A Leak!

I suppose it would help keep it afloat to give you time to ram it ashore, beach the boat.

Your driving the prop at high speed when using that pump, so where is the boat heading? Slow down, stop in a marina, and its going down.

I have seen plenty of sunk boats floated, only to sink again.

stubones99 said:

Secondly, Would you put your vessel's future on something you got from Ebay?

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I do it every time go out. Stufing came from EBay, Anchor rode came from EBay, anchor came from EBay, many of my instruments came from EBay, Life jackets came from EBay......etc, etc, etc.
EBay doesnt manufacturer ANYTHING.

I shop Ebay, Amazon and Aliexpress for bargains.

psneeld said:

I have seen plenty of sunk boats floated, only to sink again.

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At least you get the opportunity to pick the watery grave, or careened on a beach. Run aground carefully is better than sunk. At least that's my take on it.

Rule 1 in boating is to keep the water on the outside.

stubones99 said:

At least you get the opportunity to pick the watery grave, or careened on a beach. Run aground carefully is better than sunk. At least that's my take on it.

Rule 1 in boating is to keep the water on the outside.

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And if you can move 10,000 gallons an hour, you will have a big leg up on that task.

jimisbell said:

I do it every time go out. Stufing came from EBay, Anchor rode came from EBay, anchor came from EBay, many of my instruments came from EBay, Life jackets came from EBay......etc, etc, etc.
EBay doesnt manufacturer ANYTHING.

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It depends on what you're buying.

I set up an entire wide area network serving the USAF from Ebay.

But that was all cisco hardware not unknown origin bilge pumps with chinglish manuals and zero support.

Run one of those bilge pumps for a few hours and see if it still works... I'm not sure a Rule or other brand name pumps is much better.

stubones99 said:

... I'm not sure a Rule or other brand name pumps is much better.

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Rule pumps are available on EBay. So you will use a bucket?

stubones99 said:

At least you get the opportunity to pick the watery grave, or careened on a beach. Run aground carefully is better than sunk. At least that's my take on it.

Rule 1 in boating is to keep the water on the outside.

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Not sure what you mean about icking the watery grave.


I was referring to towing or salvaging a vessel where something goes wrong and it sinks again.


Like that big yacht up in Puget Sound in last week's thread.

psneeld said:

Not sure what you mean about icking the watery grave.


I was referring to towing or salvaging a vessel where something goes wrong and it sinks again.


Like that big yacht up in Puget Sound in last week's thread.

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I understood that, and often fothering and dewatering can save a vessel in distress but that doesn't always work under-tow, especially if there is a significant distance involved.

Keeping the engines rolling with high capacity output pumps would be a good self-rescue plan for most boats unless a massive hole in the hull occurs. No float switches, nothing to do except keep it moving.

I think you would be well-advised to add a bilge alarm below the Fast Flow pump just to tell you when they are actually working. The last thing you need to do is shut down at the dock and have it sink...

In most emergencies, the boat slows down for a variety of reasons.


Additionally, until this pump becomes effective, the amount of water in the bilge may bring you off plane.

Wonder how big a hole it would take two feet below the waterline to overcome a 10,000 gallons per hour pump?

psneeld said:

I have seen plenty of sunk boats floated, only to sink again.

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I just saw that happen a couple weeks ago. Fortunately when it sunk the second time it sunk on the travel lift straps.


I really like the idea of the shaft pump. I've been looking at those for a number years. I like the fact that it runs continually when the shaft is turning adding additional ER venting. I also like its capacity. My boats, no-wake speed of 4.5 knots is achieved at about 900 rpm. The 2" pump would put out 100 gpm and the 3" would put out about 375 gpm at that speed. At my normal cruise rpm that jumps up to about 200 gpm and 600 gpm.


Not bad for less than a boat buck.

2 feet below the waterline, a 2-2.5 in hole produces 10,000 gph inflow.

dhays said:

I just saw that happen a couple weeks ago. Fortunately when it sunk the second time it sunk on the travel lift straps.


I really like the idea of the shaft pump. I've been looking at those for a number years. I like the fact that it runs continually when the shaft is turning adding additional ER venting. I also like its capacity. My boats, no-wake speed of 4.5 knots is achieved at about 900 rpm. The 2" pump would put out 100 gpm and the 3" would put out about 375 gpm at that speed. At my normal cruise rpm that jumps up to about 200 gpm and 600 gpm.


Not bad for less than a boat buck.

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The question would be location and how much would water would affect trim, etc....

I'm planning to have a small air compressor aboard. My boat is to big to fill everything with closed-cell foam. The insulation will be closed-cell from the water line up. I have an idea to put airbags in the v birth ceiling and under the gunnels of the cockpit. In the event the boat starts to go down, I open the air valve and dump the air out of the tank into the airbags. An 80-gallon air tank at 175psi should give a couple of psi in several bags. Maybe enough to keep her upright near the water level. I admit that I haven't done the calculations on this yet. There are to many variables that are unknown until the boat is built.

psneeld said:

The question would be location and how much would water would affect trim, etc....

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Yup, all good questions. The 2" would give 12,000 gph and the 3" would give 36,000 gph at my boats cruise rpm. So enough (ideally) to keep my boat afloat with the 2-2.5" hole at the bottom of my boat (4.5' draft at the keel).


However, it would do much better than my existing three Rule pumps.


Not a perfect solution to every problem but a nice adjunct if really bad things happened.

ben2go said:

I'm planning to have a small air compressor aboard. My boat is to big to fill everything with closed-cell foam. The insulation will be closed-cell from the water line up. I have an idea to put airbags in the v birth ceiling and under the gunnels of the cockpit. In the event the boat starts to go down, I open the air valve and dump the air out of the tank into the airbags. An 80-gallon air tank at 175psi should give a couple of psi in several bags. Maybe enough to keep her upright near the water level. I admit that I haven't done the calculations on this yet. There are to many variables that are unknown until the boat is built.

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There are vendors that make rescue air bags but it is easier to prevent needing them than having them aboard in the event they are needed. Some even have CO2 bottles to self-deploy. The problem is the pressure they put on everything else can break down bulkheads and everything else. I don't think I would want to be in the room when you set it off. or better have a good pocket knife. That almost sounds like a john candy flick when he did something with a life raft, if i recall correctly...

dhays said:

Yup, all good questions. The 2" would give 12,000 gph and the 3" would give 36,000 gph at my boats cruise rpm. So enough (ideally) to keep my boat afloat with the 2-2.5" hole at the bottom of my boat (4.5' draft at the keel).


However, it would do much better than my existing three Rule pumps.


Not a perfect solution to every problem but a nice adjunct if really bad things happened.

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Not your boat... the PO already tried that one

Most boats don't need an engine room exhaust blower since the engine is sucking down a lot of air just to run, especially at cruise speeds. I heard to properly combust a gallon of diesel fuel, you need 1500 cubic feet of air?

stubones99 said:

There are vendors that make rescue air bags but it is easier to prevent needing them than having them aboard in the event they are needed. Some even have CO2 bottles to self-deploy. The problem is the pressure they put on everything else can break down bulkheads and everything else. I don't think I would want to be in the room when you set it off. or better have a good pocket knife. That almost sounds like a john candy flick when he did something with a life raft, if i recall correctly...

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I know about those. They are rapid to inflate and with quite a force. My plan wouldn't be so intrusive and wouldn't damage the boat. I would test the system before taking it to sea. I think the thin pvc bags that are used to raise boats would work and could be folded to hide behind the padded vinyl ceiling cover. If I don't use the bags, I will go with painted decorative wood.

stubones99 said:

Not your boat... the PO already tried that one

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Lol, true. Although since he wasn’t able to hole the boat hitting that rock at his cruise speed (he has more money than I and said his typical cruise speed was 9.5-10 kts), I shouldn’t hole my boat by avoiding sharp objects at 7 knots.

ben2go said:

I know about those. They are rapid to inflate and with quite a force. My plan wouldn't be so intrusive and wouldn't damage the boat. I would test the system before taking it to sea. I think the thin pvc bags that are used to raise boats would work and could be folded to hide behind the padded vinyl ceiling cover. If I don't use the bags, I will go with painted decorative wood.

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Don't know where you have seen thin PVC bags to raise boats. But the ones I have used are quite heavy.......and heavy duty...more so than most inflatables.

If you can find the hole, best thing is to stuff something into it, maybe a pillow even. I wonder what the most common hull breach actually is, a hole, or a crack or both. and large holes, you just dont have much time to do anything at all.
Then it is the basic design on interior bulkheading that can help. like a boat in a boat, have compartments that could flood but not sink the boat, if possible, or maybe that could slow it going down.


i sealed the mid aft bulkhead to the hull, and made it watertight. That bulkhead is about 6 feet forward of the stern. And the boat is 37 feet long. Then I disconnected the AC seacock and let the water come in as a test, at first it came in pretty quick, but after about 6 inches of water, it slowed down, and after 8 inches it was just trickling in, and the boat had sunk in the aft section about 5 inches? maybe or so. It seemed to me it would slow an actual sinking event. It took a long time to pump it out with the rule 2000.

See there is this plywood bulkhead of 3/4" and I sealed it very well, and it certainly held back the flooding water from getting into the main part of the boat. My thinking was maybe easier for a shaft or strut hitting something to break the hull open in the rear of the boat, than a hole anywhere else.

other place maybe the bow striking an object could crack open the hull. But up ther no good place to create a bulkhead, it would never be high enough.

For a small hole a quick plug can be made out of a wax toilet ring. It can be forced into place and molded to fill the opening.

psneeld said:

Don't know where you have seen thin PVC bags to raise boats. But the ones I have used are quite heavy.......and heavy duty...more so than most inflatables.

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The dock repair guys use them here on the lakes to raise docks and sunken boats next to docks. I don't know where they come from. I never thought to ask until I came up with the idea of using something inside the boat to displace water and add flotation. They aren't extremely heavy. The guys use tube-shaped bags that are about 5' x 3'. They carry several over their shoulder down to the lakeside. Three or four of those with a couple of psi should keep my boat at surface level.



I'm sure these are not the bags they use but they look very similar. I also like the name, Doowin Dooflex.


Inflatable Buoyancy Bags-inflatable buoyancy bags, salvage tube, lift bagsUnderwater Air Lift Bags, Crane Load Testing Water Weight Bags, Lifeboat Load Test Water Bags, Water Weight Bags, Savlage Tubes, Inflatable Fenders, Buoys, Water Tanks

PVC coated.... and a 1000lb buoyancy bag weighs over 50lbs.


Salvage bags are pretty rugged as no one wants to lose a boat because the float bags get punctured.

psneeld said:

PVC coated.... and a 1000lb buoyancy bag weighs over 50lbs.


Salvage bags are pretty rugged as no one wants to lose a boat because the float bags get punctured.

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1100lbs PVC bag is 10kg or 22.04623lbs.

Correct...sorry...read 1000kg buoyancy instead of pounds.

psneeld said:

Correct...sorry...read 1000kg buoyancy instead of pounds.

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I get mixed up like that too.