Bilge pumps
- Thread starter zoidberg
- Start date
lw395
Well-Known Member
Unless you've got something approaching full-height watertight doors, you don't need a de-watering pump in every section of a GRP yacht.
These days, 12V pumps are so cheap it's silly not to have one. I have a portable one on a long lead, mounted on a rigid plastic pipe.
I use it for deck washing and emptying rain out of the tender.
The actual emptying of bilge water is normally done with a sponge.
Keith 66
Well-Known Member
If you have an inboard engine fitted with a 2 way seacock can be used to pump the bilge Stuart used to make them but I doubt they are available new.
The other old fashioned type of pump that is worth looking for if you can find one is the Simpson Lawrence Vortex pump, these are a geared rotary pump mounted in the bilge driven by an upright tram handle, the impeller is geared up somewhere in the region of 20:1, they have a 1.5" outlet & are continuous output the limit being how fast you can swing the handle. One of these shifts far more water than the largest double acting Patay. I found mine on a boat jumble years ago & installed it on a large open boat. Trouble is they are a big lump of gunmetal & i suspect most have been scrapped years ago!
The other old fashioned type of pump that is worth looking for if you can find one is the Simpson Lawrence Vortex pump, these are a geared rotary pump mounted in the bilge driven by an upright tram handle, the impeller is geared up somewhere in the region of 20:1, they have a 1.5" outlet & are continuous output the limit being how fast you can swing the handle. One of these shifts far more water than the largest double acting Patay. I found mine on a boat jumble years ago & installed it on a large open boat. Trouble is they are a big lump of gunmetal & i suspect most have been scrapped years ago!
pvb
Well-Known Member
Another old sailors' myth - the amount of water pumped by the average boat engine's seawater pump is minimal.
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
There's lots of good ideas emerged in this thread, and I'll certainly use some of them, so thanks to 'Sara', 'lw395', 'vyv_cox' and 'Rogershaw'.
And 'Praxi'.... I'm already with you on that Origo biz.
Those who know me are well aware I've been accumulating boaty gear for a long, long time now. My vinyl-roofed polytunnel is bulked out with stuff, and I could probably run my own 'Beaulieu Boat Jumble' with only a minor change of name. Then there's all the boaty stuff I inherited for the F-in-L a year and a bit back. I've been a bit forgetful, and I still unearth interesting and useful items I forgot I bought on here, or from Old John Foulkes at Bursledon Bridge years ago. That's probably why I've ended up with 2, no 3, Fortress anchors and a pair of rather good sextants.....
Apropos bilge pumps, I reckon I'll fit a manual Henderson on the stern deck ( 'cos there's a mounting there, and I have the unit somewhere ) and another manual down below somewhere convenient, with a switch-over or connector. Perhaps this could be the big Patay 120DD that's gathering dust.
I'll also fit a new electric pump, capable of switched or auto operation. 'Sara's Anderson connectors from 12V Planet might play a part. I also have a couple of the smaller Rule pumps, and I may fit one or both onto rigid tubes that I could use for emptying the deep cockpit lockers. Again, an Anderson connector pair on a curly wander lead might be the optimum answer.
There's enough there to keep me busy for a while, thanks.
And 'Praxi'.... I'm already with you on that Origo biz.
Those who know me are well aware I've been accumulating boaty gear for a long, long time now. My vinyl-roofed polytunnel is bulked out with stuff, and I could probably run my own 'Beaulieu Boat Jumble' with only a minor change of name. Then there's all the boaty stuff I inherited for the F-in-L a year and a bit back. I've been a bit forgetful, and I still unearth interesting and useful items I forgot I bought on here, or from Old John Foulkes at Bursledon Bridge years ago. That's probably why I've ended up with 2, no 3, Fortress anchors and a pair of rather good sextants.....
Apropos bilge pumps, I reckon I'll fit a manual Henderson on the stern deck ( 'cos there's a mounting there, and I have the unit somewhere ) and another manual down below somewhere convenient, with a switch-over or connector. Perhaps this could be the big Patay 120DD that's gathering dust.
I'll also fit a new electric pump, capable of switched or auto operation. 'Sara's Anderson connectors from 12V Planet might play a part. I also have a couple of the smaller Rule pumps, and I may fit one or both onto rigid tubes that I could use for emptying the deep cockpit lockers. Again, an Anderson connector pair on a curly wander lead might be the optimum answer.
There's enough there to keep me busy for a while, thanks.
Graham_Wright
Well-Known Member
Surely watertight doors or barriers only need to be as high as the ingressing water? This, in a partially flooded boat, will be above the normal waterline but not enormously so.
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
We had an electric pump with float for the reason you can leave it on all the time including when you are away from the boat.
zoidberg
Well-Known Member
Being a creature of bad habits, it's my practice to poke about into the bilges and deep lockers when I arrive on board 'to see what's there'..... and I also like to pump the bilge dry manually, counting the strokes. It's an old habit, from old boats, and that repeated at intervals tells me if I have a water-problem that warrants investigation - or not.
I'm a bit 'conflicted' by the new Rule 1100 12v pump I'm fitting. Apparently it has its own sensor incorporated, and will switch on and off when it so decides..... provided it has some 12V power to go on. Clever and convenient though it may be, I'm not all that convinced that I should leave this important 'husbandry' task to fate and automatics. Is there a role for a bilge water alarm, instead?
Should I retain control over this aspect, or leave it in the hands of the microswitches? What does the team think?
I'm a bit 'conflicted' by the new Rule 1100 12v pump I'm fitting. Apparently it has its own sensor incorporated, and will switch on and off when it so decides..... provided it has some 12V power to go on. Clever and convenient though it may be, I'm not all that convinced that I should leave this important 'husbandry' task to fate and automatics. Is there a role for a bilge water alarm, instead?
Should I retain control over this aspect, or leave it in the hands of the microswitches? What does the team think?
sarabande
Well-Known Member
How about attaching an electric stop watch to the bilge pump circuit ? Then, when you arrive on board, you know how long th epump has run.
https://www.google.com/search?q=ele...IHdm-DX8Q9QEwAHoECAMQBA#imgrc=BdCunAlJt84UyM:
Or set up one of the nano computers (Raspberry PI, etc) to monitor various electrical activities and sensors on board - multi purpose and relatively cheap in terms of investment of learning against data acquisition).
https://www.google.com/search?q=ele...IHdm-DX8Q9QEwAHoECAMQBA#imgrc=BdCunAlJt84UyM:
Or set up one of the nano computers (Raspberry PI, etc) to monitor various electrical activities and sensors on board - multi purpose and relatively cheap in terms of investment of learning against data acquisition).
lw395
Well-Known Member
I can't see the need for any of that on a competently maintained GRP yacht.
You keep the bilges dry.
If when you come aboard, there is sufficient water in the bilge that you think the emergency auto pump might have been running, you have a problem. You then investigate and fix that problem.
Letting your boat leak, and then auto-pumping oily bilge water into harbours is increasingly, and quite rightly IMHO, a path to big fines for pollution.
If you've got an open boat, then pumping out the rain is a different problem.
If you've got a wooden boat, a pump hours counter becomes relevant, along with some way of checking the battery state.