Anyone ever try

[sailaway78]

I have a boat which has a flat bilge and no sump. It is virtually impossible to get all the water out of it, without a shop vac and a sponge. I would like to at least lower the standing water level as much as possible. Has anyone ever tried tying a small piece of styrofoam under the float arm on the float switch, which in theory at least would make the pump come on at a lower water level, reducing the total amount of water in the bilge a little. I know it would take some playing with to get it right, but if I could lower the lever a little bit, it would help. Ideally the bilge should stay dry all the time, but nothing seems to be ideal. Ideas, suggestions, hints.

 

[Maine Sail]

The only..

The only answer is a turkey baster & sponge..... No bilge pump will get all the water!

 

[ed]

a non return valve on the bilge pump

Would help, that would keep the water in the hose in the hose and not let it run back in when the pump stops. Then use the baster and sponge.

 

[Timo42]

I tried that,

Seemed to gum up quick and when I was rinsing the bilge, the pump couldn't open it, or maybe it couldnt get the water on the output side moving, I had to take the hose off and blow through it, then it worked until it shut off, then stuck again. You could get a 1 gallon shopvac for the boat and use it for that as well, I have one for my horse trailer, and we use it to clean the bilge every once in a while. Tim

 

[Chris Burti]

Replace your switch and move it up higher as a backup.

Solid state switches work more reliably and at lower levels. I replaced mine and am very pleased with it.

 

[sailaway78]

Why in the hell

do mfgs. build boats without some kind of a sump for the bilge. My S2 has a nice deep sump behind the keel. NO MUSS NO FUSS The bilge in the S37 is totally flat, and fairly large, so an inch of water in there is a lot of water. What a PITA. It would be so simple to just make a small dimple somewhere for a bilge sump. Like a little fairing right behind the keel.

 

[Ross]

N&E that one is easy to answer: they build with a nice clean round bottom and st

on later. The sump on my full keeler is two feet deep and three feet long. If I drop something down there I am doing the belly crawl to retrieve it. I regret when I had the opportunity that I didn't modify that for a six inch square sump. Just build up the aft thirty inches to drain into a pump sump. The I would get all but a cupful.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

What do you have against a shop vac & sponge?

Residual water in the bilge is common on all boats. I used to end every weekend aboard with a bucket, manual dinghy bailer and a BIG "car wash" sponge...everybody did. We all considered it to be just part of closing up the boat. I dunno why that little bit of manual labor is such a big deal to owners today.

 

[sailaway78]

Peggy, If it was

Just after sailing the boat, and part of a regular clean up, I wouldn't mind, nor bitch about it. I have a couple of leaks that so far have defied any and all fixes. Every time it rains, there is water in the bilge. One of the leaks is water coming down inside the mast, not around the mast,( keel stepped mast ) and the other, I think, is around the helm seat. There are several other Seidelman 34 and 37 owners on here who have the same problem, and they have not been able to fix theirs either. So what I have is a couple of inches of water in the bilge every time it rains, and if I want it dry, every time it rains I have to do the shop vac, sponge thingy. If there was a small bilge sump, this would not be a problem. What I am trying to do now, is figure out a way to get the bilge pump to get more of the water out, before I do the shop vac/sponge thingy.

 

[sailaway78]

I have a lot

After answering Peggy's reply, I thought that maybe it is not exactly understood what I want to do here. This is a 37 footer, and the bilge is flat and large. Two inches of water in there is not a mop bucket full. It is more on the order three 5 gallon shop vacs full, plus some. The primary purpose of my post was to ask if anyone had tried modifying a bilge pump switch, to make it come on and off, at a little lower water level, so maybe I could get bye with one five gallon shop vac full of water. The current float switch comes on with a little over two inches of water in there, and goes off with maybe an inch. The run back from the hose is not a big deal. I can live with that. But would certainly like to keep the bilge a little dryer. Or if someone has a cure for getting rain water down the inside of the mast, that would do a bunch to get rid of the problem.

 

[Ross]

N&E, Time to apply some logic to this problem.

You are getting 15 gallons of water in through a few holes in the Mast? One inch of rain on a one square foot collection pan is 2 and a half quarts of water. 7 and 1/2 gallons per cubic foot means you are dealing with two cubic feet of water. Now where is that coming from. Would your bilge pump fit into a 4 inch pvc pipe? you could saw a hole in the bottom of the bilge and glass in a piece of pvc pipe to creat a sump. If you placed it directly behind the keel and faired it in, it wouldn't harm the performance and would not be in harms way.

 

[Joseph Shirley]

If the water is only from

inside the mast drainage, I would drill a hole in the mast above deck and shoot in some "foam in place urethane foam" and seal the mast. It will stick to wires and everything else in there. Another hole above the foam would drain the mast above the deck level.Have funJoe S

 

[sailaway78]

There is at least one more leak

Ross, there is at least one more problem area, which is the helm seat. It has a humped helm seat, hinged, that although I have not tried to crawl under it while it's raining, or with a hose on it, I am pretty sure it also allows water into the boat. I know for positive sure I am getting some water down the inside of the mast, and have had some suggestions and ideas on curing that. I also know for sure that I am getting water in from the cockpit area, and the helm seat is the most likely candidate for that. Just a long slow process to track down, and fix. And as has been suggested, I have become a tad lazy in my old age. So, I only go out there and screw with it when I am in the mood. What my purpose at this time is, is to try and pump out a little more of the water than I can at this time, till I get the leak problems handled. Right now I think I will go to an electronic switch, laying flat, and use a piston type pump, which should get nearly all the water out. I can deal with a little water, and can clean that up with a sponge.

 

[Ross]

N&E don't they build a pump base that picks up from the bottom?

Some pumps have the pick up ports vertically spaced around the base. That way the pump starts sucking air when the water level is below the top of the slots. But if those slots were closed and the bottom plate perforated then pick up would be from the bottom half inch or less.

 

[Pete]

1/8 to 1/4 of an inch

is what most pumps should "leave" behind. I have not every tried to modify a switch as you suggest but with some tinkering I would think it would work. Also install a manual off / on switch for the pump and with it on should be able to pump to 1/4 inch water level left behind. A lot of people will frown on this idea but putting in a check valve will also help in that it will not allow any back flow from the discharge hose BUT if you do make it part of a routine maintenance item to inspect and clean. Good Luck with you idea about the switch and let us know if it works for you !

 

[sailaway78]

Ross, I have one

Ross, I have one in the S2, and also on the manual pump in the 37. It's actually more of a strainer, that a hose fits on. While not actually part of a bilge pump, I think I will put one of these on a hose, attached to a self priming piston pump. I have this set up in the sump of the S2, and it works wonderful in that application, and has done so for as long as I have owned the boat. And by the way, I can't imagine you biting anyone, at least not very hard.

 

[Ross]

N&E, you have never kicked me.

Remember Waffle?

 

[sailaway78]

I do remember

Waffle, unlike most of us, he couldn't take a lickin and keep on tickin. I also got the impression he thought rather highly of himself and his opinions. As for me and my opinions, if you show me to be wrong, I don't get pissed, I just learned something I didn't know.

 

[Benny17441]

It seems the problem is the foot switch.

Keep your current set up as a backup and install a an electronic automatic pump. A small 500 GPH will do the trick as the object is to reduce the amount of water in the bilge not to prevent the boat from sinking. This electronic pumps are controlled by a computer chip an turn themselves on every 2.5 minutes for a couple of seconds, if they detect water they will keep pumping until it sucks air at which point it will shut itself off for another 2.5 minutes. They sense water by resistance on the impeller. They are a little pricey at around $50 but they are the answer for shallow bilges where float switches just don't perform well. These pumps like any other will leave 1/4 of water it just cant suck up plus the return flow of water in the hose. Their electrical draw is minimal as the total run time in an hour is usually less than 45 seconds. A little standing water on the bilge with a couple of drops of diesel fuel and motor oil is what gives boat that rich aroma. Beware of boats that smell like the perfume alley at the department store.

 

[sailaway78]

I really like

Ross's idea of building a sump behind the keel. Not sure I have the guts to cut a 4" or so hole in the bottom of my boat though. But I sure like that idea.