PSS or other seals with a vent tube (disaster avoided)

[MoodySabre]

I went out for a tootle yesterday and came back into my marina and was chatting with visiting boat in the next berth. Suddenly a huge amount of water came gushing out of the bilge pump outlet. There was a lot of water in my bilges either side and under the engine and in bilges. Frantically searching think a cooling water hose has split. Eventually found the culprit to be the vent tube which is held above water level by a cable tie, happily for the past 8 seasons. The tie had broken and the tube dropped below water level. Syphoning the oceans into my boat. Engineering increased three fold.

If I hadn’t been there the boat would have sunk unless someone reported the pump running. No staff to lift the boat at a BH.
Check yours And do you know that your auto bilge pump actually works?

 

[Daverw]

A sound reason to use pipe clamps to fix hoses,

 

[Norman_E]

When I fitted a vent tube to my shaft seal I simply took the tube high above water level and put a stainless steel wood screw through it and into a convenient place at the top of the engine room. No way it could ever fall down or slip out of place.

 

[Plum]

I went out for a tootle yesterday and came back into my marina and was chatting with visiting boat in the next berth. Suddenly a huge amount of water came gushing out of the bilge pump outlet. There was a lot of water in my bilges either side and under the engine and in bilges. Frantically searching think a cooling water hose has split. Eventually found the culprit to be the vent tube which is held above water level by a cable tie, happily for the past 8 seasons. The tie had broken and the tube dropped below water level. Syphoning the oceans into my boat. Engineering increased three fold.

If I hadn’t been there the boat would have sunk unless someone reported the pump running. No staff to lift the boat at a BH.
Check yours And do you know that your auto bilge pump actually works?

Thanks for the warning. Surprising how many boats have these hoses either as a vent or as a water feed for the propshaft yet, unlike all other hoses to a below water fitting, are not fitted with seacocks/shutoff valves.

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