Bilge Pump Filter

[najsmith]

So I have a non-return filter/strainer in the bilge, attached to the pipe running to the hand pump.

I see there are screw holes on the filter/strainer and am thinking about screwing it into the bilges.

I am concerned about causing water ingress into the fibreglass around the keel.

How should I fit it? Dry out the bilge, drill some pilot holes, fill with sikaflex and screw self tappers into it?

I wanto tbe sure I can clear the strainer if it gets blocked, so this wouldn't provide great maintenance access.

Any thoughts Forumites?

 

[Gunfleet]

Glass in a little bit of wood and screw it to that if you must (and if you can reach - I'd need twizzle arms to do that in my bilge). Most people leave them loose.

 

[mainmarine]

I made an L shaped bracket and bolted the strainer on to that then fixed the bracket to a bulkhead.

Malc

 

[rjp]

Why not bond some stainless machine screws (heads down) to the (dry) bilge using araldite or similar and simply mount the strum box on these using the nuts to hold it down. May need to rough up the interior of the grp using abrasive at the points you want to bond the screws, but certainly no need to drill holes.

John

 

[najsmith]

Great ideas guys - thanks for the advice!

 

[Guest]

As most filters unclip from the pumps ... why not just araldite the filter down onto the bilge after cleaning .... no screws, no blocks etc. Let some araldite creep inside the strainer part to give it extra hold.

Cleaning the bilge ... Oven Cleaner spray on ..... let it bubble and lift the crud. Wipe of with rags / kitchen roll. Plenty of fresh-water to wash it down and remove last traces of cleaner. You will now find that once dried of - you have "virgin - pristine" surface to glue to.

 

[Talbot]

If you dont want to bother with araldite, why not just use a blob of sikaflex.

 

[neil_s]

Mine is held underneath a floor bearer using a shaped wooden wedge.

Neil

 

[Ruffles]

FWIW our Moody has two manual bilge pumps fitted my Moodys at Swanwick. Both have strum boxes screwed to the bottom of the bilge next to the keel bolts using small self tapping screws. They're probably only 1/4" and the GF will be around 1" thick.

 

[Blueboatman]

Just to be different...
I bought a boat and there was a 6''piece of roofing lead wrapped around the bilgehose at the scrumbox end.OOh er says I but then realised that the weight effectively kept the scrumbox down and as a bonus it could slide from one side of the shallow keel space to the other depending on which tack you were on,thus being exactly where any bilge water might be. Crude but effective.

 

[oldsaltoz]

G'day Njas,

Two of our four bilge pumps (Catamaran) have the strumbox bolted to a small s/steel sheet that fits btween stringers preventing any tilt or other movement, just lift out to clean bilge, no tools required.

Avagoodweekend......