Getting out the last little dribble

E

extravert

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 Jun 2001
Messages
1,008
Location
Not far from Uwchmynydd, near Bwlchtocyn, just up
Visit site
Some of the compartments in my floats have a small amount of water slopping around in them. Access is via a 20cm diameter hatch on the deck. It's too narrow to get a pump down and pump it, and too deep for me to reach with an outstretched arm holding a sponge.

Any lateral thinkers got any ideas on how to get it out?

<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I want to be a real sailor. In the mean time I'll just keep tri-ing.
 
Could you not use self bailers as in a dinghy. They are one way valves type setups aren't they.

This might be a stupid idea, but you did ask for thoughts. How is the water getting into the floats, I thought they were sealed units on tris.

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>
1.gif
</A>
 
Re: pela pump(s)

a pela pump has long tube, so you poke a 10mm pipe down and then create the suction. If its a long way down then two or more pipes can be joined, either by buying another pump or by buying extra pipes.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Hello Extravert

Howzabout a cheap wet and dry vacuum cleaner. You can get one for under £10 from the poundstretcher shops or possibly Halfords. If the hose is too larbe then some smaller diameter fish tank type hose can be spliced on

Regards
Cameron

<hr width=100% size=1>Work to live, live to sail
 
The reason that small amounts of water gets in is because they are not completely sealed, they are vented. Making them completely sealed might not be good for them. Summer/winter temperature and atmospheric pressure changes can cause a 20% pressure differential change. Atmospheric pressure is approx 10 tonnes per square metre. I guess that even 20% of that could be bad news on a deck or hull side.

<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I want to be a real sailor. In the mean time I'll just keep tri-ing.
 
ah good point, an exploding float might cause a few stability problems then.

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>
1.gif
</A>
 
This is a good one. I didn't know that they could be got for so little. I shall wander off to my latest dross shop forthwith. I if succeed in finding one for this little, passers by can expect to see me vacuuming the inside of my floats shortly . I bet that will get some comments.

"I'm just cleaning out the droppings from the resident mouse."
"The Albanian stow-a-ways were very careless with their biscuit crumbs."
"The GRP-loving Toledo worms have made such a mess."
 
Domestic mop, why didn't I think of that? I shall have a quick rummage round in the cleaners' cupboard on the way home. I will have to think of some more silly comments to give to inquisitive passers by.


<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I want to be a real sailor. In the mean time I'll just keep tri-ing.
 
I tried a sponge on a stick. It fell off, which gave me hours of amusement using extra long chopsticks to get it out again.

If you find getting a piece of chicken and a few noodles from your plate to your mouth difficult using chopsticks, you should try catching a sponge using a boathook and a broom handle :-).

<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I want to be a real sailor. In the mean time I'll just keep tri-ing.
 
i had the same problem with my tri- 3 w/t compartments in each float. the solution i came up with was a detachable bilge pump which fitted into a bayonet socket on deck. that meant that each compartment only needed a deck socket, hose and strum box.

don't know if they are still available today (that was back in the 70s)

one point- the insurance surveyor said i should have a means of pumping the floats from the cockpit but i never set that up.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
How about one of those little pump things that mount on a (hand held) drill - I use one for getting oil out of the engine. Cost a few pounds and you probably already have a suitable drill.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
OK then, how about this.

Change the vent fittings for some to which you can connect a small pipe. Take the pipe the bottom of the compartment. Reseal, and now a drop in atmospheric pressure will empty the compartment. A flap cover on the fitting will keep the water out.

Guinness please.

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.
 
Guiness awarded for great lateral thinking. However, to add to the challenge, the pint of guiness will be slopping around in the bottom of one of my floats, and you have to figure a way of getting it out.

<hr width=100% size=1>One day, I want to be a real sailor. In the mean time I'll just keep tri-ing.
 
A straw in the fitting and a small nuclear device to lower the local pressure?

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.
 
That would require major climate change to generate sufficient pressure. On the other hand if you sealed it during the night and let it warm-up during the day....especially if you paint the deck black.

Better still, seal it in Aberdeen, Runcorn or somewhere similarly cold and dreary and sail to the Med.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
Hmm, quick calculation says that a change in pressure from low at 28"Hg to 31"Hg would lift 40" of water. How deep are the floats, and maybe put the fitting lower down, on the transoms perhaps?

<hr width=100% size=1>my opinion is complete rubbish, probably.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top