The bilge pumps in my boat are mounted on some small "pads" that are glassed
into the bottom of the hull. This pump mounting pad is about an inch thick.
The forward bilge area always has some water in it because the air
conditioner drips in there and the shaft seals drip a bit. The problem is
that the way the pumps are mounted, there is always about 3 inches of water
in the forward bilge area, due to the fact that the pads elevate the pumps
slightly and the pumps don't pump everything out anyway

I'm looking for an idea to remove all or almost all of the water from the
bilge. I envision a pump that has a hose on it that will sit in the "V" of
the hull and pump almost all of the water out. I've just never seen one and
don't know if anyone has a better idea.

Robert wrote:
The bilge pumps in my boat are mounted on some small "pads" that are glassed
into the bottom of the hull. This pump mounting pad is about an inch thick.
The forward bilge area always has some water in it because the air
conditioner drips in there and the shaft seals drip a bit. The problem is
that the way the pumps are mounted, there is always about 3 inches of water
in the forward bilge area, due to the fact that the pads elevate the pumps
slightly and the pumps don't pump everything out anyway

I'm looking for an idea to remove all or almost all of the water from the
bilge. I envision a pump that has a hose on it that will sit in the "V" of
the hull and pump almost all of the water out. I've just never seen one and
don't know if anyone has a better idea.


Yes, a large sponge is very effective.

--
Reggie

"That's my story and I am sticking to it."

Robert wrote:
The bilge pumps in my boat are mounted on some small "pads" that are glassed
into the bottom of the hull. This pump mounting pad is about an inch thick.
The forward bilge area always has some water in it because the air
conditioner drips in there and the shaft seals drip a bit. The problem is
that the way the pumps are mounted, there is always about 3 inches of water
in the forward bilge area, due to the fact that the pads elevate the pumps
slightly and the pumps don't pump everything out anyway

I'm looking for an idea to remove all or almost all of the water from the
bilge. I envision a pump that has a hose on it that will sit in the "V" of
the hull and pump almost all of the water out. I've just never seen one and
don't know if anyone has a better idea.


My bilge water collects in a hollow in the top couple of inches of the
molded keel.
There isn't enough width to set one of the common plastic bilge pumps
that sucks up the water it's sitting in. I use a remote mounted 12-volt
self priming pump and a hose that is laid into the keel. Very similar
to the idea you're considering. I think the pump is a lot sturdier than
the plastic disposables, and has proven more durable. I can compare
because I do use a big-box Marine submerged bilge pump to drain the
shower sump.
Every 3 years or so, that shower sump pump needs to be replaced. The
next time I replace it, I'm going to spend the extra dough to get
another remote pump. It has occured to me that if I ever needed to move
a lot more water out of the bilge I could just move the pickup hose
from the shower sump into the bilge.

How is this self priming pump activated? Float switch, timer etc?


wrote in message
ups.com...

Robert wrote:
The bilge pumps in my boat are mounted on some small "pads" that are
glassed
into the bottom of the hull. This pump mounting pad is about an inch
thick.
The forward bilge area always has some water in it because the air
conditioner drips in there and the shaft seals drip a bit. The problem
is
that the way the pumps are mounted, there is always about 3 inches of
water
in the forward bilge area, due to the fact that the pads elevate the
pumps
slightly and the pumps don't pump everything out anyway

I'm looking for an idea to remove all or almost all of the water from
the
bilge. I envision a pump that has a hose on it that will sit in the "V"
of
the hull and pump almost all of the water out. I've just never seen one
and
don't know if anyone has a better idea.


My bilge water collects in a hollow in the top couple of inches of the
molded keel.
There isn't enough width to set one of the common plastic bilge pumps
that sucks up the water it's sitting in. I use a remote mounted 12-volt
self priming pump and a hose that is laid into the keel. Very similar
to the idea you're considering. I think the pump is a lot sturdier than
the plastic disposables, and has proven more durable. I can compare
because I do use a big-box Marine submerged bilge pump to drain the
shower sump.
Every 3 years or so, that shower sump pump needs to be replaced. The
next time I replace it, I'm going to spend the extra dough to get
another remote pump. It has occured to me that if I ever needed to move
a lot more water out of the bilge I could just move the pickup hose
from the shower sump into the bilge.

Robert wrote:
How is this self priming pump activated? Float switch, timer etc?


wrote in message
ups.com...

Robert wrote:
The bilge pumps in my boat are mounted on some small "pads" that are
glassed
into the bottom of the hull. This pump mounting pad is about an inch
thick.
The forward bilge area always has some water in it because the air
conditioner drips in there and the shaft seals drip a bit. The problem
is
that the way the pumps are mounted, there is always about 3 inches of
water
in the forward bilge area, due to the fact that the pads elevate the
pumps
slightly and the pumps don't pump everything out anyway

I'm looking for an idea to remove all or almost all of the water from
the
bilge. I envision a pump that has a hose on it that will sit in the "V"
of
the hull and pump almost all of the water out. I've just never seen one
and
don't know if anyone has a better idea.


My bilge water collects in a hollow in the top couple of inches of the
molded keel.
There isn't enough width to set one of the common plastic bilge pumps
that sucks up the water it's sitting in. I use a remote mounted 12-volt
self priming pump and a hose that is laid into the keel. Very similar
to the idea you're considering. I think the pump is a lot sturdier than
the plastic disposables, and has proven more durable. I can compare
because I do use a big-box Marine submerged bilge pump to drain the
shower sump.
Every 3 years or so, that shower sump pump needs to be replaced. The
next time I replace it, I'm going to spend the extra dough to get
another remote pump. It has occured to me that if I ever needed to move
a lot more water out of the bilge I could just move the pickup hose
from the shower sump into the bilge.


The self priming pump is normally activated by a float switch. It can
also be turned on with a switch at the helm. Next to disposable plastic
bilge pumps, the float switch tends to be the weakest link in the
system. The manual switch allows you to start the pump should you
discover that you're making a lot of water down in the bilge and the
float switch isn't working. It's the unwritten rule of systems failures
that things will crap out at the very worst possible moments.

A useful device (that I don't have installed on my system) is a bilge
pump cycle counter.
If you leave your boat in the water between uses, it would be very
instructive to know whether the float switch activated the bilge pump
twice in the week since you were last aboard, or whether it has had to
start up thrity-seven times. :-)

Sure. I've considered one of those too. The smaller pump that I'm looking
into is something that I'd like to be automatic as well. A float switch
would work, but I wish that I could find something that was better.


wrote in message
oups.com...

Robert wrote:
How is this self priming pump activated? Float switch, timer etc?


wrote in message
ups.com...

Robert wrote:
The bilge pumps in my boat are mounted on some small "pads" that are
glassed
into the bottom of the hull. This pump mounting pad is about an
inch
thick.
The forward bilge area always has some water in it because the air
conditioner drips in there and the shaft seals drip a bit. The
problem
is
that the way the pumps are mounted, there is always about 3 inches
of
water
in the forward bilge area, due to the fact that the pads elevate the
pumps
slightly and the pumps don't pump everything out anyway

I'm looking for an idea to remove all or almost all of the water
from
the
bilge. I envision a pump that has a hose on it that will sit in the
"V"
of
the hull and pump almost all of the water out. I've just never seen
one
and
don't know if anyone has a better idea.


My bilge water collects in a hollow in the top couple of inches of the
molded keel.
There isn't enough width to set one of the common plastic bilge pumps
that sucks up the water it's sitting in. I use a remote mounted
12-volt
self priming pump and a hose that is laid into the keel. Very similar
to the idea you're considering. I think the pump is a lot sturdier
than
the plastic disposables, and has proven more durable. I can compare
because I do use a big-box Marine submerged bilge pump to drain the
shower sump.
Every 3 years or so, that shower sump pump needs to be replaced. The
next time I replace it, I'm going to spend the extra dough to get
another remote pump. It has occured to me that if I ever needed to
move
a lot more water out of the bilge I could just move the pickup hose
from the shower sump into the bilge.


The self priming pump is normally activated by a float switch. It can
also be turned on with a switch at the helm. Next to disposable plastic
bilge pumps, the float switch tends to be the weakest link in the
system. The manual switch allows you to start the pump should you
discover that you're making a lot of water down in the bilge and the
float switch isn't working. It's the unwritten rule of systems failures
that things will crap out at the very worst possible moments.

A useful device (that I don't have installed on my system) is a bilge
pump cycle counter.
If you leave your boat in the water between uses, it would be very
instructive to know whether the float switch activated the bilge pump
twice in the week since you were last aboard, or whether it has had to
start up thrity-seven times. :-)

Robert wrote:
Sure. I've considered one of those too. The smaller pump that I'm looking
into is something that I'd like to be automatic as well. A float switch
would work, but I wish that I could find something that was better.


There are some alternatives. One of them is a switch built by Water
Witch (tm) that is basically just two exposed contacts on a vertical
mount. When liquid rises to a point where the upper contact is covered,
the circuit is completed and the pump activates.
Or so says the manufacturer.........

The problem, I have heard, with the exposed contact switch is that if
there is ever any oil or other dirt in the bilge....(what!? on *my*
boat??).....the contact might become dirty and the dirt will act as an
insulator to prevent the circuit from closing. A float switch will
float on anything, even oil. I try to keep a clean bilge, and always
have an oil absorbing "sock" floating down there just in case. No
matter what, you don't want to pump oil into the water, it$ a $uper
expen$ive fine and not nice to the planet.

When you shop for a float switch, and assuming you are going to use one
of the horizontal "level" models, you can choose between the old
mercury filled switches or
some where the circuit is closed by a metal ball that rolls into place
as the float lever becomes elevated. The metal ball units are more
environmentally benign.

Interesting. I'll look into that.

One thing that I've been toying with is some sort of venturi pump. They
make something called a "Mermaid Condensator" and it's designed to go inline
with the raw water discharge for the air conditioner and it basically uses
the Bernoulli principle to create a vacuum and attach a small line to the
condenser line of the air conditioner and pump the condensate overboard. I
like the idea of this because it has no moving parts to fail and draws no
additional electricity, but I've heard that they have some filters in them
that are very prone to clogging. It would be neat to just run the small
hose down into the bilge and let it suck up any residual water when the air
conditioner is running.

My only concern is that if the raw water discharge were to become clogged,
it would be possible to pump water down into the bilge, but a check valve
would probably take care of that.

.....still thinking




wrote in message
oups.com...

Robert wrote:
Sure. I've considered one of those too. The smaller pump that I'm
looking
into is something that I'd like to be automatic as well. A float switch
would work, but I wish that I could find something that was better.


There are some alternatives. One of them is a switch built by Water
Witch (tm) that is basically just two exposed contacts on a vertical
mount. When liquid rises to a point where the upper contact is covered,
the circuit is completed and the pump activates.
Or so says the manufacturer.........

The problem, I have heard, with the exposed contact switch is that if
there is ever any oil or other dirt in the bilge....(what!? on *my*
boat??).....the contact might become dirty and the dirt will act as an
insulator to prevent the circuit from closing. A float switch will
float on anything, even oil. I try to keep a clean bilge, and always
have an oil absorbing "sock" floating down there just in case. No
matter what, you don't want to pump oil into the water, it$ a $uper
expen$ive fine and not nice to the planet.

When you shop for a float switch, and assuming you are going to use one
of the horizontal "level" models, you can choose between the old
mercury filled switches or
some where the circuit is closed by a metal ball that rolls into place
as the float lever becomes elevated. The metal ball units are more
environmentally benign.