Auto Bilge Pump position and routing

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Southern Gales
Posts: 101
Joined: Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:10 pm
Location: North New Jersey

Auto Bilge Pump position and routing

Post by Southern Gales »

If you wet slip your boat, do you use an automatic bilge pump? If so, what make and model do you recommend, where do you position it and where do you route it to?
Thanks,
~Chris
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Pete
Posts: 122
Joined: Mon Oct 24, 2005 4:52 pm
Location: Kingsville, Ontario, Can.

Re: Auto Bilge Pump position and routing

Post by Pete »

Manual bilge pump pick up was in bilge immediately forward of center board truck. I wet slip my boat and there's never a drop of water. Boat has no thru hull fittings so likelihood of a leak is very small although possible.
BarryE
Posts: 196
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:45 pm
Location: Port Huron, MI

Re: Auto Bilge Pump position and routing

Post by BarryE »

My boat is in a seasonal slip as well. There are no thru hulls and almost no water gets in. Manuel bilge pump is mostly un-used. If there is water below ( rain water usually)I just sponge it into a small pail and dump it out the cockpit.
reidmefirst
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:49 am

Re: Auto Bilge Pump position and routing

Post by reidmefirst »

I wet slip mine (hull 493) and haven't been worried about the bilge (yet).

Mine has two through-hulls in the very far forward part of the v-berth for speed/depth. After about two weeks in the slip, there was a little puddle of water up there, which hadn't made its way back to the sump pickup. A couple of days later I went back, and it was bone dry. Might be a slight rainwater leak somewhere, is all. So far I haven't had to actually use the manual bilge pump.
reidmefirst
Posts: 86
Joined: Wed Jun 03, 2020 2:49 am

Re: Auto Bilge Pump position and routing

Post by reidmefirst »

Fun story time. We got a ton of rain in Iowa last (4 or 5 days straight raining, after a severe drought). I discovered that my chain plates are leaking a bit, and got my just-washed v-berth cushions wet. Water also made its way down into the pickup area.

The odd discovery was that the forward bilge only had a tiny bit of water in it -- but I noticed there is a hole drilled in the bulkhead between the v-berth bilge area, and the under-the-rest-of-the-cabin bilge. When sitting in the slip, gravity lets the water from the v-berth area flow back, and it pools up under the starboard and port settees, towards the rear of the boat. I had noticed water building up back under the settees and was trying to figure out where it was coming from, I guess this is my answer. Hasn't ever been much water back there, just enough to sponge up.

Anyway, is the hole, normal? Seems like a dumb thing, if the manual bilge pump pickup is placed in an area that will only have water after the boat is half-sunk. I'm thinking I may just put a rubber stopper in there, anyway.
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