Merry Fisher shipping water.

[southseaian]

I recently bought a Merry Fisher 695 to use as a family picnic boat in the Solent.
Coming out of Chichester harbour i met a wind over tide situation and shipped water over the bows for a few minutes. This ran down the side decks and into the "self draining" cockpit.
The problem I have is that a fair amount ended up in the engine bilge. Too much.
I've since fitted a large pump (3000 gall hour) in that area as the two existing pumps don't seem to be too good. the hand pump does clear the engine area slowly but the existing electric (small) pump only from further aft.
I've fitted additional seal around the engine hatch. The cockpit deck was awash at times.
I filled up the cockpit but water is still finding it's way into the bilge.....
Please has any body any suggestions, experience of this, or advice?
I feel the boat is less than sea worthy.

 

[AllanG]

Are there any 'open' ended fishing rod holders in the cockpit that may let water into the bilge area? If not, carefully check around the cockpit to see if there are any other hatches or openings that could allow water into the bilge area.

After fitting the additional seal around the engine hatch, did you check that the hatch is actually sitting tight on the seal.....you could use plasticine or similar for this check. Ideally, IMHO, it would've been better to remove the original seal, thoroughly clean the deck surface and fit a complete new seal.

 

[southseaian]

Thanks for that . I'll check.
I'm just about to go and have another try to find problem.
Interestingly on my Merry Fisher the storage locker has the seal on the deck rim whilst the engine cover on the lid. (is that normal on these boats?)
I've fitted the new seal on the deck rim of engine compartment. ...so they should mate... but maybe not??

 

[omega2]

iF YOU WERE TAKING THAT MUCH WATER would it not have been prudent to turn around or tackle it in a different way? like taking the sea on the quarter, or even speeding up to get the bow up.

 

[wipe_out]

I would imagine the cockpit drains can only deal with a certain amount of water flow.. Once the volume coming in to the cockpit exceeds the volume that can move through the drains in any given period it would have to find somewhere else to go and naturally that would be down into the bilge.. So fitting the bigger bilge pump is probably reasonable if you expect this to happen again and want to move the water out faster.. The other alternative if you expect to have water tipping into the cockpit in huge volumes regularly would be to enlarge the existing drains or create additional drains to move the water out faster..

 

[rwoofer]

Having a virtually identical 645 I struggle to imagine how you manage to get that much water in the cockpit. Even with 30 knots of wind and sometimes burying the nose into a wave that virtually washes over the boat, I haven't managed to overwhelm the cockpit drains.

I think the 695 has slightly less overhang from the cabin roof, but that should that much of a difference. Maybe a change in driving approach?

 

[omega2]

Having a virtually identical 645 I struggle to imagine how you manage to get that much water in the cockpit. Even with 30 knots of wind and sometimes burying the nose into a wave that virtually washes over the boat, I haven't managed to overwhelm the cockpit drains.

I think the 695 has slightly less overhang from the cabin roof, but that should that much of a difference. Maybe a change in driving approach?

+1

 

[southseaian]

iF YOU WERE TAKING THAT MUCH WATER would it not have been prudent to turn around or tackle it in a different way? like taking the sea on the quarter, or even speeding up to get the bow up.

Yes, good advice. However Chichester harbour entrance is fairly narrow. Hence the tide runs strongly. There were maybe 20 or more boats and a fleet of racing dinghies being escorted back in within actual channel so altering course was not a straight forward option.

What I really would like to know if getting water in the bilge from the cockpit is normal for a Merry Fisher 695. ? Merry Fisher owners????
If this is normal, the design of the boat has severe short comings.
Over the years I've had experience on various boats of having water in similar aft cockpits. On the Grand banks 32 we had a washboard about 9inches high that fitted in the doorway so as the door could be left open. Water did on occasion come over that but never got down in the bilges through the aft locker under the cockpit sole.

Yes bigger cockpit drains would help. Anybody done this on similar boat?
Thanks for your inputs.

 

[southseaian]

Having a virtually identical 645 I struggle to imagine how you manage to get that much water in the cockpit. Even with 30 knots of wind and sometimes burying the nose into a wave that virtually washes over the boat, I haven't managed to overwhelm the cockpit drains.

Thanks for the input. How much water have you had in your cockpit?. Does it ever get down into the bilge.? I did not have that much, maybe an inch or two.
It just that a significant amount found it's way down into the bilge that is worrying.
Lucky this happened where it did. I only had the very short sharp sea for a couple of cables.

Note: Thanks for the advice about driving/boat handling. What I'm after is knowing if this is normal for Merry Fisher. (water getting below from cockpit)
I would guess not and I'm on the way to a fix. Just need input.

 

[southseaian]

I notice people are checking my profile.. How do fill out my profile. I've tried but a message states I'm not allowed access?
I'm a retired Coastguard Officer, a Yachtmaster Instructor and spent 15 years instructing sailing, motor boating and navigation. I know the Solent area well having covered around 20,000 in this area alone. I live in Southsea and am looking for advice about my new toy, a Merry Fisher 695, my first motor boat having previously had boats with sticks and rags.

 

[[2068]]

I've had green water wiping out the radar reflector of an S28 trying to go over Chichester Bar in the wrong conditions. Sometimes, an extra 2-3 hours added on to lunch can help it stay down

Helming technique doesn't have a lot to do with it, but heading more East towards the wreck can mean taking the waves less head-on, if you manage to avoid the sandbanks.

.

 

[rwoofer]

Thanks for the input. How much water have you had in your cockpit?. Does it ever get down into the bilge.? I did not have that much, maybe an inch or two.
It just that a significant amount found it's way down into the bilge that is worrying.
Lucky this happened where it did. I only had the very short sharp sea for a couple of cables.

Note: Thanks for the advice about driving/boat handling. What I'm after is knowing if this is normal for Merry Fisher. (water getting below from cockpit)
I would guess not and I'm on the way to a fix. Just need input.

In a year of ownership I have not had to run my bilge pump in earnest. One possible problem is that the line use to hold up the lazarette lid can sometimes get trapped in the seal, rendering the seal ineffective. I noticed this before having any water problem so am careful to make sure the line falls directly into the lazarette when closed.

As you probably know the seal is the last line of defence, because the lazarette opening has a channel all around it that has to get overwhelmed first. Apart from under the fuel tank, my boat is generally bone dry.