I recently installed a small Shurflo pump as described in this article A dry bilge for $50. I modified it by using a simple on/off dc switch since I did not need constant pump cycling. It works great in my 5’ deep bilge. I also have a sump box to which I have plumbed all the water sources like ac, refrig,shower. It’s pumped out by a whale gusher. The small sea flow pumps into this same box which evacuates its product. My bilge water comes primarily from rain water down the keel stepped mast which leaks past the limber hole hose to the sump box. The vac is retired!
Bilge inspection
- Thread starter Phil Herring
- Start date
Route it into a through hull such as your sink drain. I'm in the process of building a dry bilge system to get down to the last few drops. I should have it operational but not completed today. Send me a PM if you'd like to see some pics
I personally would not drain it to a sink drain or any other below the waterline drain because I do not leave any of them open when not on the boat. It is easy enough to run a hose back to the transom and add a 1/2" nylon fitting above the waterline that can stay open all the time.
Hahaha - it would be a good way to check my door seals. Opening the door would have a cascade of water into the kitchen. If my door seals worked...
dj
Do you use ice or have 12v refrigeration? Since we installed our ice box conversion, we have had a plug in the drain and what little moisture we get in the box, we blot out with paper towels. If it were more, I would make a small bilge box with a cheap diaphragm pump to pump it overboard.
12V refrigeration. But I could use ice - I don't need to though, I can make ice.
My point was when someone said you could run your icebox drain to a thru hull - it really depends upon the boat set-up...
dj
This is why I have commented in a couple of posts that I prefer to pump the nuisance water such as the icebox, dry-bilge system, etc., to an above the waterline thru hull that can be left open all the time without concern about flooding.
I've considered putting an enclosed box in my bilge for all water to go into an enclosed box that pumps out (can't remember what they are called) but I would still need my regular bilge pump as I'd have to still be able to pump bilge water making space a serious constraint. My bilge is deep, but not a lot of square footage down there. So changing all that would be a major undertaking. Having some refrigerator water adding to the bilge doesn't seem so bad by comparison... the old expression "the enemy of good enough is better" comes to mind...
dj
Until something leaks in the refrigerator and that biological mess lies rotting in the bilge.
Ah the compromises of boat ownership ...Until something leaks in the refrigerator and that biological mess lies rotting in the bilge.
dj