290 FV BOW BILGE?

Anyfive

When I was cleaning the AC coil with a hose I noticed the discharge from a bilge pump on the starboard side just fore of the head.  I knew on my 290 there is a bilge under the aft cabin area and at the stern in the engine compartment but not in the bow area.  

My question is where is the access to the bow bilge?  Is it under the vee shape insert below the bow bed on the floor (see photo)?  If so how dose the insert come out?

Black_Diamond

I bet it is just a drain and not a pump outlet. 

frenchship

My 300 express 2007 doesn't have bow bilge pump.

Anyfive

Yes it could be a drain . But dose the triangle insert come out? 

pepmyster

Should only be a drain and not a pump. It all goes the the aft section then into engine bilge.

jfdeng5

Where does the air condensation/shower drain to?  I don't know that model at all.  Is it possible that was full and with a slight weight shift, it drained?  Seems too far forward though.  Good luck.

pepmyster

usually, it will drain into the engine bilge.

JC290

There is a bilge of sorts I discovered on my 290FV last night, I ran out of time before I could investigate it, but it did turn on from the bilge switch. It does pump out on the starboard side forward of the head as you mentioned. If you figure it out before I do let me know

gslpro

Any five...the triangle piece doesn't come out.  I have never investigated it in depth, but I have had water in the area where our seacocks are, and that didn't seem to drain anywhere.  The aft bilge under our mid-bed is where anything from the rain and behind the dash ends up, and possibly the a/c.  

I guess I'll be sticking my head in there to find out as well this friday when I get back to the boat.  

Anyfive

There is a drain for the evaporator pan that comes out the starboard side. 

pepmyster: I thought that also but there is the aft cabin bilge before the engine compartment and neither came on when I hosed down the AC coil.

TikiHut2

Try having your cabin mate put a shop vac on the outside fitting and then listen for suction inside. I figured out what each of the outer fittings went to for our '04 270 doing that. It only took a few mins. Sorry no pics on that one.

If I remember right ours was:

• Port side amidship = galley sink
• stbd side amidship = sink in head, drain pan under helm, shower and a/c condensation sump under aft bunk, a/c circ pump, cockpit sink
• Stbd side aft = rear bilge pump

JC290

On the 290 there is a drain forward on starboard side of the head drain for the sink . I watched the water pump out of there last night when I turned on the bilge switch. First time I ever noticed water coming from there. If it's not storming when I get out of work today I will investigate. 

pepmyster

My ac drain from the pan drains into the engine bilge . 

Cableguy Greg

My AC also drains in the engine bilge.

jfdeng5

That would bug me(the AC condenser into the bilge).  Mine goes into the shower sump and is pumped out with a bilge pump.  Good Luck!

pepmyster

That seems like something I saw on my a/c system also, your right that it should be tilted more than it is!

gslpro

It is funny how many different designs there seem to be.  No sink or sump goes anywhere except my holding tank on my 290FV.  The bilges, aft and stern are rain water or leakage only.  Shower sump, galley and head sinks, and cockpit sink, all go to the holding tank like the head does.  Also, by law, nothing may drain overboard from a sink or head in my area of the country.  I pump out a lot more, but the waters are cleaner for swimming.

Michael T

The new marine AC pans are powdercoated or epoxy coated metal. In the 2013 EC 310 the hvac is under the front berth and drains to starboard through a hull fitting at the bow. On the 2014 EC 360 the hvac is also under the front berth, the hvac unit is tilted up at the port side of the pan to facilitate the pan draining to starboard through a hose out the starboard hull in the bow. MT

Dream_Inn

On my 310 I had to replace the A/C because the freon line rusted due to the water sitting in that metal pan. I had replaced it with a new unit that had the fiberglass pan. Pro, I would certainly think you'd be pumping out a lot more. We go thru a lot of grey water on our boat (between 4 of us showering and dishes that get washed), we'd have a full tank at least every weekend. I do agree it would help things be cleaner (although we try not to use soaps that are bad for environment). On topic, I'd try the vacuum thing as mentioned. It surprises me there would be a third bilge in the bow area. Let us know what you find.

Anyfive

I'll be down to the boat this weekend and try the vacuum trick.

Thanks

Anyfive

What was I thinking?  The three drain holes are in a triangle with the A/C pan drain top the two lower are mid bilge pump and shower pump out.
The triangular insert must be just a filler piece .
Thanks for the help.

Black_Diamond

Thanks for the follow up!  Enjoy.