I am after a bit of advice from you knowledgeable gentlemen.
Over the weekend I did a fairly long offshore trip. At the
end of the day the boat was starting to feel a bit sluggish and taking a while
to get up on the plane. When we whipped out the bung at the end of the day
there was a significant volume of water in the hull (bung wasn’t sealing
properly)
This got me thinking. With the way our bilge pump is set up
there is no real way of getting rid of any water in the hull until its back on
the trailer and the bungs out.
Water on the deck drains to a sealed sump under the transom. This is where the only bilge pump is. At the bottom of the sump are two bungs that drain into the hull. We always leave the bungs in to avoid draining bloody/fishy water (and all sorts of other scraps) into the hull.
When the sump bungs are out and there is a lot of water in
the hull this water starts to enter the sump from below (i.e flow back up
through the bungs). So, if we ever got a huge amount of water in the hull we
could always remove the sump bungs and the bilge pump would pump the water out
until it was back to a level below the bottom of the sump. However, there needs
to be a huge amount of water in the hull before it reaches the level of the
sump.
Anyway, I figure it is a bit of a safety issue the way it is
presently set-up and I am thinking of installing another bilge pump in the base
of the hull. The problem I face is that the floor is sealed/welded so there is
no access to this area of the hull.
I am thinking of getting a hatch installed near the transom so I can install the bilge pump. But Im a bit concerned that this will just create another spot for water to get into the hull. And how do I route the pump hose up through the floor without letting bloody deck water into the hull??
Has anyone got any smart ideas for bilge pump access/hose
setup? Or any photos showing how their boat is setup?
Any other advice?
I’ll try to upload some photos of the current sump/bilge
pump setup later on tonight.
Olfart wrote: Why not simply instal an automatic float switch on the pump? This way, whenever water in the sump gets to a set height the pump will operate and empty the sump out for you. |
Yeah I agree that that would be a good way to go if the sump
was low enough.
The problem is the sump is quite a way off the bottom of the
hull and so there needs to be a really large volume of water in the hull before
the sump begins to fill and the bilge can go to work.
Where there is only a small to moderate amount of water in
the hull the sump and bilge are above the water and cannot do anything to
remove it.
The current setup is probably a bit hard to visualize
without photos.
Cheers for all the feedback. I think you guys are basically on the money.
Boat is an older bluewater hull. I called the manufacturer yesterday to ask for some advice. They confirmed that the area is supposed to be sealed and that the bungs in the sump should remain closed at all times when on the water. So shouldn’t need a bilge below deck as there shouldn’t be any water here.
After having this chat and having a play around yesterday I’m pretty sure the water is coming in from both a slightly leaky bung and through a bad seal around the deck hatch above the underfloor fuel tank. Both easy fixes.
Anyway I’ll
grab a new bung and seal up the hatch properly then take it from there. If I’m
still getting water in the hull I’ll need to keep looking I guess.
MikeAqua wrote: If you wanted to it wouldn't be drama to install a second bilge in the bouyancy chamber, gland for the cables, skin fitting for the hose. Job done. Personally I would instal an autobilge if I was going to do it, with bilge control panel, so if it activayes you will know. |
Unclejake wrote: I'd be well cautious about fitting an electrical device into a sealed chamber on a petrol boat. Forgive me if this has been covered above already |
Otto wrote: If something (water) is being pumped out of a space then something needs to replace it. Otherwise we'll have a vacuum. Or in this case it will be sucking around the glands and the leak so more water in. When a boat is flooded and becomes unstable and water is sloshing everywhere and into every space before perhaps overturning a marketed buoyancy chamber somehow appeals to me. |
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