CD27 Icebox drain

[fmueller]

Skip,

My 27 sink drains into the bilge. If you tee into the sink thru hull you'll get sea water in your ice box sooner than later in a CD27 I think. Yikes! The bilge is just a sump and supposed to be able to handle the inevitable small quantities of water that get "on the wrong side" so to speak. You need an electric bilge pump. It's a safety device as well as a convenience.

When I top off my fresh water tank, which means bringing a hose into the forward cabin, (because my boat has no deck fill), I'll take the time to hose out the bilge. That is, I shut off the electric pump and then blast the bilge area to stir up any settled debris and get a few gallons into the bilge, then snap the pump on (and most of that debris goes overboard). Do this a few times, blast/pump, blast/pump, and the bilge will be quite clean and any remaining water quite clear. Bilges that never get cleared regularly are the ones that turn into fetid little swamps. Maybe ice water is a good thing?

In my on-going refit, now underway, we decided to run a "wet bilge" i.e. no one-way valve inline in the electric bilge pump hose - to avoid the possibility of pump cycling due to a stuck (open) valve. This happened to me when I first bought Jerezana - nearly killed the battery bank. That means the pump actuator needs to be raised so that the bilge hose water volume can back fill into the bilge without causing the pump to cycle. So we built a little custom platform for the new bilge pump that has the float switch an inch higher than the pump The fact of the matter is that I have never seen any bilge pump, manual or electric that does not leave some water in the bilge anyway. So i'm not going to worry about another 1/2 inch.

That's my thinking ...

cheeers Fred

[skipsmagic]

Hi Fred,

Hi on my to do list is install an Electric Bilge Switch. The company I work for sells the Ultimate Safety Switch and I am thinking of going with one of those and a good Rule pump. I am not sure if I have a through-hull that I can run the outlet hose to. There is no pump currently and all the through-hulls above the waterline seem occupied. It could be that one of those through-hulls with a hose attached could be for a bilge pump and the hose is just sitting in the bilge.

This board is a real help. The gentleman I bought the boat from only used the boat 1 year and then had heart surgery and it sat in his yard for the next 11 years. It is in good shape due to being covered up very well and he took everything off the boat and kept it in his heated dry basement. The problem is he doesn't know much about the boat and the systems.
I have turned into a boat detective trying to figure out all this boats secrets and where every hose, wire and line goes to. I am trying to stay focused on the engine, I need to find out it's condition first. My goal is to get completely clean fuel to it by removing and cleaning the tank and removing the old Racor and all the fuel lines and replacing with new, two new batteries and try firing her up. My goal is to launch early May and with two full time jobs and a family it's going to be a challenge but I'm going to shoot for it.

[John Stone]

It's a safety device as well as a convenience.

Why is an electric bilge pump a safety device and not just a convenience? Does such a statement imply that to rely only on a manual bilgepump is unsafe? If so, I would disagree with such a view.

There is nothing wrong with having conveniences. But I think it’s important to deferentiate what is convenient from what is safety related, e.g. flares, life jackets, running lights, a workable bilge pump of any kind, etc.

[fmueller]

John ...

If you leave your boat - and for some reason it springs a leak - an electric pump (depending on battery and pump capacity) may save a boat, or at least save a certain amount of damage, the engine for instance which would be flooded first, but only if the pump and battery can keep a leak at bay until you return. I don't know if this qualifies as a safety device (my poor choice of words?) but a cheap form of insurance maybe?. For a boat on a slip with shore power it's a pretty easy decision. And sure - it is a convenience.


Skip,

List of the "holes" on my 27 hull

below the waterline:

port and starboard cockpit scupper drains (1 1/2") ... head direct discharge (1 1/2") ... head seawater intake (3/4") ... sink drain (3/4") ... engine cooling water intake (3/4") ... depth/speed/temp sensor (1 1/4") ...

wow, 7 tickets to Dave Jones' locker !!!

Above the waterline on the topsides:

Spartan bronze exhaust outlet low on the transom starboard side (50mm) ... 3 Spartan bronze "breather" fittings; all high on the port side, fuel tank high on the transom, holding tank midships, water tank well forward ... 2 Nylon thru hull fittings: one for the manual bilge pump, aft on the port side and quite low tucked under the transom tumble home (1"), (so low it makes me nervous), electric bilge pump outlet mid cockpit starboard side and about 1 foot below the toe rail (1") .

I had thought about changing the nylon pump outlets to bronze, but son Toby says a metallic streak/stain will form over time ... so they will remain as they are, white nylon, but I think we will be changing the electric pump fitting to 3/4".

I think that's it.

cheers

Fred

[John Stone]

Fred, concur with everything you said. I also agree with your assessment it’s not a safety device. And I have to wonder how many boats have actually avoided sinking by having an electric bilge pump. Few bilge pumps can keep up with a serious inflow of water. And as you said, most batteries will go dead very quickly.

This winter we had a beautiful one-off 45’ Cherubini sink at the dock at our little marina. The surface of the water froze over which is not common here. Air temps about 15F. The owner did not have a heater going below deck. The engine intake strainer (glass?) froze and cracked. When the frozen water thawed the water poured in. The bilge pump came on and pumped till the batteries went dead. The safety device was the seacock. He obviously did not have it shut.

[skipsmagic]

Fred,

Thank you,
I am going to check mine out in reference to yours.

7 tickets to Davy Jones Locker. LOL

Cheers