Help installing a Bilge Pump

[Mustang1600]

Good Evening Gents,

I have tried every way to stop my boat from leaking however everything i do doesn't seem to make any difference. So i have decided to install a bilge pump. however im a little lost on how to go about it. As you can see from below there is a lower cut section of the floor. This section fills with water after about a hour of fishing. My thoughts where to cut a small section out from one of the corners and place the pump below the floor. Is this a viable option ? or is there a better way to go about it ?.

72530

In regards to the hour of fishing, we only seem to take on water when we are up the back of the boat fishing. we tested this by one day staying up the front and we found we took on less water.

Any help would be great full..

Cheers
Mustang

[Nathan Tuskes]

how much water are we talking here?...im not the most sensible person at the best of times, but something tells me you should try harder to fix the leak...having known about the leak and only fitting a bilge pump to correct the measure, in the eyes of a judge in a court of law, say your bilge failed and you sunk and someone drowned, you would be technically soo far up the creek everyone calls "shit" its not funny.....
cheers nathan

[seastorm]

Have you tried filling the boat with water (when its on the trailer and at home) and look to see where the water is coming from?

[Mustang1600]

HI guys,

Thanks for the replys. i will list what i have done so far.

Removed the outboard, cleaned off the surface and then installed the outboard back on with new Sika.
Removed all fittings on the transom, cleaned area and re-applied sika (new bungs, sounder and so on) Except the ladder.
Filled the boat full of colored water, let it sit and then dried the bottom. could not find and colored water leeking out.

Either the water is coming in from above where i filled or i have a crack i cannot find. But i have looked everywhere.

**Nathan**
when we put the boat out and back on the trailer, i would normally wait about 5-7mins while the water is coming out. maybe 10lts ?

Cheers
Mustang

[Dan5]

You should have a working bildge anyway.....you proberbly know that.

As for the leak.....is it definatly leaking in or could it be left over wash down water? 10lts is a small amount.
Look more closly at your bording ladder if it's the only penetration left.

You may also have a split/crack that only leaks when the hull is in compression,i had one like that in an alloy boat once and it took ages to find it even after i filled the hull more than a dozen times......make sure you support your trailer while doing that aswell......good luck.

Dan

[marto78]

Hi Mustang, is that cut out section of your floor sealed ie. the water is coming from above the floor not under? I would be checking where all the cables go through your transom to the motor they tend to leak especially when standing down the back of the boat with a bit chop.

As for putting in the bilge pump, maybe it would be worth while putting in an access panel in that cut out section and dropping it through there - at least you can see if there is water under the floor and know when to turn the pump on.

[deckie]

Few things to check, but sounding a lot like a crack in the hull. Need to get under it and check especially near chines.
The petrol tank wells are notoriously thin glass on many rigs, and vibration from tanks over years can wear pinholes and larger into the rim that contacts the deck...clean/scrub v clean then go around the lip/rim looking for wear. Another common area is battery mounts where guys/previous owners havent been too reliable filling old holes and on some rigs they just drill new ones for a new battery/mount and conveniently forget the old ones. The deck to sides contact is obscured by the toe holds/side pockets and is another spot where problems could lurk...strong light poked into bottom bung in the driveway at night then get in boat and have a look around above deck.

In terms of subfloor access look up google "inspection hatch or inspection port" they're round screw in fittings desinged to unscrew giving you access and could whack one in that petrol tank well after double checking its integrity. Dont get a small one and pay the extra few bucks for a reputable brand that wont perish/leak and become another problem. Cheapo pvc ones just perish in the sun. You can put a pump above deck level as well for safety, in middle of transom in tank well (check tanks will fit), bend a bit of ally to surround it tho and stop anything contacting...v handy for all sorts of issues at the very least if u forget bungs one day to get her back onto the trailer. The subfloor one must have good access to regulalry clean/check and needs to be a substantial size. You really need to find the prob first tho or an auto switch to that subfloor pump will just go off too often or even burn out. Can put in 2...a small one maybe 500-750 that contacts bottom/hull to get rid of ordinary bilge, and a much bigger main one that is set above to cater for emergencies. Steve
Really need to get to the bottom of the leak tho...thats enough water to say there's definitely an issue somewhere.

[dreemon]

I did similar to what deckie is saying but you'll find that under the petrol well it's very shallow, ( look at the bungs) I have 2 inspection hatches that are placed either side of the stringer and just before the last cross member ( about 1 m from stern on mine) from there you'll see how far to the rear you can sika the 2 bilge pumps, then it's just a matter of wiring and running the outlet hoses.

after I did all that I got swamped at the boat ramp, 2 bilge pumps and couldn't drain a drop ! so at the very rear under the petrol tank well I fit 2 largish bungs, this gave me a sealed deck if water was to fill under the deck and if the deck was filling from rain, water skiing, or someone pissed thyself, you could open the bungs , drain into bilge and then pump it out,

when I fit my battery I used a screw that was to long and made a pinhole, amazing how much water got in, Cheers