The Bilge
Be warned… this is going to be one of those exciting posts, much like our discussions on the merits of composting toilets!
It was just over a year ago the I wrote about our less-than-subtle introduction to a boat’s bilge during our Fast Track to Cruising course. For those not yet up on their nautical terminology, Wikipedia describes the bilge like this:
The bilge is the lowest compartment on a ship where the two sides meet. The word is sometimes also used to describe the water that collects in this compartment. Water that does not drain off the side of the deck drains down through the ship into the bilge. This water may be from rough seas, rain, or minor leaks in the hull or stuffing box. The water that collects in the bilge must be pumped out if it becomes too full and threatens to sink the ship.
Bilge water can be found aboard almost every vessel. Depending on the ship’s design and function, bilge water may contain water, oil, urine, detergents, solvents, chemicals, pitch, particles, and so forth.
It goes on to say a bit more but you get the idea.
We often hear of people making the claim that their bilge is so clean they could eat out of it. In our case, that is just about true. Unless we leave the hatches (windows) open during a big rainstorm, we never have water in the bilge. (Note that I just did the good luck knock-on-wood thing because I said that). In spite of the fact that we seldom have water in there, each one (we have 2 separate bilges, one in each hull) is fitted with a manual pump to empty it. The pumps are activated by a handle in the cockpit area. We have tested them, after one of the window/rain episodes, and they function as they should. How fast they would work in an emergency situation I am unsure.
When reviewing the manuals left by our boat’s previous owner I saw that he had made himself a note to purchase an electric bilge pump. Curious, I sent him an email to inquire why, thinking that perhaps he felt the ones installed by the factory weren’t adequate. His answer, if I recall correctly, was just to have it as back up, and thinking of the potential benefit of having a very effective electric pump in an emergency situation, he may very well be right.
By the way, although they deny it we think our friends were feeling sorry for us after reading yesterday’s post about our apartment galley. As such they invited us over for an awesome turkey dinner last night. Thanks guys. 🙂
I also have a manual piston-pump (PO) that works VERY well for the crash tanks, through-hull compartment, and under the floor boards.
Hand Bilge Pump, 36″ Pump with 72″ Hose 2845519 WMHP36-72 Only $36.99 USD. Yes, you really need the long length to reach the bottoms in comfort. Also, get some cheap sump pump hose and make the discharge long enough to easily get overboard from where you are working. I think I have about 12 feet on it, which gets it from the sumps to the cockpit without someone having to hold it.
It’s quite fast and sucks pretty low (<1/4")I'm not saying the electric pump is a bad idea – can't say and I might get one someday – but this one is very handy and stores under the floor boards or in the bow.
It got pleanty of use when we had the through-hull failure, when we left the top off the water tank, when my daughter left a tap on (and the spigot rotated) and when we took that wave over the boat with every hatch open (50 gallons in 1 second). Works great.
I have a couple of smaller pumps like that which I use to pump rain water out of the dinghy. I’m thinking that could be a fair workout if there was a lot of water. I know the ones that we have sure can be!
Remember, the greater the piton length, the more volume, the less work. The short ones are terrible; better to tip the boat or have a drain valve (our tender has a drain and I hang it leaning with the drain open). The longer pump is probably 4x faster, at least 1 pint per stroke/double acting, or about 5 gpm.
I think I would ge with a single large volume manual pump with a 15-foot hose, and clips to attach right to the battery; if things are bad, I don’t want to bet on ANYTHING working right!
Remember, a 25 gpm pump pulls 30 amps and will only run for for 1-4 hours. If you have a hole way out somewhere, bulkheads will help you more than pumps. Bailing into a sink works until the food runs out.
I used flashing, butly, and screws to help float a sunken boat once. Add flashing to the kit? Maybe.
Just saw this on the west marine website:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/10001/-1/10001/406430/377+207?icid=RR_11015385
Looks pretty cool!
For each hull we have 1 low volume 12v automatic pump; 1 high volume, switched 12v pump and 1 manual pump. Additionally we carry a portable manual whale pump. So far we have replaced both low volume auto pumps that have have failed. We now carry two spares.
Last spring we left the handheld showerhead lying unattended on the seat for a couple of days (WITH THE WATER PUMP BREAKER OFF), which was below the water tanks and the tanks siphoned out (200 gal.), filling the starboard bilge above the floorboards – automatic pump had failed.
Can’t have enough pumps on a boat and can’t test them often enough.
As unreliable as electric pumps can be and batteries do die, the thought of pumping a manual pump for possibly hours while running for shore is scary. And manual pumps do suffer breaches, as well (cracks in hoses, bellows, etc.).
Kirk
Good info Kirk! Thanks.
Hey, but catamarans don’t sink. 🙂
I read that somewhere. 🙂
In seriousness, even if they don’t sink, getting water where it shouldn’t be sure makes a mess. Our house wouldn’t sink either but when the basement flooded it was a PITA!
Agreed! I hate stepping out of bed into a cold puddle first thing in the morning.
Kidding aside, here’s another one. Our first winter (we wet store) we went to winterize the 4 a/c units on the boat. Owner’s manual said to shutoff thru-hull, disconnect intake hose and drain units into bilge and pump out with bilge pump. Easy. After 20 minutes of running water we learned that Lagoon had installed the discharge thru-hulls below the waterline on one of the systems. Glad we had automatic pumps that day.
Sheesh!
Good thinking on the builder’s part!