Swallow Yachts Forum > Technical
Bilge pump
Colin Morley:
Hi Claus, Thank you for your thoughts on improving the self bailers. I cannot find your suggestion for a fix. Can you give me the details or a pointer to the date it was published.
Best wishes,
Colin
--- Quote from: Claus Riepe on 25 Apr 2011, 19:07 ---Colin and all,
it has been known a good while now that in the plastic BR 20s the ballast tank emptying through the selfbailers built in by the yard does not work well. Upwards of 5 knots only, and slowly.
Neither does the yard fit a bailing pump as standard or as option to help the process or to pump the water out while the boat is on a mooring.
I think this should have been addressed and fixed by the yard long ago.
Because, with the fix I figured out and published here some time ago the sucking speed threshold is reduced to 3.7 knots, and the emptying both under sail and under engine is quicker and more complete. 3.7 knots btw is well within the speed range provided by even the smallest outboards.
And to also fit a manual bailing pump for the sump (you may call it bilge) also is neither rocket science nor financial stress.
I would recommend you nag the yard to have these improvements introduced as standard asap now, because it really makes the boats work a lot better.
To fit an electric pump is only curing symptoms. The cause lies deeper, in the inefficient selfbailers inside the tank. This should be done first. I myself had at first fitted an electric bilge pump. But after changing the emptying system I could throw it out again. No more need then. The electric bilge pump also doesn't do the job quicker or completer, and sucks a lot of current. Not worth the fuss and the money.
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Colin Morley:
Just a bit more on this saga.
Today i bought a Whale gusher Titan hand bilge pump on the basis that it pumps about 100 L/min ( if you are a determined athlete). However, it is too big to fit on the bulkhead next to but slightly below the outboard. So now I am going to try the Wale Urchin, which several of you seem to be using. can you show me pictures of how you have this fitted and how you stow and use the hoses.
Thanks
Colin
Graham W:
Here is my single Urchin, with an up-and-over arrangement into the outboard well, using two 1.5 inch elbows. I have a strum box at the intake end, positioned in the middle of the sump.
Colin Morley:
[Here is my single Urchin, with an up-and-over arrangement into the outboard well, using two 1.5 inch elbows. I have a strum box at the intake end, positioned in the middle of the sump.
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Thank you. Very helpful...except what do you do with the ballast tank end? Is it long enough to be placed through the red hatch or do you have holes in the back of the ballast tank with the hoses fixed into the ballast tank? Also, how long does it take to empty the 300L with an Urchin pump?
Graham W:
Acting on a suggestion that Claus made, I have three bungs in the rear wall of the ballast tank, low down in the sump. Not really used in anger yet, so I do not have any indication of how long it will take to pump out but the Urchin with the largest hose size of 1.5 inches certainly seems man enough for the job. I can tell you that my Super Mini self bailer in the sump is nbg.
There is no need to put the hose in the ballast tank if you have bung holes - the water level in the sump will find its own level through the open bungs as you pump out - or even if you do not. Swallow Boats put my bungs in for me.
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