Dinghy self bailers

snowleopard

snowleopard

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When I built my current dinghy (similar to a Mirror) I installed a small Elvstrom Bailer. It turns out that it won't bail at normal speeds i.e. half throttle on 3.3 hp engine, and only serves as a way of draining the boat when it's on the davits. It also leaks so I have to bail regularly.

SO - any suggestions on a more effective way of getting the bottom dry?
 
Hmm - long time since I used those types of self bailers ... they were never brilliant - in the mirror I had a normal bailer and a sponge in the locker ...

In the current dinghy (RS400) it's got a moulded in self bailer which works at very low speeds (other than stopped whilst waiting for the start of the race!) - perhaps a moulding around your bailer would create a smoother flow allowing the 'hole' in the water to occur earlier ?

Didn't even contemplate putting one in the tender - it's got a false floor so bags stay dry - if it's full of water then a manual bilge pump clears it quite quickly.
 
Mirrors themselves usually have / had a plastic Holt bailer, same style as Elvstrom; larger sizes in faster dinghies work better, but you do have to be going pretty well; I wouldn't fit one in a tender due to the snags mentioned.

as Fireball says, a scoop style bailer ( cut down plastic milk bottles work well and no tears if lost / stolen ) and a sponge is hard to beat !
 
Can you get spares for these?

Sounds as if the gasket has gone around the side. Is the non return flap still attached?

One of my Self Bailers on the 505 is a bit dodgy for the same 2 reasons.
 
monkfish24 said:
Can you get spares for these?

Sounds as if the gasket has gone around the side. Is the non return flap still attached?

One of my Self Bailers on the 505 is a bit dodgy for the same 2 reasons.
Click to expand...

Yes, the non-return flap is still there but the water comes in pretty quickly anyway. The rubber gasket is pretty old so I'm going to replace it with thin neoprene.
 
One of the few that work at low speeds is the Seasure Supersuck. Works on a venturi principle. Quite pricey and liable to damage if you forget to raise it before putting the boat on trolley.
 
DanTribe said:
One of the few that work at low speeds is the Seasure Supersuck. Works on a venturi principle. Quite pricey and liable to damage if you forget to raise it before putting the boat on trolley.
Click to expand...

Yes, I installed one on a racing dinghy and kept it when I scrapped the boat. It was effective at low speeds but as soon as you got below the threshold speed it took in water fast as there is no non-return flap. In the end I stopped using it as the net effect was always negative.
 
Most dinghies need to be close to planing for self bailers to work, hence the transom flaps in boats like enterprises and GP14s so you could get rid of enough water after a capsize to get some boatspeed so the selfbailer would work.

If your put put does not get you going fast enough the bailer will not work
 
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