Getting dry bilges

Becky

Becky

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I feel for everyone who is spending their time trying to get their boat ready for the coming season. I have just been trying to sort out a bilge pump that will actually empty the bilge. Moody's, little ones at least, don't have a deep sump where all the water collects. Instead, there is a shallow wide bilge, where an egg-spoonful of water seems like a gallon. I was at the Boat Show yesterday, and it seems to me that all the affordable new boats have shallow bilges. So why isn't there a bilge pump that will actually removes the last inch of water? All the pumps and indeed the automatic switches, need several inches of water to operate, and switch off still leaving enough residual water to soak everything under the saloon berths. There must be an enormous market for something that will leave the bilge DRY when it switches off. I have spent ages today with a sponge finally drying everything off prior to painting.
Unless there is something that I don't know about?

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ignoring expensive diaphragm pumps....I remember one impeller type billed as getting down very low on depth; will re-post when I find it. It won't pump dry of course

switch wise- float switches are obviously a problem, but electronic sensors are available,though may cause cycling etc.

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There isn't anything to my knowledge but the real trick is to keep the water where it belongs, outside the boat if it is salt or inside the tanks, engine freshwater pipes etc if it is fresh or outside again if it is rainwater. The list of suspects that sneek into the bilges you will appreciate is long and eliminating them will take some time!

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Hi Bekky!

The best option is a " sump hole about twice the size of the pump and a bilge that "falls" ie slopes, down into the sump hole. The sump hole depth allows for the pump to pump it out and thus only a small amount of water is left in it, rather than a whole bilge full.

Alternatively. rig up a cheap wet vac ( vax or similar) so that it can remain fixed in a locker with the live end in the bildge at a suitable point, plumbing it in with plastic waste pipe. If an easy discharge point could be positioned ie a tap from the main body of the Vax without having to carry the bucket up on to deck, more the better.

I guess it could be set up permanently in the Moodys sail locker towards the stern, quite high up with a discharge through the hull by skin fitting and sea cock.

How do you drain patients mouths when doing root canal work etc ? what about a redundant system from the surgery run by an invertor. :o))
Kind regards.

Rob

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according to asap's catalogue...the whale submersible will get down to 10mm of water, which is as good as you can expect with an impeller type. It's not the one I was thinking of, but quicker to find.



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I think part of the problem is that bilge pumps are designed to cope with a reasonable volume and also that they need to be hard to block so they have big inlets which csannot pick up small volumes. I have modified a hand held bilge pump to work like a giant syringe and use this, together with a length of 10mm copper pipe to get the bilge down to a small volume.
Can you heel here over - possibly with a haliard to make your flat shallow bilge effectively more "pointy"?
Martin

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Robind, what a good idea, a complete surgery suction set-up. Unfortunately the electricity demands would be too much for my batteries. I once made a suction set-up from a vacuum cleaner and a sweet jar, the jar being the collection point. It lasted about a year, but the replacement vacuum from Curries was cheap. Dental engineers are even more expensive that marine ones. The only thing I can think of is a roving pipe from a powerful fixed pump which discharges overboard. But it isn't neat and tidy.

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I do not get any water in my bilges at all. I would sort out whatever is causing your bilge to get wet.
Best way to dry out a bilge is with an old fashioned mop. Friends laugh at my mop and mop bucket but they has many uses, including drying out the dinghy. I do not like the idea of useing a sponge as you are likely to contaminate your hands and maybe even cut them!

<hr width=100% size=1>" there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".
 
I have a shallow bilge on my boat but I dont worry about any small amount of water that the BP can't pick up. I have a couple of strategically placed sponge mats that absorb this small amount and prevents the water slopping from side to side when heeling. My bilges are generally dry but if water should come in than this helps and aims to keep water away from carpet or woodwork low down.

Regards.

Peter

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I guess for deck stepped masts it is possible to keep totally dry but with a keel stepped mast, near impossible. Rain and spray gets into halyard slots, masthead sheaves, etc. and ends up inside the boat.

I have also a shallow bilge and have a simple Rule impeller pump that leaves a small volume behind and I agree with the concept of sponge mats that stop the slopping of small amounts. Every now and then simply wring out the sponge. It works great

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I have a very cheap boat and it has a very deep sump! It's an old long-keeled design and the bottom of the sump must be about 4'6" below the waterline. While it's true that all the water does collect there, I still have the same problem - there's alwats a bit left after the pump has done its work. In fact, due to the very long suction hose I have, as soon as I stop pumping I get everything that was in the hose back into the bilge! There's no way I can reach it with my arm and a spongeand I can't get a long straigh thing like a mop down there because the engine is in the way...

...so don't assume having a deep bilge solves the problems - although at least it stays there and doesn't slosh around!

Anyway, do you have enough space to make up a dummy "liner" for the Moody bilge? If you did, and you sealed it into place, you could maybe make something with a bit of a sump in it (OK, only an few inches deep but maybe it would at least give the water a central point to collect in?

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hihi
have u tried nappies??

if its only the last 2 or three cup fulls your after getting out then these work very well. very hygenic.....dont rot....and relatively cheap.

after all im sure your boat is "your baby" just like the rest of us and only deserves the best!

rgds brian

p.s......also avoids that well known problem.......bilge rash!! haha

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If you cannot eliminate the cause the disposable nappies at strategic points could be the cheapest practical solution.

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Why not try a garden centre . As I recall there are green mats you can get for watering pot plants when you are away which by capillary action raise water a few inches from a bucket to the base of the pot . If you put a few strips from the bilge into a large tupperware tub or something similar located at the bottom of your bilge you could then pump from it periodically when it collected a reasonable amount of sea water . You would have to devise a method of fixing the strips and tub and perhaps later add a small bilge pump with a level switch.
Try experimenting with a temporary arrangement first

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Hi again Bekky!
Can you still not use a 12 volt wet vac available from most good car accessory shops, to finally "dry" your bilge (as it is only a small amount of water).
Regards

Rob

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