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Old 03-29-2016, 05:16 PM   #21
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The Jabsco diaphram pumps work good, especially with a Water Witch type pump switch that has a stop delay that keeps the pump running for a few minutes after the water at the switch trip point is gone.
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Old 03-29-2016, 06:09 PM   #22
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Bilge pump solution

I recently purchased a Gb 36. In addition to a traditional bilge pump and float switch , there is a whale diaphragm pump in the sump. It is wired to a very sophisticated timer . I have it set to run two minutes , twice a day. When I start to use ac more, I will add more intervals. There is room for 42 programs.
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Old 03-29-2016, 10:19 PM   #23
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There is a company that makes a pump that pumps down to almost nothing but not quite dry. Can't find it now.

Unfortunately I think only a vacuum can get it perfectly dry.

I met Al of Arid Bilges at the St. Pete Boat Show.

Article here: http://janice142.com/Articles/2015StPeteBoatShow.html

Al's business: Arid Bilge Home

I'll tell you, the system sure did look spiffy.
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Old 03-30-2016, 12:05 AM   #24
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Install a diaphram pump on a manual switch and pump the bilge dry when ever you feel the urge. Also, I'd recomend washing the anchor chain as it comes aboard, you don't want to put mud, salt, critters or what ever in the bilge anyway, sooner or later, it will stink.
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Old 03-30-2016, 07:12 AM   #25
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Install a diaphram pump on a manual switch and pump the bilge dry when ever you feel the urge. Also, I'd recomend washing the anchor chain as it comes aboard, you don't want to put mud, salt, critters or what ever in the bilge anyway, sooner or later, it will stink.

Yeah. For some reason it didn't click while I was squirting water into the chain locker that the water would drain right into to bilge, but after actually thinking about it that's the only place for the water to go. When I lifted the hatch to check the bilge when leaving the boat it was full of grimy water from the chain locker. SMH.
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Old 03-30-2016, 07:21 AM   #26
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My bilge pump sucks...

After reading everyone's thoughtful and sometimes humorous replies, I think I will attempt to just chill about the excess water left in the bilge. I really didn't want to spend $200 plus for a separate diaphragm pump system, but if it keeps bothering me I guess that's what I'll do. Until then I will keep sucking out the excess with my little bucket vac.

Now onto my next worry-- attempting to remove the seawater pump on my little Yanmar so I can replace the impeller. From what I can see and from what I've read, there is no way to get to the impeller while the pump is on the engine. 😢
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Old 03-30-2016, 07:49 AM   #27
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The only boats I have been aboard that have a nice dry bilge have a bilge sump that catches the hose back flow .

The sump is wet , the rest of the bilge dry.

In theory you could run a diaphram pump to empty the bilge and keep it operating till any moisture in the pickup hose would evaporate , but it might take hours.
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Old 03-30-2016, 08:21 AM   #28
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Greetings,
Mr. 01. "...just chill about the excess water left in the bilge." I think that's probably the sanest approach. I tend to over analyze and focus on some things that really don't matter much in the greater scheme of things, boatwise.

We do NOT have the PSS style dripless shaft seals so there's always just a touch of water in our bilges. My personal feeling is that I'd rather live with a bit of water than stress over the potential of a catastrophic failure of the rubber bellows or deal with leaking face seals...
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Old 03-30-2016, 07:37 PM   #29
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If you can find [or have one] an old Jabsco pump [shown above] it can be converted from a pressure water pump to a bilge pump. The only thing needed is the bilge pump valves as the press. water valve holes are too small to pass any junk.,

I did this with an old press. wtr pump that got frozen and the web between the two chamber cracked. It would not hold/pump pressure but it works well as a bilge pump. Just get a small bronze screen for the pick up end.
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Old 03-30-2016, 08:24 PM   #30
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Spot on C lectric. Thats one of the best things about the "old" Jabsco pumps, they can be reconfigured. Parts are readily available and they will run almost forever, even dry, without burning up.
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Old 03-30-2016, 08:25 PM   #31
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A few years ago, I decided I wanted a completely dry bilge and worked hard to successfully identify and eliminate all sources of water accumulation. Now I rarely get water in any bilge except one (the one into which the lazarette drains -- I have not yet figured out how water only occasionally gets in there, and only when the boat is unattended at the dock). But I was never successful in finding a way to automatically dry the bilge. The wet vac is best, although the bilge pump does a good enough job that evaporation will take care of the rest in a few days if I leave a hatch open.
A warning however: for a certain personality type (like mine, for which my wife insists the clinical term is "anal retentive"), the quest for perpetually dry bilges can become an obsession; but the satisfaction of confirming a complete lack of any bilge water is incomparably satisfying.
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Old 03-30-2016, 11:45 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by cardude01 View Post
After reading everyone's thoughtful and sometimes humorous replies, I think I will attempt to just chill about the excess water left in the bilge. I really didn't want to spend $200 plus for a separate diaphragm pump system, but if it keeps bothering me I guess that's what I'll do. Until then I will keep sucking out the excess with my little bucket vac.
If it's just a little bit, there is another solution. At the Dollar Tree in the summertime they have these giant (30" long) squirt guns. It's like a syringe and you can suck up a cup of water then squirt it overboard.

I mentioned it to a girlfriend with a sailboat. She uses the thing in her bilge to get everything out of inaccessible spots. Works great.

BUT, the part that you pull out isn't attached real well to the plunger. Add a hose clamp and you'll be good to go. I've used mine in Algae to get up that list little bit after bailing though honestly a rag works better/faster. I've used it in the bilge too when I get into these "dry bilge" moods.

It passes soon enough.

For a dollar... well, it's an idea.
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Old 03-31-2016, 05:10 AM   #33
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If you cant suck it out , why not power ventilate the lower bilge and evaporate ir out?

A bilge is usually cool so warmer outside air would be dry by contrast.
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Old 03-31-2016, 05:56 AM   #34
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My Trojan rope locker drained into the bilge so I glassed the bulkhead and closed up the bottom of the rope locker. Then I put a drain hole at the bottom of the rope locker through the hull and covered it with a clam shell facing down and aft. That stopped the water from the anchor rode from getting into the bilge. You just have to address each entry point in turn. The best solution is to keep the water out to begin with.

If cardude has dripless shaft seals, I think I'd go with this solution. Our rope locker drains overboard and we have dripless seals... and most of the time, 6 of our 7 bilge compartments are completely dry.

(The 7th, under the cockpit, catches rainwater through the un-plumbed rod holders...)


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We do NOT have the PSS style dripless shaft seals so there's always just a touch of water in our bilges. My personal feeling is that I'd rather live with a bit of water than stress over the potential of a catastrophic failure of the rubber bellows or deal with leaking face seals...
Good point. One of our dock neighbors has had an on-going failure problem of some sort with his seals... including just yesterday, as they brought the boat back on it's own hull... when he had to get a quick haul once they arrived due to seal failure.... once again.

Ours have worked fine, but now I'm searching for some wood to knock on...


Quote:
Originally Posted by cardude01 View Post
After reading everyone's thoughtful and sometimes humorous replies, I think I will attempt to just chill about the excess water left in the bilge. I really didn't want to spend $200 plus for a separate diaphragm pump system, but if it keeps bothering me I guess that's what I'll do. Until then I will keep sucking out the excess with my little bucket vac.

Now onto my next worry-- attempting to remove the seawater pump on my little Yanmar so I can replace the impeller. From what I can see and from what I've read, there is no way to get to the impeller while the pump is on the engine. ��
Re-routing anchor/rope locker drainage could be a one-time shot, whenever you get a round tuit.

I've heard folks say it's sometimes easier to remove the pump altogether and then do the impeller change at the bench... For our Yanmar genset engine, removing/replacing the pump is said to be not all that difficult, although I've not tried an impeller change that way yet.

-Chris
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Old 03-31-2016, 07:18 AM   #35
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"I've heard folks say it's sometimes easier to remove the pump altogether and then do the impeller change at the bench"

On many boats using impeller cover screws that accepts an Allen wrench instead of a slotted screw head makes the task (by feel) faster and more secure.
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Old 03-31-2016, 07:23 AM   #36
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If it's just a little bit, there is another solution. At the Dollar Tree in the summertime they have these giant (30" long) squirt guns. It's like a syringe and you can suck up a cup of water then squirt it overboard.



I mentioned it to a girlfriend with a sailboat. She uses the thing in her bilge to get everything out of inaccessible spots. Works great.



BUT, the part that you pull out isn't attached real well to the plunger. Add a hose clamp and you'll be good to go. I've used mine in Algae to get up that list little bit after bailing though honestly a rag works better/faster. I've used it in the bilge too when I get into these "dry bilge" moods.



It passes soon enough.



For a dollar... well, it's an idea.

This is a really good idea. I have a bucket vac, but it's stored in the lazarette and a pain to get to, then I have to mount it to the bucket which is always full of brushes and other items, then find the x cord. Etc. Etc.

The long pool squirt gun might even stand up in the bilge so I can just open the hatch, suck out last bit of water, squirt it in sink, replace gun and hatch.

Thanks!
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Old 03-31-2016, 08:35 AM   #37
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If cardude has dripless shaft seals, I think I'd go with this solution. Our rope locker drains overboard and we have dripless seals... and most of the time, 6 of our 7 bilge compartments are completely dry.

Re-routing anchor/rope locker drainage could be a one-time shot, whenever you get a round tuit.

I meant to add a comment about "why bother?"

If you can get there from here, ANY water in the bilge after that might be a sign of some other problem, possibly small when you first see it, but which may grow to become a serious issue of left unattended.

When our "dryness" is working as it should, water in the #3 bilge means a potential thru-hull leak, AC waterline leak, or shower sump leak. If in #6, a freshwater leak (line, pump, whatever), thru-hull leak, engine or genset water pump leak, etc.

Fresh vs. salt test...

And so forth. Just makes it easier to interpret any amount of water that might show up... without having to first compare "normal" water to "new" water.

IF it's possible to get squeaky dry in the first place.

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Old 03-31-2016, 09:12 AM   #38
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If you cant suck it out , why not power ventilate the lower bilge and evaporate ir out?

A bilge is usually cool so warmer outside air would be dry by contrast.
I just leave the hatches open for a few days (when we are not on the boat) and it evaporates..
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Old 03-31-2016, 10:03 AM   #39
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Different strokes,

WE have raised the bilge pump and float switch to assure 2-3 inches of water in the bilge at all times.

Our full time belt driven Hyd pump , now has the added task of a Hyd windlass and the extra fluid movement from an autopilot.

2 - 25 ft long hyd hoses in the bilge water work well to keep hyd temperature down , and not require a heat exchanger or keel cooler.

KISS
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Old 03-31-2016, 10:14 AM   #40
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Actually, it doesn't suck enough!

In my quest for a completely dry bilge, My problem is my bilge pump does not get all the water out. It leaves about 1/2" of water there and that drives me crazy.

Seek professional help b/4 it's too late ....
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