Bilge pumps clogged: Fiberglass debris in the hull of my vessel

[gvidor]

Bilge pumps clogged: Fiberglass waste in the hull of my vessel
One year ago my partner went down below to whip up some lunch for my mate and I. “Gary, there’s water on the floor.” I was hoping the ice in the chest had too much melt and had leaked out.
While checking the thru-hull near the motor I saw that the bolt on the end-cap of the heat-exchanger had “sheared” off and water was flowing in from there. After closing that thru-hull I checked the bilge pump. It had stopped working as it was clogged by debris. The manual bilge stopped working also (for the same reason).
I had recently purchased a hand bilge pump for my dinghy and incidents such as this. It saved the day.
I soon figured out that the debris was small pieces of fiberglass. Apparently while manufacturing the vessel the fiberglass debris in the hull had never been removed. This was probably the first time the bottom of the hull had filled up enough to collect the debris which had then clogged both the automatic and the manual bilge pumps. The debris may have been by something else??

 

[justsomeguy]

I had recently purchased a hand bilge pump for my dinghy and incidents such as this. It saved the day.

Ain't nothin' so effective as a determined person working a pump. I suspect you've cleaned up the debris, and the pumps are again operational?

Doubtful that the fiberglass debris had just sloughed off recently. Noting the timing of your post, you'd joined two years ago, the incident happened one year ago, and this is your first post!

Welcome.

 

[Ron20324]

I heard there are fiberglass worms. That was probably their poop that you saw?

 

[fsarmast]

I recently unscrewed and cleaned out the compartments underneath the floorboards on our catalina 350 and found a lot of fiberglass debris as well. For similar reasons, I took apart the woodwork in the v berth and found tons of saw dust. I am sure the fiberglass debris and sawdust is from the original construction. I have not owned many other boats to know if this is common practice among builders to not clean up as they go.

 

[gvidor]

fsarmast,
Thank you for your reply. If others suspect this let me know. Probably will check w/catalina.

 

[jviss]

This is common. I have found building debris and detritus in boats old and new, from $1M+ luxury yachts to our more pedestrian Catalinas and Hunters, and everything in between. And I'm just a casual observer! I have a "thing" about this. The main reason is that if can clog pumps. Regardless of the age of your boat, brand new, or if you're the fourth or fifth owner, clean out the bilges!

I wouldn't bother contacting Catalina about this, there's nothing they can do, or will do, about it. Just clean it out. Maybe even play a hose in the higher bilge areas once you've cleaned the bottom, to see what you can wash out.

I've found hardware like screws, nuts, and washers; fiberglass flakes and chunks and dust, sawdust, paper labels, zip-tie cut-offs, little plastic bags, and more.

 

[seadaddler]

I do clean out my bilge with a small shop vac that I keep at the dock and every so often take and clean the pump and clean the float switch and add soap to bilge to help keep clean and helps the pump and float switch from getting clogging or slow working from dirt and can see anything floating and use the shop vac helps.
Nick

 

[Monterey385]

Agreed, this is common, cleaning at least annually is advised, and it doesn't hurt to fill the bilge up to the auto switch mark (not too much and make sure the pumps are working), add bilge soap, and go sailing ... a couple of close hauls later the soapy water will have distributed around the crevices and shaken loose crud. Follow with a shop vac when back at the dock.

 

[Ralph-59]

I have just got the same problem on my brand new Dufour 412. Being the pit full of fiberglass and gelcoat debris, I found the bilge pump circuit clogged. It's the first time for me to see such a thing and reading you guys saying it's a common event eases my discomfort but I think this should not happen.

 

[Meriachee]

With the 3 rubber cup circulating pumps that we have, anything, anything at all will stop it. An inline strainer will catch the errant tie wrap that inevitably finds its way from the marina office to our bilges.

 

[jviss]

I have just got the same problem on my brand new Dufour 412. Being the pit full of fiberglass and gelcoat debris, I found the bilge pump circuit clogged. It's the first time for me to see such a thing and reading you guys saying it's a common event eases my discomfort but I think this should not happen.

Agreed! You would think that the builder would put a step in along the lines of "sweep, vacuum, then wash the bilge!"

 

[Alansails]

Costs money, takes time, for a place most will never visit, at least that is my theory..
and if you find some of the nuts ,bolts, etc that I have lost.....

 

[Ron20324]

... You would think that the builder would put a step in along the lines of "sweep, vacuum, then wash the bilge!"

You might just think of the possibility that alot of stuff may have come to rest between sections of the hull and liner during construction. During transport, bouncing and wind could have freed it up to fall into the bilge. Yeah, the dealer should have caught it, though even YOUR pre-purchase inspection should have..