New Issue - Bilge Area

[Okie Boarder]

So, my bilge pump stopped working Friday. After some checks it was obvious the motor was burned up. Upon further inspection of the bilge there was a hole in the fiberglass at the front bottom of the bilge area, letting water seep in and rotting the wood underneath. Chunks of the wood got jammed in the motor. :mad:

Got it all dried out and started messing with it last night. It went from a 1" hole I had been sucking water out of to nearly the whole angled face section in front of the bilge pump leading up to the flat surface underneath the cooler. I scraped most of the rotted wood and checked the foam to see if it was OK. It all seemed OK after that. I mixed up a batch of thickened epoxy and slathered it in to fill for the missing wood and recovered in fiberglass. Hopefully that will take care of it until winter.

Thoughts?

[87SunSportMikeyD]

That is super lame! Sorry to hear it. My bilge also gets easily clogged.

[saltare inverts]

Mine does too. I cleaned out bilge are with water and dawn, seemde to help clogging. I also hooked up two bilge pumps, just in case. One runs on manual setting, other runs on auto setting.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

that is a good idea

[Okie Boarder]

I actually thought about maybe putting a second bilge in, but then I got to thinking I always have a back up with my ballast bag pump. ;)

I did the repair Tuesday night and have been gone since. I'm going to put the finishing touches on it tonight and reinstall the bilge pump. Should be good to go for tomorrow. We have 4 friends coming with us for the day, so it should be good!

[Salty87]

what a pain the butt....could it have been in a harder to reach spot? lol

my bilge used to be so grimey i wrapped screen around my bilge pump as a pre-filter. i'd still have to reach over to the thru-hull and blow it clear a few times a year.

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Salty that is an even better idea!

I also use my ballast pump if needed to drain bilge.

[saltare inverts]

Yea, i used dawn and alot of water to clean bilge so pump will jot getted clogged.

[michael hunter]

I dont understand? What is in your bilge that can clog a bilge pump?

[skiman_61]

I think there are tiny little men with spears in the bilge of my Salt poking my pump.

I use 'Simple Green' to clean the bilge. Cuts the oil right now. Smells nice too.

[bryan632]

This is just a hair brained idea, but why haven't they ever put a strainer on a tube and run a leg off the outflow side of the cooling system to vacuum the water out of the bilge into the exhaust and out the back of the boat. that way, when your engine is running, it will be dry. you could also put a check valve in there to keep awter from leaking in when the boat isn't running. could be completely stupid but it seems like a good idea in my head.