There's a thread in progress about the cost of having a life raft aboard; but leaving the boat for a life raft should be the last option played to avoid drowning; so I've read. I'd like to hear what should happen before that! Seems to me that boats might sink if holed, rolled, or severely pooped. What should be integrated into a boat's seagoing plan is a "de-watering" strategy for each of those possibilities. In the modern boats with sail drives like my Bavaria, there is no deep bilge. The bottom is fairly flat with a bolted keel so the "bilge" is flat. When water is in there it sloshes from side to side rather than collecting in one place where it can be pumped out. The one electric bilge pump installed is in such an idiotic location that water would have to be above the floor boards to reach it; otherwise--pump by hand. If the boat had significant water but was hard on the port tack neither of those pumps could pump it out (not in contact). How many electric bilge pumps should a 38-40 boat like that one have, and what should be their joint capacities in GPH, I wonder? Has anyone here had to use their bilge pump(s) in an emergency?
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