Most owners don't understand how much water accumulates in the bilge from air conditioning condensation. And the runoff has a lot of sludge which builds up on the condenser coils.
On my 49, there was quite a constant amount, with having only the main cabin airco on. If you turned on the others, it got a lot worse.
The solution is very simple, but just takes a bit of work.
You simply run the airco pan drains to shower dump boxes with built in pumps.
On the 49, I ran the forward airco into the existing sump box that drains the forward shower.
For the mains salon and aft cabin, they both drain to a sump box on the main bilge.
This has actually gotten a lot easier recently owing to a new pump by Whale. It is called their IC series. You don't need a sump box at all. A T fitting senses water, and automatically pumps it out on demand. For a full explanation and video, go to Whale's web site.
If course, this concept applies to any boat with air conditioning. I can tell you that by discharging the airco pans overboard, you will have virtually no reason for water to be filling up your bilge. It reduces musty odours, and keeps the boat smelling fresher.
On my 49, there was quite a constant amount, with having only the main cabin airco on. If you turned on the others, it got a lot worse.
The solution is very simple, but just takes a bit of work.
You simply run the airco pan drains to shower dump boxes with built in pumps.
On the 49, I ran the forward airco into the existing sump box that drains the forward shower.
For the mains salon and aft cabin, they both drain to a sump box on the main bilge.
This has actually gotten a lot easier recently owing to a new pump by Whale. It is called their IC series. You don't need a sump box at all. A T fitting senses water, and automatically pumps it out on demand. For a full explanation and video, go to Whale's web site.
If course, this concept applies to any boat with air conditioning. I can tell you that by discharging the airco pans overboard, you will have virtually no reason for water to be filling up your bilge. It reduces musty odours, and keeps the boat smelling fresher.
