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How much water in the bilge is normal?
seguir
Member Posts: 170 ✭✭✭
This is my first Rinker (280 Rinker EC). I had a small boat before, and my bilge was always dry. But I have notice (more after a rain fall) that my bilge has about a gallon of water in it not enough it start the bilge pump. I can't figure where it is coming in from. Is it normal to have water in the bilge? Is it to much to expect a dry bilge?
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PC BYC, Holland, MI
some water is normal. what's not normal is the reaction to the water, as you've read in this thread. some people never notice and leave it, others dry it out with infant diapers till it's powder dry.
I leave whatever the pump can't get out before each ride. Meaning I'll manually turn the pump on when I get to the boat and it'll usually pump out about half a gallon or so (auto-on is set a little higher up than the lowest the pump will reach)
I often so what BoatAway does, pump the water out with the manual switch to its minimum. But here is what made mine an issue and I did not take it seriously until I had a battery cable develop a pinhole leak in its insulation and corrode in two. All the DC power wiring that crossed the bilge was laying in the bottom of the boat so it was always in the water. While I was getting the corroded wire replaced, I had all this wiring raised to the top of the engine room where it should have been in the first place.
I have never been able to keep a dry bilge but with that fix, I do not think it matters much if one pays attention to engine room ventilation to keep the humidity down. Once in a while I will raise the engine hatch a few inches but more often I will run the bilge blowers for a few hours.
Just one boaters ideas.
Tony
Salt Shaker 342
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
have you thought of something like this retractable awning? might be easier than messing with the boat...
Now I am unsure if it is just rain water. I thought I had it all dried out, then the next day when I checked.... I still find a small amount down there. I am hoping it is just residual rain water from the last rain fall. But I am now unsure. I like the cover ideal, however can’t do it at the marina where we are keeping out boat.
craigs,
It sounds like you might have a 342 when you describe the port side storage compartment. My management fix is to keep a catch bucket under the part where the straight cushion butts up against the curved one. It is at that gap where most of my water enters. The bucket catches most but not all of it. Enough though that it is worth having it there.
Tony
Salt Shaker 342
PC BYC, Holland, MI
well, just to keep this post alive, :-@ , after a nice weekend tied on the hook, on my way back and throttling down I noticed my bilge light kicked on. I do not like the looks of that, especially since on my prior boat I've seen a couple different times with a hose that came off.
Well, everything looked fine and nothing was sprayed and no leaks from the engine. I talked with a dockmate that has a 390 and he said that he gets about the same each weekend to run it as well & it comes from some seeping in the bolts in the transom and some in the mid-cabin bilge from the A/C. I might need to start investigating a bit more. Gonna be out on the boat for 10 days, so I'll get to really check it out!
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
I like the newer non-float types. My forward bilge pump/float was always troublesome, now just a self on pump. I saw an even newer type that automatically tests for water every 10 min or so, using the drag on the impeller as the sensor for water. neat idea, but on the hook it will be drawing a momentary usage.
I fear doing the pump / float in the engine compartment, unless you are a monkey or have 4' arms, it looks like an engine pull to get to it. (knocks on wood)
PC BYC, Holland, MI
I am considering buying an aftermarket shower bilge setup, putting it in the bilge and running the condensate into it. I hate to drill in a new through hull, so I might twin it with the bilge line and add a pair of check valves.
It's lame that its designed this way.
I also noticed that the water is lapping on the oil pan.
I found a paper towel against the pump intake grill (probably dropped by a mechanic during spring service) so I plan to pull the boat on Wednesday for a midsummer wash, drain the bilge, (check the fitting--thanks Black Diamond), and dry it out and take some video with my iPhone to see what's going on down there.
I'm concerned that the water (which looks oily) might be leaking in around a the engine or gen-set pickup, and I don't know it because I'm assuming its the AC.
Gonna buy a tiny wet vac too.
Not totally off topic----an idea that works pretty good for me. There is enough room on the bottom of the 342 bilge between the stringers that I can put one of those plastic four legged step stools from Wal-Mart in there. It really helps when I need to get on one foot centrally located and being able to pivot around reaching all the stuff that needs to be attend to.
And for DI, on our 2010 loop trip we were in some pretty heavy stuff at the north end of Lake Huron when the bilge light came on intermittently. The engine room situation looked just fine on inspection. But the problem was in the mid bilge. This pump has one of those moisture detectors that controls the pump and as it turned out the quart of so of water that was in that space was splashing into the moisture detector. That was what was causing the pump to operate. A little repositioning fixed the problem. Maybe that is what you are experiencing.
Tony
Salt Shaker 342
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Problem solved....would you believe it was the pressure relief valve on the hot water heater. Go figure. But I still get a little bit of rain water in, but not much.