This bulletin board, hosted by the CDSOA, Inc., is the on-line meeting place for all Cape Dory owners and groups. We welcome everyone's questions, answers and comments about Cape Dory sailboat
Folks:
I've just found a 40 year old CD25 that I'm now in the process of negotiating to purchase. It's.on a trailer in the back of a maintenance yard. It looks to be in reasonably good condition, but will need TLC. It doesn't have access to A.C. Power. If there is a battery, I'm sure it will need to be replaced and isn't working. There is rain water in the bottom of the hull that needs to be pump out. What do y'all recommend? I would be OK using some type of hand pump, but there appears to be a good amount of water. (I tried this afternoon to use a garden hose via siphoning, but that sucked, literally
find yourself a whale gusher urchin pump....it is self priming....can use it on a footboard ..outside the boat...to start a siphoning...and once running it will pass through the pump with out further pumping...and after you get into the boat...you can mount the urchin...and continue to use it ....can find the pump at westmarine/defender/amazon...and if anything fails on the pump...it has a rebuild kit....just got mine from amazon...the pump is capable of pumping small amounts of debris...have seen washers/nuts..dead bugs pass though mine.....
The garden hose siphon will work and is easy if the boat is on a trailer. Take a wet/dry shop vac (filter removed)with you and use it to start the siphon by holding it over outlet end of hose (may need to use hand to seal). Once the siphon has done most of the work you can use shop vac to get the remaining water out. Its not the fastest method, but works well. This worked on a CD26 and should work on a CD25.
I've siphoned the bilge of a Ty on a trailer before by hand and had no problem. The highest point where the hose crosses the side of the boat needs to be as low as possible and you need to minimize the length of hose to this point, otherwise you'll run out of lung capacity. One other hint, make sure you know what the hose was last used for and never use a hose that was previously used to evacuate a holding tank! I accidently broke these rules once, NOT PLEASANT!
Steve
Pleasant Journey, Morgan 35
Previously:
'85 CD 26, Hull No. 30
'74 Typhoon Hull No. 789
Great Bay/Little Egg Harbor, NJ
Since you have no available electrical power, the easiest and cheapest solution is a drill powered pump using a battery powered cordless drill motor. You can use it to pump all the water or to start a good siphon. Make sure your hose is at the deepest part of the bilge.Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to pump it out.
You can get them at most any hardware store, Home Depot, Lowes, Harbor Freight.
It's a tool that can come in handy around the house also.
If you go with the drill pump, run fresh water thru it after use. Salt water will corrode and it will become inoperable. From experience, unfortunately.
"It is the Average Sailor, the one who will never set any records or win any major trophies, who really populates the sailing world." Ray Whitaker
"Never tell a young person that something cannot be done. God may have waited for centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing."- John Andrew Holmes
How much water are we talking about?
This year I had about 60+ gallons of water in Solstice...it came up halfway to my cabin seats. Getting down & dirty with a 1 gallon jug & a Home Depot bucket, I was able to get it all out the old fashioned way by myself in about an hour and a half, (with a few union breaks of course.) Get a friend involved & cut the time in half. On a side note, beer helps motivate your sailing buddies... It seems daunting in the beginning but it's not so bad once you got a rhythm going.
I'm surprised there isn't a manual bilge pump. Many of our CDs have manual bilge pumps in the stern cockpit lazarette. There should be a fitting somewhere below the cockpit helm seat for the pump's handle. Anyway, if the boat doesn't have one, this should be one of the first things you install.
Fair winds,
Cathy
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay
Message Board Admin. - CDSOA, Inc.
CDSOA Associate Member #265
Founding member of Northeast Fleet
Former owner of CD32 Realization, #3 (owned from 1995-2022)
Greenline 39 Electra
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay
Big E wrote:How much water are we talking about?
This year I had about 60+ gallons of water in Solstice...it came up halfway to my cabin seats. Getting down & dirty with a 1 gallon jug & a Home Depot bucket, I was able to get it all out the old fashioned way by myself in about an hour and a half, (with a few union breaks of course.) Get a friend involved & cut the time in half. On a side note, beer helps motivate your sailing buddies... It seems daunting in the beginning but it's not so bad once you got a rhythm going.
As I've mentioned, beer helps.
Best of luck, Big E
I am not where I heard this but "the most efficient pump in the world is a scared sailor with a bucket."
Fair winds,
Roberto
a/k/a Sea Hunt "The Tadpole Sailor"
CDSOA #1097
________________________________
"I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not Sail fast for I intend to go in harm's way." Captain John Paul Jones, 16 November 1778, as quoted in Naval History and Heritage Command, http://www.history.navy.mil
