stu22uk
New Member
Hi folks,
I’m new here and wanted to ask you guys about your experiences and opinions about a problem all too familiar to me and friends with sailboats.
Basically it all revolves around winter storage (on the hard) and the ingress of rainwater turning the hull into a bathtub! This happened to a few friends of mine and others around the boatyard causing costly damage despite their efforts to negate the problem.
(Our boatyard and others around prohibits the use of covers unless they are professionally made to suit the vessel and in good condition, ensuring a proper fit... Very expensive)
As a result and after wrestling and obsessing about a REAL solution for many months I reckon I have came up with something that really benefits boat owners and eradicates nuisance water from the bilge over the winter months AND allows costly batteries to be removed from the boat altogether while on the hard, allowing them to be stored properly keeping them in tiptop shape for the impending season(s)
Generally it has – and still goes as follows:
The boat is lifted out the water and plonked down in the yard somewhere.
You winterize and prep the engine etc etc
The bilge pump and float switch are checked, the battery(s) are left in whatever state of charge they were in and will hopefully cope with any accumulation of water.
You walk away telling yourself it will all be fine, then find you are suitably distracted over the winter season but know that you should have been down to the yard to check – but again are suitably re-focused on other “important” things. Until eventually the sun starts to shine again and its time to get prepping for going back in
You arrive back to find a substantial level of rainwater in your beloved boat. Perhaps covering the engine or gearbox, perhaps even in the cabin – mechanical damage, fixtures and fittings, wooden furniture, upholstery, mould and mildew... on and on it goes – but how?
Simple – lots of things can and will go wrong:
Older boats leak or are more likely to leak – fact! Deck hardware, stanchions, glands(cable), standing rigging deck fittings... there are many places where small, almost negligible leaks can become appreciable over long periods of precipitation.
Ok, but I have a good pump and battery so why didn’t they save me?
Well – what condition was your battery in when you left it? Did you know a fully charged battery wont freeze until temps as low as -68.8 Celsius but one with 40% charge freezes at -8.8 Celsius ( http://www.trojanbattery.com/tech-support/faq/maintenance.aspx ).Not an uncommon winter temperature here in the west of Scotland! A completely dead battery has only water inside it and will freeze at 0 Celsius, the expansion of the ice will probably rupture the casing.
Bilge pumps – it’s a ruse! I work with pumps, large ones of all varieties on an industrial scale so I know about a few things that get skirted over when you buy one. 1000gph, 1500gph is the claim, well I’m afraid not my friends; give these pumps a height (or head) to pump and install some bendy ribbed discharge tubing ideal for snaking through to the abysmally located skin fit and watch your flow rate drop off a cliff!!! Leading to longer running periods. They also draw slightly more energy in cold conditions and draw in settled debris choking and restricting the inlet compounding the problem further – unless of course your bilge is beautifully clean!
Float switches – who’s never heard of a stuck float switch? It’s a well known problem that left unattended will completely drain and may destroy your battery.
Not to mention wiring problems caused by poor installation, blown fuses etc.
Here is a very real scenario – It’s the middle of winter, she’s an old girl now with a few leaks here and there but nothing major and that’s to be expected, the battery and pump have coped thus far with any water getting in but, the battery is a few seasons old now and although from a reputable manufacturer and of a suitable capacity in good condition some neglect has been allowed. Suddenly a sustained period of heavy rain ensues and the pump is called upon once more, the pump – a beefy fellow, very capable if the “juice” can be found to sustain it but, the battery is weaning... not quite managing to provide what the pump needs to defeat the head and friction of the pipe work ,the bilge water never quite manages to reach the pipe outlet – the float switch stays activated because the water level never retreats, the pump runs indefinitely until the battery is completely drained... but - maybe saveable? The weather then improves, blue skies – sunny, crisp with frost and minus temperatures. The now water in your expensive battery freezes... Game over!
Ever the cynic I hear you cry... but I’ve lived it and seen it repeated over and over.
Not everyone lives 5 minutes from the boat yard,
Not everyone has the time to carry out “due diligence” in the off-season,
Not everyone can afford to pay the boatyard to maintain their vessel over winter,
Not everyone has OCD and must check once a week or they will implode!
Still with me? Good. (I know I rant on a bit!)
What if a device came to fruition that could remove the risk of all of these problems and was not powered by batteries or electricity of any form, a device easily capable of keeping the boat dry, was simple and required no maintenance of any kind, a synch to install and remove, compact and powered by the very source of the problem – rain!
Is that something that may have some appeal?
I apologise for the mystique but I may have to patent this if there’s any interest – feel free to ask questions im interested to hear your thoughts.
I look forward to any replies.
I’m new here and wanted to ask you guys about your experiences and opinions about a problem all too familiar to me and friends with sailboats.
Basically it all revolves around winter storage (on the hard) and the ingress of rainwater turning the hull into a bathtub! This happened to a few friends of mine and others around the boatyard causing costly damage despite their efforts to negate the problem.
(Our boatyard and others around prohibits the use of covers unless they are professionally made to suit the vessel and in good condition, ensuring a proper fit... Very expensive)
As a result and after wrestling and obsessing about a REAL solution for many months I reckon I have came up with something that really benefits boat owners and eradicates nuisance water from the bilge over the winter months AND allows costly batteries to be removed from the boat altogether while on the hard, allowing them to be stored properly keeping them in tiptop shape for the impending season(s)
Generally it has – and still goes as follows:
The boat is lifted out the water and plonked down in the yard somewhere.
You winterize and prep the engine etc etc
The bilge pump and float switch are checked, the battery(s) are left in whatever state of charge they were in and will hopefully cope with any accumulation of water.
You walk away telling yourself it will all be fine, then find you are suitably distracted over the winter season but know that you should have been down to the yard to check – but again are suitably re-focused on other “important” things. Until eventually the sun starts to shine again and its time to get prepping for going back in
You arrive back to find a substantial level of rainwater in your beloved boat. Perhaps covering the engine or gearbox, perhaps even in the cabin – mechanical damage, fixtures and fittings, wooden furniture, upholstery, mould and mildew... on and on it goes – but how?
Simple – lots of things can and will go wrong:
Older boats leak or are more likely to leak – fact! Deck hardware, stanchions, glands(cable), standing rigging deck fittings... there are many places where small, almost negligible leaks can become appreciable over long periods of precipitation.
Ok, but I have a good pump and battery so why didn’t they save me?
Well – what condition was your battery in when you left it? Did you know a fully charged battery wont freeze until temps as low as -68.8 Celsius but one with 40% charge freezes at -8.8 Celsius ( http://www.trojanbattery.com/tech-support/faq/maintenance.aspx ).Not an uncommon winter temperature here in the west of Scotland! A completely dead battery has only water inside it and will freeze at 0 Celsius, the expansion of the ice will probably rupture the casing.
Bilge pumps – it’s a ruse! I work with pumps, large ones of all varieties on an industrial scale so I know about a few things that get skirted over when you buy one. 1000gph, 1500gph is the claim, well I’m afraid not my friends; give these pumps a height (or head) to pump and install some bendy ribbed discharge tubing ideal for snaking through to the abysmally located skin fit and watch your flow rate drop off a cliff!!! Leading to longer running periods. They also draw slightly more energy in cold conditions and draw in settled debris choking and restricting the inlet compounding the problem further – unless of course your bilge is beautifully clean!
Float switches – who’s never heard of a stuck float switch? It’s a well known problem that left unattended will completely drain and may destroy your battery.
Not to mention wiring problems caused by poor installation, blown fuses etc.
Here is a very real scenario – It’s the middle of winter, she’s an old girl now with a few leaks here and there but nothing major and that’s to be expected, the battery and pump have coped thus far with any water getting in but, the battery is a few seasons old now and although from a reputable manufacturer and of a suitable capacity in good condition some neglect has been allowed. Suddenly a sustained period of heavy rain ensues and the pump is called upon once more, the pump – a beefy fellow, very capable if the “juice” can be found to sustain it but, the battery is weaning... not quite managing to provide what the pump needs to defeat the head and friction of the pipe work ,the bilge water never quite manages to reach the pipe outlet – the float switch stays activated because the water level never retreats, the pump runs indefinitely until the battery is completely drained... but - maybe saveable? The weather then improves, blue skies – sunny, crisp with frost and minus temperatures. The now water in your expensive battery freezes... Game over!
Ever the cynic I hear you cry... but I’ve lived it and seen it repeated over and over.
Not everyone lives 5 minutes from the boat yard,
Not everyone has the time to carry out “due diligence” in the off-season,
Not everyone can afford to pay the boatyard to maintain their vessel over winter,
Not everyone has OCD and must check once a week or they will implode!
Still with me? Good. (I know I rant on a bit!)
What if a device came to fruition that could remove the risk of all of these problems and was not powered by batteries or electricity of any form, a device easily capable of keeping the boat dry, was simple and required no maintenance of any kind, a synch to install and remove, compact and powered by the very source of the problem – rain!
Is that something that may have some appeal?
I apologise for the mystique but I may have to patent this if there’s any interest – feel free to ask questions im interested to hear your thoughts.
I look forward to any replies.
. You can get sturdy bronze ones for classic keelboats, which shouldn't be any more risky than a seacock while afloat.
