How do you get all the water out of the bilge of a sun cat?

[bfelton]

When you lower the bow down, is your boat in the water or on a trailer?  Mine is in the water.

Thanks,

Bert Felton

[cavie]

I trailer mine. You'll need rail meat in the bow.

[Tom Ray]

bfelton,

My apologies.

My Sun Cat is a 2010 model. As an Engineer I can certainly come up with several good reasons why they decided to isolate my Sun Cat's stainless trunk from the inside of the hull with fiberglass in some fashion. And, I'm certainly glad that they did so. Didn't realize that earlier models had the stainless trunk sticking proudly into the inside of the hull.

capt_nemo

Don, Gerry Hutchins once explained to me the evolution of the centerboard trunk designs. There have been three. The originals are like Bert's. Later, they cut off the top and then the end and basically made parts of the trunk out of fiberglass. The older boats also had the flange on the outside exposed, while newer boats have that glassed over.

The new method makes for a smoother finish outside and a dry boat inside. The bolt and gasket on Bert's boat will always be prone to leak a bit unless tightened just right. On the other hand, I will know when the pin holding my centerboard has lived its useful life because the centerboard will fall out of the boat, with any luck at a good time for that to happen. At that point, it will be time for some boat surgery.

Similarly, the flange and the bolts holding it on my boat are encased in fiberglass and well protected, but trapping stainless and salt water behind fiberglass is not the best long-term plan.

My thinking is that the new design is leak-free and will last a long time, but exactly how long will vary from boat to boat. Once something bad happens to that trunk, it will be time to start cutting. Older boats like Bert's will tend to leak a bit, but you can inspect the whole assembly and replacing the pivot pin is not a big deal. Either approach has advantages and disadvantages.

[bfelton]

There was an inch or so of salt water in the bilge.  I sucked it out with a shop vac.  Now I'll keep an eye on it; hopefully it will be dry.  I had her in the salt water twice before going back on her trailer and having a barrier coat and bottom paint.

Thank you for all of the advice,

Bert Felton

[Tom Ray]

Bert, if you are sure that was salt water, I would hose out the bilge with fresh and suck that back out just to keep the salt out of the boat. It gets everywhere because it can take a ride on water molecules and reach any part of your boat.

[bfelton]

There was about 1/2 inch of water in the bilge, which is deepest in my boat under the bridge deck, with a shop vac.  Now I have to see if any water comes in.  It was definitely salt water.

Bert Felton

[bfelton]

I pumped the water out with a shop vac.  There was about 1/2 inch of salt water.  Now I will keep an eye on it and see.  I had the boat in salt water two times before and I am hoping it came through a couple of screws that hold in the center board trunk.  Two were not tight; I added 5200 to them and snugged them up.  Since then I also had the bottom barrier coated and painted.

I was recently told about a portable pump for hard to get to places.  It's an Aqua Charge Portable Rechargeable Pump with 12 Volt Charger Adapter.

Bert Felton

[steve brown]

I have found one source for water entering the bilge; it enters during a rain or a cockpit wash down via the lazeretts. The aft outside corners on my boat pocket water and overflow into the bilge. I ran a high quality "D" shaped self-stick weather strip on the outside a aft lip of the opening to dam the water. It seems to work. I also cut out the opening into the bilge as others have done. I leave mine open for ventilation. Dri-deck in the storage bottom prevents objects from dropping into the bilge. For any water accumulation I run a sponge back in on both sides of the trunk to mop up. I also added a 90 degree pvc pipe ,with intake slots, to the bilge pick-up hose.

[Tom Ray]

Steve,

The gutters around the cockpit hatches are shallow in the aft end and deep at the front. I have found that if I set my boat at a bow-high angle when washing, a good deal of water can get down via the gutter. If the boat is level or slightly nose-down while washing, not nearly as much.

I think the gutter should be deeper, but that would be a difficult change to the mold, so I can see why Com-Pac would not want to attempt it.