Engine Sump

[GreenLight]

On my 92 Catalina 30 MKII it appears that the dripping from my stuffing box and any other water or fluids coming from aft, drain into my engine sump which them must be regularly pumped out manually. If left unpumped the water etc, with a tinge of oil ,spills over into my bilge which then, in turn, needs to be manually pumped since I don't want to put the oily water over the side.

Am I missing something or does everyone have this problem?

And if so, does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with it.

 

[Tim Huss]

They is a few products that soak oil or petroleum products and will not soak water. west marine has a few or you can probally find them at some auto parts , they can be submerged in water and will come out dry, but they will take any petroleum products and soak them up. the come in sheets or you can get them in small floats that you can drop in the bilge then change when there full. they are absolutely amazing how well they work.

 

[GreenLight]

Thanks Tim, I'll give that a try. The thing that really doesn't make sense to me is the structural layout. It just seems to me that there ought to bre a way fo the sump to be self contained and the water to drain into the bilge.

I've been using Dawn liquid soap, like they use to clean up birds after oil spills but the absorbant padding material sounds like it might solve some of my problems.

 

[Bob4203]

Common on my Mark II ('88) as well, but the oil film is often very light. A "tinge" as you call it. Absorbent pads or "Pigs" are good to use and will soak a heck of a lot of petroleum product. Dawn is good as a dispersent. Keep the pad in the bildge not under the engine.

Bob

 

[GreenLight]

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately the "tinge" of oil got a lot worse and I had to pull out the fuel tank. I'm going to have to replace it.
Interestingly I found a semicircullar hole about 4 in. in radius located under the front end of the fuel tank. This leads under the engine sump and directly into the bilge. So this would direct water from any leaks aft into the bilge bypassing the oily area under the engine. I could never find any reference to this in the pwner's manual Unfortunately it doesn't help with the stuffing box drips which still go under the engine. But especially thanks for the info about the absorbant pads.

John