Since owning a part share in Sylph I have been interested in bilges.(sad or what) I did not realise until we had Waterlily that dry bilges are attainable. Sylph was always sloshing about and it was made worse when we had a leak in the bathroom plumbing that filled the cabin bilge with water. Sylph was so bad we had a cabin bilge pump fitted with a float switch that every now and then pumped for what seemed like ages. The floor at the back of the boat eventually had to be replaced as the water was rotted the floor !
Comet (our first boat) did not have any drainage channels on the cruiser back deck so when it rained the water went straight into the engine bay - horrible.
This is Waterlily's bilge. The previous owner put a small container under the stern gland to catch the drips while cruising and also another container for the grease that falls. You will also see a bucket with a bilge pump in it (top right of the picture) this catches the drips from the expansion pipe (I think) on the hot water cylinder. Every now and then I just pump the bucket empty. I suppose I really should fit a bilge pump with a float switch just in case the stern gland fails while we are off the boat - however I think this is unlikeley and unless the pumping water was spotted before the battery ran out it would make little difference.
Its quite simple and makes for a clean bilge - which I like. So lets see yours then ?
Nev
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ah yes, the bilges... I am going to be scraping mine out and making them all delicious in SpringTime.... for the moment they don't look that great, but they are MEANT to be dry, and they used to be dry - until the water system leaked everywhere, and the diesel system and oh everything else!
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