thin/small strum box

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gregcope

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Hi All,

The bilge in my Starlight 35 is very narrow.

Anyone know of any really small strum boxes? Needs to be around 55mm wide and as long.

Ta.

Greg
 
The wee one would no doubt be OK for the biggest electric pump you can get in the bottom of the bilge, but you will probably want a bigger one on the manual pump (even if it is wedged a bit higher up the bilge) .
Believe me you need 'pump power' when you realize it's coming in faster than you can get it out...
 
On my boat one of the 'strum boxes' is simply a length of s/s pipe of the same diameter as the bilge pump hose with a lot of holes drilled in it and blanked off at one end. The other end is pushed into the hose.
 
sailorman said:
I have both a manual pump + stum box & a diaphragm PAR in the lazerette + a strainer above the bilge sump
Click to expand...

How do those pearls of wisdom help the OP? He is asking specifically about a strum box, not what your bilge pump arrangements are.
 
Billjratt said:
The wee one would no doubt be OK for the biggest electric pump you can get in the bottom of the bilge, but you will probably want a bigger one on the manual pump (even if it is wedged a bit higher up the bilge) .
Believe me you need 'pump power' when you realize it's coming in faster than you can get it out...
Click to expand...

This is what I am trying to do, but the shape of the whole is small...
 
parsifal said:
On my boat one of the 'strum boxes' is simply a length of s/s pipe of the same diameter as the bilge pump hose with a lot of holes drilled in it and blanked off at one end. The other end is pushed into the hose.
Click to expand...

Love the idea. Now need someone to make one... idea?
 
I just bunged the end of the hose and drilled it ( the hose). Slightly better is to use an angle grinder with a thin disc to cut slots. I suppose a piece of copper pipe, or plastic sink waste would be easy to DIY.
Once saw similar, a copper compression fitting with a perforated old penny inside the back nut.
 
Last edited:
Anne Hammick does not use a strum box her idea being that if she has a blockage she would prefer to sort it out at the pump rather than the bottom of the bilge. However she was talking about a very deep bilge and in the Atlantic, with an imaginary six inches of water over the cabin sole, you could see her point.
The other thought is that such a small box might clog too easily.
You have provoked me to find my strum box which I have never fitted, I may try it today.
 
gregcope said:
Interested in all ideas as I might have to do something similar as the size of the sump is tiny.
Click to expand...

What was suggested is pretty standard arrangement and what is required for coding and many competitive activities - as well as the RCD. So a new boat to Cat A (which your boat would now be built to) would need this as a minimum.

Does not, however help if the design of the bilge of your boat does not allow space for a strum box.

As parsifal suggests a tube with perforations at the bottom will probably work. If you require top entry them use copper tube and insert an elbow or T fitting in the appropriate place. Good PBO project!
 
fisherman said:
I just bunged the end of the hose and drilled it ( the hose). Slightly better is to use an angle grinder with a thin disc to cut slots. I suppose a piece of copper pipe, or plastic sink waste would be easy to DIY.
Once saw similar, a copper compression fitting with a perforated old penny inside the back nut.
Click to expand...

Ah. Simples. Need to raid the bin to find some pipe, and endy bit.
 
gregcope said:
Hi All,

The bilge in my Starlight 35 is very narrow.

Anyone know of any really small strum boxes? Needs to be around 55mm wide and as long.
Click to expand...

The sump in my bilge is very narrow too, and the best I have found is what the boat came with: one of these

$_35.JPG


but although it might just be narrow enough for you, at 56mm, it's 102mm long. Is there any scope for making a square-ish strainer that would fit across the whole sump, with a big hole in the middle for a hose, or even a through spigot? In other words, use the bilge itself as the strum box.
 
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