Last 2 inches of bilge water

[Jim in TC]

Our Sun Cat is equipped with a bilge pump with a check valve at the bottom of the input hose. That seems to prevent the last little bit of water (guessing a couple inches) to pump out. I tried one of those little transfer pumps that you run with a drill with no joy. I am considering a siphon and transfer pump like this one from Defender. https://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|311|2349059|2349075&id=119134

Any other suggestions?

[Renae]

Find where the water is coming from?

[Roland of Macatawa]

Jim,

Have you considered trying this inexpensive battery operated transfer pump from Harbor Freight? I have no experience with it.
Maybe it's lift capability is limited to its length and additional suction-side hose would be ineffective.

Regards, Roland

https://www.harborfreight.com/battery-operated-liquid-transfer-pump-63847.html?_br_psugg_q=transfer+pump

[Jim in TC]

The water has been there a while, I think...and after a couple seasons outside I am pretty certain it is no longer coming in (the built in pump picks up almost nothing even after heavy rain or weeks in the water). I suspect it was coming in before some caulking where deck meets hull (the rub rail screws) or perhaps some fitting that has been caulked as I chase cabin drips around. So I am (hopefully) just trying to dry it out.

The pump Roland links would be difficult to use, as I need to "thread" an input hose into the deepest recesses of the bilge. There is another inexpensive transfer pump that I found here: https://www.harborfreight.com/multi-use-transfer-pump-63144.html that has an input hose that might can be extended if it is too short. Cheap enough to try...

[bruce]

Just a thought, if you already have a wet-dry vac, you could step the hose down to something small enough to access the water. The water pick up on my Fein is already stepped down to about 1 1/8" from 2". A little more constricted for a few minutes shouldn't be a problem.

If you have 120V power, of course....

[Renae]

I'm not confident in the ability to "dry out" a boat with standing water in the bilge.  I did what Bruce suggested--vacuum it out, then make repairs on suspect sites and see if it re-accumulates.  In my case, I found a bad through hull/cockpit drain.  I also suspect that the windows may leak, but I haven't gotten that far, and I almost exclusively dry sail  The boat comes out of the water dry now. 

[Andre]

If it's only a little water here's what I use - a water blaster pool toy.  Only $0.97 at Wal Mart.  Yeah it's one of my cheapie solutions, ha ha.  Each pump pulls up about a cupful.  Last year I bought several - 1 for each boat, 1 for the car, and gave some to my sailing friends.  Good for cooling off when it's hot too.

Andre

[Jim in TC]

Just a thought, if you already have a wet-dry vac, you could step the hose down to something small enough to access the water. The water pick up on my Fein is already stepped down to about 1 1/8" from 2". A little more constricted for a few minutes shouldn't be a problem.

If you have 120V power, of course....

Actually don't have a wet vac, but pretty sure I know where to borrow one...not sure why this idea didn't occur to me. Still in the driveway, easy access to power.

[bruce]

Andre,

I have something similar, but more of an extendible boat hook with a water piston function. Great for water fights, and I did use it to empty the cockpit when I forgot to plug the drains. But, when I went to link to it, I see it's long since been abandoned. Walmart's $0.97 special couldn't have helped!
https://www.panbo.com/boat-hook-bailer-you-gotta-have-one/

[Jim in TC]

To update: a neighbor had a mini wet/dry vac (didn't know there was such a thing). We duct taped a hose to extend it to the bilge and sucked out a few gallons of water. Leaving hatches open on sunny days to air out more completely and will watch for "new" water after rains and launch.