Bilge Survey

[socrates]

53 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

There is nothing wrong with giving out advice such as brand names, naming and shaming is another story.

Regards

Alan

Thanks for your clarification, as I am new I am being careful to follow the rules and avoid any potential transgressions. I would hate to offend or attract the wrath of the moderators.

Edited December 22, 2017 by socrates
typo

[socrates]

As I have been enlightened about the rules regarding naming products: Cupinol wood preserver and Damboline bilge paint is being used. 

[quo vadis]

What make of welding rod did you use to clear the holes?

[socrates]

They were Sifsteel 1.6mm copper coated welding rod. I found these to be the right size for our limber holes, they are strong and flexible enough to clear holes. 

[quo vadis]

I clear mine with ESAB 3.25mm flux coated mild steel electrodes

[socrates]

28 minutes ago, quo vadis said:

I clear mine with ESAB 3.25mm flux coated mild steel electrodes

Clearly, you have a bigger hole than mine.

[stumpy]

I use a Sketchleys coat hanger. (Other dry cleaners are available)

[socrates]

Thanks Stumpy, having tried a coat hanger, the metal was slightly too thick for the holes. I will investigate a Sketchleys coat hanger and see if that will work better than the welding rods.. Can you please let me know where there is a branch of Sketchelys in order that I may procure one? Many thanks.

[quo vadis]

Marks and Spencer’s do a good quality coat hanger 

[socrates]

Regarding coat hangers for clearing limber holes. Having given it some (but not a great deal of thought) I conclude that a coat hanger may be a little large for the limber holes. Also, the better quality coat hanger might not be able to bend as much as the thinner welding rods. The advantage of a welding rod is that they bend and enable those awkward corners to be cleared.  

[VetChugger]

Five star Cuprinol I hope! That will impress Griff who (tongue in cheek bit) could have earned a fortune if a fee per mention was available!

Excellent advice about its use though.

[ExSurveyor]

Cuprinol 5star,

I bet I hold the record for usage.

540 GALLONS over an Easter weekend

[JanetAnne]

8 hours ago, psychicsurveyor said:

Cuprinol 5star,

I bet I hold the record for usage.

540 GALLONS over an Easter weekend

You are supposed to paint the bilge, not fill it 

[grendel]

one way to make sure it gets in all the nooks and crannies - fill the boat up - then pump any spare out.

 

[Guest ExMemberKingFisher]

Well thank you to everyone who answered the survey. We now seem to have reached the part where we get thread drift,   so I thought I would add my conclusions on the survey.

It would seem that the zenith is to have a dry bilge, but in reality most are wet. Some people have other parts of the boat that drain into the bilge, and some don't, probably 50 50. No surprises it is very common to have more than one bilge pump. I have two and just due to the nature of operation and mounting, one always fires before the other, and it would seem that some have engineered a similar situation by mounting one higher than the other. I tend to isolate the one that fires first occasionally to test the second will run. No point having a backup only to find it is faulty.

Perhaps the surprising one for me is that most boats have more than one battery bank, yet it doesn't appear to be that common to have the pumps on separate battery banks. My boat has one pump on the domestic battery and one on the engine battery. When I leave the boat the 12V charger is left on charging both banks. Both banks are isolated from the rest of the boats circuits and the two bilge pumps are connected directly to the battery banks so they are not isolated, but are both protected with appropriate rated in line fuses. It may be belt and braces, but I would need a power failure, followed by all the batteries running flat before the pumps would refuse to run anymore. Which should be enough to cope with any minor continuous leak for a period of time.

Thanks again to all those who answered. It confirms to me that my initial thoughts on wet bilges were not that far off the mark.

[ExSurveyor]

3 hours ago, JanetAnne said:

You are supposed to paint the bilge, not fill it 

 It was used to treat the timbers of The Ropery in Chatham Dockyard in 1985. Quarter of a mile of structural timbers, and four floors. That was the only time I have ever had to get my hands dirty. 12 x 45 gallon drums and no working lift because of the fire  risk.

 

 

[grendel]

we rewired it not long after that - we had to get the electricians pushbikes to get from one side to the other as you had to go via  the end of the building.

[JanetAnne]

Sorry about the drift 

It is interesting to see how others deal with bilge maintenance and pumps etc. 

I like the first pump on domestics with the reserve on the engine side. What is interesting is that there was not a lot of mention of separate fridge batteries. 

[Guest ExMemberKingFisher]

1 minute ago, JanetAnne said:

Sorry about the drift 

It is interesting to see how others deal with bilge maintenance and pumps etc. 

I like the first pump on domestics with the reserve on the engine side. What is interesting is that there was not a lot of mention of separate fridge batteries. 

No need for apologies, I thought everyone did well to stay on topic as long as they did

I referred to one of the bilge pumps being on the domestic, which in my case is really the lights and pumps etc. I do have a separate bank of batteries for the fridge / heater which seems a useful pairing as you need one, more in the Summer and the other, more in the Winter. I also have a separate bank for the invertor, which since a change of winch this bank also powers the roof winch.

It's not happened yet, but should the domestic bank run flat at least I can still sit in the dark, in the warm, with a cold beer.

[Guest ExMemberKingFisher]

One thing worth mentioning about bilge pumps, that is not often mentioned, is that the height of the outlet makes a big difference to the efficiency of the pump. I guess it's a balancing act but you want the outlet high enough above the waterline not to cause issues, but with the pump down in the bilge then the pump has to overcome the lift. Fitting the outlet lower, with a non return valve is one answer, but the NRV can also introduce a small resistance.

I have a pair of Rule 1100GPH pumps. However that figure is on the flat. It drops to 860 GPH with a 1 metre lift and to 600GPH for a 2 metre lift. So worth fitting the largest capacity pump you can find for the location where it is to be fitted, and possibly consider a lower outlet with NRVs.