Keeping the bilge dry....

A dry bilge (especially during long term storage) rates right up there
with having dry pants. Ignoring this leads to de-lamination of wood
flooring and paneling with mold production in the former and a nasty
fungal or yeast infection (candida) in the latter. Both are painful and
stinky. One sooner. One later.

The nautical prophylaxis is to remove any and all standing water from
the bilge however required (save upside down storage). Wet-Vac, absorptives,
fans, opening hatches, ports or hull plugs coupled with periodic inspection
may suffice. My experience (with both above conditions) is that high tech or
expensive gadgets are not required.

Aye.
 
Foggy speaks big wisdom.

I have a severe sensitivity to mold spores, yet we are able to sleep in the small cuddy of our 20 ft Bartender, unaffected, because of aggressive cleaning of the bilge. Ours is a dry sailed boat, stored in a dry boat shed, which also helps a lot.
 
Thanks Tom, I suspect you asked some questions--such as how much power draw--and how often the unit cycles on and off for the Arid bilge?

It's manual and descriptions are a little vague as to how it works--if there is a sensor--or if the pump just comes on with a timer. Not sure I understand the hocus pocus about the several chambers--except oil water separation?

It apparently the Arid unit requires that the box be installed outside of the bilge--and needs a fair amount of clearance.--not sure where I would mount it--but perhaps under the splash well--which is pretty well filled up with various storage and battery items.

The Dry Bilge system, does use a sensor--and the draw is very low--about 720 milli amps a day ( or 21 amps a month--so there has to be some way of charging the batteries. A little hooky about the one strand wire... that you have to co-mingle with multi strand wires to get a good connection.... That is troubling--and you would have to be certain to use a connector with very good glue and sealing properties. Also the small discharge hose--and micro pump--plus the electronics--I would wonder how those hold up over the long run--$400 is a lot for what is there--I suspect that is a huge development cost mark up. But that is what our capitalist system is about. Developing the sensor and electronics take some time and experiments. It sounds like something I would be interested in--if it were half the price. Unfortunately in Florida---we have the mold, spores etc without standing bilge water--it is the nature of the humid environment.
 
South of Heaven":5k0896ck said:
I think changing the gaskets and/or the hatch would be the first thing to do. My 25 leaked a lot through those hatches in the aft part of the cockpit.
Click to expand...

Even with extra gaskets--and I have what appears to be close to an air tight seal--some water still gets in--

I looked up the pump he uses--$29.95! Hook one of those up to a hose barb fitting tapped into a block of Starboard, with groves cut in the bottom to where the fitting is tapped in; run the 3/8" line to the pump and out its own thru hull. Put on a manual or even a timed switch --once every XX hours--and for less than $50 bucks you have a manual system--not quite as sophisticated--but perhaps more reliable--if you turn it on--or have a battery charger to run the pump a few seconds every 24 hours...or something like that.
 
Jason
I have a cantilever cockpit cover with a full camper back but only use it occasionally. It’s not easy to fish with it all closed up.🐟🐟🐟

Then there’s fish cleaning, cooler dripping, showers and other wet activities. When I have more than 4 people in the cockpit water can come up the drains. Things get wet back there.......It takes a bunch of water to set off the bilge pump.

Drier is better......😇 Tom
 
If you want custom hatches built that will stop the leaking through the cockpit floor contact
Annik Goguen
P&E manufactering
Adjointe Administrative/Administrative Assistant

1524, route 950

Bas Cap-Pelé NB E4N 1A9

Tél: (506) 577-4356

Fax: (506) 577-6657

Account.PEMFG@roger

They built custom cockpit hatches for our CD 25 because I hated the constant water in the bilge in a boat with no holes in the bottom. $600 a piece.
We have since moved on to our Lindell 36, but really enjoyed our time with our C Dory
 
helm":1wmz2fst said:
If you want custom hatches built that will stop the leaking through the cockpit floor contact.....
They built custom cockpit hatches for our CD 25 because I hated the constant water in the bilge in a boat with no holes in the bottom. $600 a piece.
Click to expand...

Do you have any photos of your custom hatches? Are they the same size and shape as the plastic ones?
 
Afterthought:

I've been around boats a long time and, except when on the hard, I've never
seen one completely dry - and that's on the inside, wherever, not applying
to the outside.

So, 'tho it can be worrisome to some, it's just simply not realistic to expect a
dry boat. Concern shouldn't come from water. It should come from finding
the source of the water.

Aye.
 
Tom,
Thanks for that DIY dry bilge link, I have ordered the parts and will install when the weather gets nasty (BRRR 68 degree high predicted on Tues, but 81 and sunny tomorrow, so it's another beach day for us).
Cheers!
 
I’ve built one of the DIY “bilge suckers” for our 25 and now have a nice dry bilge. I skipped the timer for now and just run it by plugging it into a 12 volt receptacle when I want to use it. I also added a second 2000 gph bilge pump about 3/4 inch higher than the first one. I was hauling the spare around anyway. I put the exit line into a hole that I cut into the down side of the bilge exit line.

On my 22 I just sponged out the excess and that worked fine. On my 2011 25 it takes over 5 gallons of water to kick in the main bilge pump.

A boat project for about $50 or so.

John ...can’t wait to see how yours turns out. See you at Hontoon!

Happy new year.......Tom
 
Journey On has a dry bilge in two steps: replace the sunken cockpit hatches with hatches that stick up 1/2" or so and replace the O-ring on the round access hatches.

Now when I look in the bilge, any water can be mopped out with a sponge and it stays dry for long periods at a time. Don't know if it's the cheapest, but it works well.

Love a dry bilge.

Boris
 
Boris....quick questions. Are your cockpit drains underwater when you have a load in the back? If yes..... do you have seacocks on the drain line in case a line is compromised?

Thanks......Tom
 
During some nasty weather, I put on a long sleeve shirt and removed the old fishbox port/stdbd macerator pumps and the raw water washdown pump (intake is plugged with rubber stopper and sealant at intake).

Installed Tom’s DIY link arid bilge, but used ¼ rather than ⅛ as smallest tubing. It happily inserts into the ⅜ HD tubing I used for manifold and pump connections. For suction rather than pressure applications this works fine.

The $12 Amazon 12v timer does not work at all (no output voltage on the switch legs even on Manual when powered up with 13V). So I too am currently using it as needed with one of the many pump switches now freed up.

Tomorrow is predicted to be 81 degrees and sunny, and Jan 4 82 degrees and sunny, so they are beach days rather than boat upgrade days.

Dammit, there are just not enough bad weather days down here to get anything done.

Getting home soon so will attack the punch list then and see you next month, Tom!
 
Tom,

Funny you should have asked. When the cockpit is loaded or the boat is underway, the cockpit drains are plugged with wooden plugs. We found out that water will flow in through those "drains" shortly after the boat was new. Unplugged when the boat is lightly loaded or I'm washing it.

The builder (whoever that was) put in check valves when we complained, but the pressure head wasn't enough to open them and allow them to flow. I removed them.

Through a combination of common sense and wooden plugs, the cockpit stays dry. And through replacing the hatches, the bilge stays dry.

Boris
 
Boris are your plugs in the cockpit or in the thru hulls? I plug mine in the thru hulls. That way if a drain hose is compromised the boat will not take on water. I have had a hose fail. With my hatches totally sealed there is no where for the water to get out of the cockpit when it rains, showers, clean fish etc. In the future I’ll put sea cocks in then seal the hatches. I just don’t sleep well with the cockpit drains under water and unplugged. 😴

Thanks Tom
 
Tom,

Your logic sounds good.

I sleep well, because I only put the plugs in when I'm awake. Sometimes I forget they're in, but so be it.

I put them from the cockpit side. I replaced the original thru hulls with 316 stainless ones, mostly because the original ones started to corrode. Then I replaced the hose with good bilge hose. Of course this is long after the boat was new.

Remember that those thru hulls are mostly out of the water and only when the boat is still and the cockpit is heavily loaded are those thru hulls under water. I'm counting on the bilge pump to handle the incoming water until I notice and take action. No problem in 14 years.

Boris
 
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