finding a mystery leak.
It's actually a lot harder to find something that doesn't leak!

[Richard G.]

To keep the water in the hose from coming back into the bilge after the pump stops, I installed a check valve in the line between the pump and the hose. One way valve...water does not drain back into the bilge and prevents the float switch from re cycling on and on and it keeps that inch or so of water from collecting in the bilge. Make sure the arrow on the valve is pointing away from the pump. It shows the direction of the allowable flow.

[Dean Abramson]

Jumping Flea,

Read the label carefully: maybe that is SEAweed preventer. Sounds like maybe you want to leave it in there!

Seriously, sounds like a real project. As someone who spent a good chunk of the spring hanging down into my bilge, I can tell you this: it feels great when it's over.

Good luck with it all!

Dean

[Derek Matheson]

Beware of check valves. If the bilge pump cannot provide the pressure to crack open a check valve which has water above it, the pump motor will run and run until the battery is dead. Suggest that check valves be reserved for manual bilge pumps.